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Love Hina (ラブひな Rabu Hina) is a popular manga (and anime) series by author Ken Akamatsu. The manga won the "Best Manga, USA Release" in 2002 Anime Expo. The manga consists of 14 books. The anime is 25 episodes long and is supplemented with Christmas and Spring movies and the Love Hina Again OVA.
The manga is published in Japan by Kodansha in Shonen Magazine, in English in North America and the United Kingdom by TOKYOPOP, in French in France and Québec by Pika Edition, in Spanish in Spain by Glénat, in Singapore in English and Chinese by Chuang Yi, in Brazil by Editora JBC, in Mexico by Editorial VID, in Poland by Waneko, and in several other countries. The anime is produced in North America by Bandai, in Spain by Jonu Media, and in Singapore by Odex.
There are also two novels from "Love Hina" which have been released in Japan and are scheduled for release in the U.S. later this year. TOKYOPOP, the US publisher of the manga, will also publish the "Love Hina" novels.
The story is a romantic comedy of the shōnen genre about a clumsy but well-meaning young man with an unparalleled amount of personal drive despite having horrible luck. Love Hina falls under the harem anime genre as well due to the familiar set up of one boy living with a group of pretty but unusual women. One distinguishing feature that sets this series apart from the average harem anime is that, for a very large portion of the manga series, Keitaro is disliked by the girls. Whereas many harem animes initially or very quickly place the main male character at the center of the girls affections, Keitaro is not only initially disliked by the girls, he suffers for a rather prolonged and extended period of time. Keitaro often experiences falls or is simply beaten to a point that would probably kill a normal person, so it is a running joke throughout the series that Keitaro is immortal (thus, everyone is surprised at one point when he manages to break his leg or get a bruise from a 'Naru Punch').
The series is most well known for putting humorously absurd elements into an ostensibly mundane universe, such as Su's destructive mecha, ghosts, and flying turtles.
The series centers 20-year old Keitaro Urashima, a young man desperately trying to be accepted into the prestigious University of Tokyo in order to fulfill a childhood promise. His obsessive pursuit of this dream is one of the few shining spots of optimism in his otherwise unlucky life. He becomes manager of the Hinata House (Hinata Sō, also translated as the Hinata Lodge), property of his family and now an all-girls' dormitory. The story takes place in the Kanagawa Prefecture.
After much tribulation he wins their respect and eventual affection. From the beginning of the series, he suffers physical damage and abuse, which continues and increases as the series goes on. (In the anime the girls are openly shown being less hostile towards Keitaro, many fans have seen this as a weakness, saying that because of this the emotional scenes - particularly those between Keitaro and Naru - don't stand out as much as they do in the manga.)
Keitaro's primary (and usually exclusive) interest is in Naru Narusegawa, though all the other girls have different sorts of affections for him (including close friend, a playmate, and non-threatening crush object). Keitaro and Naru's relationship is complicated by several girls falling for him, including several "promised" girls in the anime, or girls Keitaro promised a future relationship with while he was younger.
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