List of Love Hina characters
This is a list of 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.
Major characters
Keitaro Urashima
Voiced by: Yuji Ueda (Japanese); Derek Stephen Prince (English)
A 20 year-old student (according to the Television episode 1 when he says, "Urishima Keitaro, 20 years. The only girl I liked was... I cant even remember her name..."), at the start of Love Hina, who is trying to get into Tokyo University.
After failing the entrance exams twice and becoming a third-year ronin, he is kicked out of home by his parents, and goes to his grandmother's hotel, thinking that he might be able to stay there, after a call he recieves from his grandmother (Episode 1, anime).
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 worse 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 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 manager'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, for he is always getting into situations where one or more of the girls get angry at him and hit him. This invulnerability comes from Haruka beating Keitaro up so many times for calling her "Auntie" when he was younger. Usually, this involves one of them being naked and him being responsible for it or watching them. Though most of them are constantly accusing him of being a pervert, in truth, Keitaro is simply comically accident-prone, and nearly all of the occasions on which he has seen or touched one of the girls have occurred as a result of his perpetual bad luck. He generally takes all his bashings in good humor though. In the manga, it is strongly hinted that he was gifted with immortality as well as self-healing, as he can almost instantaneously recover from any kind of injury. However, he could not keep himself unscathed for too long, or else such healing factor would take longer to restore his physical condition, as it was found through a series of mishaps when he attends the Tokyo University entrance ceremony, when ultimately the giboshi ornament atop the Nippon Budokan Hall falls over him (resulting of a violent gust), resulting only in his left leg broken (later in the hospital, Motoko even conjectures that "maybe if the damage is high enough, he is unable to recover"). In some cases, he seems uneffected by violence. An example would be in the 22nd episode of the anime where he is sent flying but immediately returnes to the same spot just as if he were to have teleported.
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 is extremely kind-hearted, and can always be counted on to help out when a friend is in trouble. Later on, almost all of the Hinata girls develop strong feelings for him, up to the point of trying to steal him for themselves. He is also very logical when others aren't but is also very dense on other situations.
Keitaro takes promises very 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 promise. 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 that Naru was the one he made the promise to after all.
Finally, late in the series, it is revealed that Keitaro made a promise with his adopted sister Kanako that they would one day run the Hinata Inn together.
In the end, he finally fulfills his dream by marrying Naru Narusegawa (see below) and becoming the successor to Seta's archaeological studies.
His name, as the author points at the end of the last tome, is inspired by the name of the mangaka Keitarô Arima.
Naru Narusegawa
Voiced by: Yui Horie (Japanese); Dorothy Elias-Fahn (English)
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, though it is later revealed in volume 7 that Naru's day feels highly off-center if Keitaro does not take part in one of the above. Once though, she beat Keitaro up because she entered his room while he was wearing his trousers, with the excuse that it had already became involuntary. Naru's appearance is based on the Beautiful Nerd archetype in dating sim games, with the twist that she is actually very cantankerous.
Despite her temper and frequent violence toward Keitaro, she develops very 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, although she did not seem to admit it before she ran off the Hinata House and crossed the whole country northwards, pursued by Keitaro.
She and Keitaro promised to go to Tokyo University together, though being only two years old at the time meant that she didn't remember for quite a while (this is why Mutsumi made the same promise with her - see Mutsumi's entry).
Naru is highly 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 as Keitaro - with horrible grades and no hope of getting into Tokyo U. She was able to overcome her problems by studying with a Tokyo University student, 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.
At the end of the manga, she is chased down to Japan's northernmost point, where certain circumstances force her to scream her love for Keitaro at the top of her lungs. She then eventually marries him, fulfilling their childhood dreams.
Trivia
- In a questionnaire among the manga series' fans, Naru is number one, despite - or maybe because of - her fiery temper. On several occasions, she is also shown to be extremely popular with the people around her, despite the fact that in these scenes she tends to blow her fuse about Keitaro - another inside joke.
- During Naru's stint as a tuition teacher in book 10, Keitaro (wrongly) thought that her job was a cosplayer waitress instead (Here, she "cosplays" Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion). Interestingly, in the manga version of Shinji Ikari Raising Project, Asuka's "sexual harassments" were similar to Naru's (with Shinji as the "Keitaro").
Mutsumi Otohime
Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino (Japanese); Julie Ann Taylor (English)
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, Mutsumi 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. Mutsumi also has the largest bust size in Love Hina.
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 injurious 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 nothing but watermelons and a Kotatsu, 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. However, in the anime, she is contrastingly portrayed as being extremely intelligent, scoring full marks in the practice exams - yet she still fails to get into Tokyo University due to things such as forgetting to write her name on the test paper.
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. Her character design was supposedly modelled on Aeris of Final Fantasy fame. In the opening chapter of manga volume 14, Mutsumi dons an outfit closely resembling that of Aeris.
The portrayal of the Naru/Keitaro/Mutsumi relationship is somewhat different and more bluntly depicted in the anime. Like Keitaro, Mutsumi is characterised by her unending sweetness and generosity. Her role may be construed as a somewhat tragic one, sacrificing her own happiness for that of others.
She gave Naru her Liddo-kun doll when she left Hinata while she was young.
Tokyopop sometimes misspells her name "Mitsumi".
For more information, start by looking in the manga vols. 3, 6 & 7.
Shinobu Maehara
Voiced by: Kurata Masayo (Japanese); Bridget Hoffman (English)
A 13-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 Sempai - a Japanese term for senior - 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). Quiet and shy, she is overly caring of other's feelings, although this subsequently contributes to her own emotional frailty. She is the first girl to officially fall for Keitaro. This is depicted through the anime and manga showing her thinking highly of Keitaro and will often bring herself to the verge of crying whenever she thinks he is in trouble or likes someone else. Towards the end of both the manga and the anime, it becomes unclear whether she wishes for Keitaro to be with Naru or herself. By the time Keitaro and Naru get married, Shinobu is depicted as having gained great confidence in herself.
Shinobu's best friend is Su, who seems to consider her more than just a friend.
One reason Shinobu has a crush on Keitaro is they actually have somewhat similar personalities, particularly in the manga where she bears the brunt of much embarrassing humor.
At the end of the manga, Shinobu is in her second year of Toudai.
Motoko Aoyama
Voiced by: Yuu Asakawa (Japanese); Mona Marshall (English)
A 15-year old school girl who is extremely serious, athletic and into Kendo. Motoko is also a boarder at the Hinata Sou, in Room 302.
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. She also dislikes men because her sister left the dojo to marry. 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. In the anime, however, Motoko has no such feelings for 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. Tsuruko is far stronger at kendo than Motoko, and Motoko both greatly admires and fears her. However, Tsuruko believes that Motoko has more potential than herself, and that Motoko lost her drive to improve when Tsuruko married. Motoko is also the next in line to inherit the dojo the Aoyama family has in Kyoto as she is not married. It is notable that Tsuruko is actually Motoko's biological sister. Motoko and Su are the only characters in the series who are actually blood-related to their siblings. Tsuruko is also more beautiful than the already attractive Motoko, with Tsuruko being thought of as a "classical beauty" by the Hinata Sou residents.
Motoko is probably one of the most fully developed characters in either the series; 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.
Interestingly, Motoko has only two serious fears in the world: Tsuruko, and for some unknown reason, turtles (even though Tsuruko correlates it to her despise of men).
The character of Motoko seems to have been influenced somewhat by the InuYasha series (Author Ken Akamatsu has admitted to being a big fan). Her appearance is strikingly similar to Kikyo from that series, and many of her sword attacks are almost exactly the same as those used by Inuyasha himself.
At the end of the manga, she is at her third year of law school, as well as being an author who writes romance novels.
Kaolla Su
Voiced by: Reiko Takagi (Japanese); Wendee Lee (English)
A 15-year old foreign transfer student. She is also a boarder at the Hinata Apartments, in Room 301.
She is from the fictional kingdom of Molmol (supposedly located near the International Date Line) and is the princess of the said country. Both the anime and manga depict her as having a somewhat South Asian or Middle Eastern influence, and both specify that she is not Indian. The dot on her forehead seems to have something to do with the 3-eyed symbol of Molmol, though it resembles a bindi dot. She is a very hyperactive girl who is usually either kicking someone, trying to eat something, especially bananas (and Tama-chan), or inventing some potentially dangerous new device. Her most perpetual project is a series of increasingly powerful versions of Mecha Tama-Chans, her personal line of robotic combat turtles.
A mad scientist to the core, many of her inventions contain something that serves as a self destruct device.
Molmol itself has a few properties that can be gathered from indirect evidence. It is a kingdom where the moon sometimes appears red. It also uses a western naming order, although the Hinata house residents never seem to pick this up: Su is Kaolla Su's last name.
Su likes all the other residents in the Hinata Apartments and gets along well with them, though they have difficulty keeping up with her hyperactive tendencies (only Motoko seems able to tolerate it). As for liking Keitaro, it is because he reminds her of her older brother (though really a cousin)**However, it could be inferred that she eventually cares about Keitaro equally, perhaps even more than her older brother, as she states that she likes them both, and later comments (In the anime) on how Keitaro would never say something like "You have no choice." implying that she feels Keitaro is kinder and more considerate of her feelings, than her older brother.
Su's best friend is Shinobu. Su seems to have developed some affections toward Shinobu, though Shinobu does not realise this.
Her ambition is to return to her homeland and found a computing school and transform her country into a technological power that will rival Japan (And eventually conquer it).
As if her neverending energy, strange customs and mechanical finesse were not strange enough, Su also possesses the ability to transform into an older (approximately late teens) version of herself on a single night every year, when the moon glows red.(However, in the Anime, she transforms without the aid of the red moon when her brother arrives in Hinata town, and then returns back to her normal self, also consciously.)
Her room in Hinata-sou is a faithful recreation of Molmol's natural habitat, complete with banana trees, a waterfall and a small lake, along with a high-tech laboratory. As seen in the manga, she owns a Nintendo 64 and a Sega Dreamcast, the latter she sometimes places on top of her head while using virtual reality goggles to play.
Mitsune "Kitsune" Konno
Voiced by: Junko Noda (Japanese); Barbara Goodson (English)
Mitsune Konno, also known as Kitsune, which means "fox" in Japanese, is a 19-year old freelance writer (and is conspicuous in her lack of writing) who is frequently drunk, teasing Keitaro, or both. Kitsune is also a boarder at the Hinata House, in Room 205.
Her nickname comes from a combination of her first and last names, and the fact that she hardly ever fully opens both eyes at the same time (mostly when she is surprised). 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.
Kitsune is much more flirtatious, especially to Keitaro, than any of the other residents. She is also the bustiest in the household, second only to Mutsumi Otohime, and is unafraid of using her charms to solicit money or, more frequently, alcohol from men. Her relationship with Keitaro eventually develops into a "little brother/big sister" connection (though Keitaro is actually older than her).
She is Naru's best friend, went to the same school as Naru, and along with Naru developed a crush on Seta. Since she knows so much of Naru's backstory, she can provide salient details about it to Keitaro. Unfortunately, Kitsune is something of a yellow journalist, and Keitaro all too often totally misinterprets what she is saying, or assumes the worst.
She eventually takes over the Hinata Tea House when Haruka leaves.
Her name is derived form the mangaka Mitsune Ayasaka as the author points in the last volume.
Haruka Urashima
Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (Japanese); Mari Devon (English)
Keitaro's aunt, but although Keitaro calls Haruka this there is speculation that she is in reality his cousin instead, because of the duality of the word 'old woman' and 'aunt' in Japanese. She is constantly seen smoking a cigarette. Like Naru she has a fiery temper (and a striking power to match), which she hides under a calm, dreamy-looking gaze. Once a fellow student and love interest of Seta, she became fed up with his obsession for archeology, his tendency to get into trouble, and his apparent obliviousness to her feelings.
Haruka's past with Seta is shrouded in mystery at the start of the manga, playing second fiddle to Naru's crush on Seta and Keitaro's interactions with the professor. It is much later in the series that the rest of Hinata Inn find out, after Seta comes back from the Parakalese ruins to propose to her (vol 9). After she rejects him, Naru and Keitaro eventually discover the history between the two. On a trip to a hotel, Naru and Keitaro confront Haruka about her relationship. Sara, overhearing, pulls out pictures she pilfered from Haruka's room earlier on, which proved that they were with certainty a couple back in the day.
Having traveled the world with Seta and Sara's mom, Haruka has a set of martial arts skills that rival and even bypass Seta's when she is angry. She evidently is also very skilled with firearms, and this shows when she is teased by Seta and starts shooting Kaolla's missles at his head with dead accuracy.
Haruka finally gets married at the end of volume 13 of the manga, in Koalla Su's kingdom of Molmol ruins. She stays in the ruins and helps Seta continue the excavation, but makes an appearence at the end of volume 14.
Noriyasu Seta
Voiced by: Yasunori Matsumoto (Japanese); Kirk Thornton (English)
A Tokyo University graduate and professor 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 (his arrival often heralded by his van crashing down from the sky), 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 the ancient turtle civilization that once flourished throughout east Asia.
(In the anime) during the course of his excavations near the Hinata Beach Tea House, 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 indestructible 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. Along with them on the expeditions was 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."
Seta makes an appearance in Akamatsu's other work, Negima, as a spectator in the Legendary Martial Arts Tournament. He is shown laughing at Kotaro during the preliminaries.
His name is derived from the name of the mangaka Noriyasu Seta.
Sara McDougal
Voiced by: Yumiko Kobayashi (Japanese); Julie Maddalena (English)
A nine year old American from California and Seta's adopted daughter. She 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 Sou 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 Su, most likely because of their shared disdain for the general order of things.(Also, it cannot be ignored that they are the only Non-Japanese main characters in Love Hina, and that degree of comfort and commonality, most likely drew them closer. In the anime, Sara even comments on how "Koalla and I are not Japanese!" during a meal). Sara eventually does return to travelling with Seta after his marriage to Haruka.
Sara has an uncle in California. Her mother, now deceased, formerly worked with Seta and Haruka on an archaeological dig and competed for Seta's romantic attention.
Sara possesses no unusual talents or skills, though she is adept at bashing Keitaro on the head with priceless artifacts. She has a panda shaped birthmark on her butt, which she avoids showing at all costs. She is also possibly related to Cynthia McDougal from Ken Akamatsu's previous manga series A.I. Love You.
Most information about Sara can be found in manga volumes 4 and 13.
Kanako Urashima
Voiced by: Natsuko Kuwatani (Japanese); Melissa Fahn (English)
Keitaro's adopted younger sister. She travelled with her grandmother for some years, and returned to Japan to fullfil her promise to her brother, and to change the girls' dormitory back into an inn. She assumes control of the Hinata House and immediately changes it to her desire. The residents are given the option of leaving or 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 soon 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 Ken Akamatsu, 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, however, she is referenced to earlier in the manga.
Minor characters
Amalla Su
Voiced by: Aya Hisakawa (Japanese); Wendee Lee (English)
Kaolla Su's older sister. She has long white hair, blue eyes, and wears an outfit resembling that of an Indian/Arabian princess. Both she and her sister are magical girls, and both are members of the royal family of the kingdom of Molmol. Amalla has been in love with cousin Crown Prince Lamba Lu for a long time, but has never admitted her feelings to him. She speaks Japanese in an Edokko accent, and claims to be from the deserts of Edo (Edo is an old name for Tokyo, which of course has no deserts). In combat, she possesses two weapons: a magical flute that controls the weather, and her pet white alligator Shiro. She is only made reference to in the manga (though not in the Tokyopop translation).
Lamba Luu
Voiced by: Yuji Ueda (Japanese); Derek Stephen Prince (English)
"Brother" to Amalla and Kaolla. In reality, he is a cousin of theirs, but they have grown up as siblings. He is the king of their nation, and in the tradition of their people, he has to serve in the military for a period of time. Before that happens, he is required to marry. Once when Su was a very young girl he promised to marry her, but then he realises that she only sees him as a brother, whereas Amalla is in love with him. He marries Amalla instead.
Lamba Lu looks almost exactly like Keitaro when they both have their glasses on; the only striking differences are that he's a bit more tanned than Keitaro is, has darker hair and dark green eyes, and a somewhat Indian/South Asian appearance. Unlike Keitaro, however, Lamba Lu is very calm, collected, and 'together', and not at all clumsy or awkward.
Hina Urashima
Voiced by: Masako Nozawa
Also known as Grandma Hina. The original manager of Hinata, she retired so she could travel the world and visit other hot springs, and made Keitaro the new manager.
In the manga, it is Grandma Hina who knows the true identity of the girl whom Keitaro made a promise with.
A possibility exists that she may play a larger "behind the scenes" role playing matchmaker, in which Naru living at Hinata House and making Keitaro landlord were all a means of reuniting the two.
Kentaro Sakata
Voiced by: Ryotaro Okiayu (Japanese); Steve Areno (English)
(Anime Only) Kentaro eventually had a crush on Naru. Originally Keitaro's rival for Narusegawa, he eventually loses all of his money in his pursuit of her. He remained fairly tenacious for a time, but eventually gave up after getting deep into debt with the Hinata House. Haruka let him try to work off his debts at a very low rate of pay; from that point on, Kentaro became an occasional background character and plot device. He also tends to make jokes at the stereotype of the anime's genre.
Mei Narusegawa
Voiced by: Yuri Shiratori
Naru's younger sister. Naru describes her as her "half-sister" in manga volumes 11 & 14. On the other hand, in the anime, episode 22, Mei said "My father married her mother." So many people believe that they are step-sisters. Pending new information, take your pick. She initially tries to get Keitaro and Mutsumi together in the hopes that Naru would return home if Keitaro were taken. She gives up on this when she and Naru clear up a few family misconceptions. Also, in Love Hina Again, she makes a very brief appearance to help all the Hinata residents about Keitaro & Naru's relationship & help speed it up. She also plays a minor role in the Spring Movie.
The character of Mei-chan was created for and appears primarily in the Love Hina anime, though she is referred to in at least two places in the manga and is seen in the last chapter of the final volume of the manga.
On a side note, in Negima, Ken Akamatsu's current manga, a character by the name of Mei Sakura shows up. This Mei looks identical to the Mei in Love Hina, leading many fans to believe that they may be the same person. As Mei's surname in Love Hina has never been actually confirmed as Narusegawa, this theory may prove to be true.
Tsuruko Aoyama
Japanese: Kikuko Inoue English: Philece Sampler
Motoko's older sister and the one currently entrusted with the keeping of their family's Shinmei school tradition. She is not active in running the school, having given up the life of the sword for marriage, and it is her duty to hand the school over to Motoko's care when the time comes.
Though Motoko has lived in fear of Tsuruko for years, Tsuruko has Motoko's best interests at heart and her only real wish is for her sister to be happy on whatever path she chooses to walk. Unfortunately, she has a habit of trying to kill her sister when she lies to her or does not tell her the full details of a situation. She also gets into a bloodthirsty mood whenever Motoko is lazy and does not do her best.
While her usual appearance is that of a very proper lady well versed in Japanese culture, she sometimes has the eyes of a demon and becomes extremely violent. She is an incredible swordswoman whom few could hope to face, even though she abandoned the dojo after getting married. She is a very serious character, but also very just and in her own weird way, only cares for the well being of her sister.
She has a beautiful bird as a pet, and otherwise appears like an older version of Motoko. Like her sister, her sword techniques are centered around the destruction of evil, using ki attacks with her slash, some of them hurting only evil beings, but mostly slashing through rocks or people as if they were made of paper.
Kimiaki Shirai
Voiced by: Michio Miyashita (Japanese); Gene Holliday (English)
One of Keitaro's childhood friends. Loves to make fun of Keitaro on grounds of calling him a failure in girls and academics, but obviously pulls back later on when Keitaro becomes more successful. He almost always appears with Haitani. His main interests are in women, and one of his only upside is some degree of skill in computers.
Masayuki Haitani
Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Japanese); Steven Blum (English)
One of Keitaro's childhood friends, and is (apart from a few physical differences) almost exactly like Shirai. He is taller and enters a University before Shirai or Keitaro.
Ema Maeda
Ema appears in the epilogue to Love Hina that is found in book 14, set about 3 years 8 months after the end of the main story. [see Love Hina timeline ] She is a 15 year old girl hoping to get into Tokyo University and is a new resident at Hinata House.
Her introduction to the Hinata House parallels Keitaro's. She finds the house deserted, so goes to take a bath in the hot springs. A 3-years-older Shinobu then gets in, thinking Ema is Su (because Su was wearing a mask and Shinobu thought Ema was Kaolla because Ema wore a mask too) and comments on how big her breasts now are, showing them to Ema. As with Naru and Keitaro many years earlier, Shinobu realises Ema is not Su, screams and chases Ema through the house.
Ema then makes some Keitaro-style mess-ups, including trying on the headpiece of Naru's wedding dress and tripping an alarm Su had set up, then fleeing with Keitaro who appears in a Seta-style van crash.
Keitaro brings her back and Ema is rewarded with a kiss from Naru for bringing back her fiance. It is at this moment that she realizes she can fit into Hinata House and achieve her dreams.
Her name is a kaibun; if read backwards, it still spells the original Japanese reading, "Maeda Ema".
Tama-chan
Voiced by: Yukie Maeda (Japanese); Wendee Lee (English)
The turtle given to Keitaro by Mutsumi. She is an 'onsen kame' or hot-springs turtle, and like others of her species, it appears that she can fly. Su, Mutsumi, Seta, and (later in the series) Keitaro appear to have the ability to speak with Tama-chan, and Su occasionally develops the urge to eat her, though sometimes it is just to tease Shinobu. She appears in Negima on an apron of Chizuru on the back cover of volume 8, and in other places as pictures.
Nyamo Namo
Voiced by: Nana Mizuki (Japanese); Michelle Ruff (English)
A resident of the island Pararakelse, where Keitaro finds himself after he runs off because he thought he'd failed the entrance exam. She is working with Seta because Seta knew her grandfather and she wants to continue his work now that he is dead.
Nyamo is physically almost identical to Shinobu - except having darker skin and longer hair - and shares a number of other traits with her as well, including her extreme initial shyness and reluctance to speak. Nyamo and Shinobu quickly become good friends and correspond when apart. In the manga, she's last seen attending Keitaro's wedding.
Moé-chan
Voiced by: Satomi Koorogi
(Anime only) An automaton with broken legs, built more than 100 years ago and bought by Tokyo Imperial University while she was on display at the Paris World's Fair in 1900. Urashima Keisuke purchased her from the university in hopes of repairing her.
Moé-chan was a great friend of Keisuke, Granny Hina's father and great-grandfather to Keitaro and Haruka. Keisuke had promised to fix Moé-chan's legs; but like Keitaro, Keisuke had a poor memory and eventually forgot about Moé-chan. Keitaro would later make the same promise to fix her. With the help of the Hinata residents, particularly Kaolla's help, he ultimately fulfilled his promise and Moé-chan was able to walk again.
Moé-chan's name came from a stamp on the nape of her neck, though it was later revealed as a misinterpretation; the stamp was smudged and originally read môme, the French word for a child's doll. Moé-chan is (or is similar to) a Tsukumogami, a tool or doll that has been cared for for 99 years and comes to life in its 100th year.
Moé-chan's only appearance in the TV series is in episode 20, and she has a very brief reappearance in Love Hina Again. She is not seen in the manga and to date only one sentence has been found (vol 9) that might refer to her.
Mecha-Tama-chan
Su, convinced she is going to have to face Tama-chan down at some point (Su wants to eat her), has designed multiple mechanical versions of Tama. Every Mecha-Tama has turned out to be dangerous to the residents of the Hinata Sou.
- Mecha-Tama-chan 1: Volume 5
- Mecha-Tama-chan 2: Volume 5
- Mecha-Tama-chan Mark 3: Volume 7
- Mecha-Tama-chan 4: Volume 8
- Mecha-Tamago 5: Volume 13
- Mecha-Tama-chan 6: Volume 14
- Mecha-Tama-chan 30: Volume 14
Apparently, Su has been developing Mecha Tama-chans during the three years that pass since the end of the main story until the marriage of Keitaro and Naru, the latest version being the 30th. Kanako Urashima somehow gets a hold of Su's prototype Mecha-Tama in her reign over the house in volume 11, and is probably the only time someone other than Su used a Mecha-Tama
Keisuke Urashima
(Anime only) Granma Hina's father and great-grandfather to Keitaro and Kanako. Keisuke had promised to fix Moé-chan, a Tsukumogami (tool or doll that has been cared for for 99 years and comes to life in its 100th year). Unfortunately, he has a poor memory like his great-grandson Keitaro, and eventually forgot about Moé-chan. The name Keisuke seems to come from co-producer Keisuke Iwata.
Old Men about Town
(Anime only) These three old men were believed to be the ancestors of the Urashima family, aside from Keisuke. They appeared somewhere in the first episode, where they sort of "toyed" with Keitaro's sketchpad, accidentally letting it land near Shinobu Maehara, the grieving girl who has run away from home due to domestic turmoil.
Though they made fewer and fewer appearances as the series progressed, these three old men were several of the series's most intriguing characters. Apparently oblivious to everything around them except the goings-on at Hinata House, they seemed to possess strange insight towards the hearts and minds of the residents. Their role generally consisted of appearing at key points in an episode and commenting on the current emotional situation in short, thought-provoking statements. Whether or not the men were actually speaking to one another is not quite clear, as they would often finish one another's sentences.
Hina: The Ominous Blade
Also known as the Urashima Sword, this katana was in possession of the Urashima family for what seems many years.
When drawn from the sheath, an evil presence (most likely a demon) possesses the holder of the sword, and then the person becomes incredibly powerful, although a bit silly (Naru giggling like a little girl, for instance). When the possessed person kisses someone, that person loses their energy so that they cannot fight.
In both anime and manga, the blade was first drawn out by Naru. However, the manga version makes it so that Keitaro gets the sword after her, and chases after Naru like a zombie (he had a broken leg at the time and was superficially stabbed in the head).
In the anime it was sealed by Motoko by throwing Keitaro to Naru, who then kissed, and she executed the Zanma Ken - Ni No Tachi (Evil Cutter 2.0) with her sister's katana, which passed through Keitaro and killed the demon possessing Naru, leaving the sword empty. The manga was the same, except Motoko went in to kiss Keitaro (who had the sword at the time) to distract him. The subtle difference affected the way in which the characters evolved with regards to liking Keitaro.
After destroying the demon within the blade, Motoko takes up the Hina Blade as her new katana.
(father) Maehara
Voiced by: (Japanese); Steven Blum (English)
(Anime only) Shinobu's father. He was having marital problems with his wife, and eventually they separated. He appears in the Love Hina Christmas Special as a taxi driver who gives a free ride to some of the Hina girls who have nothing but Su's obscure homeland currency. He tells them that they are about the same age as his daughter and that he hopes that someone is taking good care of her. He is later reunited with Shinobu at the end of the Special.
(mother) Maehara
(Anime only) She is having problems with her husband, and she does not really understand Shinobu, even though she is her mother. She thinks that the Hinata Sou is a bad place full of rowdy young girls.
Ken Akamatsu
(Anime only) Ken Akamatsu, the manga author, appeared in episode 14 of the TV series and in both the Christmas and Spring specials as a plot device and for comic relief. He is referred to in the movies as "Akamatsu-sensei". He is referenced in episode 14, where everyone in the Hinata Sou has to work for 10,000 yen. Keitaro works for him as a manga inker, but eventually leaves, and becomes broke, forcing Keitaro to return to Akamatsu. In the Christmas Special, he helps Kitsune and Shinobu with their financial problems by making them sell his books. In the Spring Special, he is forced to take Motoko, Mitsumi, and Kitsune on his yacht (when he was about to go on vacation).
In connection with Ken Akamatsu, characters from his AI Love You manga make the most minimal cameo appearance in the Love Hina anime. A picture of Saati and Hitoshi is shown on the side of Akamatsu's yacht in the Spring Special. Also, the Manga Keitaro is inking in Episode 14 is A.I. Love You as it has a very distinct picture of Toni. Also, the books that Kitsune and Shinobu sell in the Christmas Special are AI Love You.