Author's note: This review specifically covers disc four of the Love Hina television series. For more general information about Love Hina nnd the DVD release, please see my review of the box set. For further discussion of characters and plot, I strongly suggest reading my reviews of previous volumes of the series.

Volume 4 of Love Hina is a bit of a disappointment overall; although it does contain two good episodes and introduces a couple of new and significant characters, it also contains a couple of episodes that are just weak - filler material without a lot to them.

CHARACTERS
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Professor Seta - An archeology professor at Tokyo U., and the Good Samaritan/lunatic driver who helped Keitaro recover his student Id 2 discs ago. He also was Naru's tutor in high school, and she had a huge crush on him at the time - in fact, he is the reasons she is working so hard to get into Tokyo U!

Sara McDougal - a young moppet with spiked blonde hair, she is in some way related to Seta-san. She calls him "Papa", but when Seta is asked about their relationship, he is vague, replying only that she is related to him. Sara is very protective of her "Papa" and does all she can to prevent other people from getting between them. She is REALLY hard on Keitaro and loves to torment him.

EPISODES
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Disc 4 contains 4 episodes.

13) The First Kiss Tastes Like Lemon? Marshmallow? - Grown-Up

Shinobu is worried - everybody else seems to have had their first kiss except for her, and Keitaro only sees her as a kid, not a woman. Is a girl's first kiss really that important? And is she ready for it in any event?

This episode is slower-paced than most. amd is a break from the fast-paced humor that has been prevalent the last few episodes. Of all the Hinata-sou girls, Shinobu is the most loyal in terms of her support for Keitaro, and her struggles with the normal pressures of getting older are all the more touching because we know he will never have the same interest in her that she does in him. A good Shinobu episode.

14) Naru's Crush is now a Tokyo U Professor - Tuening into Love?

At Hinata-sou, everybody must take up a part-time job to help with the expenses. Keitaro lucks out. being offered a job as assistant to a Tokyo U professor! But maybe things aren't as positive as he thought at first - the professor used to be Naru's tutor, and she had a huge crush on him! Amd the job also involves dealing with Professor Seta' bratty "relative", Sara. who is capable of dealing almost as much damage to Keitaro as is Naru! Will he survive to tell Naru how he feels!

This episode starts off as a standard "part-time work" episode, which is a standard in just about every other romantic comedy you could mention. But it also instroduces a couple new characters, one of whom could be real competition for Keitaro!


15) I Love You! Romantic Confession Inside a Cave - Tall Tale

When Sara leads the whole Hinata-sou gang into an strange tunnel, they run into Seta-san who is looking for what he believes is the remains of a lost turtle civilation. Whatever it is they have found, it has plenty of booby-traps. and the group is soon stranded in the middle of an underground cavern with no obvious escape. Faced with imminent death (yeah, right...in a romantic comedy?) Keitaro decides to confess to Naru...

This COULD be a turning point in the series. But for reasons I won't go into here (would be a spoiler) it isn't. and the episode ultimately disappoints both on the character development and humor fronts. Ah well, I guess every seeries has a few weak episodes...

16) Monkey Performance at the Seaside Teahouse Hinata

It's summertime, and the entire cast transplants itself to the "Hinata Seaside Teahouse" for summer operations (and to make some money to supplement Hinata-sou's much-needed repairs). To attract business, they put on a play, in the classic style, and all manner of chaos ensues.

Yup...it's another parody of a cherished part of Japanese culture, and once again Motoko is at the center of it. I won't spoil a very funny episode by going into details here, except to say that HERE is the turning point episode that #15 SHOULD HAVE been. Sort of.


BONUSES
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Bonuses this disc include the standard character photo gallery, this time of Kitsune and Otohime-san. The special feature this disc is a "Making of Love Hina" mini-dosumentary. A word of warning - if you like the English dub of this series, you may find the "Making of" featurette interesting. Most people whom I have spoken to feel that the English dub of this series is very poorly executed (myself included). As a result, listening to the production people prattle on about how much care they took with their translation and how much effort they put into the voice characterizations made me laugh out loud. If you're a purist, do yourself a favor and skip this feature.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12