Love Hina Volume 1

Details

 Director: Yoshiaki Iwasaki
 Catalogue Number: MVD2038
 Certificate: PG
 Date Released: September 6th 2004
 Screen: Fullscreen 4:3
 Languages: Japanese ; English - Dolby Digital (2.0) Stereo
 Subtitles: English
 Duration: 100 minutes

Special Features

• Character photo gallery
• Keitaro's sketchbook
• Trailers
• Interactive menu
• Chapter selection

Synopsis

Keitaro Urashina is trying for the 3rd time to get into Tokyo University, the most prestigious university in Japan.

Why? Because of a promise he made to a girl when they were both children. But that was long ago, and he has forgotten who the girl was. His parents, who only see him as a loafer, are constantly nagging him. So when his grandmother invites him to visit her at her home, the Hinata apartments, he figures he can crash there.

But when he arrives he suddenly dinds himself under attack by the all-female residents of the complex. Before they completely destroy him however, they discover that he's been named the new manager! How the girls will react to a man living in their all girls building?

He's already gotten off on the wrong foot, but as they get to know him.. he still finds himself at the short end of the stick. Can his good nature and pure heart win out? Will the girls of the Hinata Apartments accept him? Will his bones ever knit? Welcome to Keitaro's life.
Welcome to Love Hina.

Contains the first four episodes:

1. All-Girls Dorm With Outdoor Bath: Hot Spring
2. The Hinata's New Resident Shinobu: Arrow Signs
3. Kendo Girl In Love?: Swordplay
4. The Tokyo U Promise From 15 Years Ago: Diary

Cover

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Review

Not many series have had me hooked as quickly as Love Hina, within the first half of the first episode I was really interested in the characters and fining out who they are and where they were going.

I don’t know exactly what it is that draws you into the series and keeps you glued. Maybe it’s the slow release of story lines; this show gives you a really good amount of time to enjoy what’s happening rather than moving you on too quickly. There’s also some really intriguing story line twists, and some brilliant use of story telling that often builds upon itself to create an amazing broader story.

The diversity of the characters in this series are probably one of the best examples you will find, not only are the characters varied in looks and actions but each one has its own story and you become really attached to each one. Sometimes having too many main characters can spoil the focus of the series, but Love Hina really pulls it off, again it doesn’t give you too much too quickly, often and introduction to a new character will take a full episode. I think a lot of thought has gone into the overall planning of the show as a whole and it has really paid off.

Visually the show looks really nice, not as cutting edge as a lot of shows but its way above average with nice character detail and movement. The visuals are all quite bold which in tern creates a lighter show and adds the overall enjoyment.

The music soundtrack is very good, there’s often music in the background which I like, because some show are too quite with only the voices being herd at one time. The tempo of the music is correct for what’s happening on screen, if a moment is funny the tempo builds up and if it’s emotional it slows down.

Overall this is a really solid series and after watching it I understand why it has such a huge fan-base. The plot is fantastic, the characters are bold and entertaining and the whole show stays very focused.

(AZ:UK)