Love Hina Recommended

Publisher
Tokyopop
Country of origin
Japan
Length
9
Year
2002

Love Hina Volume 2

By Joseph (Joe) Wood
9th May 05

Love Hina is a fan favorite in all departments, from the highly acclaimed and popular Anime to the Manga both of which have won various awards. This review for Love Hina volume 2 may contain spoilers for the previous installment and possibly the anime.

The second volume kicks off where the first left with two time flunkey Keitaro Urashima, a geeky, clumsy but kindhearted young man who recently found himself the manager of an all-girls dormitory. We were introduced to the residents of the dormitory in the first volume, this continues by giving more depth to the wacky “Indian” girl Kaolla Su. Then its Christmas time but Keitaro and Naru don’t have time to party as they are busy studying for entrance exams, but with all these good-looking girls around will Keitaro ever be able to concentrate on his studies. After receiving a poor result Keitaro decides to run away but is soon pursued by the Hinata girls who seek to bring him back home. Thinks cheer up for the New Year but Keitaro worries he may be cursed with bad luck…right erm Keitaro your living in a house with several girls HELLO! I’m guessing Keitaro is a “glass is half empty” man!

Unlike the first volume which is very similar to the first few episodes in the Anime, there’s very little here which is seen in the anime at all. Something’s concerning Kaolla Su are used later in the anime, there’s a dream sequence which is partially the base for a whole episode later in the anime, this means that those who have seen the anime will find the second volume a bit more refreshing compared to the first. The comedy elements will keep most people laughing although on a second read the jokes feel a little tired having been repeated but to better effects later in the manga series.

The artwork is quite good quality, all the characters are drawn well but also have there own distinctive look about them, which won’t cause any problem of trying to figure out who’s who. The backgrounds are extremely detailed something I didn’t really notice on my first read through, although not every panel contains a background those that do can be quite nice to look at (see the background in the second panel of the second chapter “The Eve of Goodbye” for a good example of this).

Also the second volume contains some more of the initial artwork, although this time for the Hinata Apartments themselves, including early drawings of the entrance, and a map (that can be seen in an episode of the anime). Rather a shame that this doesn’t continue into any other volumes.

Love Hina is defiantly a manga worth getting into the early volumes are pretty refreshing but the series does drop due to repetitiveness later on, however it does pick up again towards the later volumes.

-- Joseph (Joe) Wood 9th May 05