Customer Reviews

Love Hina Christmas Movie

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm really glad that Bandai Ent. is releasing the Love Hina X-mas special in time for the holidays. Hopefully, the Spring Special and follow up Love Hina Again will soon be released as well. I had recently seen this special episode in the original subtitled form, and I agree that it's very touching. The basis of this special is about a Christmas legend that if you admit your true feelings to the one you love on Christmas Eve, your wish to be together with that person will come true. This special is not without it's dramatic points about our main characters, Tokyo U hopefuls Naru and Keitaro, for whom everyone throughout the series has been rooting for, that really builds up to what I believe is one of the greatest romance scenes ever. Will Naru and Keitaro finally admit their feelings to each other on Christmas Eve? If you like the Love Hina series so far, definitely add this to your collection not just for this special, but for the bonus Episode 25 that will be included in this release.

First off, this dvd is wonderful and highly recommended. Summaries of the xmas movie can be found all over the web so I thought I'd review the product itself. The dvd case is a translucent iceblue that I think complements the snowy xmas scene on the cover quite well. The cover itself is reversible with the Hinata girls in new year's garb wishing you a happy new year on the other side. The dvd also comes with a foldout 2003 calendar (xmas miniposter on the back) with the birthdays of the Love Hina characters marked on the calendar in case you wanted to know for some reason. The dvd has the same print design of the cover with some of the characters repositioned so that they all fit on face of the disc. The bonus material.. ep25 is HILARIOUS!! Buy this dvd just for episode 25 if you don't care for the xmas movie. I don't think Motoko's sis Tsuruko ever shows up in the anime again (in the manga she comes back after the events in Love Hina Again) so don't miss out! The extras also included some preview stuff for other anime including the magnificent COWBOY BEBOP! The animated menus are fun to watch. There is scene access for the movie and ep25, plus a textless ending for the movie which is pretty funny but makes more sense if you read the manga.
The movie itself is heartwarming and definitely sweet and fun to watch. The Love Hina anime series is very funny though I felt it wasn't quite as deep or hilarious as the Love Hina manga, but episode 25 is just so damn funny! Oh yea, the English dubbed voices sound strange to me (Keitaro sounds WEIRD) but I guess I'm just too used to the Japanese cast. And I think they even dubbed Tama the turtle. Why the hell would you need to dub a turtle that says "MIYU"? Anyway, buy this dvd and be happy that you did ^_^

For those of you wondering, yes, the Christmas Special is definentley worth the money for the DVD. I won't spoil anything, but take my word for it.

Episode 25...

Episode 25 is BY FAR the worst episode they could (and did!) make. It's TOTALLY out of whack with the rest of the story that's developed so far. Naru and Mei go to visit their family's grave (And Keitaro doesn't come for comfort? I doubt someone like Naru would really allow that), so that knocks her out of the story, and leaves room for Motoko's sister to show up and be quite the opposite of what my impression of her was for someone Motoko looked up to so much. Going against what I thought she would've stood for, she tells Motoko she has no chance of inheriting the school. So Motoko tries to become a normal woman, and little romantic tension develops between her and Keitaro.

THIS EPISODE HAS NO PLACE IN THE SERIES. IT'S COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY UNWORTHY OF THE LOVE HINA NAME. They AT LEAST could've put the episode somewhere else, it makes no sense where it is. Keitaro and Narusegawa have come so close to eachother, and all of the sudden this? It's preposterous.

This episode reminded me more of a pitiful sitcom than what Love Hina is (which is an excellent sitcom without the obnoxious audience, and pockets of an underlying serious romantic plot).

The Christmas Special was excellent, though.

WATCH THE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, DON'T WATCH EPISODE 25.

I got this movie just in time for Christmas and I thought this was a great time to release this. First, nobody should buy this unless you have seen the series (the original episodes 1-24) or at least read the manga up to volume 6 which is the manga equivilant to the Christmas special (they both are completely different though). If you haven't you'll probably be bored with this. Overall it's very entertaining, it's basically about a rumor that if you make a (love) wish on Christmas Eve it will come true.

And even if you don't like the movie, this DVD also comes with Love Hina episode 25 which IMO is another great reason to buy this. I also found it neat that series creator Ken Akamatsu made an appearance in this (anime style, of course). Definitely worth the money.

Before this DVD, my Christmas movie mainstays were "It's A Wonderful Life", "Holiday Inn", and "Scrooged". This special will be added to the list. It fits well with the theme of love and caring that the others evoke in me. It's a wonderful heart wrenching story.
If you're a Hina fan, you must own this one. A Love Hina collection will be incomplete without it.

This dvd also has episode 25, and Japanese and English tracks, along with English subtitles. The whole dvd is 75 minutes long. Episode 25 is also one of my favorites, it features Motoko's sister. She wants Motoko to come back home with her, but Motoko doesn't want to go, so she tells her sister that she is going to marry Keitaro. Motoko battles her sister, but loses, and says she is going to become just a normal girl. She does that, and she wears girl clothes. The Christmas Movie is good, too. I loved the dub version of this. I really hate subtitles. This is a good Christmas Movie! It also comes with a reversible cover of the Hinata girls wishing you a Happy New Year! It comes with a mini-poster, and on the other side is a 2003 calendar, which tells the character's birthdays. It also tells that the Love Hina Spring Movie is coming out on DVD on March 18, 2003! I can't wait until I buy it!

The "Love Hina" series is one of my favorite anime, especially in the romantic-comedy "harem" genre. This movie takes place after the series end and has Keitaro, Naru, and Mutsumi all studying for their their entrance exams. For some reason, Naru is all cold to Keitaro despite their having come to an understanding about their relationship at the end of the series. Since it will soon be a special Christmas eve where if you confess something to someone, good things will happen, Keitaro has plans to confess to Naru -- his love. Will she confess her love to Keitaro?

If you liked the "Love Hina" series, you will LOVE this special. There is less comedy in this but the romantic story between Keitaro and Naru makes great progress. The English dub is...well, I'm sorry but I will never accept Kitsune as a southern belle! It's just so wrong, especially if you watched the series in the original Japanese. And even if you didn't, it just feels...well, wrong. Keitaro's voice isn't as good, nor is Su's. It's sad really, because some series like "Hand Maid May" actually do a great English dub.

As to the DVD, there is an extra "Love Hina" episode here -- an OAV 25th episode. It is a filler episode dealing with Motoko and her sister. It could have been a good episode as all of the previous Motoko episodes were. However, the writers and animators thew out a good story in favor of tons of fan service. I thought the original series was done fairly tastefully -- some fan service, but nothing too "in your face". This episode actually has Keitaro falling (nothing new) and managing to pull down Motoko's panties as she falls. That's just for starters! It is outrageous!

Bottom line: The special is GREAT and episode 25 is OK. "Love Hina" fans should put this in their collection!

This was originally Manga volume 11 I think... So if you've read it you can see they condensed a lot of the story down. Still you get to meet the creator as he plays a role in the show. Keitaro, Naru and the rest have a typical turbulant christmas with A touching conclusion as Keitaro finally.... you'll have to see for yourself.

I got this movie just in time for Christmas and I thought this was a great time to release this. First, nobody should buy this unless you have seen the series (the original episodes 1-24) or at least read the manga up to volume 6 which is the manga equivilant to the Christmas special (they both are completely different though). If you haven't you'll probably be bored with this. Overall it's very entertaining, it's basically about a rumor that if you make a (love) wish on Christmas Eve it will come true.

And even if you don't like the movie, this DVD also comes with Love Hina episode 25 which IMO is another great reason to buy this. I also found it neat that series creator Ken Akamatsu made an appearance in this (anime style, of course). Definitely worth the money.

This is the best movie in Love Hina series. but you have to watch Love Hina series previously in order to catch what happened. I will definitely recommend this movie, you will like it!!!