Love Hina main characters
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This is a list of main characters in Love Hina
(Where ages are quoted these are the ages at the time the character appears in the story - the story moves through a year fairly quickly so ages change quite fast)
Names are in Western order, with the surname after the given name, except for the Suu's, who are in Japanese order.
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Keitaro Urashima
Japanese Seiyuu: Yuji Ueda
English Voice Actor: Derek Stephen Prince
Keitaro Urashima (浦島 景太郎 Urashima Keitarō) is a 20 year-old student who at the start of Love Hina is trying to get into Tokyo University.
After failing the entrance exams twice and becoming a second-year ronin, he is kicked out of his parents' house and goes to his grandmother's hotel, thinking he might be able to stay there.
However, he finds out the hard way that his grandmother has turned the hotel into an all-girls dormitory. Through a combination of bad luck and timing, he encounters Naru Narusegawa in the open-air hot springs bath and infuriates her. He then proceeds to land on the bad side of the other dorm residents, before Haruka arrives and metaphorically bails him out. Ultimately he does end up staying at the Hinata House (Hinata Sō), though the reason and timing varies slightly between the anime and the manga. In the manga, Keitaro is granted the deed to the Hinata House itself by his grandmother; as he now owns the establishment, he becomes landlord by default. In the anime, he is granted only the landlord's title and duties.
Despite looking like a weakling, he can actually take quite a bit of punishment and still get up from it, which is just as well as he is always getting into situations where one of more of the girls get angry at him and hitting him. Usually this involves one of them being naked and him being responsible for it or watching them.
Through the course of the story Keitaro starts doing quite well in his studies, passes the entrance exams for Tokyo University after another failure and develops friendships with all the girls in the house, but in particular with Naru and (later on) Mutsumi.
Keitaro takes promises seriously, and it seems that he made a number of important ones during his childhood. First and foremost was his promise of 15 years ago (age 5) with a little girl he barely remembers that they would get into Tokyo University together one day. After taking up residence in the Hinata House, he quickly comes to suspect that Narusegawa Naru may have been the girl of his promises. He later experiences some doubts about this conclusion when he begins to learn more of Mutsumi Otohime's past and her connections with the Hinata House during their childhood, but later on the exact connection becomes clear and he finds out Naru was the one he made the promise to after all.
Episode 20 of the TV anime series revealed the second promise Keitaro made, though the story is not told in the manga. His great-grandfather promised a doll he would fix her broken legs, in jest. After some time the doll, now called Moe, was possessed by a spirit and became selectively sentient.
Finally, late in the manga and in the Love Hina Again OAV series, it is revealed that Keitaro made a promise with his adopted sister Kanako that they would one day run the Hinata Inn together.
His surname Urashima is apparently derived from an old tale Urashimataro.
Naru Narusegawa
Japanese Seiyuu: Yui Horie
English Voice Actor: Dorothy Melendrez
Naru Narusegawa (成瀬川なる Narusegawa Naru) is a 17-year old student at Keitaro's cram school with an extremely fiery temper (which is described as "one fuse short of a cannon", according to the official website). Naru is a boarder at the Hinata House, in Room 304.
Of all the girls in the Hinata House, Keitaro manages to annoy her the most, usually by accidentally grabbing her in unfortunate places or walking in on her while she is naked or changing her clothes. Naru's appearance is based on the Shy Glasses-wearing Beautiful Nerd archetype in dating sim games, with the twist she is actually very cantankerous.
Despite her temper and frequent violence toward Keitaro, she develops strong feelings for him, though she has great difficulty in admitting her feelings even to herself. She is prone to extremely strong jealous reactions whenever Keitaro appears to be getting too close (physically or emotionally) to other girls.
Despite the fact that she was only two years old at the time, she and Keitaro promised to go to Tokyo University together, though being two years old she didn't remember for quite a while (this is why Mutsumi made the same promise with her - see Mutsumi's entry).
Naru is very intelligent; at the start of the series, she is #1 in Japan on the practice entrance exams. Just a few years earlier, however, she was in almost exactly the same position Keitaro was in - horrible grades and no hope of getting into Tokyo U. She was able to overcome her problems by studying with a Tokyo University student, Noriyasu Seta, whom she developed a serious crush on.
Naru had made a promise three times to get into Tokyo University. First with Keitaro, then with Mutsumi and finally with Seta when he was tutoring her.
She owns a Liddo-kun doll which a friend (Mutsumi Otohime) gave her when she was young.
Mutsumi Otohime
Japanese Seiyuu: Satsuki Yukino
English Voice Actor: Jean Howard
Mutsumi Otohime (乙姫 むつみ Otohime Mutsumi) is a very gentle, very frail, clumsy and soft-spoken 21 year old girl who lives in Okinawa. Keitaro and Naru meet her while taking some time off for a brief vacation after flunking their entrance exams. (In the anime, Keitaro has a brief and near-fatal encounter with her on his way to the entrance exam.) Like Keitaro and Naru, Mutusmi had just flunked her entrance exam for Tokyo U, and was also taking a trip to get a hold of herself again. And like Keitaro, she too is a third year Ronin.
The young Mutsumi played matchmaker to Naru and Keitaro after it became clear that Naru wanted to go to Tokyo University with Keitaro. She deliberately lost a game of Janken (rock-paper-scissors) which was to decide who out of Naru and Mutsumi would become Keitaro's wife. She then made a promise with Naru that both she and Naru would later go to Tokyo University, so that Naru would remember the promise (she was too young to be able to remember when Keitaro made the promise).
Despite being clumsy in small things and anemic, Mutsumi generally has good luck when it comes to life-changing matters and always seems to come out all right, even if she gets a few bruises along the way. Even more than Keitaro, Mutsumi has the tendency to fall down, run into things, and generally get into injurous situations while recovering quite quickly. She also frequently has near-death experiences. Her outlook on life is somewhat disconnected with reality, a point reinforced by her worldly goods consisting of watermelons, her test study techniques consisting of random chance guessing, and her almost unrealistically optimistic outlook on life. As something of a counterbalance to her inability to do things anyone could do, she has a number of unusual qualities. She can speak "turtlese" (though she claims she can't), and her guessing method for test taking, involving the sides of a pencil, actually got her through the Tokyo U entrance exams.
Her surname, Otohime, comes from the legend of Urashima Taro, where Otohime is the beautiful daughter of the Sea King and the eventual wife of Urashima. Otohime first appears in the legend as a beautiful five colored sea turtle, providing the basis for Mutsumi's association with supernatural turtles.
The portrayal of the Naru/Keitaro/Mutsumi relationship is somewhat different and more bluntly depicted in the anime.
She gave Narusegawa her Liddo-kun doll when she left Hinata when she was young.
Shinobu Maehara
Japanese Seiyuu: Kurata Masayo
English Voice Actor: Ellen Arden
Shinobu Maehara (前原 しのぶ Maehara Shinobu) is a 12-year old schoolgirl who, after a bad start in which Keitaro lied about being in Tokyo University and his subsequent failed attempts to make it up to her, develops quite a crush on Keitaro (or Senpai - a Japanese term for elder - as she calls him). Shinobu is also a boarder at the Hinata House, in Room 201.
In the anime, she is first introduced as a grieving girl who has run away from home due to domestic turmoil, however, in the manga she is already at the Hinata House when Keitaro arrives.
She is quite skilled in both cooking and housechores -- her family once owned a restaurant in town prior to their divorce (the divorce does not actually occur in the manga, merely a feud). She is overly caring of other's feelings, although this subsequently contributes to her own emotional frailty. Towards the end of both the manga and the anime, it becomes unclear whether she wishes for Keitaro to be with Naru or herself. On the day of Keitaro and Naru's wedding, Shinobu is reintroduced as a prominent, self-reassured woman who is quite attractive.
One reason Shinobu likes Keitaro is they actually have somewhat similar personalities, particularly in the manga where she bears the brunt of much embarrassing humor.
Motoko Aoyama
Japanese Seiyuu: Yuu Asakawa
English Voice Actor: Mona Marshall
Motoko Aoyama (青山 素子 Aoyama Motoko) is a 15-year old school girl who is extremely serious, athletic and into Kendo. Motoko is also a boarder at the Hinata House, in Room 304.
She has difficulty dealing with other people, especially males; she finds men to be a distraction that keep her from being able to concentrate fully on her studies and kendo practice. Her relationship with Keitaro initially resembles Naru's relationship with him; he all too often finds himself on the receiving end of various attacks as a result of his frequent mishaps. She eventually mellows out as she becomes used to him and eventually finds herself developing feelings for him, along with a habit of writing trashy romance tales involving the two of them. In fact, she is the first of the girls (aside from Naru and Mutsumi) to confess her feelings to Keitaro.
As time passes, she fails the Tokyo University entrance exam herself and becomes a ronin as Keitaro had been. The irony of her situation and its similarities to his was not lost on her. She eventually passes the test, and becomes a law student at Todai.
Motoko has an older sister, Tsuruko, who gave up the life of the sword to marry. Motoko lives in fear of her sister, though the problem is primarily in Motoko's head; Tsuruko is not nearly as severe and frightening in reality as Motoko remembers. It's interesting to note that Tsuruko is actually Motoko's blood sister. Motoko and Su are the only characters in the series who are actually blood-related to their siblings.
Motoko is probably one of the most fully developed characters in either the anime or manga; the calm, almost serene Motoko who appears at the end of volume 14 of the manga release is quite a different person than the hostile, repressed individual Keitaro encountered at the start of the series.
Kaolla Su
Japanese Seiyuu: Reiko Takagi
English Voice Actor: Wendee Lee
Kaolla Su (カオラ ・スゥ Kaora Sū) is a 13-year old foreign transfer student. Kaolla is also a boarder at the Hinata House, in Room 301.
It is not clear exactly where she is from in the anime, though in the manga she is from the fictional kingdom of Molmol and is the princess of said country. Both the anime and manga depict her as having a somewhat Middle Eastern influence, and both specify that she is not Indian. It is not impossible that she is a Hindu, however; she has a mark on her forehead that closely resembles a bindi dot. She is a very hyperactive girl who is usually either kicking someone, trying to eat something, preferably bananas, or inventing some potentially dangerous new device.
She likes Keitaro, because he reminds her of her older brother. She has an older sister, too, Suu Amalla.
It's her greatest ambition in life to eventually return to her homeland and build a school to transform her country into a technological power that will rival Japan; her second greatest ambition however, is to take over the world.
Mitsune Konno (Kitsune)
Japanese Seiyuu: Junko Noda
English Voice Actor: Barbara Goodson
Mitsune Konno (紺野 みつね Konno Mitsune), a.k.a. Kitsune, which means "fox", is a 19-year old freelance writer who is frequently drunk, teasing Keitaro, or both. Mitsune is also a boarder at the Hinata House, in Room 205.
Her nickname comes from the fact that she never fully opens both eyes at the same time (making her something of a hidden character) and she has a fox-like expression as a result. She's a practical joker and troublemaker extraordinaire; her mission in life seems to be to ensure that things never get too dull nor those around her too complacent.
She went to the same school as Naru, and along with Naru developed a crush on Seta, and eventually takes over the Hinata Tea House when Haruka leaves.
Haruka Urashima
Japanese Seiyuu: Megumi Hayashibara
English Voice Actor: Jane Alan
Haruka Urashima (浦島 はるか Urashima Haruka) is Keitaro's aunt. She helps Keitaro manage Hinata and provides sound advice. She is most commonly referred to as Keitaro's aunt; however there is evidence in both the manga and anime that she may be his cousin, instead. The confusion seems to arise from the Japanese language term Keitaro refers to her as "obasan", which can apparently mean either 'aunt' or 'old woman', depending on context.
Haruka manages the Hinata Tea House at the bottom of the hill upon which the Hinata House sits. She's 29 years old, unmarried, with no children (though in Ken Akamatsu's manga notes in Love Hina volume one, he suggests that she may be a single mother, there is no other mention of this throughout the manga or anime), and seems to play the role of peacemaker for the residents of the Hinata House.
Haruka had some sort of relationship with Seta in the past, though the details of their association are never made clear. It is clear that they were in love and something or someone came between them. Ultimately, with the help of Keitaro and Naru, they overcome their past differences, and theirs is the first wedding of the manga series. After their marriage, Haruka leaves the Hinata Tea House in Kitsune's care and stays with Seta and Sara to begin a new life.
Noriyasu Seta
Japanese Seiyuu: Yasunori Matsumoto
English Voice Actor: Ronald Allen
Noriyasu Seta (瀬田 記康 Seta Noriyasu) is a Tokyo University graduate and professor there who specialises in archaeology, appearing to be a parody of Indiana Jones. Like Keitaro, he was a third-year Ronin. He's clumsy (especially with women), a terrible driver, and an exceptionally skilled martial artist, all partly due to his complete lack of self-preservation. Invariably and ironically, Keitaro comes to mimic him in many aspects by the end of volume 14.
Seta spends a good deal of his time traveling the world on one expedition or another. His goal seems to be to find evidence of an ancient turtle civilization that once flourished in Japan. During the course of his excavations near the Hinata Beach Tea House in the anime, he uncovered an ancient stage where, he theorized, the ancient inhabitants once performed plays devoted to the gods. After the destruction of the Hinata Beach Tea House during the Urashima family traditional play production, Seta offered to let them use the ancient stage for their play in exchange for a role in the play (Journey to the West.) What was intended to be a mock battle became fiercely real, unfortunately, and the stage was ruined. A hot water geyser surfaced from under the stage, forming a very large new hot springs bath. Haruka was able to recover the costs of rebuilding the Tea House by charging admission to the bath.
Seta is also something of an adventurer, and possesses a van that shares his indestructable nature, and apparently has a submarine mode. In the past, Haruka had a major crush on him, though he seemed oblivious. They went on many expeditions together, which are alluded to often in the manga. He had a child with Sara's mother, an American, who later died. Her last request was that Seta marry Haruka. This wish was granted, and Haruka and Seta married at the ruins of Todai, capital of the Turtle civilization.
Seta is Sara's guardian, and she refers to him as "papa."
Sara McDougall
Japanese Seiyuu: Yumiko Kobayashi
English Voice Actor: Julie Maddalena
Sara McDougall (サラ・マクドゥガル Sara Makudugaru) is Seta's adopted daughter, and initially delights in making Keitaro's life miserable. However, like most of the girls in the story, she eventually warms to him, even if she still calls him a dork.
Sara is left for a time in the care of the Hinata House residents by Seta, as he feels that travelling the world with him on expeditions would be too disruptive to her childhood. There, she develops a close friendship with Kaolla Su. Sara eventually does return to travelling with him after his marriage to Haruka.
She possesses no unusual talents or skills, though she is adept at bashing Keitaro on the head with priceless artifacts. She also has a panda shaped birthmark on her butt, which she avoids showing at all costs.
Kanako Urashima
Japanese Seiyuu: Natsuko Kuwatani English Voice Actor: Melissa Charles
Kanako Urashima (浦島 可奈子 Urashima Kanako) is Keitaro's adopted younger sister. She lived in the United States for some years, and returned to Japan only to find Keitaro had just left for the U.S. himself. She assumes control of the Hinata House and immediately changes it from an all-girls dormitory back into a hotel. The residents are given the option of leaving, or of staying and working for her.
Kanako never came to see Keitaro as a brother after her adoption; she has loved him since they were children. When they promised to run a hotel together when they grew up, she always assumed it would be as husband and wife.
She recognizes that all of the girls in the Hinata House have some sort of affection for her brother after she tests them in a variety of ways. She tries to drive them away by being as mean and cruel as she could to them, in much the same way that they themselves had once attempted to drive Keitaro away. At first it seemed to be working as one by one everyone but Naru left the Hinata, but the others ultimately returned.
Kanako is a master of disguise and is able to impersonate anyone, which she uses to try to get control over the Hinata house. She also has feelings for Keitaro, reacting in much the same way as Naru does when she sees him kissing someone else (in this case 'Keitaro' was Mutsumi in one of Kanako's disguises, but it was real enough for Kanako).
She first appears in book 11 in the manga, and in the Love Hina Again anime OVA.
There are slight differences in timing of events between the anime and manga, and some anime-only characters were added by the manga author, so the two adaptations are generally reconcilable with each other. Naru's stepsister, for example, appears in the anime, but never in the manga except in its epilogue.