Love-Hina

note on all the image scans: they are correct manga-style so they are read right to left Spend enough time doing critical readings of media and you come across the assertion that all media tells you about the culture it was written in. Sometimes, as in contemporary media, this is easy to tease out. Other times, as with science fiction, it’s by extrapolation. So I thought it might be interesting to re-read Love Hina, by Ken Akamatsu, as a way to to understand Japanese culture. Part One can be found here.

note on all the image scans: they are correct manga-style so they are read right to left Spend enough time doing critical readings of media and you come across the assertion that all media tells you about the culture it was written in. Sometimes, as in contemporary media, this is easy to tease out. Other times, as with science fiction, it’s by extrapolation. So I thought it might be interesting to re-read Love Hina, by Ken Akamatsu, as a way to to understand Japanese culture. Part One can be found here. Story We’re so close to the end, but Akamatsu wants to stall quite a bit. So we mostly get a rehash of previous ideas with a few new twists. Twist number one: FINALLY Naru’s affections for Keitaro have stuck. In fact, the spend so much time with PDA that it continually distracts Motoko from her studies. She also comes to terms with her latent desire for Keitaro. Once again her older sister is in town and so once again it’s time for zany deceptions. In this case, her sister thinks she’s gotten into Tokyo U, but she’s a ronin. Akamatsu has laid low both of the girls who thought they were so much better than ronin Keitaro. Another twist is that this time Motoko decides she’s going to break up Keitaro and Naru.

note on all the image scans: they are correct manga-style so they are read right to left Spend enough time doing critical readings of media and you come across the assertion that all media tells you about the culture it was written in. Sometimes, as in contemporary media, this is easy to tease out. Other times, as with science fiction, it’s by extrapolation. So I thought it might be interesting to re-read Love Hina, by Ken Akamatsu, as a way to to understand Japanese culture. Part One can be found here. Story Keitaro finally comes back from America. In the last book we learned that Kanako lusts after her brother and in this book Keitaro is confronted with that in a powerful way; we’ll return to this in a later section. Keitaro now looks like Seta and even drives as badly as he does. All the girls at the Inn now see Keitaro as manlier. Pretty much all the girls lust after him now except Sarah and Kaolla. So the dynamic has changed from Keitaro and Naru with Kitsune always open for some sexual play and Mutsumi being ready to grab Keitaro if Naru said no. And, of course, the somewhat disturbing Shinobu - not that she has a crush on an older guy, but that Keitaro occasionally thinks about it. So the book shifts to be a bit more of a harem manga where Naru has some real competition now.

note on all the image scans: they are correct manga-style so they are read right to left Spend enough time doing critical readings of media and you come across the assertion that all media tells you about the culture it was written in. Sometimes, as in contemporary media, this is easy to tease out. Other times, as with science fiction, it’s by extrapolation. So I thought it might be interesting to re-read Love Hina, by Ken Akamatsu, as a way to to understand Japanese culture. Part One can be found here. Story The story picks up where we left off before. Keitaro is going to go overseas with Seta to do some archeological work. The first story is a light story dealing with the Naru keeping Keitaro company while he waits at the airport for a delayed flight. Their relationship continues to thaw as Keitaro continues to gain respect for growing up and being less of a loser (at least by the standards shown in this book).

note on all the image scans: they are correct manga-style so they are read right to left Spend enough time doing critical readings of media and you come across the assertion that all media tells you about the culture it was written in. Sometimes, as in contemporary media, this is easy to tease out. Other times, as with science fiction, it’s by extrapolation. So I thought it might be interesting to re-read Love Hina, by Ken Akamatsu, as a way to to understand Japanese culture. Part One can be found here. Story We move into a book I hadn’t read on a previous read of the series. It appears that Akamatsu is stalling a bit after the last book’s reveal. This book starts off with Naru claiming she didn’t mean it and then, after a night of zany hijinks alone in the house - Mutsumi invites them to Okinawa.

note on all the image scans: they are correct manga-style so they are read right to left Spend enough time doing critical readings of media and you come across the assertion that all media tells you about the culture it was written in. Sometimes, as in contemporary media, this is easy to tease out. Other times, as with science fiction, it’s by extrapolation. So I thought it might be interesting to re-read Love Hina, by Ken Akamatsu, as a way to to understand Japanese culture. Part One can be found here. Story This time we start off with the Cherry Blossom BBQ. Although, as we’ll soon see, Akamatsu has some evil plans for Keitaro up his sleeve, for the time being he has finally earned the respect of the women and girls of Hinata House. He has passed his exams and gained entrance into the prestigious Tokyo University. Even Motoko, who’s often been the harshest to Keitaro, goes to him for some advice on passing her university entrance exams. It’s nice, after eight books, to see Akamatsu giving us something a little different. However, Love Hina is definitely a romantic comedy that has leaned way harder on comedy than romance and Keitaro ends up having a building fall on him. While he does display superhuman strength in not dying, he’s not Wolverine and so he has to go to the hospital. Unfortunately, his injury causes him to have to withdraw from his first semester at Tokyo University. So while he and Naru have both gotten in, Keitaro is now at least a semester behind her for graduation. Naru is scouted to be Miss Tokyo U, but as of the end of this book, it didn’t appear to have any effect. I think the anime plays this up more, but we’ll get to the anime in good time.

note on all the image scans: they are correct manga-style so they are read right to left Spend enough time doing critical readings of media and you come across the assertion that all media tells you about the culture it was written in. Sometimes, as in contemporary media, this is easy to tease out. Other times, as with science fiction, it’s by extrapolation. So I thought it might be interesting to re-read Love Hina, by Ken Akamatsu, as a way to to understand Japanese culture. Part One can be found here. ...

note on all the image scans: they are correct manga-style so they are read right to left Spend enough time doing critical readings of media and you come across the assertion that all media tells you about the culture it was written in. Sometimes, as in contemporary media, this is easy to tease out. Other times, as with science fiction, it’s by extrapolation. So I thought it might be interesting to re-read Love Hina, by Ken Akamatsu, as a way to to understand Japanese culture. Part One can be found here. ...

note on all the image scans: they are correct manga-style so they are read right to left Spend enough time doing critical readings of media and you come across the assertion that all media tells you about the culture it was written in. Sometimes, as in contemporary media, this is easy to tease out. Other times, as with science fiction, it’s by extrapolation. So I thought it might be interesting to re-read Love Hina, by Ken Akamatsu, as a way to to understand Japanese culture. Part One can be found here. ...

note on all the image scans: they are correct manga-style so they are read right to left Spend enough time doing critical readings of media and you come across the assertion that all media tells you about the culture it was written in. Sometimes, as in contemporary media, this is easy to tease out. Other times, as with science fiction, it’s by extrapolation. So I thought it might be interesting to re-read Love Hina, by Ken Akamatsu, as a way to to understand Japanese culture. Part One can be found here. ...