Love Hina: Difference between revisions

When Keitaro arrives at Hinata House, he discovers that his grandmother has left already without leaving any instructions, and worse, failed to warn him that the former resort is now a girls-only dormitory. The inhabitants are less than pleased with the incursion of a "perverted male" into their domain, but he eventually convinces them to let him stay, on sufferance and with much vigilance on their part against any future misbehavior.

 

 

Thought by many to be the archetypal example of the harem genre, ''Love Hina'' is a comedy with a dramatic thread running through it. The story has a strong ensemble cast that adeptly brings together a wide variety of characters and character types into what can arguably be called a family. As one of the first anime to be produced entirely on computers, the art is crisp and clean and never suffers from the usual loss of quality that can affect traditionally-animated series during deadline crunches. Although Keitaro is subject to a large amount of cartoonishly slapstick violence at times, it is not just a love story but the story of his growth into an adult.

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[Accidental Pervert]]: Keitaro. Countless times.

** Inverted in one instance where Naru walks in on Keitaro changing, promptly screams that he's a pervert and punches him. She sheepishly explains it as a reflex action.

* [[Adorkable]]: Keitaro, all the way.

* [[Adventurer Archaeologist]]: Seta, and later Keitaro.

* [[Almost Kiss]]: Happens to Keitaro and Naru a lot. Mutsumi doesn't seem to have that problem however, as she kisses both of them on separate occasions.

* [[Always Someone Better]]: Seta to Motoko (and Haruka to an extent,) also Tsuruko to Motoko.

* [[Blind Without'Em]]: Keitaro and sometimes Naru. There's a whole episode centered on this.

* [[Boke and Tsukkomi Routine]]: Mutsumi's non-sequiturs, puns and general daffiness are patterned after the idiot side of the routine, with Keitaro or Naru reacting like the straight man. (Though Keitaro is usually the one that ends up getting hit.)

* [[Bound and Gagged]]: {{spoiler|Kanako}} does this to Shinobu, when she stumbled onto her {{spoiler|sniffing her brother's shirt}} and later imprisons Su and Sarah when they barge in on her room and see {{spoiler|she had been impersonating Shinobu a few seconds ago.}}

** This being {{spoiler|Kanako}}'s specialty, she ties up every character at one point or another.

* [[Censor Steam]]: Opaque enough for the audience, but apparently not enough to spare Keitaro's hide.

** On a related note, we have, at one point, Censor Suu. This sort involves hanging one strategically-folded Kaolla Su around Motoko's neck, and letting her run around the screen for a few panels before and after to justify her presence.

* [[Childhood Marriage Promise]]: And it starts getting really convoluted.

* [[Christmas Cake]]: Subverted - {{spoiler|Haruka and Seta get married late in the manga.}}

* [[Cross-Popping Veins]]: Several characters display these, but mostly Naru.

* [[Cry Cute]]: Aunt Haruka, Narusegawa Naru and Aoyama Motoko. Kanako does this occasionally, when Keitaro can't remember his promise to her.

* [[A Date with Rosie Palms]]: After Kitsune gave Keitaro his first grope, Naru assumed he was going to do this. It didn't end well.

* [[Dark-Skinned Blond]]: The Su sisters.

* [[Does Not Like Shoes]]/[[Foot Focus]]: Kaolla Su is usually barefoot. Also, her sister Amalla Su is barefoot all the time.

* [[Dojikko]]: Mutsumi.

* [[Driven to Suicide]]: Played for laughs every time Motoko suffers a severe setback: she suddenly and overdramatically threatens to commit seppuku, [[Jidai Geki]] style.

** Defied in the manga. The girls like to assume an unlikely worst-case scenario of Keitaro killing himself if hit with extremely bad news or misfortune. So they try to keep him away from the problem or just be exceptionally nice to him for a change.

* [[Green Rooming]]: Motoko (along with her "groupies") is introduced in the first minutes of the first episode, but she immediately leaves on a training excursion, thus freeing up screen time for introductions of the other characters before she gets her turn to take center stage in the third episode.

* [[Hachimaki]]

* [[Hair Antennae]]: Naru and Mutsumi

* [[Hard-Drinking Party Girl]]: Kitsune

* [[Hilarity Ensues]]: The wholes series can be summed up as: A man becomes the [[Landlord]] of an all girls dorm, [[Hilarity Ensues]].

* [[Hime Cut]]: Motoko and Tsuruko.

* [[Hot Springs Episode]]: Pretty much the entire series, except for the previously mentioned [[Beach Episode|beach episodes]].

* [[Humiliation Conga]]: The 10th volume was essentially about Kanako repeatedly subjecting the girls to this for constantly abusing Keitaro.

* [[Megaton Punch]]: Naru Punch!

** Taken to extreme in the anime. Keitaro receives several per episode, and a lot of times it seems any answer he gives Naru results in one of these. Fortunately he's [[Iron Butt Monkey|pretty durable]].

* [[Meta Guy]]: Kanako.

* [[Moment Killer]]: Someone should count all the times this happens.

* [[My Fist Forgives You]]: Explicitly done by Naru over the diary incident, but also kind of by implication several other times.

* [[My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours]]

* [[Naked First Impression]]

* [[Nerd Glasses]]

** [[Immortal Life Is Cheap]] as consequence.

** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in the manga when part of the Budokan falls on Keitaro. {{spoiler|He breaks a leg.}}

* [[Sacred First Kiss]]

* [[Samurai]]: Later Motoko, plus her sister Tsuruko.

* [[Scenery Censor]]: Usually played fairly subtly, but it's all over the place in the manga.

* [[Sdrawkcab Name]]: Of the syllabic variant. When Naru and Kanako are competing against each other in a fighting game at an arcade, Naru's character name is Luna, Kanako's Konaka (who's also totally a [[Captain Ersatz]] of [[Street Fighter|Ibuki]]).

* [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]: The Urashima family owns an heirloom katana that happens to be the vessel for a powerful demon that nearly obliterated all of Kyoto. The seal isn't particularly strong—simply drawing the sword will unleash the demon, allowing it to possess the wielder.

* [[Selective Obliviousness]]

* [[Self-Serving Memory]]: The first half of Episode 4, with Keitaro writing in his diary.

** Keitaro tries to do this with Naru and Seta. Fortunately for him, Seta doesn't see her that way, and instead [[Everyone Can See It|points out the obvious.]] Then either Keitaro or Naru [[She Is Not My Girlfriend|will try to deny it.]]

** Naru herself tries to do this towards Keitaro and Mutsumi in the manga, while her sister tries it in the anime. The scene where Naru is dressed up like a nerd while Mutsumi is wearing a pretty dress is the same in both versions, although Naru does this herself in the manga, while her sister does it in the anime.

* [[Shrinking Violet]]: Maehara Shinobu

* [[Slapstick Knows No Gender]]: Everyone in the show aside from Haruka and Tsuruko gets hit with an [[Amusing Injury]] at some point.

* [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]]: By the truckload, though that's hardly unusual [[Unwanted Harem|for the genre]].

* [[Unwanted Harem]]

* [[Visual Pun]]:

{{quote|'''Kitsune:''' Stop slacking off up there!}}

** Later lost on a desert island finding an Oasis Naru takes one while making a Leaf Bikini.

* [[We Can Rule Together]]: {{spoiler|Suu}}, in an unusually literal sense.

* [[Weddings in Japan]]: Keitaro and Naru's, and Haruka and Seta's.

* [[We Really Do Care]]: Keitaro and Naru go off on their own vacations and wind up together anyway. Everyone else in the house believes they're going to commit suicide together, and rush out to stop them. {{spoiler|They really weren't obviously}}.

* [[What the Hell, Hero?|What the Hell, Tsundere?]]: Kanako really reams Naru out for her treatment of Keitaro.