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He's not as lucky as it seems.note 
"Let go of me! What if your low grades are contagious?!"

Love Hina is a romantic comedy manga created by Ken Akamatsu, and widely regarded as a classic in the Harem Genre. The manga was originally published from October 1998 to October 2001 in Weekly Shonen Magazine, with an anime adaptation airing in 2000 from April to September.

Keitaro Urashima is a clumsy loser with a big dream: to attend the prestigious University of Tokyo. Fifteen years ago he made a Childhood Marriage Promise to a little girl that they would be reunited on the campus of Tokyo U and live happily ever after. Unfortunately, Keitaro has failed the annual entrance exams three times, and is now considered a "Rōnin": a deadbeat trapped in academic limbo between high school and university.

When his parents refuse to support him through another year of studying, his grandmother offers him lodgings as the landlord of the hot springs resort she owns. However, when Keitaro arrives at Hinata House he discovers his grandmother has left on a world tour and converted the building from a resort to an all-girls dormitory. The five female residents take extreme umbrage at the presence of a "perverted boy" in their midst, let alone someone as pathetic as Keitaro.

Through the course of the fourteen-volume manga (and the anime, which spans 25 episodes, two movies, and a three-episode miniseries), Keitaro wins over the girls of Hinata House, builds up his self-confidence, earns a career, and finds both love and his promise girl... just not all at the same time, and not without suffering a lot of pain.

While considered an archetypal example of the Harem Genre (and a classic of said genre), Love Hina is a comedy with a dramatic thread running through it. The story has a strong ensemble cast that brings together a wide variety of characters and character types into what can arguably be called a family. As one of the first anime to be produced entirely on computers (as opposed to the celluoid method), the art is crisp and clean, and it never suffers from the usual loss of quality that can affect traditionally-animated series during deadline crunches. It was also the first anime series whose fansub was distributed digitally. Although Keitaro is subjected to a large amount of cartoonishly slapstick violence at times, Love Hina is a love story—and the story of his growth into an adult.

Compare this series with Maison Ikkoku. Contrast with Negima! Magister Negi Magi (by the same author, and implied to be in the same universe).


Love Hina provides examples of:

  • A Taste of Their Own Medicine: The 10th volume was essentially about Kanako repeatedly subjecting the girls (even Shinobu) to this for constantly abusing Keitaro.
  • Abandoned Area: The forbidden annex was once a hot springs resort. Due to its immense power, the Urashima family sealed it off. It gets reopened by Keitaro in his efforts to profess his love for Naru.
  • Absurdly Sharp Blade: Motoko and Tsuruko just love slicing rocks in half. With wooden swords. Tsuruko is introduced slicing a moving truck in half just as it was about to run over Keitaro. And the driver (who was drunk off his ass) survives! She also managed to slice a log and have it turn into a mecha figurine upon hitting the ground again in episode 6, although she feels a little ashamed having to do this for money.
  • Accidental Pervert: Keitaro. Countless times. Inverted in one instance where Naru walks in on Keitaro changing, promptly screams that he's a pervert and punches him. She sheepishly explains it as a reflex action when he asks why he's the one to be punished.
  • The Ace: Seta seems like an average archaeologist until Motoko challenges him to a fight during the play. He dodges or parries all of her attacks, to the point where Haruka believed them to just be using some kind of special effects. Special mention to his insane driving skills. His van seems to take a lot of damage, but it always somehow drives away, even if the vehicle is turned on its side.
  • Adaptation Expansion:
    • Siblings and parents only mentioned in the manga show up in the anime; Shinobu's Dad, Suu's brother and sister, and Naru's little sister.
    • The anime also either adds detail to, or sometimes outright changes, the supporting cast's backstories – leading to exploration of themes such as childhood and growing up, memory, selflessness, love and dreams in a more in-depth manner than simply sticking to the primary plot's story would allow.
    • Unfortunately, this is slightly undermined by the fact that because the second series was cancelled, the primary plot of the anime ends about two-thirds of the way through the manga's story.
  • Alliterative Name: A weird example with Naru, whose surname is Narusegawa.
  • All Men Are Perverts: All the girls except Mutsumi (and Shinobu, to an extent) seem to believe in this trope – at first, at least – and use it to justify their abuse of Keitaro (Naru and Motoko deserve particular mention). Averted, most of the time anyway.
  • Almost Kiss: Happens to Keitaro and Naru a lot. Mutsumi doesn't seem to have that problem however, as she kisses both of them on separate occasions.
  • Amusing Injuries:
  • Anguished Declaration of Love:
    • Motoko has one during her second duel with her sister in the manga.
    • Keitaro gives his to Naru when he's in the hospital and she has to leave because she's visiting after hours, as he thought that would be his last chance to do so.
    • Naru gives hers to Keitaro at the conclusion of the nationwide chase mini-arc; having reached the northernmost tip of Hokkaido, she has nowhere left to run but the sea, and with Keitaro closing in, she jumps. He follows and manages to catch her before she lands in the sea, prompting her to finally open up.
  • Animals Hate Him:
    • Ken Akamatsu seems to get a kick out of this – if one character is particularly depressed and runs away, they're likely to end up getting bitten in the hand by a dog when they try to pet it. This gag is used TWICE in volume 9.
    • On the way to the Tokyo U entrance ceremony, Keitaro is suddenly attacked by a pack of wild dogs and then a murder of crows for no particular reason (that is, other than making him a Cosmic Plaything).
  • Anime Theme Song: One of the most frenetic in all of anime. Sung by Haruka's voice actress, Megumi Hayashibara.
  • Arranged Marriage: Motoko is "threatened" with this to Keitaro should she lose to her sister in a fight in episode 25. Naru isn't too happy to hear about that.
  • Author Avatar: Ken Akamatsu makes two appearances in the anime, not to mention that he looks suspiciously similar to a certain protagonist of the series.
  • Bait-and-Switch Sentiment: After Keitaro informs Seta about Naru's crush on him, Seta tells Naru that he likes her too, making her blush... But then, he also says it to Keitaro, then Kitsune, then just about every other main character trapped in the cave.
  • Barbie Doll Anatomy: All the girls in the numerous Furo Scenes.
  • Barehanded Blade Block: Keitaro to Motoko, and later, Tama the turtle. Yes, seriously. At both points, Motoko thinks she's hit rock bottom.
  • Beach Episode: Episode 16-18 spends time away from the inn.
  • Beautiful All Along: Subverted and Inverted – Naru deliberately "geeks up" her looks to keep from being bothered by guys.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Keitaro dreams about going into the University of Tokyo and fulfill a Childhood Marriage Promise, but he gets more than what he bargains for due to his repeated blunders.
  • Bedmate Reveal: Keitaro and Mutsumi. But as usual for Keitaro, it's Not What It Looks Like, not that that saves him from a completely unfair Kangaroo Court trial and beating, with implied accusations of rape.
  • Bested at Bowling: While Keitaro losing to longtime/hardcore bowler Naru (she even has a monogrammed glove) is not presented as something shameful to contemplate, the fact that first-timer Mutsumi manages a perfect game (rolling the ball two-handed the entire time) is traumatizing to both of them.
  • Between My Legs: In several episodes of the anime, for example, at the end of episode 21.
  • Big Bad: Kanako Urashima in Love Hina Again and it’s corresponding manga chapters. She is Keitaro's sister who wants to take him away from the other girls, and becomes Naru's love rival as she usurps control of the Hinata Inn to punish them. Kanako does make a Heel–Face Turn and let Keitaro go in the end. The series otherwise lacks a Big Bad aside from a few one-shot threats.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Seta has a few moments like this… though with a comedic twist.
    • Keitaro has a few straight instances of this, like in the anime when he dives out of a zeppelin to rescue a falling Naru.
    • Hilariously averted in one episode when Su has Kentaro suited up in some Power Armor to retrieve Keitaro, only to have him pass out from the sheer exhaustion of walking with that thing on.
  • Big Eater: Su has a prodigious appetite for a girl her size, and her first impulse on hearing a word she doesn't know is to ask if it's tasty/edible.
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows: A minor case, but Mutsumi's eyebrows are much more prominent than anyone else's. Strangely, this makes her cuter. Kitsune's eyebrows are noticeably thicker than the rest of the main cast as well. A case of Author Appeal, too, as Akamatsu admitted he likes designing cute girls with these.
  • Big Red Button: Su adds a self-destruct button to her machines, just for the hell of it.
    "Every evil invention must come with a self-destruct button!"
  • Big Secret: Multiple times, usually hilariously smashed somehow. First with Keitaro accidentally convincing the girls he's a Todai student rather than a prospective applicant (that doesn't last long and ends Keitaro getting punched). Later, Naru tries to convince herself and everyone else that she totally doesn't like Keitaro (she eventually admits the truth, which ends Keitaro getting punched). Kanako trying to hide the fact that she and Keitaro are Not Blood Siblings (he'd already figured it out, but it ends in him getting punched). The biggest secret, though, is what Old Lady Hinata knows about Keitaro's "promise girl" (amazingly, this revelation does not end with Keitaro getting punched).
  • "Blind Idiot" Translation:
    • The Latin American Spanish dub, big time: In addition of the acting being infamously awful, the translation is equally bad. This is especially egregious, considering the series was dubbed from the English dub by proxy, but besides carrying the same flaws from the English dub, it also does it's own ones:
    • In episode 16, the phrase used in the English dub "The scene now changes to the home of the Village Elder"note , was translated as ''The scene now changes to the home of Elder"note , being "elder" translated as a proper character, rather than being a descriptive term.
    • In episode 17, when Keitaro says in the English dub "Then how do you explain that ghost in the shipwreck?!"note  was translated as "Then tell me what kind of thing was in shipwrecknote , leaving "shipwreck" untranslated from English as the name of the ship, rather than a term for a ship that sinks.
  • Blind Without 'Em: Keitaro and Naru can't see well without their glasses. There's a whole episode centered on them losing their glasses and hanging out together around Kyoto without recognizing each other until they get their glasses back.
  • Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Mutsumi's non-sequiters, puns, and general daffiness are patterned after the idiot side of the routine, with Keitaro or Naru reacting like the straight man. (Though Keitaro is usually the one that ends up getting hit)
  • Book Ends: Kicks off with a klutzy Keitaro arriving at the inn, and Hilarity Ensues. Finishes up with a klutzy new girl arriving at the inn, and Hilarity Ensues.
  • Bound and Gagged: Kanako's specialty, she ties up every character at one point or another.
  • Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Most of the series involves Keitaro and Naru growing closer, then something happening or one of them (usually Keitaro) doing something stupid to drive them apart until they get closer again.
  • Breast Plate: Motoko's outfit for the video game dream world in the anime.
  • Broke Episode: Anime only. Episode 14. Due to their excessive expenses/partying, the inn has to find 67,000 yen to pay the utility bills or else they get shut down.
  • Broken Aesop:
    • The idea is that everything is possible if you try your hardest, even getting into Japan's top university and charming a really hot girl, even though you're a total loser. However, while Keitaro does start off as a really pathetic individual, it does not take long before he turns out to not only be handsome but also a gifted archeologist and martial artist. You'd expect someone who is not really cool or talented to captivate through determination and charm. While Keitaro is very determined, his defeatist, whiny and relatively immature personality, as well as his tremendous clumsiness deeply annoy the girls... It's only when he drops his usual act that the females show any attraction for him, often pointing out that he is very handsome when he is not being annoying. Ultimately, instead of Love Hina being about an underdog accomplishing goals far beyond his reach through determination and The Power of Love, it's actually about someone who had everything he needed to succeed from the start but never had the proper motivation to unlock his potential until he met the girl.
    • Alternatively the Aesop could be "if someone berates, insults, hits, and abuses you, keep attempting to date that person. You'll find true love in the end."
  • Brother–Sister Incest: Adopted sister, actually and it's entirely from her end. Keitaro is not interested.
  • Bust-Contrast Duo: Mutsumi shows up halfway through the series as an alternative love interest, being a ditzy, watermelon-loving, sickly, all-around nice girl to contrast Naru, the violent tsundere female lead. Although Naru's chest is prominent, Mutsumi's boob size is considerably bigger, having the most prominent bust of all the female characters in the series.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Motoko's God Cry School of Kendo.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: You could practically make a drinking game out of the number of times Keitaro tries (and fails) to confess his feelings for Naru in the manga. And when he finally gets around to it, he passes the trope right over to Naru, who arguably has an even harder time with it. Particularly since he always knew how he felt, whereas she tries to vehemently deny her own feelings. Which causes a lot of problems because several girls who like Keitaro call her out on it (mainly Kitsune), and wonder why she won't let them near him (due to her tendency to knock him into the air when he's with another girl) but at the same time invokes this trope. Reaches its most logical extreme in physical circumstances when half the Japanese media is chasing after her due to thinking she's a terrorist.
  • Can't Bathe Without a Weapon: Motoko Aoyama does not part with her Wooden Katana Shisui even during the many Hot Springs and Public Bathhouse Scenes in the story. It comes in handy at least once when she had to fight off a Demonic Possessed Naru.
  • Can't Hold Her Liquor: Shinobu. Justified considering that she's thirteen at that point.
  • Catchphrase:
    • Mutsumi: 'Oh my!'
    • Motoko: 'Don't worry, I used the flat of my blade' (only in the anime).
  • Cat Smile:
    • Su often has one.
    • Tama has one as well.
  • Celebrity Is Overrated: Naru becomes a singer in episode 11, but quickly learns to despise it, even going so far as to jump into the hot tub that Keitaro is using in order to hide from her manager. Seeing as her manager was Jerkass Kentaro that would explain why she was having problems.
  • Censor Steam: Opaque enough for the audience, but apparently not enough to spare Keitaro's hide. On a related note, we have, at one point, Censor Suu. This sort involves hanging one strategically-folded Kaolla Su around Motoko's neck, and letting her run around the screen for a few panels before and after to justify her presence.
  • Character Development: Keitaro, Naru, Shinobu and Motoko in the manga. In the anime... not so much, which is a common complaint about it.
  • Cherry Blossoms: The opening credits show the Hinata Inn amidst a grand flurry of cherry blossoms. And the opening theme is "Sakura Saku" ("the cherry blossoms will bloom"), no less.
  • The Chew Toy: Seriously, how much can the universe involuntarily conspire against Keitaro? Highlight to the Tokyo U entrance ceremony chapter.
  • Childhood Friend Romance: The premise is about Keitaro trying to find his forgotten childhood friend so he can marry her as they promised when they were little. Clues indicate the girl could be Naru or Mutsumi. Both girls had a crush on Keitaro when they were children. Mutsumi gave up to let Naru have Keitaro and arranged them to make the promise.
  • Childhood Marriage Promise: The whole plot starts because of one. When he was five years old, Keitaro made a promise to a girl that they would go to the University of Tokyo together and live Happily Ever After. Even though he can't remember the face or name of the girl, Keitaro ends up a Rōnin because he wants to find that girl at the university.
  • Chocolate of Romance: All of the girls give chocolates to Keitaro in the Valentine's Day Episode since they all have feelings for him, in different ways and magnitudes.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl:
    • Naru doesn't like it when Keitaro is with other women, even if they came onto him.
    • Kanako acts this way as well, and tries to drive the girls out.
  • Clothing Damage: Almost exclusively to females, though it does happen to Keitaro once or twice. Naturally, he's thoroughly pummelled for "flashing" the girls.
  • Color Failure: Happens to Keitaro once after taking an exam.
  • Comedic Sociopathy: Mutsumi is the only girl to not intentionally cause pain to Keitaro (all the pain she caused him was unintentional); the rest all did at some point.
  • Cool Car: Seta's van. Never runs out of gas (unless the plot requires), never breaks down (despite crashing it into every available surface), and will always hold as many people as it needs to. Overlaps with The Alleged Car.
  • Costume Exaggeration: Motoko's breakdown after a fight with her sister persuades her to become the inn's housekeeper, wearing a full maid outfit in her size (which she swiped from Kitsune's wardrobe).
  • Crash-Into Hello: Mutsumi gets this from Keitaro in both the manga and anime, albeit two different scenarios.
  • Creator Cameo: Ken Akamatsu appeared as himself in the anime's 14th episode, as well as the Winter and Spring specials.
  • Cross-Popping Veins: Several characters display these, but mostly Naru.
  • Cute and Psycho:
    • Motoko's older sister Tsuruko is usually calm and graceful, but when Motoko makes the mistake of... erm... being creative with the truth in front of her, out comes her Ax-Crazy side (complete with daemon eyes). Because of this and her Master Swordsman skills, Motoko goes back and forth between admiring her and being scared shitless of her.
    • Kanako is also introduced this way, what with the misery she actively puts the girls through because of their mistreatment of Keitaro.
  • Cute Mute: Subverted: Nyamo doesn't speak Japanese, so she mostly opts to stay quiet.
  • Date Peepers: Naru in episode 21 while Keitaro is on a date with Mutsumi. Kitsune and Mei, Naru's little stepsister also spy on them on their own.
  • Death Glare:
    • Kanako gives a particularly vicious one to Naru after running out from shampooing Keitaro's hair and learning that he didn't remember his promise to her.
    • The girls as a group do this a few times as well, especially when Keitaro, or even a random train employee, gets in their way of carrying out whatever slipshod plan they've hatched.
  • Deep-Immersion Gaming: Anime only. Episode 8. It turns out to have been a dream, although it does help break Motoko out of her mold a little when she sees the other characters having fun and inviting her to join them.
  • Defeat Means Friendship:
    • Sort of happens when Motoko loses to Keitaro the first time. She realizes that he's worthy of at least a tiny amount of respect and starts to warm up to him.
    • In the anime, it happens to Kentaro after he "loses" to Keitaro in one episode at trying to win Naru's heart. He even helps them out, such as flying Naru to the island Keitaro went to in the Spring episode. He does drive his car towards Keitaro in one episode, but it's largely by accident, due to Tama flying at him and distracting/freaking him out.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Motoko and Kanako (though she still doesn't take it well that her brother wound up with her rival).
  • Deliberately Bad Example(s): Shirai and Haitani, who really are perverts and whose lecherous behavior is exactly what it looks like.
  • Deus Angst Machina: It takes one of epic proportions in order to bypass Keitaro's amazing healing abilities and force him home during the first term of university. Somewhat averted when he re-breaks the same leg right in the next chapter due to Kitsune tickling him.
  • The Diaper Change: At one point in the manga, Mutsumi appears to have lost her memory and begins acting like she did as a child. Keitaro and Naru play along to help her revert back to a more adult state, which leads to Mutsumi forcefully diapering Naru.
  • "Dinner, Bath, or Sex" Offer: When Mutsumi gets a crack on the head and her personality reverts to being five years old, she offers a choice that implies sex while "playing house" with Keitaro, making him and Naru wonder whether she's screwing with them or not.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: As noted various times, the girls tend to humiliate or beat up Keitaro simply because he arrives at the wrong time when they are changing or bathing. Its even more absurd when one also remembers that they themselves are perfectly all right with it if it's with themselves. Furthermore, the girls frequently "punish" Keitaro for their own mistakes, such as walking in on him naked. One chapter has them worrying about his marks, so they try to cheer him up by letting him bathe with them. When he tearfully thanks them and mentions his score (which is quite high - their concern had made him worry he'd done a terrible job), they attack him, even though they'd assumed he'd failed, and none of them had bothered to ask him how he did.
  • Distracted by the Sexy:
    • Happens often to Keitaro, especially from Mutsumi who's too innocent to pay attention to this.
    • In the manga, when Kitsune, Motoko, and Mutsumi are trying to get a ride to the airport, Kitsune lifts up Motoko's shirt to entice travellers... and promptly causes a 20-car pileup.
    • A scene in the manga has Keitaro distracted from a Panty Shot of a random girl before take a train... and get an headbutt on the close door
  • "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: Haruka's voice actress Megumi Hayashibara sang the opening and ending themes to the TV series.
  • Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: If anything turns you off of this series, it will be this. Had any of the genders been reversed... they'd quickly be arrested. The anime has it somewhat less frequently, but gets correspondingly more violent when it does happen. Kanako does call them on it very late in the manga, subjecting the worst offenders to almost a volume's worth of A Taste of Their Own Medicine.
    • Motoko even beats up Haitani and Shirai for talking to the girls while they're on the beach.
    • Averted when Motoko gets a stern warning from the police for hitting a man who supposedly groped her.
    • There's a joke amongst the fandom that Keitaro should have studied Law instead of Geology at Tokyo U; that way, he could get payback by filing excessive force lawsuits against the girls, and win really big.
  • Driven to Suicide:
    • Played for Laughs with Motoko; whenever things go really bad for her, she suddenly and over-dramatically threatens to commit seppuku, Jidaigeki style.
    • Defied in the manga. The girls like to assume an unlikely worst-case scenario of Keitaro killing himself if hit with extremely bad news or misfortune. So they try to keep him away from the problem or just be exceptionally nice to him for a change. He picks up on it quickly, but assumes a different worst-case scenario than the girls did.
  • Drives Like Crazy: Seta always crashes his van instead of parking it. Later, Keitaro does the same (since the former taught the latter how to drive!)
  • Dropped Glasses: Happens quite often in the series with fumbling for his glasses getting Keitaro another Megaton Punch in one episode, and in another leading to both he and Naru (both Blind Without 'Em) having a great time on a date, without realizing they were with each other.
  • Drunk on the Dark Side: When Naru wields the Cursed Sword of Hina. She comes completely unhinged.
  • Dynamic Entry: Su LOVES to do this to Keitaro. She provide the trope pic that is particularly noteworthy because she runs across a rooftop to deliver one through an open window...and somehow lands with her legs wrapped around his head.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: At the end Keitaro gets everything he dreamed of and then some more, but before that he goes through a SHITLOAD of pain, both literally and metaphorically.
  • Eat the Dog: Well, not a dog, but Su wants to do this to Tama. She only ends up refraining herself when she rationalizes it would be better to wait for Tama to reproduce.
  • Ecchi: The manga is full of it, but the anime cuts most of the fanservice for the main run of the series. The DVD-only Episode 25, the Christmas and spring specials, and the Love Hina Again OVAs have a lot more fanservice, much closer to the manga.
  • Effortless Amazonian Lift: Amalla Su easily runs carrying Keitaro in her arms.
  • Elegant Gothic Lolita: Kanako. Plus everyone else (except Keitaro) on the cover of volume 11, in which Kanako arrives.
  • Evil Feels Good: The Urashima family's evil heirloom katana (see Sealed Evil in a Can, below).
  • Eyes Always Shut: Kitsune. Sometimes both eyes, other times just one of them. Very rarely she opens both eyes at the same time.
  • The Faceless:
    • Kitsune, "Hidden Eyes" version.
    • Grandma Hinata, at least in the manga.
  • Failed Audition Plot: An ongoing subplot of this series follows Keitaro and his many failed attempts at getting into Tokyo U.
  • Fainting: Done by Mutsumi on occasion.
  • Fairytale Wedding Dress: Naru's dress when she and Keitaro marry in the Manga. His aunt also wears a fancy wedding dress in the penultimate volume.
  • Fanservice Extra: A scene in the manga has Keitaro distracted from a Panty Shot of a random girl before take a train...and get an headbutt on the close door!
  • Fantastic Fighting Style: Motoko belongs to a clan of swordsmen from Kyoto that specialize in Ki Manipulation to fight supernatural threats.
  • Feeling Your Heartbeat: In the opening chapters, not long after Keitaro meets the girls, Kitsune quickly picks up on his naivety with women and makes a show of trying to hit on him when they're alone. This ends with her taking his hand and putting it right on her breast, saying her heart is racing because of him. Of course, Naru and the other girls barge in just afterward, and Kitsune immediately changes gears, accusing Keitaro of being a pervert and feeling her up.
  • Festival Episode: Episode 18 has the main cast going to a festival.
  • First Girl Wins: Played with. Naru is the first girl we the audience meet, but Mutsumi was the first girl Keitaro met chronologically. Ultimately it ends up being Naru.
  • First Kiss: Played with. Keitaro and Naru both had theirs with Mutsumi. Shinobu makes it very clear she wants Keitaro to be hers; it ends up being Su. Motoko gets hers when she's assaulted by Su's automatic kissing machine. In the anime, Episode 13 focuses on this, with primary emphasis on Shinobu, although other characters talk about theirs or get involved.
  • Fluffy Fashion Feathers: In the manga, Naru's wedding dress has feathers on the sleeves.
  • Foregone Conclusion: Despite all of the noteworthy action between Keitaro and Mutsumi, it's ridiculously evident that Naru will end up with him. By the final three volumes, there's literally no hope for the other girls.
  • Forgettable Character: Nobody ever remembers Haitani and Shirai… not even Keitaro.
  • Forgotten First Meeting: Probably the poster child for this trope.
  • Formula with a Twist: Before Love Hina, most Harem Genre stories involved the protagonist gaining the adoration of his various Love Interests to start the "harem". Instead, Keitaro winds up gaining the ire of the majority of the girls due to being an Accidental Pervert. Thus at first, he must live with girls who aren't afraid to attack him for any perceived slight. Likewise it throws a mystery about if Naru is the girl Keitaro promised to share his dream of getting into Tokyo U with.
  • The Four Gods: The pets in the series resemble the Four Gods; Team Pet Tama the turtle (Genbu), Tsuruko's Shippu the crane (Suzaku), Kanako's cat Kuro (Byakko), and in the epilogue Ema has Leon the chameleon (Seiryu). The final page of the manga shows the four of them on the roof.
  • Fourth-Wall Observer: Kentaro Sakata's comments to the audience about the anime, its plot, and his role therein.
    "Well. I suppose that's all the screen time I'm getting this time."
  • "Freaky Friday" Flip: The Living Souls Exchange skill of the Shinmei-ryu. This sword-based spiritual technique is intended to temporarily transfer the soul of a possessed person and the intruding spirit into a willing host's body in order to be exorcised in cases where their original body is too physically weak to endure the procedure. In the second Tie-In Novel, Motoko tried to perform the technique in front of her sister Tsuruko, but she ended up switching bodies with Kitsune of all people by mistake, kickstarting the plot of that side-story.
  • From Roommates to Romance: The premise of the series is Keitaro moving into an all-girls dormitory as its manager. All the female residents become attracted to Keitaro after living with him for some time, with the Unresolved Sexual Tension being particularly strong with the female lead Naru. Keitaro marries Naru at the end of the manga.
  • Funbag Airbag: Already in the first chapter. While run from Naru, Keitaro crash in Kitsune's boobs.
  • Furo Scene: The Hinata House has a hot springs bath, resulting in a lot of Japanese bath scenes throughout the series.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Su can build just about anything the particular episode needs, whether it's a giant mechanical turtle, an automatic kissing machine, or a mind-reading device.
  • Garden Garment: In the desert island arc, Naru, Shinobu and Nyamo are wearing bikinis made of leaves.
  • Genius Ditz: Mutsumi. Both Naru and Keitaro are shocked that she gets perfect scores and wonder how she failed the exam as many times as he did. She either forgot to write her own name, or got lost on the way to the examination place.
  • Genre Shift: The series became prone to Road Trip arcs as the series lingered and most of the romantic misunderstandings had been resolved. These were apparently brief but enjoyed changes of pace for the author, as the later series Negima's framework allows them to be used more extensively. It also picked up more fantasy elements, when at the beginning it seemed to be set in an entirely mundane setting.
  • Giving Up the Ghost: Happens fairly often with Mutsumi, and sometimes with Keitaro.
  • Godiva Hair: Naru and Mutsumi (when they let it loose), Motoko until her Important Haircut in Volume 13, and Shinobu in the Distant Finale.
  • Greek Chorus: The Three Old Men Around Town in the anime, who may be ghosts. Funnily enough, in the episode where Motoko dreams that she and the girls are in an RPG, they are NPCs, whose speech consists of only the same phrase over and over (which Su points out to Motoko when she reacts in confusion).
  • Green Rooming: Motoko (along with her "groupies") is introduced in the first minutes of the first episode, but she immediately leaves on a training excursion, thus freeing up screen time for introductions of the other characters before she gets her turn to take center stage in the third episode.
  • Hadaka Apron: Keitaro fantasizes about seeing this. Shinobu fantasizes about doing this (specifically becoming grown up enough to do so).
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Naru and Motoko, nearly always as a result of Keitaro's Not What It Looks Like incidents.
  • Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Kitsune can hold enough liquor to turn a normal human's liver into foie gras. Not that she can't get smashed, though.
  • Harsh Word Impact: Very heavy use of this in the manga, especially metaphorical knives.
  • Healthy Country Air: This is a plot point in the backstory. Naru had asthma as a child and had been sent to the Hinata Inn for this reason. This is how she originally met and fell in love with Keitaro.
  • Heroic BSoD:
    • In the anime, Motoko has one in an episode where she believes that due to not wearing her traditional battle dress, she can't use her special attacks. At least until Keitaro snaps her out of it, and tells her that the clothing didn't matter, and that she was still the same person no matter what she wore.
    • Mutsumi gets her own Heroic BSoD in Volume 9, When Keitaro gets a "giant onion" dropped on him and it snaps his leg.
  • Hilarity Ensues: The wholes series can be summed up as… A man becomes the landlord of an all girls dorm, Hilarity Ensues.
  • Hime Cut:
    • Both of the Aoyama sisters have the long hair, sidetails and even bangs and the associated character traits.
    • Motoko's hairstyle fits her traditional upbringing and samurai-like personality.
    • For Tsuruko, this is one of the signifiers that she's proper Japanese lady.
  • Hitchhiker's Leg: When Kitsune, Motoko, and Mutsumi are trying to get a ride to the airport, Kitsune lifts up Motoko's shirt to entice travellers... and promptly causes a 20-car pileup.
  • Hot Springs Episode: Pretty much the entire series, considering the Hinata House is built over an old onsen, except for the previously mentioned beach episodes.
  • Human Hammer-Throw: Naru grabs Keitaro by the arm, swings him around a couple of times and throws him into the sky as he suffers from Ocular Gushers. Watch it here.
  • Identical Grandson: Keitaro looks suspiciously like his great-grandfather Keisuke in episode 20.
  • Idol Singer: Anime only. Three of them! No shock considering their voice actresses had all dabbled in that field at some point.
  • I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: Discussed by Keitaro in the first Tie-In Novel.
    "Naru," I countered, "a man being smothered by giant breasts is liable to agree to any crazy scheme!"
  • I Have This Friend: Said word-for-word by Naru to Mutsumi.
  • Imagine Spot: Keitaro has tons of these. They sometimes blur the line between imagination and reality.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Motoko defeats her sister with the mechanical pencil that Keitaro used every time he took the Todai entrance exams.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: Sure, it only works when we're not using the Tokyo U expression from the translations, but the abbreviation from the Japanese original, but it's still pointed out (and lampshaded when Naru reacts with "that's not funny!").
    Mutsumi: Hey, Naru, look at this! The capital of the Molmol Kingdom is called Todai! If you and Keitaro went there, then you'd have gone to Todai together!
  • Indirect Kiss: Shinobu freaks out about this more than most.
  • Innocent Innuendo: Mutsumi, all the damn time.
  • Interrupted Intimacy: In one of the last volumes, Keitaro and Naru try going to a Love Hotel. After turning off the lights, they're interrupted by Nyamo and her giant turtle that somehow sneaked into the couple's bed.
  • Invisible Parents: Keitaro's parents are never seen, although he does mention them early on, and his mom can be heard in the first episode of the anime. Also played straight with Su, Kitsune, and Motoko, although the other girls (Sarah, Naru, Shinobu) avert this trope.
  • Intimate Lotion Application: In volume 10, Mutsumi is sunbathing at the beach and asks Keitaro to rub suntan lotion on her back. Naru gets jealous when she sees it, assuming Mutsumi is flirting with him, so she asks him to do the same on her back. Keitaro manages to keep his nerve, but suddenly a sea cucumber crawls into her thigh, and she thinks it's his hand so she ends up pummeling him before he can explain.
  • Is That Cute Kid Yours?: Happens when Sarah is first introduced.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: When it's played for comedy, the person (usually Keitaro) is certain that the beloved (Naru) would be happy with someone else, and doesn't waste a moment to let her get a word in edgewise.
    • Kindhearted Mutsumi manages to be this and Victorious Childhood Friend at the same time for the same boy.
    • Naru tries to do this to Keitaro with Mutsumi in the manga, although it's touched on a little in the anime as well.
    • Virtually all of the girls towards the end of the manga do this towards Keitaro, so he can get together with Naru. Even if Kanako is the only one to visibly begrudge her decision.
  • Joshikousei: Suu, and later Shinobu. Naru and Motoko were also in high school at the start of the story; we even get to see Naru attending her high school graduation.
  • Kafka Komedy: Probably the premier example in manga and anime. Keitaro's horrible luck, especially with the Accidental Pervert moments.
  • Ki Manipulation: Motoko practices a swordstyle that uses ki to create Razor Wing.
  • Kid Samurai: Motoko, the 15-year-old samurai girl.
  • Large Ham: Suu. Motoko in the anime. Seta has shades of this in the manga. Kitsune tries but is usually too drunk to pull it off.
  • Laser-Guided Karma:
    • Happens to Motoko who, through most of the first half of the series, constantly ridiculed Keitaro's repeated blunders in getting accepted into the University of Tokyo. By the second half, however, she finds out firsthand that it's not as easy as it looks.
    • Naru also finds herself on the receiving end of this in the third quarter of the series when having to deal with Keitaro's sister and is subjected to the torture she put Keitaro through in the first half (specifically trying to drive him out by overworking him when the girls initially didn't like him). Naru even wails out an apology for doing so (and rightly so; she did it out of anger for an out-of-context comment from Keitaro). Worth pointing out that Kanako succeeds in driving all the girls but Naru out using this method (though everybody returns just a few pages later).
    • Misplaced Retribution: That being said, however, while the other girls deserved some punishment for the way they behaved, Shinobu, who had been nothing but kind to Keitaro since she met him, was subjected to the same treatment as the others despite having done nothing to deserve it.
  • Last Confession Wins: Naru ends up being the last of the girls to confess her love for Keitaro and ultimately marries him.
  • Latex Perfection: Kanako, complete with rearranging her skeleton.
  • Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone: Subverted when Naru and Keitaro finally get together; the other girls catch up with them as they're kissing and get so upset over it they start to chase them.
  • Marilyn Maneuver: Sometimes to Naru and Mutsumi.
  • Martial Arts for Mundane Purposes: There's episode where Mokoto and Kaolla are using Mokoto's sword skills to make statues out of logs so people will pay for the "show". Mokoto lampshades this by noting how the sacred art that was passed to her by her family has been reduced to cheap entertainment.
  • Master of Disguise:
    • Kanako, to the point where she can dislocate her skeleton to change her body shape. Defied by Keitaro; he can see through them easily.
    • Shinobu in the manga was able to tell that "Naru" was "not herself" when smiling, even though the smile was visually perfect.
  • Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: Shortly after Kitsune allows Keitaro to grope her in exchange for a month's rent, Naru catches him in his boxers with a box of tissues next to him. Not too difficult to guess what he was about to do.
  • Meditating Under a Waterfall: Motoko does this in an early chapter in order to train. Keitaro also does this later in the manga, although he gets hit by a falling log.
  • Megaton Punch: Naru Punch! Taken to extremes in the anime. Keitaro receives several per episode, and a lot of times it seems any answer he gives Naru results in one of these. Fortunately he's pretty durable.
  • Metal Muncher: One episode features a robot turtle that grows bigger the more metal it eats.
  • Modesty Towel: In the manga, characters are normally naked when in the Hot Springs, while in the anime, they are often wrapped in towels.
  • Moment Killer: If you try to make a drinking game out of it, you'll probably be dead before the end.
  • My Fist Forgives You: Explicitly done by Naru over the diary incident, but also by implication several other times.
  • My Kung-Fu Is Stronger Than Yours:
    • Motoko attempts to invoke this against her sister twice. She fails.
    • Also Seta to Keitaro, and conversely, Haruka to Seta.
  • Naked First Impression: Keitaro's first meeting with Naru in the first episode happens during a mix up in Hot Springs. They both have a Naked Freak-Out and Keitaro bolts out of the bath, bumping with the rest of the girls while trying to cover himself with a Modesty Towel along the way, which happens to fall right in front of Shinobu. Naru is later particularly pissed he exposed himself to the young Shinobu, but Shinobu says it's ok since it was so small she barely saw anything.
  • Nerd Glasses: Keitaro and Naru both have them, although Naru only wears hers when studying. Invoked by Shinobu as part of her attempt to become more like Naru. Motoko also attempts this with fake glasses (expressly to follow in Naru's footsteps) when studying to enter Tokyo U.
  • Nigh-Invulnerable: The only explanation for Keitaro's survival past the first chapter, considering how much the girls attack him. The girls eventually become aware of how odd this is, and start lampshading it – constantly pointing out his seeming immortality.
    • At one point, they're chasing an airplane as it's on the runway (long story) and they tell Keitaro "Jump! Don't worry, you're immortal!" Then another time he is hit by a car and gets up with nothing worse than a minor head wound, and all the strangers run away screaming "Monster!"
      • Referenced and actually played for drama during the climax of Volume 13 as a manic Naru accidentally launched herself off a cliff (she wasn't Driven to Suicide, she was trying to escape northwards to avoid confessing her feelings to Keitaro and there was no more Japan to run to) and Keitaro jumped after her to save her...
      Keitaro: Promise me you'll never do anything like this again. I'd survive, but I doubt you would.
    • Lampshaded in Volume 9 of the manga when part of the Budokan falls on Keitaro. He breaks a leg.
    • In fact, the number of times Keitaro gets hit over the course of the fourteen volumes (equal to three years in-story) is 430 times. Naru hit him the most at 172 times.
  • Nobody Poops:
    • Averted, as Keitaro once walked in on Naru in the bathroom. Needless to say it was not pretty for him.
    • And let's not forget Naru suffering from diarrhea, as noted in the Potty Emergency below.
  • Not Blood Siblings: Keitaro and Kanako (she's adopted). Unusually for this trope, Keitaro refuses to think of Kanako as anything other than his little sister (the same can't be said for her, though).
  • Not What It Looks Like: About every few characters, Keitaro has an accident with a naked girl, usually involving a Suggestive Collision, just as someone walks in on them and misunderstands the situation.
  • Ocular Gushers: There are scenes with characters almost literally crying rivers, usually Keitaro.
  • Old Fashioned Row Boat Date: Keitaro and Mutsumi ended up in one (supposedly), and it was definitely perceived that way by Naru, who snatched a boat of her own, and turned the whole thing into a hilarious row boat chase instead.
  • One Cast Member per Cover: The New Edition has seven volumes with each featuring one girl from Keitaro's Unwanted Harem on the cover, except for the sixth volume where Sarah is with Mutsumi on the cover.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Keitaro has a series of calamities at the University of Tokyo entrance ceremony that culminate with him being crushed by an onion dome, Mutsumi's permanent smile is wiped away and she actually goes into a Heroic BSoD.
  • Paper Fan of Doom: Naru sometimes pulls out a paper fan to give a Dope Slap.
  • Parental Abandonment:
    • In both the manga and anime, Shinobu is shown to have an extremely poor relationship with her parents. It's touched on more in the anime, where an entire episode is dedicated to it.
    • Motoko seems to have shades of this as well.
    • Keitaro himself is only at Hinata House because his parents were sick and tired of dealing with his failure and kicked him out.
  • The Peeping Tom: A bored Kitsune, Shinobu, and Su in episode 13 drill three holes into Naru's room to spy on Keitaro trying to kiss a sleeping Naru, but he stops himself. Naru, apparently awake the whole time, responds with a punch to him, and then pokes her finger into each hole to punish the three girls for spying on her
  • Phenotype Stereotype: Sarah, an American girl, is blonde with blue eyes.
  • Poor Communication Kills: A lot of the incidents in the series could have been avoided had the characters actually bothered to speak up and listen to each other more. But then it would not have been as funny.
  • P.O.V. Boy, Poster Girl: Keitaro and Naru respectively. In a lot of media, Naru is portrayed as the most prominent girl, either shown as the biggest character on the cover, or in the middle if the girls are all lined up.
  • Potty Emergency: Naru had diarrhea on the trip to the desert but was unable to use the bathroom because Keitaro wanted to confess his love to her. Talk about bad timing.
  • Power Perversion Potential:
    • An occasion has Keitaro and Kitsune sneak in the Naru room to discover her real feeling and use invisible tutes created by Su. The power potential is invoked by Keitaro and realized when Naru enter in the room and start to strip.
    • Su later develops X-ray goggles that let her see through Kanako's disguises... and her clothes... and the clothes of whoever else's in her field of view.
  • Practice Kiss: In one chapter, Shinobu is wondering about kissing and Su constructs a kissing robot for practice... which then went crazy and kissed Motoko.
  • Precocious Crush:
    • Shinobu for Keitaro. At the beginning of story, Shinobu is 12 about to turn 13, Keitaro is 7 years older. She never quite gets over it.
    • Naru to Seta when he was her tutor. Even after he was out of her life for over two years, she was very much not over him; she immediately regressed to a squeeing junior high student upon seeing him again.
  • Puppy-Dog Eyes: Shinobu. Naru when she was younger.
  • Red Is Heroic: Discussed about Journey to the West.
  • Reed Richards Is Useless: You'd think with her incredible knack for gadgets and electronics that Suu could be making a fortune... unless... so THAT'S how she gets all those bananas!
  • Relationship Upgrade: Takes a long time to happen, but it finally does between Keitaro and Naru.
  • Reset Button: How many times has the inn been destroyed? Subverted in the anime where they go broke due to the amount of times they had to get the inn fixed.
  • Robot Girl: The anime introduces Moe-chan, a French-made bisque automaton with the appearance of a little girl.
  • Rōnin:
    • Keitaro and Mutsumi fail the entrace exam for the Tokyo University, thrice. Naru also fails the exam on her first try.
    • It's used in a tongue-in-cheek manner when Motoko gets in the same situation during the timeskip:
    Kitsune: (giggling) Imagine what Keitaro will think when he hears the samurai became a ronin...
    (cue Motoko threatening to commit seppuku with a knife and Naru trying to stop her)
  • RPG Episode: Episode 8 follows Motoko's dream of being stuck in a RPG game-like reality while everyone else at Hinata Inn is actually playing a RPG.
  • Running Gag:
    • When the Amusing Injuries go to the extreme (the first time being when he is thrown off of a terrifying and rocky cliff, only half played for comedy), Genre Savvy characters start remarking that Keitaro is immortal. After this turning point, the joke is used here and there throughout the rest of the series, usually in an offhand way.
    • Su wants to eat Tama. Aside from the Accidental Pervert and subsequent beatings, this is probably the second most frequently used gag in the series.
  • Sacred First Kiss: No surprise that Shinobu takes this seriously. More surprising that Motoko does.
  • Samurai: Present-day Motoko, plus her sister Tsuruko.
    • Samurai Maid: When Motoko is defeated by her sister and left with her sword and her honor broken, she decides to "live as a normal woman". What does she do? Snatch a spare maid outfit from Kitsune's closet, do the chores around the inn and give the other residents her own brand of discipline!
  • Sand Bridge at Low Tide: In the Festival Episode, Sarah and Su strand themselves on an island, where they are soon joined by a "shipwrecked" Kitsune. After a night of worrying how to get themselves rescued, help comes to them across a bridge of sand revealed by the tide.
    • The same happened in the Beach Episode, but to Naru, Keitaro, and Sarah. They spend the day on the island, until nightfall, when the tide lowers and they're able to walk across and make their way home.
  • Scenery Censor: Usually played fairly subtly, but it's all over the place in the manga.
  • Sdrawkcab Alias: Of the syllabic variant. When Naru and Kanako are competing against each other in a fighting game at an arcade, Naru's character name is Luna, Kanako's Konaka (who's also totally a Captain Ersatz of Ibuki).
  • Sealed Evil in a Can:
    • The Urashima family owns an heirloom katana that happens to be the vessel for a powerful demon that nearly obliterated all of Kyoto. The seal isn't particularly strong – simply drawing the sword will unleash the demon, allowing it to possess the wielder.
    • The Youto Hina appears again in Negima! Magister Negi Magi In Setsuna flashbacks recognizing it at Tsukuyomi's hands, Tsuruko says this. "This is the magic sword passed down in the East. Youto ‘Hina’. Today, this was lent to us by the East as a lesson." East or Kanto is where Hinata is at.
  • Self-Serving Memory: The first half of Episode 4, with Keitaro writing in his diary.
  • Seppuku: At one point Motoko offers to help with the ritualized suicides of the Rōnin who have not managed to get into the University of Tokyo. And after a failed attempt at femininity, she misinterprets one of Keitaro's comments as suggesting that she kill herself, and she asks Su to be her second. Thankfully she soon reverts to her normal self. Something that makes this dramatic scene hilarious is that Motoko is holding a sharpened knife near her abdomen: a "proper" woman would commit suicide by cutting open her jugular, as stated in the paragraphs above... so if she actually went through with it, she would've failed at femininity again.
  • Sexy Santa Dress: The cover of the 4th volume of the manga, and the anime Christmas movie had the girls wear these.
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: Anime only. The episode about the stolen rent money.
  • She Is Not My Girlfriend: The "He Is not My Boyfriend" variant, a Naru speciality.
    • She gets called on this trope by several characters when they wonder why Naru keeps saying that but then gets mad at him if any other girl tries to romance him. Shinobu and (especially) Kanako call her out on this.
  • Shipper on Deck:
    • Tsuruko ships Keitaro/Motoko. Understandable, as Motoko initially introduces Keitaro as her fiance in an attempt to avoid having to move back home.
    • Keitaro tries to do this with Naru and Seta. Fortunately for him, Seta doesn't see her that way, and instead points out the obvious. Then either Keitaro or Naru will try to deny it.
    • For all her forcing herself on him (drunk or otherwise, but mainly drunk), Kitsune honestly and openly ships Keitaro/Naru.
    • Naru herself tries to do this towards Keitaro and Mutsumi in the manga, while her sister tries it in the anime. The scene where Naru is dressed up like a nerd while Mutsumi is wearing a pretty dress is the same in both versions, although Naru does this herself in the manga, while her sister does it in the anime.
    • Hell, Mutsumi's been shipping Naru/Keitaro since childhood!
  • Shout-Out: Has its page.
  • Shrinking Violet: Shinobu. She grows out of it by the end, and God help you if you cross her then.
  • Snow Means Love: The Christmas special, in which Naru and Keitaro spend a good deal of time wandering around feeling lonely. As well, it is snowing when Naru finds Keitaro after he ran off in an early episode of the series.
  • Starving Student: A recurring subplot is Keitaro looking for a job to pay for his studies. Made worse in that he routinely loses money to the Pretty Freeloaders' hijinks (once Kitsune even gets him fired from a restaurant because she didn't want to pay the bill, and Keitaro, who was working as a waiter, didn't even have time to dig himself out of it).
  • Spoiled Brat: Most of the Hina Apartment tenants fit into this sometimes. Naru and Motoko constantly throw temper tantrums and physically assault Keitaro if he so much as gives them constructive criticism (Naru even hit Keitaro for treating her to a meal at a Beef Bowl, instead of a fancy restaurant), Mitsune shamelessly helps herself to his checkbook to go joyriding and Su will blow him up with atomic weapons just for fun.
  • Stealth Clothes: Keitaro wears the bandana-tied-under-the-nose getup when trying to move out of Hinata House without anyone noticing. It fails, but not in the common way (he is spotted, but he escapes and isn't recognized until Naru finds the report card he left behind).
  • Stopped Reading Too Soon: In Love Hina Christmas Special: Silent Eve, Su and Sara find Naru's letter to Keitaro and only bother to read one word in the middle of the page (love) before jumping to conclusions, setting off the whole miscommunication plot.
  • Stripping Snag: In the final chapter Naru ends up getting stripped by Keitaro when he accidentally steps on the train of her wedding dress. None of the onlookers (barring newcomer Ema) are shocked by this.
  • Suicide as Comedy: Motoko invokes this trope sometimes in both the anime and the manga.
  • Supporting Harem: Out of all the female characters, only Naru ever had any chance with Keitaro. Mutsumi was the only somewhat believable competition as a potential promise girl and even then, Keitaro made his choice pretty early on.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: "I... I don't want to explore every centimeter of my sister's glistening naked body!" Sure you don't.
  • Team Pet: Tama, the flying Onsen Turtle that Mutsumi gives Keitaro. It becomes a pet to Hinata Inn as a whole.
  • Tender Tears: The Shrinking Violet Shinobu tears up when she's upset or embarrassed.
  • Thanks for the Mammary: Keitaro and his breast-and-booty-attracting hands. Not that he actively seeks them out. Either way, he gets the crap beaten out of him for his troubles.
  • Those Two Guys: Haitani and Shirai (Keitaro's Rōnin friends). The trope is Lampshaded when neither Keitaro nor Naru (who both went to cram school with them) can remember their names after Volume 3.
  • Took a Level in Badass: During his absence in Volume 10, Keitaro trained martial arts with Seta.
  • Touch the Intangible: The "Zanmaken" and "Zanmaken: Ni no Tachi" sword techniques can cut spirits and magic.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Su loves food in general, but especially bananas. And Mutsumi loves watermelons (which may be a reference to her being the most buxom woman in the cast).
  • Train-Station Goodbye: Done in an airport between Naru and Keitaro, when he was about to leave for USA with Seta. It's one of the most emotionally powerful moments in the series.
  • Trope Trigger: Keitaro's accidental perversions always trigger a Megaton Punch.
  • Tsundere: Naru and Motoko make up opposite sides of this coin. Motoko, with her aggressive attitude (particularly around men) embodies the tsuntsun, while the somewhat more soft-spoken Naru (who usually only goes ballistic around Keitaro) embodies the deredere.
  • A Twinkle in the Sky: Keitaro when punched by Naru. Technically only in the anime, though he still flies absurd distances in the manga.
  • Umbrella of Togetherness: At end of the series before the epilogue, Keitaro shows Naru the Time Capsule they and Mutsumi buried in the old sandbox, and one of the items inside is a sheet of paper with a drawing of an umbrella with Naru and Keitaro's names under it, with Mutsumi's name over to a smiling face next to it.
  • Unknowingly in Love: Subverted in a subplot. Motoko experiences strange feelings whenever she's around Keitaro, and is told by others that those feelings must be love. Hilarity Ensues, until The Reveal that she was actually sick, and the feelings she was having were symptoms of the illness.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: By the truckload, though that's hardly unusual for the genre.
  • Unwanted Harem: By a third of the way through the series, Keitaro literally has beautiful girls throwing themselves at him. Problem is he's already made up his mind.
  • Waterfall Shower:
    • During the trip Sara and Naru take one only to have Keitaro fall in on them.
    • Later, lost on a desert island, upon finding an Oasis Naru takes one while making a Leaf Bikini.
  • We Can Rule Together: Suu, in an unusually literal sense.
  • Web Games: A Flash game called "Love Hina Sim Date" was created by English speaking fans over on Newgrounds. It contained decent gameplay, but also a lot of out-of-character swearing and a few typos.
  • Wedding Finale: The last two chapters of Love Hina covered Keitaro and Naru finally getting married, seen from the perspective of Last Episode, New Character Ema. And since it's Love Hina, there was one last moment of accidental perversion as they were leaving for their honeymoon.
  • Weddings in Japan: Keitaro and Naru's, and Haruka and Seta's, both Western-style.
  • We Really Do Care: Keitaro and Naru go off on their own vacations separately but wind up together anyway. Everyone else in the house believes they're going to commit suicide together, and rush out to stop them. They really weren't, obviously.
    • Happens again in Volume 8, when Keitaro becomes so despondent after believing he failed the Tokyo U entrance exam again that he fled the country. Naru leaves to bring him back the second she finds out. The others leave a few days later when neither of them return.
  • What the Hell, Tsundere?: Kanako really reams Naru out for her treatment of Keitaro.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Motoko and turtles. Tsuruko attempts to explain the reasons to Keitaro. He mutters that it still doesn't make any sense.
  • Will They or Won't They?: Keitaro and Naru of course. No surprise considering this is a rom-com, especially since one half of the couple suffers from Cannot Spit It Out for most of the series. Very late in the story, they resolve their differences and at the end of the story, they get married.
  • Won't Take "Yes" for an Answer: Nobody believes it when Keitaro actually succeeds at anything.
  • Wooden Katanas Are Even Better: Motoko and her ever-present bokken regularly accomplish feats that defy the laws of physics and nature.
  • The Worf Effect: Motoko is said to be an excellent swordswoman, but she loses to both her older sister and Seta, and even Keitaro sometimes. Her sword even got blocked barehanded by a turtle.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Keitaro almost gave Sarah a spanking in the manga when he was getting sick of her antics, claiming she "had it coming" – too bad he tried to do it IN PUBLIC and all Sarah had to do was scream loud enough to make him chicken out.
    • Would Hit a Girl, though, when it comes to Kanako, because she's his sister, adopted or not.
    Kanako: Why do only I have to get this treatment?! This isn't fair!
  • Yamato Nadeshiko: Motoko has the classic appearance but is too brash and aggressive to truly fit. Her older sister, Tsuruko, looks the part, is far calmer and more elegant, stopped actively practicing kendo to become a housewife, but is not someone to take lightly.


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