As you may already know, Love Hina is about Keitaro, a three-time flunkee trying to get into Tokyo University in order to fulfill a promise he made in his early years to a girl he can't even remember the name of, let alone what her face looks like. So, in the midst of his depression, he decides to head off to his grandmother's place, where he is saddled with the burden of managing the Hinata Apartments as soon as he gets there. Oh the fun of managing an all-girls apartment building.

With any romance story, there can never be an initial acceptance of the main character -- otherwise, where would the tension be? That's certainly Keitaro's case, as he is universally considered a pervert and a womanizer by the residents of the building. Yet, he manages to find a weakpoint in the group -- Shinobu -- and wins her over, buying himself a temporary reprieve from the scorn of the rest of the apartment. I mean, if she likes him, he can't be that bad. And so, the story progresses, focusing on one character or another, establishing relationships, flirting with romance, or revealing backstory.

Like I mentioned before, each of the girls are unique, appealing to a different type of fan. Coming into this show late, though, I was surprised to see that there was only one clear relationship throughout the whole series. There were external obstacles, yes, but they were never a constant presence. Each girl's attraction to Keitaro was nothing more than a flight of fancy, a misunderstanding of their own emotions, or an impossible love. But, I had to just accept this, rationalizing it as thus: I'm very much used to how the genre has evolved, not its origin.

If you've ever watched an old black and white film, you may notice that the shots are unbearably long, showing much more action than you're typically used to. Well, it's the same thing -- film has evolved into something paced much more quickly, where the viewer can fill in more gaps in the film. As such, I'm more used to complicated struggles in romance.

Let me use School Rumble as an example.  Within the series, the rleationship had to become more complicated and tangled in order to provide something new and fresh. And for this series, it works fairly well. THere are often two or three other romantic situations going on between each character, and so there's always something to keep the reader entertained, at the same time opening up the series to more readers with all the different combinations.

The only problem with this is that the story can easily get bogged down and there's no real sense of danger. What I mean is that with all the different possible relationships, the series needs to give attention to them all, lest these connections wither up and die. By the same token, since so many relationships are in play, if any one of them happens to fail, then there are others laying in wait to take over the newly available screen time/page count.

So, what amazes me about Love Hina is how it manages to provide a relationship that just feels natural. Despite the fact that the series is constantly pushing one relationship, and only providing momentary challenges from the rest of the characters, along with a prolonged external challenge, the whole thing just feels right. On the other hand is Midori's Days, a series which left me raging at the end because they railroaded the relationship, ignoring opportunities that would have been much more amenable and appropriate.

And so, Love Hina manages to provide an experience that's uncomplicated but still entertaining. The series holds up well against the test of time, both in terms of the quality of animation and the story. I'd wholeheartedly recommend watching the series, as it'll give you that warm fuzzy feeling without the undue amount of heartwrench tha the more recent series have exacted upon their fans.