Love Hina/Headscratchers

• ledge: Does it bother anyone else that, once Keitaro comes back from America, he's basically just Seta 2? (Are you allowed to have a character who is an Expy of another character in the same title?) If I were Naru I'd be pissed that I got over my crush to fall in love with this new guy, and when he comes back from not having seen him for six months, he's exactly like the crush I got over instead of the guy I fell in love with. Although I guess from her vantage point she's getting the best of both worlds. She gets her crush who is already in love with her. Still, that interpretation makes her incredibly shallow, which I don't think was the impression I was supposed to get. Yes, I was able to handle things going into the outrageous in the second half, with mecha-turtles, impossibly effective disguise masters, MacrossMissileMassacres and giant fleets of airships, but the more Keitaro acted like Seta, the more it bothered me. I found that the parts I liked the most were when he and Naru were not involved in Wacky Hijinks where he had to act like Seta, not because of Wacky Hijinks, but because they were just hanging around Hinata House or walking around town where and still acted like Keitaro.
  • I agree actually. I preferred Keitaro prior to the end of volume 11. I liked how he had to learn to deal with all of the Hinata Housers who outclassed him in pretty much every way. When he comes back everyone wants him.
    • I also concur. Why is taking the proverbial levels in badass a requirement for the reader to continue liking and respecting the guy?
  • I don't. Naru was already in love with Keitaro before he went to America and became more like Seta (she realizes she's in love with him as soon as the Okinawa arc or the airport date chapter). When he returned her feelings towards him remained exactly the same, with only a few off-hand comments to his newfound confidence. In the end, this confidence was necessary to HIM, since it made him able to chase Naru to the end of Japan and finally get her to admit her feelings.
  • The second he came back with the Seta glasses I had been keeping that in mind. In a story telling wise 11 volume of getting outclassed by everyone seems to get old. Anymore and the readers might actually give up on Keitaro. Increasing Keitaro's stats isn't a bad move, however it does gets weird when the entire house wanted him and what pissed me off was that Mutusmi on the other hand became Sarah-Status after the time-skip.
  • He may have taken a level in badass, and he may have cooler glasses and a better haircut, but until the epilogue short, he wasn't much like Seta. Seta's a clueless lout who never seemed able to see past himself. Keitaro may be a slightly clueless idiot, but he always stood apart by how much he paid attention to the others and how much he cared. (Which is why I don't like the epilogue chapter, they basically turn Keitaro into a complete carbon copy of Seta; he loses pretty much all of his original personality)
• Something that I never got over was the big secret plot of finding out who Keitaro's childhood sweetheart was. Yeah, that's great to keep that a mystery until the very end, but Mutsumi outright told them near the end of the 7th volume!

Mutsumi (paraphrased): When I was little, I made the promise with Naru. Keitaro made his promise with his very first love, but she was too young to remember, so when she was a little older I made the promise again with her. So that means that Keitaro's first love was-- *convenient interruption*

She just told them! And they remain clueless up until the very end of the series. No wonder they can't get into Tokyo U if they can't connect the dots that are shoved under their noses!

• • Poor Communication Kills. It's one of the staples of this manga. Remember when Keitaro almost read Naru's diary in volume 2 but got interrupted and only managed to one year later, despite nothing too important being written in it? That's another pretty huge example.
  • I read it this way. Mutsumi made a promise with Naru, and Keitarou made a promise with his first love, implied to be a different girl. But in the exam hall, Keitarou does connect the dots and thinks "If it's not Mutsumi, there's only one other option left". However, the memories are still incomplete at this point in the story.
  • For that interpretation hold, you would have to assume Mutsumi made a promise to two people, Naru and Keitaro's first love. While possible, it is definitively weird she would have phrased like that if it was the case. The only excuse I can find is Keitaro and Naru wasn't paying attention at the time.
  • Yeah, that's exactly what happened, Mutsumi made the promise with Keitaro and then made it with Naru.