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Love Hina: Christmas Special

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Title Info

• seen: 1 of 1
  
• type: OAV
  
• Other elements of this title:
  • This title is a sequel that extends a previous series.
• grade: watchable
  
• genre: harem
  
• form: sub
  
• source: fansub
  
• made: unknown
  
• Review created: Mon Feb 12 13:55:39 EST 2001
• mod: none
  

While not high art, or any sort of classic, the television series "Love Hina", was good fun and quite popular. And this is basically another dose of the same for the many fans of the series. Thus if you haven't seen the TV series it's open to question how much you're going to get out of this.

And even if you are a fan it probably will help a lot if you're a Keitaro/Narusegawa fan. For those who don't know the conflict / attraction between these two was the main plot element for the TV series, although it was not resolved. However many fans found a lot of the other females who surround the main pair, and have their own definite personalities and sub-plots, to be the true delight of the series. Their quirky personalities, interesting interactions and relationship to the main pair being the spice that made love hina so much fun. It also helps because the good-hearted but fumbling Keitaro could be awful painful to watch, and the stubborn and violent Narusegawa was likewise not universally popular.

For many people the endless confusion, misunderstandings and air of emotional crisis that surrounded their relationship became almost painful. Leading to a wish they'd either work it out or give it up. Well, if you share these opinions then this piece might test your patience. Because it is primarily another sample of the unending cycle of romance and confusion between the two leads. It begins simply enough, with a legend that confessions of love on christmas eve will make a wish come true. And from there it becomes more complicated, in no small part due to the actions of the remainder of the cast. As christmas eve draws closer the interactions get more complex and frenzied until a (somewhat) charming conclusion of sorts is reached. While this christmas eve be the first time that the lead couple actually express themselves clearly? And do they both want the same thing?

If you've seen the TV series you know the feel and can expect the sort of thing that's going to happen. In fact if you've seen any romantic comedy anime's you'll probably be familiar with this sort of thing. The disappointing part is that the story, which would have been multiple episodes of TV series, is compressed to fit within a single OAV episode. This gives it a fairly frantic pace and makes some of the actions seem very sudden and without foundation. This is going to be multiplied a thousand fold if you don't know who the hell these people are. The other problem is that the other characters, while they get their little moments, are largely marginalised in this story. And, once again, unless you know them well their actions are likely to be less than clear.

When it comes down to it this is a somewhat corny, fairly mushy, piece of comedy romance. It's clearly meant for fans of the series. Giving them another shot at their addiction, another sight of their favourite characters, and the teasing possibility of a resolution to the love hina storyline. It's really quite obvious, for instance the way just about every character, even quite minor ones, are included in the show even if only the most minor of cameo's or shallow representation. Even if, in some cases, their character actions don't make sense. And then, to really irritate, the show cops-out of actually making any definite statement. While it comes very close to some sort of conclusion the last section of the show is little more than a `just kidding' message. In other words the `unresolved romantic tension' will be continued.

The production is very close in style, appearance and budget to the TV series. This is not unexpected, since that is the target it's obviously aimed towards. However the relatively simple design, bright coloring and limited ability to do motion, does mean that it's not that great animation from a technical standpoint. It's cute enough, and bright and modern looking, to be easily watchable though. Mind you, I saw it on VCD and that really doesn't help, making everything less clear and sharp than I suspect it is. The voices are fine, almost certainly the same as the TV series, and the opening song is that same fun, energetic pop from the TV series.

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Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:21 WST 2009