Love Hina, Vol. 5: Summer by the Sea (2002)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Yoshiaki Iwasaki
Original Story by Ken Akamatsu

Features:

• character profiles
  
• English and Japanese audio
  
• English subtitles
  

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• ghosts
• angry Naru
• fan service in foreign costumes

Rating: 13+

Anamorphic: N/A

My Advice: Buy it.

Four more episodes bring us more hijinks from the residents of the Hinata Apartments. First, the gang goes off for a vacation on the beach, but ends up getting haunted by a vengeful female spirit who hates men—too bad she chooses to possess Naru. Motoko, to prove she is not losing her touch, is assigned the exorcism. Next, beach blanket bingo continues as Seta arrives for a festival, and Kitsune agrees to take care of Sarah for him. Next, Kaolla’s “brother” appears on the scene, and wants her to marry him so he can become king. Since she doesn’t want to go, Keitaro and gang must figure out how to solve this quandary so that everyone is happy. Finally, a mechanical doll built by Keitaro’s great-grandfather is discovered in the bottom of the Hinata Apartments. Keitaro wants to help her, but everyone else, who can’t hear the doll talk, thinks he might be crazy. In addition, there is a Japanese legend that if a thing is cared for over 100 years, then it can come to life.

These episodes bring us a nice bit of character development. When Motoko and Keitaru are working together to free Naru from her possession, they come to more of an understanding. We also get to learn more about Kaolla and her family, which is nice. We also learn a great deal about how Kitsune thinks in the second episode, as she reveals more of her past and her feelings for Seta. We can only hope this turns out as it should, even though Haruka is showing more of a history and familiarly with Seta as well. My only question is why Naru can learn to care for Keitaro one minute, and then be back to distrusting and misunderstanding him five minutes later for no reason. That’s getting a bit tiresome at this point.

The audio and video quality are both quite high. There were no problems with either language track, and they include some nice use of stereo capabilities. The music particularly comes across nicely. The video transfer has great colors in every detail, from the backgrounds to the people. I didn’t notice any cross-coloration or pixilation.

The extras are a little weaker with this release, as we just get two character profiles--one for Sarah and one for Kaolla Su. However, the packaging continues to be clever and cute; this time, the inside of the jacket has a supposed photo essay of what Kaolla Su did on her summer vacation. Funny. I like the way that some producers are making use of the clear DVD cases to provide bonus art like that.

Overall, this is a nice group of episodes that show viewers just a bit more about their favorite characters and doesn’t neglect anyone. No matter who your favorite is, there is bound to be at least a few scenes that let them shine in this disc. There are several really nice moments, especially during the festival fireworks, and so all in all, this is a solid disc for fans of the show that just might win some new fans.