I've read several Japanese manga's but none has managed to capture my heart like 'Love Hina' did. The series was made into an anime series, which is good, but nothing compared to the manga. The story is as follows: Keitaro is about to become a third year Ronin and wants to get into a high class university called Tokyo U, but he has failed so many times before he doesn't think he has a chance... until he moves into his grandmother's former hotel, which unfortunately for Keitaro has now been turned into a girls' dormitory. After several mishaps with the girls they finally allow Keitaro to stay with them. Upon learning the truth that he is not really a Tokyo U student, they begin to contemplate kicking him out. However, when Keitaro announces to them that he wishes to take the exams again in order to get into Tokyo U and escape becoming a third year Ronin, they let his little lie slide and allow him to stay. However, he neglects to tell them the real reason for why he wants to go to Tokyo U: years ago Keitaro made a promise to an anonymous girl that both of them would get into the university together. He wants to discover the girl's identity, but how can he after all these years?Keitaro becomes close with each and every one of the girl characters. There's Naru, the heroine of the story, who becomes Keitaro's best friend and begins to harbour a crush for him, which is mutual; Kitsune, the sly fox who often gets into trouble by getting wasted or gambling far too much; Motoko, the verging-on-psycho kendo girl who is forever trying to kill Keitaro (she, however, also has a crush on him); Shinobu, the sweet, shy and caring young girl who unlike Naru and Motoko falls in love with Keitaro almost at once, and Su the eccentric yet lovable Indian girl. Each one has an effect on Keitaro and he becomes very good friends with all of them. Along the way Keitaro meets other new friends, such as Mutsumi Otohime, the clumsy yet carefree girl who could be a link with Keitaro's past.Together both Keitaro and Naru vow to study hard in order to get into Tokyo U together, but they both know it won't be an easy ride.So, why should you read the manga first? Because simply put it's one of the best manga series' ever created. In short it's a sweet, fun, hysterical masterpiece. The main problem with the anime is that it's only twenty six episodes long, while the manga lasts for a whopping fourteen volumes. Therefore not everything could be packed into each twenty minute episode of the show. Not to mention that the manga is a hundred times better and funnier then the anime. Still, the anime is great too, and you can hardly beat that catchy ass theme tune. So please read the manga first, I beg of you! You really will not regret it. Also if you are considering watching the anime please watch the Japanese dub as the English dub is beyond awful.

Love Hina was first officially released as a Japanese comic. It made great success, and got lots of fans in Japan and the US. Ken Akamatsu was the creator, and he was simply fantastic. So, it was hard making a animé, just as good as the comic. Fortunately, the the result is just fantastic. It may not be as good as the comic, but it's one of the most entertaining animé I've ever seen.As you may already know, Love Hina is a romantic, slapstick-comedy, drama. It is all combined very well, and ends up truly amazing. Love Hina is well made in every aspect. The drama sequences may be kind of silly for someone. Still, is is easy to ignore, since the rest is so good.I recommend this to those who likes Japanese animé, and to people who likes romance, combined with drama and slapstick-comedy.

I don't know in other places, but here in Brazil, ''LOVE HINA'' is a big success. I personally find it funny, but not awesome: I had a good time laughing with some scenes and situations, but there is not any kind of innovation in this anime that makes it special like Evangelion, for example.It is a romantic comedy, but it is full of provocative scenes, where Keitaro always get problems with his clumsy and shy personality. And to be honest, it is hard to find any character who have received more punches than he, because of those problems. I read basically the whole manga, but I didn't see all the anime episodes to say all the differences between then both.Keitaro is a 20 year old guy who dreams to be accepted in the excellent University of Tokyo in order to fulfill a childhood promise. He also becomes the manager of the Hinata House, a kind of a dormitory only for girls, that is a property of his family. OF course, being a manager for a place like that, he will start to meet all the girls that are going to be part of the plot in special Naru, the girl he has more feelings for, but as any Japanese romantic comedy, they only will declare to each other their true feelings close to the end.

What can you say about the show that contains some of the best combinations of romance, humor and slapstick humor imaginable by my opinion. An animeshow has to be real good to surpass this one. I gotta say, i'm a sucker for romantic comedies and i have seen a lot of them, but none really matches the level of this one. The seemingly endless almost-gonna-happen-but-never-does mood of this show has on more than one occasion made me bang my head against the keyboard until i had to get my backup keyboard. You gotta love slapstick to love this show though as much of it is based around that kinda situation, just don't do the mistake i did when watching it. Watch the episodes in the way they came, not the last one first or you won't be a "headbanger"