Love Hina Omnibus Volume 02 Manga Review

ラブひな Omnibus Volume 02
Love Hina Omnibus Volume 02 Manga Review



*SPOILERS!*

Love Hina Omnibus Volume 02 Manga ReviewThis second omnibus volume of Love Hina from Kodansha Comics covers original volumes four through six.  Some of the highlights covered in this book are the introduction of the brat character Sarah McDougal, the semi-adopted daughter of Seta. Motoko’s gets defeated by Keitaro, then she uses him to gain mastery over a new technique, after which she has some level of respect for him. Keitaro becomes Seta’s assistant, and learns that he’d once tutored Naru, causing Keitaro to just assume Naru is still in love with Seta. The girls and Keitaro spend a week at the beach, working a tea house to raise capital for the running of Hinata Inn. Mutsumi returns and moves to Hinata City, within earshot of Hinata Inn.  Naru discovers that she had stayed at Hinata Inn as a very young child, but also discovers that Keitaro and Mutsumi were there at the same time, thus concluding that Mutsumi must be the promised girl of Keitaro’s memory.

While most of this book contains stand alone chapters, or really short arcs (such as the beach trip), the end finally begins pushing forward the main plot of Keitaro and the promised girl.  It also helps further establish that despite Naru’s wishy-washy nature concerning her feelings for Keitaro, she does have them.  Being a Motoko fan, my favorite parts of the manga have to be Keitaro blocking one of Motoko’s attacks (thus defeating her), and Motoko then being forced to dress up in a more girlish fashion.  Then later when Keitaro leads Su and Sarah to go rescue Motoko, I loved how Motoko glomped Keitaro after finally learning that new sword technique.  It makes what happens down the road have more meaning.  It is part of how Akamatsu-sensei usually does a very good job of establishing certain things so that later stories have more meaning.

Unfortunately, my original TokyoPop volumes are packed up in the basement, and I’m too lazy to go dig them up, but I think that the Kodansha Comic release has a few more extras from the original Japanese book(s). There are also the translator notes, which are always a win with me.

You’ll have to forgive me, but since I read this omnibus some time ago, I can’t remember if I saw any obvious, quality control issues. On the translation side, all honorifics are included and the names are properly done (which that alone for me is a reason to double-dip purchase the manga).  I was a bit disappointed that Motoko’s speaking of her older sister did not contain “neesan” or “neesama” (whichever it was in the original Japanese), while Adult Su does address Keitaro as “Niisama” at one point. It is a minor thing, but I would have liked Motoko to have referred to her sister by the proper title.

I would have loved having the original, color cover art to be included as an extra, as well as the few color manga pages, but alas, that’s not here (not unexpected, but it is something I’d like).

For me, this harem, romantic comedy manga is well worth a purchase, so much so that I have double-dipped on buying it since I own the original TokyoPop volumes. If you’d like to see an earlier work of Akamatsu-sensei, or just like fun, harem comedies (howbeit a bit ecchi), I highly recommend this classic manga series.


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7 Responses to “Love Hina Omnibus Volume 02 Manga Review”

  1. The translations are somewhat different from the Tokyopop counterpart. The translation was a long-needed facelift from the ancient translation from Tokyopop. Apart from that, Tokyopop provided fewer omake pages (extras) than the Kodansha counterpart. If you also have J-Comi’s app, or go to J-Comi’s website, you will find out that the extras matched J-Comi’s version to an extent. For this one, I’m going to say “Good Job, Kodansha”… that is, unless there were translation errors >.>

  2. Lan says:

    I hate the use of the word ‘old’. its not your fault, I know the manga is going on 10 years now, but, its just that it really doesnt feel like it. Even the word ‘classic’ doesnt do this title any justice. Its not old, and its not classic. Its fresh, upbeat, solid, funny, touching, invigorating and a breath of fresh air. Irreplaceable.
    if you have never watched it or read it, heres your chance. the manga is better than the anime, so you wont be disappointed.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Tokyopop included some of the extras early on, but then started dropping them completely for, I assume, cost and page count reasons. All that extra material was translated, though. And while some of it didn’t pertain to the manga itself, it did offer a unique time capsule look at the making of the anime and its production.

    Btw, there were a few proposals drawn up for what would’ve been releases of the Love Hina 0 and Mugendai (infinity) fan books. Shame those never made it out here. Those two books, together with the 0->14 CD-Rom, offer up pretty much everything you’d ever want to know about the making of Love Hina and its universe.

    – Adam

  4. djwoodyp says:

    yeah ive been enjoying reading the rerelease of love hina!! its mint that they inclouded more of the bonus pages and stuff, and to be taken back to when i read it first time is awsome!! i cant wait for the rest of the omnibuses to be released!! im also wondering how there goin to release them, with either omnibus 3 and four having 4 chapters each, or if there goin to remain with the 3 chapters each and to a two chapters volume 5? anyone know how there goin to do it?!! cheers lol love hinas mint!!!!!!!! with a capital M!!!!!!!

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