Love Hina 12

ラブ ひな [Love Hina] #12

by Ken Akamatsu

Keytarô es el único estudiante masculino en una residencia femenina…

Genres: Manga, Romance, Graphic Novels, Comedy, Fiction, Comics, Comics Manga

192 pages, Paperback

First published July 17, 2001

About the author

Ken Akamatsu (赤松 健, Akamatsu Ken, July 5, 1968 -) is a Japanese mangaka from Tokyo.

In his teenage years, Akamatsu failed the entrance exam to Tokyo University, and applied for Film Study instead (it is speculated that this is where he got the idea for Love Hina). Eventually, he became famous as an illustrator featured in Comiket (short for Comic Market, a comic convention bi-annually held in Japan). He used the pen name Awa Mizuno (水野 亜和, MIZUNO Awa). Akamatsu, still in college, then proceeded to win the Weekly Shonen Magazine award twice. His "A Kid's Game for One Summer" was awarded the coveted 50th Shonen Magazine Newcomer's Award soon after he graduated.

After a big hit with A.I. Love You, he finally made a grand success with his new manga, Love Hina. The series appeared in Weekly Shonen Magazine and has been collected in eleven volumes (with fourteen volumes in total), which have sold over 6 million copies in Japan, and received the Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen in 2001.
Akamatsu had added elements of his own life experiences to the story, and this was said to have induced a unique feeling to the manga especially for Western readers, whose lack of familiarity with Japanese culture for the most part added to the effect. The series, published in America in 2002, was especially well received in many overseas countries - Akamatsu was surprised that even foreign readers found Love Hina to be "cute" and to their liking.

He is now married to his wife 'Kanon' Akamatsu, who was previously a singer/idol. He is currently working on his latest manga series, Negima!: Magister Negi Magi, which is his longest running manga so far. Like Love Hina, has also been made into an anime series. A second independent retelling of Negima was made called Negima!?. Both series were produced by XEBEC (Negima!? was produced by SHAFT).

Reviews

[Arnis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Četru gadu vecumā Keitaro Urashima un kāda atmiņu dzīlēs pēc vārda aizmirsta meitene reiz smilšu kastē viens otram devuši solījumu, ka abi reiz iekļūs Todai universitātē vien aiz tā iemesle, ka jau tādā vecumā padzirdējuši, ka diviem mīlētājiem kopā esot Todai mīlestība garantēta uz mūžu.

https://poseidons99.wordpress.com/202...

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ken Akamatsu, Love Hina, vol. 12 (Tokyopop, 2001)

Keitaro's back, and it's finally time for he and Naru to get together, right? Except that Kanako is standing in the way, and so is Naru's own indecision. As a result, Naru flees, and the rest of the Hinata House crew traverse all Japan trying to get her and Keitaro together. It's great to see Love Hina back on track with this volume. ****

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than 11, but I still can't stand Kanako.

[Bibliothecat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for the complete series



Keitaro just doesn't seem to be successful at anything - he failed his university entrance exam twice, was thrown out by his parents and just generally seems plagued by bad luck. Wanting to give the entrance exam another go, he decides to find accommodation in his grandmother's hotel. Upon arrival, though, it turns out that the hotel has now become a girl's dormitory where he is anything but welcome. But luck might be coming Keitaro's way after all when he learns that his grandmother has transferred the dormitory's ownership to him!

Love Hina seems to be a case of people either loving it and considering it a classic, while others think of it as a sexist work full of fanservice. I find myself in neither of these groups, though I have read other works by the author that really deserve being called out for sexism. In any case, let me start by saying that I love Akamatsu's art - especially in Love Hina. His earlier works weren't as nice to look at while I find that post-Love Hina works lost character and just look very generic.

So apart from loving the art, this was also one of the first manga I read and bought and therefore also has some nostalgia effect on me. As I was still new to reading manga and didn't know much about the different genres, because I had seen a lot of pictures of it and just generally liked the look of it, I decided to give this one a try. I didn't realise until much later that I wasn't even the target audience for this series, and even back then, it was never a huge favourite of mine, though I certainly did always enjoy reading.

I first and foremostly enjoy Love Hina as a comedy, it is one of the most hilarious manga I have read and often has me laughing out loud. A large chunk of the comedy can certainly be called 'dirty jokes', yet it's a far call from what people give it - I don't think that these jokes are sexist, indecent or demeaning towards women in any way. The girls in this manga all have very different personalities, but with the except of shy Shinobu, they're all pretty tough and know how to deal with the male characters of this series (although Keitaro is more often blamed when actually innocent than not).

The characters are another strong point in this series. I find Keitaro a very likeable main character - he draws bad luck like no other but is very kind and caring. He learns and recognises his weaknesses and definitely grows as the story progresses. Still, bad luck seems to stick with him all the way to the last chapter. In any case, I love the original cast of the girl's dormitory, they are such a varied but well-balanced group. They are great friends, a bit crazy together and there's at least one for every kind of reader to enjoy. My personal favourites are Naru, Mutsumi, Shinobu and Motoko - which actually surprises me as Shinobu and Motoko were among my least favourite when I read this series initially.

Another thing I love about this series and that speaks against the harem sexist accusations is the fact that not all the girls are in love him Keitaro. I am very sure that several of them are just interested in a platonic kind of relationship, e.g. I don't believe that Su sees in him anything but a big brother. Only some of them are genuinely interested in him and I think all of them have feelings that are well-developed and according to their personalities. I also think the female bodies are nicely drawn and natural-looking - there are no extremely overshaped breasts or curves as one can find in most other 'fan service' series.

Nonetheless, there are a few things that I also don't enjoy about Love Hina. At around the tenth volume, the story starts to drag. Ten volumes seems a good amount to wrap up this kind of story, instead, we get some additional characters that are utterly annoying and just unnecessary. Sara has to be among the most annoying little girl characters I've ever come across! But at least she still adds to the story while the whole Kanako arc felt like a major filler to just drag everything out. The fact that it was never mentioned that Keitaro has an adopted sister made it feel all the more as though it was an afterthought to keep the show running. I find Kanako a very unpleasant character and wish her part would have been left out. Since her appearance, the series felt more and more estranged from its original genre as there was a lot of over-the-top action going on.

But hey, annoying characters and arcs aside, Love Hina has one of the best endings, or rather epilogues, out there. It brings the whole series to a nice round conclusion and gives you a nice idea of what's become of everyone - it was really the best way this series could have ended!

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uh... ewww! Rated R.

Look. I've seen similar plots on TV and in the movies. A boy and girl suddenly become brother and sister when their parents marry. They fall in love, and what can they do? They are siblings! But in this story we don't find out that brother and sister are unrelated by blood until later. Initially, the reader is to think that the brother and sister are actual brother and sister, with sister seriously pursuing her brother.

Like volume 11, this story is all goofed up. The author seems to have abandoned the initial romance story between Naru and Keitaro, and substituted a reluctant romance between Keitaro and his adopted sister, Kanako. It is wild and crazy and in most parts makes no sense to me.

Any modesty issues? Yes. Lots. Don't even ask. If you look at the cover art you will see a pool scene. It is a picture of Naru and Kanako in the foreground but in the lower right you can see Sara, a little girl, floating in the water with her backside visible.

I am moving on to Volume 13 where the story returns to the romantic comedy it was before this weird little interlude. It is a little crazy nevertheless.

[Soobie is expired · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kanako mi sta enormemente sulle scatole: che gusto c'è in un personaggio che si trasforma in tutti gli altri per fare dispetti.

Però la parte finale, in cui tutto il gruppo si mette alla ricerca di Naru rincorrendola per tutto il Giappone non mi è dispiaciuto. Mi ha ricordato un po' Il meraviglioso viaggio di Nils Holgersson... Molto vagamente.

[Amara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incest, homophobia, but confession

[Chad Shamrowicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heart breaks more and more...

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ages 16 +

[Kurtis Burkhardt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty great Romance manga, really good story and love the art style 😁👌❤️

[Shannon Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems that in the last few volumes I'm going to see the story wrapped up nicely. The story development has come a long way from the beginning.

[Carol-Ann Godbout · Rating 2 out of 5]

NOT a fan of the Sister love relationship...

[Michael Beyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not Ken Akamatsu's best work. But Love Hina is an award-winning Manga series. It is certainly enjoyable. And some of the artwork is very good.

[Lou · Rating 2 out of 5]

Le brother complex c’était trop

[Laura de Haro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally!!

[Eric Mesa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book continues where the last one left off: with Kanako desperate to get intimate (physically and emotionally) with her adopted brother. While not biological incest, I still am not completely comfortable with it. Of course, coupled with the fact that she's constantly doing what would be considered rapist behavior - impersonating others to get in bed/kiss/etc with him, tying him up, refusing to take "no" as an answer - it's a bit much.

Interestingly, for MOST of the previous books MOST of the girls denied feeling anything for Keitaro. The exceptions being Kitsune who at least always seemed up for a romp in bed with Keitaro and Shinobu. In this trade basically it's become Ranma or Tenchi up in this place. Everyone's implied to essentially be fantasizing about him for their pleasure. The change in dynamic mere serves to frustrate me (and maybe most/all?) readers with Keitaro's constant torch carrying for the tsundere Naru who doesn't want him, but doesn't want others to have him.

Fortunately, by the end she's made a decision and, unlike previous books, it appears from what they do on the last couple pages that this time she means it.

Two more books to see where Akamatsu takes things. I think this series may cement my thoughts that I'm pretty much going to have to be convinced to read any lovey/dovey manga in the future. Between Ranma and this one, it seems like just WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much will they won't they. I'd prefer to have that settled within the first book or two and then focus on how they deal with the relationship and even, gasp, find out they perhaps weren't right for each other.

[Onírica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Si queréis leer una obra realmente magistral de Ken Akamatsu, leed la serie "Negima!: Magister Negi Magi" Una historia bien pensada que te atrapa, con personajes que evolucionan psicológicamente, un dibujo preciosista cargado de detalles y profundidad de planos en cada página, momentos trepidantes y realmente emocionantes, y una aventura interesante que leer. Probadla, de verdad.

[Annchan Maulana · Rating 3 out of 5]

i watch the anime version :
it is about a boy name Urashima Keitaro who became girls's dorm caretaker, since he fails his ent-exams into Tokyo University for the 2nd time and officially an unemployed plus his parents kicked him out of the house ^_^"
And the story begin ..

[Derek Moreland · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series probably could have been about two books shorter. Every single chapter in this collection had an extended chase scene. I realize that's a running gag in the series, but seriously: every. Single. Chapter.

[¿Lôre? · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved the ending.

[Amy]

Love Hina, Vol. 12 by Ken Akamatsu (2003)

[Shane23 dotson]

very funny

[Benjamin Plume · Rating 4 out of 5]

funny, if a little strange.

[Izzie Flynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun series!

[Lucie Lacoste · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'adore <3