ラブひな
Love Hina Manga Volume 5 Review

Note: Volume 5 is included in Omnibus Volume 2

–> Purchase Omnibus Volume 2 from RAKUTEN.COM (formerly BUY.COM)
–> Purchase Omnibus Volume 2 from BARNES & NOBLE
–> Purchase Volume 5 from RIGHTSTUF!
–> Purchase Omnibus Volume 2 from RIGHTSTUF!

*SPOILERS!!!*

Things get started with Haruka getting the girls of Hinata-sou and Keitaro to help her work her beach tea house for the summer season. This ends up being an arc that takes up half the volume and some interesting developments.

Naru is trying to assess the awkwardness between Keitaro and herself and the thoughts of being involved romantically with him while Keitaro is depressed about Naru possibly liking Seta. The chapter has the near kiss between Shinobu and Keitaro after a staged drowning. It also has one of the funniest moments in the manga for me with Keitaro appearing to fart on Motoko and Shinobu in the water. *lol*

Haitani and Shirai drop in and offer Keitaro some advice on Naru while Kitsune gets Naru to semi-confess she likes Keitaro. When Naru and Keitaro are together, Haitani gets frustrated at Keitaro’s slow pace and throws a can of beer at him, causing him to grab Naru’s chest and leading her to get angry. She’s still angry with him during the Summer Festival, so she takes it out on him by going around with Seta. Keitaro counters by going around with Shinobu. Naru and Keitaro end up alone together at the end of the night but Keitaro’s apology is misheard by Naru who gets even angrier.

While Naru’s attitude and actions are frustrating to say the least, Akamatsu-sensei uses this as an opportunity to show Shinobu and Keitaro as a potential couple even though we as the audience don’t buy that they’ll ever be a couple (and that’s not what Akamatsu-sensei is trying to sell). We also get to see Shinobu even cuter than normal to say nothing of Motoko’s increased femininity. ^_^

Naru and Keitaro’s conflict continues through their participation in a play reenacting Journey to the West with Keitaro playing the part of Sanzou and Naru as Son Goku. When the story has Sanzou taken by Gyu-maoh (the Ox King), who’s played by Seta, Naru decides on a casting change and becomes Sanzou, leaving Keitaro to be Son Goku. Motoko, playing Gojou, decides to battle Seta because she recognizes his skill. After Motoko’s defeat, Keitaro decides to fight for Naru but that leads to him causing her a wardrobe malfunction and another setback.

Those current with Negima! will know that Akamatsu-sensei has gone back to Journey to the West for a bit of inspiration (I’ll say no more but I discuss that here). Regardless, it was nice reading that again. Also, we get a bit more about Motoko’s Shinmei Ryuu techniques, something that also plays in Negima! To wrap things up, there’s Akamatsu-sensei showing himself to be a fan of the Princess Leia bikini from Return of the Jedi by having Naru is such a bikini.

Seta takes off and leaves an irritated Sarah, who decides to take it out on Naru and Keitaro by having them take her to a small island. The revenge plan backfires on Sarah when they all end up stranded but by nightfall, it leads to Naru and Keitaro making up (after Haitani and Shirai had earlier set Naru straight). Further, their lips meet when Sarah kicks Naru as Sarah sleeps. Akamatsu-sensei loves these kinds of “sorta” kisses as he did something similar in Negima!

Returning home, kissing becomes the hot topic with Shinobu trying lipstick and Su making a kissing machine that takes Motoko’s first kiss. As I read this volume, I see that Akamatsu-sensei took the picture diary of Shinobu and used it as the basis for Nodoka’s pactio artifact in Negima! *lol* Well, Akamatsu-sensei may recycle ideas and concepts, but the way I see it, they are improved upon in the process.

When Tama-chan stops one of Motoko’s attacks, she leaves Hinata-sou to train. At the end of the day, she discovers Keitaro, Su, Sarah, and Tama-chan waiting for her. Realizing that Keitaro is the source of her problems, Motoko takes him out to be rid of him, only to have an accident that requires Keitaro to care for her and for Motoko to remember her sister. When Motoko awakens, Keitaro revealing that he and Naru planned to have fun with their studies leads Motoko to realize how she can master the Zanganken technique that has eluded her and she proves it with Keitaro.

Since Motoko is my favorite character, any story that develops her character is going to be liked by me. Plus, it makes Motoko a bit closer to Keitaro to enforce the harem aspects of the series.

A typhoon has Keitaro and Naru alone in Hinata-sou with Su. During the eye of the storm, a red full moon appears, causing Su to transform into an older teen version of herself. We learn a bit more about Su but since Su is my least-favorite character, that wouldn’t be of interest to me normally. By making Su take on an older appearance, Su became a more interesting character. Akamatsu-sensei doesn’t really bother explaining why Su transforms during the red moon but oddly enough, I think the audience just accepts this and moves on (I did).

The volume ends with Kitsune entertaining herself by first spying on Naru and Keitaro, then using an unconscious Naru (and Su’s technology) to attempt to seduce Keitaro. After Naru comes too, she accidentally reveals her feelings for Keitaro when she believes that Kitsune is making a move on him. Gotta like how Akamatsu-sensei uses Kitsune to force Naru to slip up a bit and reveal the truth. ^_^

So, we have a fairly fun volume that basically avoids most of the “gotta study to get into college” stuff of the earlier volumes. That gives the volume a different and fresher feel, which is very welcome. As I’ve said before, I hope Love Hina can get licensed rescued and brought up to date adaption-wise. Maybe Seven Seas can score a coup and Adam Arnold can have a chance to do it right without interference. ^_^