Love Hina Volume 2

Details

 Director: Yoshiaki Iwasaki
 Catalogue Number: MVD2039
 Certificate: PG
 Date Released: October 4th 2004
 Screen: Fullscreen 4:3
 Languages: Japanese ; English - Dolby Digital (2.0) Stereo
 Subtitles: English
 Duration: 100 minutes

Special Features

• Keitaro's songbook
• Character photo gallery
• Trailers

Synopsis

A Relaxing Vacation

The Good News: Keitaro has been more or less accepted as the new manager of the Hinata Apartments.
The Bad News: He failed his latest entrance exams.

So he decided to take a short trip to Kyoto to boost his spirits. Naru, depressed and disppointed about wasting her last three years studying, also decides she needs a break and sets off alone. On their travels, they each meet someone who they think would be an ideal match - if only their glasses weren't broken and they could see!

Meanwhile, at the Hinata apartments, the days pass quietly. When the rest of the group doesn't hear from Keitaro or Naru they mount a "rescue" mission. But just who is rescuing whom? On the road to love, there are many bumps and bruises - and Keitaro's going to experience them all.

Contains episodes 5 - 8:

5. A Trip Tto Kyoto! Exciting
6. Keitaro's First Kiss Is With...? Journey
7. First Date, Keitaro's True Feelings: Nowadays
8. Kendo Girl And The Legend Of The Dragon Palace: Is This A Dream?

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)