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Reviewed by Michael Aronson “When Keitaro Urashima fails his entrance exams to get into Tokyo University for the second time, he’s officially an unemployed and uneducated slacker. To make things worse, his parents have kicked him out of his house. Fortunately, his grandmother owns the fabulous Hinata Lodge and has agreed to take Keitaro in as caretaker. What he doesn’t know is that the lodge is actually a girl’s dorm and he’s the only guy around! Most guys would kill to live with five sexy ladies, but if Keitaro’s not careful, this job will kill him.” When the series originally came out in the US, it was among the best selling manga around, if not the best selling manga. There are a few good reasons for this, mostly lying in Love Hina’s execution. Think of a homemade volcano filled with baking soda and vinegar, then plug up the top and wait for it to explode. Now substitute Keitaro for the baking soda and the lovely ladies of Hinata House for the vinegar, and such is the Love Hina formula. If the idea of a bursting volcano is sexually suggestive, that slant to the metaphor is more than applicable to the story. Keitaro is terrible with the ladies and manages to get himself into the worst predicaments possible, yet never goes far enough to make mortal enemies (despite how Naru and Motoko continually abuse him). To round out the sexual overtones, the art is a bit cheesecake but it’s alternately cute and charming, and manages hit the right grooves to appeal to girls as much as, if not more so than to guys. This is the hyper-emotional melodramatic screaming-sweating-crying mania that manga is often stereotyped as, and yet it also makes the best use of this wide range of extreme emotions. The kinetic dialogue constantly unhinges Keitaro’s rapport with the rest of his roommates, and as the first volume unfolds, each of the girls is gradually developed past their initial one-dimensional façade. Balance that with Keitaro’s role as aspiring college student and dorm manager, and there seems to be enough material to last the next thirteen volumes – but will the formula hold up for so long without going stale? For now, it’s utterly solid and entertaining and the reader can’t help but root for the graceless underdog. Comment on this review of Love Hina v1 [II] on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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