Love Hina

Director
Yoshiaki Iwazaki
Production
TV Tokyo, XEBEC, Yomiuri Advertising
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
24 episodes
Year
2000

Love Hina volume 2: Go West

By otaku_kei
27th Oct 04

So Keitaro is now manager of the Hinata Apartments, Naru could possibly be the girl that he promised his heart to 15 years ago, the other girls in the apartment have mixed feelings for our geeky loser, and still the crazy violence continues unabated. So not much changed episode to episode in volume 1, lets see if the next 4 episodes change that formula...

Episodes 4-8 change the set-up quite dramatically shifting the scene of the show away from the Hinata, and onto the road on a trip to 'discover themselves'. The first twp episodes follow Keitaro & Naru as they both take trips to Kyoto independently of each other. On the trip they both break their glasses so they cannot see clearly and when getting to know this apparent 'stranger' they start to fall for each other. Of course once the truth comes out the hilarity ensues! Oh, the classic comedy set-up, I swear I saw the same plot done on Saved By The Bell once! Episode 7 introduces Kentaro to the series, a rival for the affections of Naru that works up Keitaro into a frenzy of self-doubt and fumbling attempts to confess his feelings for Naru! But without a doubt the closing episode is the best episode on this volume - a pastiche of all the classy cheesy RPG games! This episode focus' primarily on Motoko as she plays out the roe of warrior-hero in this dream RPG-world replete with the trademark Hina violence, but also RPG staples such as bystanders who only repeat 1 line of dialogue, dragons, quests that make no real sense! This episode does really stand out as it is a breathe of fresh air in a series that was starting to become: 'Keitaro does something stupid, Naru/Motoko hits him, he is chased around the apartment, Keitaro does something sweet, all is forgiven, then he falls into the hot baths when all the girls are bathing. Again. Cue the violence.' If the show can incorporate more of this type of episode then I can see this series avoiding becoming stagnant and tired.

The quality of this disc is just as good as volume 1, the picture quality is great, the audio is perfect, and there are no noticeable problems with the sub. The extras on this disc are just as light as volume 1, character galleries, MVM trailers, and Keitaro's songbook - which has a transcript of the song that appears during the crazy RPG-adventure episode! But I dont buy DVD's for the extras so I'm not really bothered.
Love Hina is a fun title, and the production is top notch so there are no complaints there, but the show is starting to get repetitive. This volume was still getting me smiling, but not as frequently as the last volume. My advice whilst this show is entertaining do not sit down and watch the episodes back-to-back, because it will start to grate on your nerves! Try out the childhood method of watching cartoons - 1 episode a week may really help this show appear to be fresh and funny. Or it may not...

6.5/10

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English 2.0; Japanese 2.0; Character Photo Gallery; Keitaro's Songbook; MVM trailers

Release information: 4th October 2004 (already available)

Notes: No picture or audio problems. The extras are just as light as those on volume 1 but nothing worse than any other UK distributors pfferings.

-- otaku_kei 27th Oct 04

Love Hina Images