Customer Reviews

Love Hina: The Novel, Vol. 2

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

 

 

The novel's got me all excited because of it's relation to the manga, and sure, it did not disappoint me in anyway, a great storyline.

This was better that the first Love Hina novel. I didn't care for the Mecha-Keitaro story, but the body switching story was great. I would love to see that animated. Motoko has always been a favorite of mine because of the conflict between her perception of who she wants to be and her femininity. And Kitsune never really gets a good story about her. I would really like to see a one-shot manga or novel focusing just on those two characters separately. In summary, much happier with this one than the last one, but the first story dragged down the rating.

Unlike the first, enjoyable Love Hina novel with Hazuki Kurou, this second book with Kawasaki Hiroyuki is weak and contrived, fraught with poor, biased narrative, weak and overly liberal characterizations, and a vicious and painful take on the slapstick violence of the manga. Even as I write this, I am deeply disturbed that any editor could have viewed this book in a similar light as book one, or as the series itself. Motoko is a pale, suicidal shadow of what we've seen before, Keitaro is completely absent, Suu is heartless and selfish, Motoko's sister Tsuroko is easily tricked and unobservant. I can only suggest that anyone considering this book take the time to review it in a bookstore beforehand, to be sure that their impressions of the characters can withstand the assault of how they're portrayed by this book.