Love Hina as it joins the series of MMF titles discussed is in my opinion a read alike to Rumiko Takahashi’s Maison Ikkoku, but with the complexity of Ranma ½ thrown in. Keitaro Urashima is second to third year running Ronin who is trying to get into Todai (Tokyo Daigaku) aka Tokyo University. He becomes the manager of the all-female Hinata Inn. An inn where there a majority of the inhabitants ultimately thinks the worse of Keitaro, yet through episodes and time, Keitaro grows into living at Hinata. Just don’t mind all the breasts, panty shots that he founds himself in situations with.
I don’t necessary want to sum up the book’s content, but this entry is more like my personal waxing about my memories with this title. When Love Hina was released in the late 1990’s, I was in junior high to high school. I was around the same age group as Shinobu, though for a time my favorite character for this series was Haruka, since she is the most normal less emotional female in Love Hina. Getting the chance to read this re-released omnibus is a bittersweet memory for me. I am writing this post with a realization that this was my first complete exposure to the harem genre, of course at that time I didn’t realize that was the case, but ultimately it is a genre, whose target audiences are teenage guys.
Love Hina mentions purikura. Now unless you aren’t around a huge population of Asians, or you ever get to visit Japan, then ultimately you would should get exposed to sticker pictures machines. If you look at an American counter part, those photo booths are a similarity. Growing up in New York City, I do recall having some limited experiences at the not so great purikura machines. Though my memories of purikura was more cemented when I took pictures with friends in Japan. While purikura has not maintained its popularity in the United States, it is still present in Japanese arcades. They are fun activities to cement brief moments of time. 7-10 minutes to customize the images afterward though. ^_^
Kodansha USA has been releasing graphic novels, and other than Sailor Moon, to re-release Love Hina is a market move to see if the popularity of its titles success is still present. I always appreciate omnibus styles, though there are ups and downs to such an edition. For one it is pricey for another it is a shelf saver. For one sale you get three books bound into one edition. The American market reads manga years after its popularity in its native land. So to reintroduce a manga that was initially translated by the defunct Tokyopop, and a limited Kodansha bilingual release reflects the timeless of this title for a teenager. With its anime already released on DVD. Would this manga enjoyed a revival success?
If you want to read an archive of other entries in this MMF series, check out this link here.
Ahh, Purikura, yes, from the mid 90s. Purikura (print club)! The moment when high school girls became the center of the media attention. Smallness of the picture was perfect for girls’ diary. It was a symbol of friendship. Everyone was using it. Even the graduation album was full of purikura at that time. Small cute memory. Oh but, I didn’t get to have any purikura taken.
Rounin, originally unemployed samurai. Before NEET and hikky became social phenomenon. I didn’t know purikura still exists in Japan, since everyone can take pictures with their phone now.
Love Hina is totally the late 90s teens’ zeitgeist, so I don’t know if today’s teens find this manga series something in common. But surely exciting for people who were teens back in the late 90s!
Yes!!!! You understand where I am coming from with Purikura. My sis liked purikura, so she had some more purikura than I did. In the U.S. it is known as sticker photos, so it was cool that you can have a sticker and a photo. Last time I was in Japan, they still had machines with purikura, and you can send it to your cell phones. So I did see high schoolers go for it, plus the random gaikukoujin. What makes it more fun.. is the fact that you can photoshop your face. They had the glittery cool movie stars ones or the eye popping anime styles. Among the UFO machines, are maybe 2-4 purikura machines. Purikura impacted plenty of places in Asia other than Japan.
I have lots of memories of growing up with Love Hina anime in the United States when I was young. This was the anime that whoever I met when I was in high school, would know about. Plus Megumi Hayashibara happened to sing the opening, soooooo 懐かしいです!!
God I remember stealing every manga of love hina from boreders. I stilil have every manga. Mainly cuz I had the biggest love for Naru as a teen. Shes still hot to me at 21 and i can still admit that about a cartoon girl :3
Thank you for your honest comment. Naru definitely does have her attractiveness. ^_^
Love Hina….Brings back fond memories. It was the first romantic harem that managed to make laugh every time. And things weren’t raunchy then (not that I hate raunchy). It had great timing and the characters were quirky and fresh. Man, things sure have exaggerated since then…
@Ray Yes I have some fond memories of it. before every harem series afterwards went flying down the ravine. I am not sure what you mean by raunchy, but hehe.