Customer Reviews
Real schoolboy fantasy stuff... - By: J. Scott, 19 Jan 2008 
I'm very new to manga, & among the first few books I picked up, there was one callled 'Puri Puri'. I enjoyed this a lot, but then read a couple of reviews saying that it was just a not-very-good copy of 'Love Hina.'
'Hm...', I thought. 'I must check that out.' First I rented the video version & liked it, so then I ordered the book. I have to admit I enjoyed it more than 'Puri Puri', & think the criticism of 'Puri' is somewhat justified.
What's 'Love Hina' about? Basicallly a young guy who wants (needs?) to get into Tokyo university finds himself manager of a girls' dorm. He stumbles from one misadventure to another, usuallly involving him accidentallly stumbling in on the girls when they're in a state of undress, whereupon they beat him up.
Essentiallly it's the stuff of every schoolboy fantasy (well, apart from getting beaten up!), with lots of laughs & a nice little love story tucked in there too. It's the kind of thing that could easily descend into tackiness (or even perviness!), but the whole thing has a nice sense of humour & lightness of touch that saves it.
I'll certainly be checking out the other volumes in the series.
Oh, & the book is WAY better than the movie!
love hina triumph - By: Maxi-D, 15 Oct 2007 
i brought this from an expo a couple of weeks ago out of curiosity, i had heard of love hina & had been recommended it by several friends so i purchased it & was not disappointed.
the story revolves around keitaro urashima & his attempts to enter the famous tokyo university. it is at this time he moves in with his grandma who owns a hotel only to discover that his grandma has gone on an around the world vacation & the hotel has been changed into a girls dorm.
the artwork in this novel is rather interesting & some of the panels are very funny to look at.
i would recommend this book to anyone who is in need of a light read
Love Hina complete series review - By: Rain, 18 May 2007 Love Hina was one of the first manga series I bought for myself. It's a great introduction to manga as it's easy to follow, light-hearted, funny & has a bit of cute romance thrown in for good measure.
Ken Akamatsu's character designs are pleasing to the eye, & he has created a varied (although perhaps cliched) cast of characters. The series is mostly anchored by the plot-line of Keitaro Urashima, a student trying to get into Tokyo's top university after several failed attempts. His motive is because in his blurry past he remembers promising a girl to go to Tokyo university with her, as they say that if two people who love each other go there, they will live happily ever after. Even though he has no idea where or who this girl is, he still aims to get in & hopes he'll see her again because she'll have remembered the same promise!
However, during his quest to pass the entrance exams, he gets kicked out of his home & goes to stay at his grandmother's hotel, which only later he finds out has been turned into a girl's dormitory & he ends up being their landlord!
Sounds confusing? It's a little wacky sometimes, yes, & with the one guy vs. many pretty girls it gets a bit cliched, especiallly since Keitaro always manages to find himself being smacked into the high heavens by one of the dormitory girls. However, each of the girls in the dormitory are very different & soon you'll see who's your favourite.
At around volume 9 or 10, the story starts to drag a bit as new characters are introduced. By the final (14th) volume, you might just groan every time Keitaro gets punched.
Tokyopop's translation of this series is decent, but compared to today's standards there are A LOT of mistakes, but this might have changed from the early editions I have. In pretty much every volume you can find several spelling mistakes & empty speech bubbles. Sometimes there are bits of Japanese that they've forgotten to erase & translate, & sometimes the wrong text is in the wrong bubble. There are inconsistancies such as from volume 9, they start using honorifics (eg. -san, -chan) when that haven't done before; another example is that Tokyo University, usuallly referred to as Tokyo U, is sometimes callled ToDai (short for Tokyo Daigaku). Also the artwork is sometimes cropped off by the edge of the page which can be annoying for some, & when bits of text are erased, you can see rather pathetic attempts at drawing the lines back in to complete the picture.
Overalll, despite the cliches, it's a solid series & just a load of good fun. If you don't mind alll the fan service & nudity, & you're looking for a romantic comedy, then this could be for you. If you've seen the anime, I personallly find the manga better. A worthwhile addition to any manga-collector's shelves.
Excellent introduction to manga - By: Bokworum, 07 Feb 2007 Yes, alll that you have heard about the Love Hina series is true, & then some. It reallly is a great way to spend free time, with this light hearted romantic comedy. This was my first real manga read cover to cover & I'm still trying to find others just as good.
One pickle though, this paperback edition from tokyopop (the publisher) is not perfectly edited. There is somewhere between 0.5cm to 1cm cropped out from the original on each page. Not that is makes much difference but still irritating. Since manga is drawn in some instances to the edge of a page, there are a few dialogues/details that get cropped out.
But it is the best (and only?) version on amazon so....4 stars.
One of my Fav Series - By: Madeline, 09 Mar 2006 I have read & own alll 14 Love Hina manga & I can honestly say that it is money well spent. This whole series is great & you falll in love with some of the characters.
When Keitaro Urashima (a student who has failed to pass the exams to Tokyo U more than once) goes to see his Grandma, who he thought owned a hotel, but finds out through a series of unfortunate events that it is in fact a girls dorm. Unlucky Keitaro :P. His Grandma then decides to take a world tour completely out of the blue & hands over the forms to the dorm to make Keitaro landlord. Naru Narusegawa (the smartest girl at Keitaro's prep school) lives there & she is not happy after meeting him in a very embarrasing event.
Well, none of the characters are happy at first but you grow to love him :P Even if he seems to have THE worst luck when it comes to seemingly perverted events.
This series is great if you get into it & is a great buy. The story eveolves quite well although the ending could be forseen but meh, oh well :D 'tis alll good
