Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Love Hina volume 1 by Ken Akamatsu ::
by William the Bloody
Keitaro Urashima is nineteen years old and in his second year as a Ronin (re: high school graduate who can't pass university entrance exams), and because of this, his parents kicked him out. He could probably make it into a university, but he has his sights set on the prestigious Tokyo University due to a promise to his long lost childhood sweetheart. The only place he can think to go to save on rent is to live with his grandmother in the hotel she runs, the Hinata House. No one is around when Keitaro arrives, so he makes himself to home while waiting for his grandmother with a nice soak in the hot spring out back. Suddenly, there's a woman in the spring who screams when she sees Keitaro, and he runs, bumping into angry girl after angry girl. It turns out, grandma converted her hotel into a women only dormitory, put Keitaro's aunt in charge, and left on world wide sight seeing tour. The tenants are furious for a boy to just wander into a girl's house and are going to toss him out on his butt, when Aunt Haruka asks him how being a student at Tokyo University is treating him, obviously unaware of his current situation. Before Keitaro can correct her, all of the girls in the house go crazy at the idea that he could be a student at famous Tokyo U, and invite him to stay. At first, it was a simple misunderstanding for the girls to think he was an actual university student, but going with the flow led to Keitaro to accidentally all-out lie about it, and of course his cover gets blown and his welcome is worn out once more. Keitaro is going to go back to his parents with his tail between his legs, when grandmother sends a fax to the Hinata House that transfers ownership of the building and property to none other than Keitaro himself. Can this boy maintain a women's dormitory without its residents killing him, and more importantly, without these new responsibilities interfering with his preparatory school studies to make it into Tokyo U once and for all and maybe reconnect with the girl of his dreams?
The Good: I'm loving the art work! It's very clean and crisp, but also detailed. The characters and situations are all quite fun and funny, giving us plenty of moments for the hapless Keitaro to stumble upon an awkward situation with one of his tenants. The tension between Keitaro and the "lead" girl tenant Naru really feels genuine, if a bit goofy. I also like Motoko, one of the other female tenants, how she knows and practices kendo, and isn't afraid to use her sword on Keitaro if he misbehaves!
The Bad: The oddly occurring somewhat sexual situations Keitaro manages to get himself into start to feel a bit repetitive after a while, and this is only the first volume, so I wonder if the series will get "old" not too far into it.
Overall, Love Hina volume 1 is very bouncy and upbeat fun. This installment was very fast paced and had good comedic timing. You can really get a good introductory feel for the characters here, and I kind of like them. You really want Keitaro to study hard and make it into Tokyo U, but you kind of don't at the same time. I mean, he's shooting for Tokyo U with the hope of meeting his childhood sweetheart there (who he can barely remember), but now for the first time since then, he has girls all around him, and Naru his study buddy is right there in front of him. makes me curious what direction the story will take. If you like manga with that awkward but funny sexual tension, Love Hina might be just right for you.
B+
