Reception
Love Hina won the Kodansha Manga Award for best shōnen title in 2001. It was selected as the "Best Manga, USA Release" at both the 2002 and 2004 Anime Expo conventions. In 2003, the title was among the top ten graphic novels on Nielsen BookScan's list and one of the first graphic novels to ever appear in the general trade paperback list. The pop culture website ICv2 voted Love Hina "Anime Product of the Year" in 2002.
The series was well received by critics. Tony Chen, of Anime News Network (ANN), found it to be a funny series, though finding the 16+ rating appropriate due to the number of jokes involving sexual innuendo. He praised the beautiful artwork, feeling the "sexy and cute" female designs were perfect for the series and that Keitaro's design fit his dorky personality. Chen found Naru's regularly catching Keitaro making a mistake and calling him a pervert redundant and annoying. Eric Luce of Ex.org notes an increased character development over other love comedies, and describes the series as "nothing if not whimsical".
ANN's Bamboo Dong praised the anime adaptation for being very intriguing and mixing "drama, romance, and slapstick comedy in a pleasing combination". She found the music "incredibly cute" and felt it was used in a way which contributed to many of the dramatic effects in the anime. In The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917, Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy felt the female characters were a "standard rack of female anime archetypes" and that the series as a whole was a "culmination of a decade of geek-centered anime". Kenneth Lee, writing for Ex.org praised the look and quality of the animation, highlighting the benefits of the digital creation of the adaption over traditional cel animation. Lee recognised elements from other series such as Maison Ikkoku and Kimagure Orange Road, and summarised the series as "Simply Wonderful". Chris Beveridge, of AnimeOnDVD.com, noted the first anime DVD volume was "really well put together", but also felt the manga did not translate into an anime series particularly well. He praised the Christmas special, noting that it was "several notches above the TV series" but found that while the Spring Special had amusing moments, it was rushed with bad plotting.
The Love Hina Again OVA received more mixed reviews, with ANN's Zac Berthschy feeling it reversed part of the plot of the main anime series and never reached the same entertainment level as the television series. The character of Kanako, Keitaro's sister, was heavily criticized for being "one of the most annoying characters ever created even though she would have been better for Keitaro than Naru." Beveridge praised the fun and comedy as well as the fan service, but also noted that one's enjoyment would depend on whether they still cared for the characters.
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