~ By Jordan Adams

Keitaro Urashima, is your average japanese boy just "coming to" to age of 20. Keitaro's a pretty lonely guy, and the thing that gets him threw each day is his dream of getting into Tokyo Uiversity and meeting a special girl from his childhood. Now the only problem is that Keitarou isn't very smart, have much money, has no .... "Girl Smarts", or even a place to stay. Luckily for Keitaro, he ends up getting a job for his aunt at her hot spring hotel. (A hot spring hotel filled with a group of beautiful young girls for that matter!) Now let's see if Keitaro can concentrate enough to study, not get fired, or killed! Now Oviously this story-line has many possibilities, luckily it covers a lot of them, as well as one of the best love stories of all anime-time. (Honestly!) And by-far the best part of the story in this show, is it's ability to play tug-of-war on your emotions at several parts. I definatly needed a lot of ciggarettes, and was even close to needing a few tissues to finish this one.

All around the board, the animation of this series is so perfect. Character animation is absolutly beautiful! Each character of this show shines in his/her own way, and the great animations of each one makes them shimmer. (And Naru is easily one of the best anime-babes!) Another great thing about these character animations is how they go deep enough to actually make the character look differently to the viewer, depending on the way they are acting. I'm not really sure how to better explain it, but you'll see if you watch. On to setting animation; Landscapes in Love Hina are in exelent detail. You should be able to tell from the get go that this is a newer anime by the setting animation alone. Finally, despite this show being a comedy / romance, it still has it's share of action scenes, which are all done with as good animation as the rest of the show.

Now if you think I praised the story, and animation so far, you should find it hard to believe that the characters are still the best part of the show. ^_^ Dorky but lovable Keitaro, the lovely, and sometimes caring, but mostly bitchy Naru, Innocent little Shinobu, Fierce, but confused, Samurai Girl Motoko, the sexy alcoholic Mitsune, and the funniest anime-girl of them all; Suu, all make up the crazy residence of the Hinata Inn. (And thats only the main characters.) Even the secondary characters in this show play pretty big roles, and add even more humor, anger, and sheer chaos to this allready entertaining show. Even when you think you hate a character to no amends, you'll forgive, forget, and end up loving them. Now the best part of all of this is Keitaro and his constant chase to win Naru's heart. This is usually where all the character development is done, and it's done smoothly, and in a great way!

Good enough yet? Well if not, Welcome to Anime Music heaven!! To be blunt, there are so many good songs on this show, from Instramental, to good ol' J-Pop. The cool thing about the J-Pop is the fact that Megumi Hayashibara, the singer for the majority of the music in the show, was at the same time was the voice of Haruka Urashima. (Keitaro's Aunt.) That was especially nice during the festival episode where she ends up singing the theme to the show, "Sakura Saku," witch turns into a group singing. Nothing special in original terms, but I thought it was very enjoyable and is one of the more memorable parts of the show for some reason. Moving onto instramental music, I must say that the mixed variety was very good, and usually came in at the perfect times. At some of the few huge turning points, the instramental music chimed in, and multiplied all emotion levels by about 10! You Anime music fans will be in for a treat.

But after all is said, will Keitaro's quest for his dream, and happiness be enough to entertain you? If your a romantic, love laughing till you cry, or just like anime in the smallest bit, then the answer is yes!! Everything that I have stated so far just emits entertainment of all sorts. And Keitaro's quest for his dreamgirl can sometimes be frustrating. It's a long, hard road, and I can be honest to say that at least twice, I was screaming at the screen, wondering, "Why the hell did he do that!?!?" or simply just, "What the @$#% just happened!?!?" But I'd be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy one minute of all of it. And like I said at the very beggining, this show is an emotional rollercoaster, in which you will probably learn from, if not relating it to your own life. I think I'll end this review by saying, if you liked Tenchi Muyo even alittle, you WILL Love, Love Hina! ^_^

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