Love Hina was one of the first anime series I saw after a couple years of watching DBZ and taking the entire anime culture as just "people who like to watch cartoons" and nothing more. Well, the point is that I wasn't very knowledgeable of anime at the time, and while Love Hina might be a harem-parody, to me it was the introduction of not just harem anime but anime with any sort of romantic undertones period to my limited experience. Looking back, a slapstick comedy show is exactly what it was, and it's perfectly fine being just that, but to a fifteen year old with no experience I was craving something deeper and felt almost betrayed by it when it turned out to have a fittingly comedic ending with no real resolution. I should hope it would be obvious by now, but I discovered then while wallowing in frustration that I was going to be a big fan of romance anime, and that's definitely been the case since then- as awkward as that might seem from watching a series like Love Hina.

That's just a little background on my personal biases towards the genre, and my comment really didn't have much to do with the idea of slapstick comedy in general as much as my personal experience with it and seeing if anyone else was likewise annoyed, so don't take it to heart, okay? ^_^

~Lys

I liked Love Hina… no, wait, let me be precise: I liked Love Hina the manga, but didn't really like the anime (which I did sit through all of, in the hopes that it would turn into the manga). I am, as mentioned several times, perfectly fine with taking it for what it is: simple slapstick comedy.

However, this does not mean that I am suddenly prohibited from thinking about it, or at least I hope not. I was just watching Nagasarete Airantou when the question just popped in my head: "why so much cartoon violence comedy?" What possessed the scenario writers of this day and age to create so many situations where the male protagonist gets into so much trouble? Is there a precursor somewhere? Is it the influence of Warner Brothers? What is it?

It's just curiosity. Is that a bad thing?

Taking a crack at this, I've heard of Love Hina in particular being referred to as a harem anime (obviously) but I've also heard it being called a harem-parody, which would explain quite well why normal physics don't seem to apply, and why a semi-serious and conclusive ending is something much more than a person can ask of it. From the way I see it, the anime was made to be funny, and to use aspects of the harem genre to be even funnier (aspects such as nearly "submissive" males with an aversion to actually making decisions, a half dozen or more girls of all types around, etc…), and personally I think the only people who actually sat through it till the end were those that were either entirely alright with it being a simple comedy show and nothing more, or those who went the entire series beating themselves over the head as it was becoming more and more apparent that it wasn't going to evolve into anything serious. For the former, there's no need for the question of "why?"- so despite your rather neutral view towards the style in the post I'm going to say you're in the latter group. So here's what you have to ask yourself about this: are you sure you aren't simply creating a question out of nothing due of unexpressed agitation? ^_~ Just let it all out and you'll feel better.

~Lys

@TheBigN: For me, it's something like that, but more that it's entirely ridiculous in scale sometimes. Some small action that would be innocent in another series suddenly results in the protagonist being blown up and falling into a pit filled with boiling sharks with laser beams on their heads for no reason other than comedy. There is no plausible reason for that hazard to be there other than "it's funny".

I have a possibly unreasonable expectation for everything to make sense in the story, which bodes poorly for one-off gags.

@Greg: I have indeed read the Haruhi novel translations, and do realize that with the possible exception of Yuki (whom Haruhi does not appear to have much expectations of) and Kyon (who's a relatively reliable narrator, unless the series springs something on us out of the blue), the rest of the SOS Brigade may well be only acting in that way because that is how Haruhi envisions them to be. Both Mikuru and Koizumi, in other words. And Koizumi's theory on Mikuru's behaviour is also plausible, given the evidence.

However, conspiracy theories always tend to be at least somewhat plausible anyway, and there's no real proof, so this is mainly speculation. Personally, I'm preferring that Mikuru has no ulterior motive, but I wouldn't be surprised if she does.

As for the "introduction" of the helpless loser male protagonist, I'm pretty sure at least Urusei Yatsura predates Love Hina in that. Strong women smacking down guys, whether or not that guy is strong himself (Ranma, Inu-Yasha), and that guy never hitting back, seems to be a staple of Rumiko Takahashi's more comedic works.

Which is what first drew me to Kanon — its protagonist actually stands up and shouts at people sometimes. Also he's a sarcastic bastard.

Oh, and have you bothered to read the Haruhi novel translations floating around? In the second novel Koizumi offers an alternate reason for Mikuru's "doormat" behavior.

Yes, I know. It surprised me that there was no mention of the imagery in the anime itself.