There’s a bit of foreshadowing of the twist to come when Mutsumi seems to know where all the improbably shortcuts within the Hinata House are. As she studies with the other two ronins they discover that she’s quite smart, she just happens to faint and have other accidents happen that keep her from passing her exams. The story then pivots as we learn more about Mutsumi. There was some of this on the trip where they first met Mutsumi, but Naru seems a bit more affronted now that she has grown to like Keitaro more. Just to drive the point home, as Naru is asking Keitaro if he’s still trying to get into Tokyo University because of his promise to a mystery girl, Mutsumi arrives and Naru gets jealous at how well Keitaro and Mutsumi get along. She actually dresses up for him and after the movie the continue their date at the aquarium. While there have been hints for a little while now that Naru may be developing affections for Keitaro, it becomes clear in this book that she has ended up finding herself attracted to him. Love Hina Book 6 – Getting Dressed Up for a Date So Keitaro asks Naru on a movie date and actually gets a yes. Keitaro finally gets up the courage to ask Naru out on a date to Neverland, but the rest of the house ends up inviting themselves with Keitaro picking up the bill. So it appears that Akamatsu might be sparing Keitaro from being a ronin for yet another year. Naru and Keitaro get the results from their mock exams and it turns out that Keitaro has a B and a 60% chance of getting into Tokyo University. His friends appear to be gifting him two tickets, but they actually charge him for the tickets. The gang’s back from the beach and Keitaro’s best friends offer him tickets to the Neverland themepark and we see the return of the joke of Keitaro not knowing his best friends’ names. In this volume the narrative really picks up again after being somewhat meandering in the last one. So I thought it might be interesting to re-read Love Hina, by Ken Akamatsu, as a way to to understand Japanese culture. Other times, as with science fiction, it’s by extrapolation. Sometimes, as in contemporary media, this is easy to tease out. Spend enough time doing critical readings of media and you come across the assertion that all media tells you about the culture it was written in. Note on all the image scans: they are correct manga-style so they are read right to left
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February 2023
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