A trio of fresh new Love Hina links.

 

As I said it would, posting has started to pick up for the Manga Moveable Feast, with three new links for your reading pleasure. Remember, if you want to participate in the MMF, be sure to send a link to your Love Hina-related musings to jason [at] playbackstl [dot] com or via Twitter @PLAYBACKjason.

 

First up, Ash Brown of Experiments in Manga checks in with a review of the Love Hina omnibus. A few years ago, Brown “read about half of Love Hina, but for some reason never finished it.” Will the series fare better this time? Well, the jury’s still out on that one.

 

“While I don't actively dislike Love Hina, I'm not finding myself particularly engaged by it, either. I'm not really sure why, because there are parts I really like. I appreciate the fact that all the young women living at Hinata Inn have distinct personalities that are, for the most part, independent from Keitaro. It is fairly clear from their interactions with one another that the household has an established rapport and that Keitaro has simply been added to the mix. […] There are some genuinely funny moments in Love Hina amongst the silliness and I'm glad that I gave the series another look.”

 

PLAYBACK:stl’s own Sarah Boslaugh also reviews the first Kodansha omnibus, but this time from the perspective of someone new to the series.

 

“Despite the essential silliness of Love Hina, Keitaro is a likeable character and I found myself identifying with him a bit. He's in the position of a lot of young adults in that he's unsure of his place in the world, yet he's also well-intentioned and hard-working so you have to admire his spirit and hope that things work out for him.” 

 

And finally, “Animemiz” at Anime Diet takes a less straightforward route, eschewing a traditional review and instead sharing some memories raised by re-reading the series, as well as of purikura, the Japanese photo booth stickers that Keitaro voracious collects. What I found most interesting, though, was this comment:

 

“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[, least] emotional female in Love Hina.”

 

Keitaro’s Aunt Haruka doesn’t get many props (heck, I’m almost embarrassed to point out that this is the first time she’s been mentioned so far), so it’s cool to see her get her due.| Jason Green