Product Details

• Actors: Yu Asakawa, Megumi Hayashibara, Yui Horie, Yumiko Kobayashi, Masayo Kurata
• Directors: Wendee Lee, Masakazu Hashida, Kiyotaka Isako, Yoshiaki Iwasaki, Toshinori Narita
• Format: Animated, Color, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Bandai
• DVD Release Date: February 19, 2002
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (106 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005UBKC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #187,996 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Love Hina, Volume 1: Moving In (Episodes 1-4)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

An agreeable loser in the tradition of Keiichi in Oh My Goddess, 20-year-old Keitaro Urashima promised a girl when he was 5 that they'd attend prestigious Tokyo University together. He's in prep school, struggling to fulfill that promise, when his grandmother retires, making him the manager of the Hinata Apartments, which serves as a high school girls' dorm. The residents include an assortment of standard anime females: painfully shy Shinobu, violently anti-male kendo champion Motoko, irrepressible Su, and brainy, pretty Naru, whose temper makes Akane in Ranma look placid. Keitaro has a talent for turning up in the wrong place at the wrong time: he inadvertently infuriates the girls--who beat the sushi out of him. But Keitaro also has a genuinely kind heart, which eventually carries the day, overcoming his low self-esteem, poor study habits, and overactive fantasy life. Rated 13 Up: Comic violence, risqué humor, tobacco use. --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite Anime, Enough Said, January 26, 2002

By 

Carl Cheng (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Love Hina, Volume 1: Moving In (with DVD Collector's Box) (DVD)

Love Hina, surprisingly very well-known among all anime fans, has finally made its way here to America. A series spanning 14 manga volumes, 24 episodes, 2 specials, 1 oav (episode 25), and the soon to be released in Japan, Love Hina Again (3 episode OAV).

The series stars a helpless 20 year old ronin (a person who didn't pass the college exams) named Keitarou Urashima. Throughout high school, he never got really good grades and never had a girl friend, yet one of his earliest childhood memories was of a girl. The memory was very vague but he remembered that they made a promise to go to Tokyo University together because if two people in love get accepted, they will be definitely be happy forever. His whole reason for going to Tokyo University was for that promise and the only girl he really loved even thought he doesn't even remember who she was. Well in the present day, Keitarou decided he needed to get out of the house so he decides to go to his grandmother's Hinata Inn which to his surprise is now a female dormitory. This starts his lucky life with many beautiful women and possibly, one of them could be the girl he made the promise to.

The packaging of this DVD frankly turns me off. If I had never seen Love Hina or had never heard about it and just saw it on the rack, I probably would not buy it. The logo Bandai made up looks really ancient and something from the 70s or something. The pose and expression of Keitarou and Naru on the cover of the DVD does not suit them. While they do this for the comical scenes and where they are annoyed with each other, the way they are remembered by fans is the subtle naivety of their feelings for each other which was expressed in the Japanese DVD covers which I hoped that Bandai would use or something to that effect. For this reason, I made my own DVD cover as a replacement. The DVD Series Box that comes with this DVD looks okay. I wouldn't say it was as special as the Cowboy Bebop box. The Japanese DVD Box used manga art which I didn't think fit too well so by using the anime art for the english box was a good idea.

The music of this anime is amazing as well. The opening and ending are performed by Megumi Hayashibara who plays the role of Haruka Urashima (Keitarou's Aunt). They put in song what the series about: both the comedic and dramatic appeal. Some of the BGMs are amazing and even all the voice actors lend a hand to create some character vocals that do get shown in the anime.

Love Hina is an anime that isn't necessarily for everyone. It deals with minor perversion multiple times but never really shows any nudity. So if you're a person that knows they are offended by this, then this anime might not be for you. To me, what makes this anime special is the fact that it gives me a light-hearted feeling after I finish watching each episode. Each character has his/her own depth that you can relate to. It's humorous, sorrowful, dramatic, all at the same time. Ken Akamatsu (Creater of Love Hina manga) made perfect characters and an amazing story as well. This is a definite must-buy.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully Funny Anime Series, December 16, 2001

By 

christine (Scottsdale, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love Hina, Volume 1: Moving In (with DVD Collector's Box) (DVD)

Love Hina is a romantic/comedic anime based on the shonen manga by Akamatsu Ken. Love Hina (or 'rabu-hina') is about a poor loser named Urashima Keitarou, whose trying to get into Tokyo U, the prestigious university where only 1/3 of the people who take the entrance exams gets in. Why does he want to get in when he's already failed twice? Well, when Keitarou was little, he made a promise to a little girl that they would meet and fall in love at Toudai. Unfortunately, she moved away and Keitarou doesn't even remember her name! So, out embarks Keitarou to fulfill his promise.

One day, his grandmother leaves her inn, Hinata-sou, in the hands of Keitarou as a caretaker. Keitarou is astonished when he finds out that it is an all-girl's dorm! He meets a cast of wacky and fun girls that inhabit the rooms of Hinata-sou. They include Narusegawa Naru, a bright girl also studying for Toudai; Konno 'Kitsune' Mistune, a girl who always cons everyone out of their money; a foreign girl with a jungle for a bedroom, Kaolla Suu; Maehara Shinobu, a shy junior high school student; and Aoyama Motoko, 'kendo girl' with deadly fighting skills.

So what happens when Keitarou happens to be attracted to Naru? As the adventures unfold at Hinata-sou, it gets better. The opening sequence and song is extremely good, and I'm not sure, but I heard that Love Hina uses digital animation. If they did, it is beautiful because there is fluid movement and surreal colors. The opening song, 'Sakura Saku' is very catchy and fun to listen to. I was automatically hooked to it. Please buy Love Hina. It has a bit of romance, a bit of comedy, a bit of drama, with a lot of parodies.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great shounen romance/comedy story, popular with many, December 9, 2001

By 

StarCreator - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love Hina, Volume 1: Moving In (Episodes 1-4) (DVD)

Love Hina is probably one of the most talked series since Ken Akamatsu's manga started running. The story revolves around Keitaro Urashima, who, as a small child, made a promise to a girl to go together with her to Toudai (Tokyo University). Unfortunately, not only does he not remember what the girl looks like, but he is on the verge of failing the entrance exam for the university for the third straight year. His situation is further complicated when he ends up being the manager of his grandmother's Hinata Inn (which happens to be where he made the promise to the mysterious girl). Did I mention the Hinata Inn has since become an all-girls dormitory?

While many argue that the basis of the story is overdone (one central male figure surrounded by many female figures), Love Hina manages to have a charm of its own. The characters are quite varied and complex, and quite a bit of character development is done throughout (but probably much more so in the manga series). The series is also quite fun to watch - there are quite a few high-energy sequences, from chasing Keitaro around the Inn to battling hundreds of mechanized turtles. (Don't ask.)

The voice acting (Japanese) is top-notch as well - Yuji Ueda and Yui Horie play the lead characters (Keitaro and Naru) masterfully - from high-energy arguments to emotionally charged moments, it works perfectly. The other characters are also quite well suited - there's even Megumi Hayashibara playing one of the minor roles! (I'll let you try and find out which one she is.)

Although not one of my absolute favorites (that priviledge is reserved for the Japanese version of Cardcaptor Sakura), this series is definitely worth a look.