Review of Love Hina: Spring Special

Introduction

Love Hina is the popular (at least with me) series that was released recently by MVM in six volumes. In Love Hina, Keitaro Urashima is a hapless young boy, who fifteen years earlier made a pact with a girl to attend Tokyo University. He soon lost touch with the girl, unable even to recall her name, but he remained determined to attend University with her just as he had promised. Unfortunately he`s not that academically gifted, and after twice failing the entrance exams, his family urged him to get a job to support himself. Which is how he ends up manager of an all girl dormitory, living with five girls with wildly differing personalities. He`s still determined to get to University though and find the girl he knew all those years ago.

Twenty-four episodes of hilarity ensued, as Keitaro tried desperately to figure out whom it was he made that promise to, while studying to get into university, and healing after receiving a pummelling at the hands of whichever girl he may have inadvertently offended this time. All the while, he and fellow student Naru Narusegawa endlessly circled around a `would they-wouldn`t they` quandary. While the episodes and stories were entertaining, not every plot point was resolved over the series, and a second series wasn`t made, (although the first episode was). This is where the Love Hina specials come in, continuing the story as Keitaro keeps on trying for Tokyo U.

The Love Hina Spring Special picks up not long after the series ends, with exam time having come round again. Keitaro is really ready for the exams this time having been revising constantly. Things look so promising that even Naru has been restraining that right hook of hers, and she begins to wonder if she was the girl in the promise. Exam day comes, and Keitaro is ecstatic to learn that he knows it all. Sat at the desk, he can`t believe his luck, his dreams are about to come true, he`ll succeed at University, impress everyone who doubted him, sweep Naru off her feet, and they`ll hear the peal of wedding bells. At which point Keitaro wakes up with five minutes left in the exam.

Convinced that he`s failed again, he packs his bags and runs away to an island in the South Seas, where he can start afresh. Seta is there, supervising an archaeological dig, and Keitaro meets a native girl called Nyamo, who has a promise of her own to fulfil. While Keitaro decides to help her do that, back at Hinata the thrill has gone out of the imminent exam results. Naru has decided to go after Keitaro to get him back, but after seeing the exam results posted, all the other Hinata residents soon follow suit.

Video

The picture for Love Hina: Spring Special is presented in a 4:3 ratio, and bears similarity to the quality of the series. The image is clear and sharp throughout, and the animation is crisp and well accomplished. Like most modern anime while the initial sketches are done by hand, the colouring and animation is done on computer resulting in a pristine animation. Love Hina is certainly dynamic in style and is visually very effective. However, this time the Hinata girls seem to have been anatomically enhanced.

Audio

You can listen to Love Hina: Spring Special in dubbed English DD 2.0 or the original Japanese track, again in DD 2.0. As always, I opted for the original language and found the dialogue to be clear and the on screen action adequately represented. There are two subtitle tracks on this disc; the default translates the various signs and captions that appear in the episodes, while the dialogue subtitles are translated rather than reflecting the dub. The original language is still the way to go in my opinion, as the dubbed version definitely loses something in the translation.

Features

MVM have a tendency to put textless credit sequences on most of their discs, but failed to do so on the Love Hina discs. They make up for this by putting them all on this one. So you get textless endings for the Spring Special, the Series, and the final episode. Also there is a textless opening for the series. In addition, you`ll find a stills gallery for the show, with 20 images, and trailers for Yu Yu Hakusho and Paranoia Agent (tantalisingly reminiscent of the X Files).

Conclusion

It`s more of the same as the inhabitants of the Hinata apartments embark on another adventure filled with slapstick relationship shenanigans. Yet for some reason, I felt a little disappointed with the Spring Special. For one thing it was going over much of the same ground as the series, and I felt that the story and the jokes especially felt recycled. Keitaro thinks he`s failed yet again, and yet again he runs off in shame. Once more the residents of Hinata go after him. He and Naru once again circle around a potential relationship without ever going that extra step, and misunderstandings and random acts of slapstick violence are dished out with regularity. Still, this is Love Hina, and in a way the familiarity is comfortable.

What is definitely a drawback to this disc is the running time. At barely 45 minutes, The Spring Special is the equivalent of two episodes, yet feels like one episode tenuously teased out into two. It`s bloated and stretched, so the funny moments are fewer in comparison to a tightly scripted episode from the series. Despite the extra time, the story revolves around Keitaro and Naru, and the other characters seem ancillary to the point of cameos. That`s with the exception of Shinobu, who provides the second storyline in the show. A year has passed and she is growing up to the point where she has been asked out for her first date. Now she has to decide whether to keep nursing that crush she has on Keitaro.

Another point worthy of mention is the `fan service` as I believe the appropriate term is. This is the tendency of anime to have plenty of shots of scantily clad female flesh to `service the fans`. Love Hina always has had a saucy sense of humour, though toned down somewhat from the manga. In the Spring Special, the heaving bosom quotient has been raised drastically, with some of the characters having had animated plastic surgery in the interim. These articulated breasts are almost hypnotic, in the real world they would have their own theatrical agents and would demand separate contracts. There`s even a wet T-shirt moment that induces nosebleeds. I`ll reserve judgement on whether it`s good or bad, but I will say this, it`s certainly a minor distraction.

The Love Hina Spring Special is still enjoyable, although not up to the standards of the television series. There are still moments of fun, including a Thunderbirds homage, and a cameo from manga creator Ken Akamatsu. The action and comedy may seem a little familiar, up to and including the giant Spring Turtle climax. It`s all the fun bits of Love Hina strung loosely together in a 45-minute running time. And that may be the one sticking point. This disc`s running time is a little brief to justify a high price point, especially when the Spring Special is hardly that special.

But if you have been following the Love Hina story, and want to see what happens next, the final scene moves the story along, and the end credits had me grinning with joy. You won`t mind the preceding 44 minutes of unstructured mayhem so much with what the last two minutes deliver.