Love Hina Again Genre: Romance/Comedy Frank's Overall Score:  8.0

Reviewer: Frank
Type of Review: General

All good stories need to come to some kind of end. It's pretty bad when a cliffhanger, even if it's one that seems to end the story but really doesn't, is used. But there's a thing line between worthy sequel and worthy sequel flop, and Love Hina Again, the Love Hina OAV, tends to walk a wobbly balancing act.

Love Hina Again picks up where the Love Hina TV series and specials ended, with Keitaro and Naru now facing new challenges - not just as college students, but also in their ever-changing relationship. Things seem to be going well, but they get complicated quickly as Keitaro chooses to forego time in college (and together with Naru) to travel with Seta. This is bad enough, but Keitaro's adoptive sister, Kanako begins to compete with Naru for Keitaro as well, using underhanded tricks to get the upper hand. Despite all this, the residents of Hinata Inn struggle to get used to life without Keitaro, but Naru faces a lot of trials in front of her if she wants to find her happiness.

This series is supposed to cover the last third of the series as it happened in the manga, easily another 26 or 13-episode foray. Instead, we are only given 3 episodes in which to resolve the action. This definitely is one of the big downsides of watching Love Hina Again, as the action seems rushed and the ending seems to come suddenly instead of being developed over time. The contracted timeline definitely hurts character development, as we don't really get to know Kanako, a new character, as well as we'd like to, let alone see how the other characters are affected. Even the changing of Keitaro and Naru's relationship is one that seems to be too quick, too soon. However, the comedy of the previous series seems to have come over intact. That, combined with the few dramatic, yet poignant scenes Love Hina fans have come to like about the series does help it along quite a bit. There is something to be said about the "mood" and "clout" of the Love Hina story and name, and the series is able to float along on that for a little while.

Animation quality for the series is, not surprisingly, much better than the TV episodes. Much of the designs reflect a closer match to what is portrayed in the manga, employing details and slight differences that bring it nearer to Akamatsu's drawing style. The characters look older, more mature, and a bit more fashionable, and movements are much more fluid and natural. Unfortunately, the animation suffers a bit from what I'd call excessive fanservice, and while the TV series contained some, the OAV, in three episodes, has just about the same, if not more (a certain Motoko scene in the first episode comes to mind). This, I think hurts more than helps the series.

Don't get me wrong - the presentation of Love Hina again is pretty fair. The ending will definitely be satisfying. However, even with 3 episodes, I do think much more could have been done with it to make it a good sequel to a hugely popular anime series.