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Love Hina Manga

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M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Alright, so I wound up spending a good 5 hours at B&N last night, chilling before/during the Harry Potter 6 release, so I picked up a few Manga volumes to read through (when I wasn't playing some awesome wifi DS and PSP games), and one of them actually engrossed me. Love Hina Vol. I.

Now, the only Manga I actually own are the Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds books. I've always liked anime, for the most part, but was away from the States when Manga got big, apparently, and never really got into it.

How is it that something like Love Hina, with it's suggestive themes and outright nudity can sit in a stand in front of the fantasy section next to comics and other, kiddier manga books within easy reach of well... all the kiddies.

Also, what do you guys think about it. I haven't bought any of it yet, just curious to hear from fans and haters alike.
 
I love both the anime and the manga. It was the first series that got me into the whole anime culture. The manga is definitely recommended as it's the only way you can finish the story.
 
even before Love Hina, there was the nudity in Inu Yasha and Ranma 1/2 that sat on stores for kids to peruse. I think it was the whole "they're comicbooks, they can't possibly be bad" attitude back in the day. I guess as long as parents don't complain, we'll continue to see light PG-13ish nudity in manga go uncensored.

There were complaints about the nudity in the Dragonball manga though, so those ended up getting censored.
 
I actually like the manga better than the anime, the only thing I didn't like was the the manga should have ended a few books sooner, that last few definitly feel like they are on life support.
 
Yeah, I dunno. It was even the light nudity or anything. Hell, if it came to it, and I was into that, free hentai is easy to find on the net. It was just so damn crazy and funny. I might buy 'em after all. Are all 14 volumes easily acquired?

Is the anime essentially the same story?
 
Kind of but not really, think of it as a an alternate universe. There are some anime episodes that do not follow the manga, Koalla makes giant mecha-tutrles, and Keitaro has a rival for Naru. I haven't seen Love Hina Again, but where the anime ends in the summer speciel is where Keitaro finds out he's been accepted to Tokyo U. while on that tropical island dig with Seta.
 
Pellham said:
even before Love Hina, there was the nudity in Inu Yasha and Ranma 1/2 that sat on stores for kids to peruse. I think it was the whole "they're comicbooks, they can't possibly be bad" attitude back in the day. I guess as long as parents don't complain, we'll continue to see light PG-13ish nudity in manga go uncensored.

There were complaints about the nudity in the Dragonball manga though, so those ended up getting censored.
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Animated/comic Nudity isn't a big taboo in Japan. I remember growing up and seeing the breasts (no nipples though) of one of the female character in Doraemon, a children's comic book. She had passed out while undressed and had to be 'rescued'. It certainly made me curious about the female anatomy, but I didn't become a pervert or anything. It's just more accepted in the Japanese culture that manga is an ok medium to tackle sexual subjects.

That is not to say nudity is tolerated thoroughly, but most books aimed at teens and young adults would have lots of nudity in them with censorship being a bit stricter for elementary school age comic books.
 
The manga is pretty decent for the first couple volumes, but one can only take Keitaro "accidentally" grabbing Naru and getting punched into orbit for so long.

The anime is stupid.
 
I once wrote this about both Love Hina and Video Girl Ai: I came out really enjoying it and liking the characters, but the overuse of fanservicey breast shots and such almost makes me embarrassed to admit reading it. Perhaps I am stuck in a similar situation as the guy who reads Playboy for the articles?
 
JoshuaJSlone said:
I once wrote this about both Love Hina and Video Girl Ai: I came out really enjoying it and liking the characters, but the overuse of fanservicey breast shots and such almost makes me embarrassed to admit reading it. Perhaps I am stuck in a similar situation as the guy who reads Playboy for the articles?
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You're not alone. Love Hina is part of a genre of manga called Shounen-Ai, or Boys Love, usually involving one guy falling in love and entering into love traingles and stuff like that and it's one of the popular otaku genres. Publishers had to redesign the covers of the mangas to make people buying them less embarassed about it.
 
Deku said:
You're not alone. Love Hina is part of a genre of manga called Shounen-Ai, or Boys Love, usually involving one guy falling in love and entering into love traingles and stuff like that and it's one of the popular otaku genres. Publishers had to redesign the covers of the mangas to make people buying them less embarassed about it.
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Erm Shounen-ai/Boys Love is homosexual boys love stories... I think Love Hina just falls under the romantic comedy genre that is actually pretty popular among adult males in Japan. Didn't Love Hina run in a seinen publication?
 
Deku said:
Love Hina is part of a genre of manga called Shounen-Ai, or Boys Love, usually involving one guy falling in love and entering into love traingles and stuff like that and it's one of the popular otaku genres.
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Uh, shounen-ai refers to homosexual male romance, usually involving young men. Boys Love can refer to that, or more explicit stuff with even...younger males.
 
Pellham said:
Erm Shouenen-ai/Boys Love is homosexual boys love stories... I think Love Hina just falls under the romantic comedy genre that is actually pretty popular among adult males in Japan. Didn't Love Hina run in a seinen publication?
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Love Hina was in a Shounen magazine actually. Same for Video Girl which was in Jump.
 
Dead said:
Love Hina was in a Shounen magazine actually. Same for Video Girl which was in Jump.
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Really? That's interesting. Shounen romantic comedies usually involve junior high/high school students, not ronin/college students, which is why I thought Love Hina was from a seinen mag.
 
Pellham said:
I think Love Hina just falls under the romantic comedy genre that is actually pretty popular among adult males in Japan. Didn't Love Hina run in a seinen publication?
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It probably falls under the big romantic comedy umbrella in Japan. Here in the states, most anime fans kind of lump it into the harem subgenre of romantic comedy. Romantic comedies generally involve high school age folks but it's not like it's the only setting for one. Maison Ikkoku is a romantic comedy but it involves a college age guy and a once married woman. =P

Deku said:
You're not alone. Love Hina is part of a genre of manga called Shounen-Ai, or Boys Love, usually involving one guy falling in love and entering into love traingles and stuff like that and it's one of the popular otaku genres. Publishers had to redesign the covers of the mangas to make people buying them less embarassed about it.
Click to expand...

I wanna know where you got that Shounen-Ai was the genre for this Deku. :lol
 
Mejilan said:
How is it that something like Love Hina, with it's suggestive themes and outright nudity can sit in a stand in front of the fantasy section next to comics and other, kiddier manga books within easy reach of well... all the kiddies.
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A Jew got into the American manga industry. :D

I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

But seriously, comic book stores have known about the racy nature of manga for a long time (see that "jacking off" line in Unbreakable). Then Stu Levy entered the industry with Mixx (later called Tokyopop), started putting things out in a tankoubon-style format, and got them into bookstores. At which point the sales exploded, and everyone else followed suit.

Bookstores don't seem to have much of a problem with the mature content, since they have so many other "mature oriented" materials which they carry. Although comic book stores seem much more lax in their morals. And bookstores do tend to put the manga near the kiddy sections.

Love Hina is basically Tokyopop's second "major" manga series (after Mixx got most of their massive kinks worked out of their system during Sailor Moon) and pretty much kicked off the whole "bookstore" thing.


I've read a bunch of the Love Hina manga, and thought it was really good. Just the right amount of "playful" fanservice in order to keep it fun. Although I haven't read the entire series, nor the dozens of other similarly-ecchi series that followed it, which tend to make people say the genre has been done to death.

I watched like two episodes of the anime, and I found it nearly unwatchable. It's just such a pale shadow of the manga. I've seen a number of manga/anime series that are like that. The book is usually better. Although there are some book-to-screen conversions that are really awesome.
 
King Jippo said:
Love Hina is for pedophiles. Sorry, the truth hurts. You pedderass. :lol
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Pedophiles love children who are younger than 12 usually. The girls in Love Hina are 13-18 if I recall. That's hardly pederastic.

Besides that, most of Love Hina's fans are in fact, 13-18 year old boys, so what's the big deal?
 
But seriously, comic book stores have known about the racy nature of manga for a long time (see that "jacking off" line in Unbreakable). Then Stu Levy entered the industry with Mixx (later called Tokyopop), started putting things out in a tankoubon-style format, and got them into bookstores. At which point the sales exploded, and everyone else followed suit.
Click to expand...

Before Tokyopop made manga popular, companies like Viz and CPM were churning stuff out already. That's why I made the references to Rumiko Takahashi's works earlier, since they went uncensored for the most part (though admittedly they were sold in comicbook stores mostly, not in bookstores).
 
After I read the Love Hina manga, my head felt dull. Because it is dull. AND one of the girls is 12 years old ! It is a manga for weird otakus.
 
ruby_onix said:
A Jew got into the American manga industry. :D
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*lol* I'm sure I'm not alone. Though the fact that I'm sure there aren't many Israeli Jews who do read manga*, so in that I am, perhaps, a bit more unique. :)

* Save Dragonball Z, of course.
 
Ooops, I didn't know you were Jewish (I'm a noob). I was referring to Stu Levy.

He's the guy most responsible for getting manga into bookstores, earning everyone involved millions upon millions of dollars.
 
ruby_onix said:
Ooops, I didn't know you were Jewish (I'm a noob). I was referring to Stu Levy.

He's the guy most responsible for getting manga into bookstores, earning everyone involved millions upon millions of dollars.
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Ahh, funny. I totally misunderstood your post! :)
 
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