Love Hina Spring Special

By Dani Moure     January 02, 2006
Release Date: May 16, 2005



What They Say
It's spring break, Love Hina style!

Naru, Keitaro, and Mutsumi have taken the entrance exam for Tokyo U yet again! However, before the results are announced, Keitaro disappears. Where did he go? Secretly concerned, Naru acts like she doesn't care, but the pressure's too much. After getting a call from Seta saying that Keitaro's on the same tropical island, Naru sets off to 'rescue' him...

A new love? Strategically placed leaves? A secret civilization? This Love Hina adventure is the biggest yet!

The Review!
The second of the Love Hina specials delivers yet more of the usual antics with the whole gang...

Audio:
Having heard the series in its entirety in Japanese, I opted for the English dub again for this special, and my opinion remains the same. The performances were a little better, but still sounded off in places and again I can only put this down to the direction because there are some great actors in the cast. The volume level is also low; far more so than the Japanese track, and sounds a little bit tinny at times. It's disappointing as this show's dub could've been a real riot if it'd been handled better.

I did spot-check the Japanese track, and the performances continue to be enjoyable. It sounds very good (at a decent volume level), and I noticed no dropouts or distortions during regular playback.

Video:
I didn’t notice any compression problems with this disc, and really it looked like a very good transfer. Colours come out well, nice and vibrant, and there’s no noticeable aliasing. Once again though since we get a credit roll in kanji, there are no translated credits anywhere on the disc itself.

Subtitles are in a nice yellow font, and are a good, clear size. I noticed no spelling or grammatical errors that stood out throughout the episodes.

Packaging:
No packaging was included as this was a check disc.

Menu:
The menus have a similar style to previous releases, but this time with a Spring theme. The logo for the special is at the top of the main menu screen with selections along the bottom, with an image of the cast to the right and the island in the background. The sound of flowing water and birds chirping plays over this menu. Sub-menus are all static, and access times are nice and fast.

Extras:
This disc’s extras feel a bit padded out, by present all the openings and endings from the TV series in textless form. It’s a bit of a poor selection given the runtime of the main feature.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After immensely enjoying the Christmas Special and being reminded of why I consider it my favourite outing in the Love Hina anime franchise, I went in to the Spring Special remembering that on my first viewing I didn’t really have a great opinion of it. Having seen it again though, I enjoyed it a lot more and definitely consider the various specials and OVAs to be the strong point of the anime. While the Spring Special is essentially more of the same, running at about two TV episodes length like the other special, it tells a focussed story over the total running time and the anime just seems to click better when it’s in a burst such as this.

The story this time opens with Shinobu and her friend discussing a confession of love that a boy made to her at school. Meanwhile Keitaro, Naru and Mutsumi are all preparing for the secondary entrance exams for Tokyo U. Naru takes a break to speak to Keitaro and they discuss passing the exam together, and the girl he made his promise to. Out of the blue, Keitaro decides top make a move and kiss her, only before their lips touch his glasses get in the way! It’s a bit too late though, as Shinobu sees them and apologises for bursting in on them kissing, a comment that Su hears and so naturally the whole of Hinata House finds out!

At the final day of the exam, Keitaro reads the question paper and realises he can actually answer all the questions. Thinking he’s sealed it, he imagines what his life could be like marrying Naru... and then he wakes up. Unfortunately for him, he only has five minutes left, and he hasn’t answered a single question! Distraught, he runs away and quickly tries to escape it all. On a boat (yes, it’s the usual overly drastic reaction we’ve come to expect!) he meets up with Seta who invites him to Parakelse island to help him on an archaeological dig.

Naru and the others wonder where Keitaro ran off to, and she takes matters into her own hands after speaking to Seta, deciding to go after Keitaro. Everyone else goes to check the exam results, to find that Naru has passed, but Keitaro‘s fate isn’t revealed. As you’d expect, it’s not long before everyone decides to go after Keitaro, and in the process encounter old friends, a Shinobu look-a-like and a whole host of turtles!

As is often the case with the Love Hina anime, there aren’t really a whole lot of surprises in this story and it’s the usual what you see is what you get type of show. But the strength is always in the characters, and here there are some good laughs to be had given what goes on.

The ending isn’t really surprising at all, since it’s pretty obvious what the results would be for both Naru and Keitaro, and the usual over the top reactions are what you’ve come to expect from the series (I mean, really, running off to a desert island not saying a word to anyone, just because you think you failed an exam is a bit drastic by all accounts), but it works and manages to be enjoyable nonetheless. The whole trip to Parakelse is filled with its ridiculous moments, especially with the crazy turtle clan and all of Su’s usual contraptions to find Keitaro and Naru, but there are enough moments off to the side of those that make it more than worthwhile sitting through a few moments that might make you roll your eyes.

There’s a fair amount of involvement from most of the characters, though again this show is mostly dedicated to focussing on the Naru and Keitaro relationship. They get some wonderful moments together, particularly when stranded on the island with Nyamo. The chase scene also ends up being hilarious, because although we’ve seen Naru run after Keitaro plenty of times before, this time it’s so ridiculously extreme you can’t help but laugh. Shinobu also gets a few good character moments here, and in a way even develops a bit of a backbone. Her reaction to seeing Keitaro and Naru “kiss”, and her ensuing push to get them back together is quite sweet and actually pretty mature as well.

Much like the Christmas Special, this is hardly a masterpiece but it’s a very enjoyable piece of the Love Hina anime. Taking a single story from the manga and spreading it across this special actually makes it feel more focussed, and as a result it’s fun. The production values are on par with the other special, feeling more vibrant as a result.

In Summary:
The Love Hina Spring Special is another good part of the anime, spending a little bit more time on the story and with the characters than your standard TV episode. For fans of the series it’s a no-brainer, although for everyone else the price is perhaps a little steep for the shorter runtime of this disc as a whole.

Features
Japanese Language (2.0),English Language (2.0),English Subtitles,Spring Special Textless Ending,TV Series Textless Opening,TV Series Textless Ending,Episode 24 Textless Ending,Stills Gallery

Review Equipment
Philips 28" Pure Flat Widescreen TV, Pioneer DV-464 code free DVD player, JVC gold-plated RGB SCART cable, standard stereo sound.