Love Hina

The story takes place in the Kanagawa Prefecture, and centers on 20 year old Keitaro Urashima, a young man desperately trying to be accepted into the prestigious University of Tokyo in order to fulfill a childhood promise. His obsessive pursuit of this dream is one of the few shining spots of optimism in his otherwise unlucky life. He becomes manager of the Hinata House (Hinata Sō, also translated as the Hinata Lodge), property of his family and now an all-girls' dormitory.

Keitaro's primary (and usually exclusive) interest is in Naru Narusegawa, though all the other girls have different sorts of affections for him (including close friend, a playmate, and non-threatening crush object). Keitaro and Naru's relationship is complicated by several girls falling for him, including several "promised" girls in the anime, or girls Keitaro promised a future relationship with while he was younger.

Main character in Love Hina.

Keitarō Urashima is a 20 year old cram school student at the start of Love Hina, who is trying to get into Tokyo University, usually called by its abbreviation, 'Tōdai'. Keitarō fails the entry exam to Tōdai three times before he is accepted, is awkward around girls and has a disastrously-timed clumsiness that usually earns him the wrath of one or more residents of Hinata Inn. Despite his flaws, he is a well-meaning and friendly person, traits which eventually wins all of the dormitory inhabitants' hearts. Keitarō is also known to be very logical and gives great advice that most of the people at the apartment lack. Despite this, he is also known to make some of the most irrational decisions out of all of them. He soon begins to believe that Naru is the one from his past and begins to fall in love with her.

Naru Narusegawa is a 17 year old student at Keitarō's cram school with an extremely fiery temper (which is described as "one fuse short of a cannon", by the official website). She will often violently hit someone (mainly Keitarō) for many irrational reasons and misconceptions. Such reasons often revolve around the false idea of Keitarō being perverted or a more deeper root of jealousy. Despite that or rather, in ignorance of it she is quite popular with everyone, including the manga series' fans (though your mileage may vary, depending on the person asked). At the beginning of Love Hina, she is a high school student who is also studying to enter Tōkyo University, and was the number one candidate in the nation for acceptance. This studying however has dominated much of her high school life. It also supposedly damaged her eyesight. This causes her to rely on "coke bottle glasses," which she avoids having to wear when she can.

Mutsumi Otohime is a gentle, frail, clumsy and soft-spoken 21 year old girl who lives in Okinawa. Mutsumi is prone to catatonic fainting spells that makes her appear as though she has died. She is also described by other characters as being both "sisterly" and a "ditz." Keitarō Urashima and Naru Narusegawa meet her while taking some time off for a brief vacation after flunking their entrance exams (in the anime, Keitarō has a brief and near-fatal encounter with her on his way to the entrance exam). Like Keitarō and Naru, Mutsumi had just flunked her entrance exam for Tōdai, and was also taking a trip to get a hold of herself again. She bears an unusual resemblance to Keitarō in that she shares similar hobbies, is clumsy and is also a third year ronin. By this token, she often cluelessly acts to bring out Naru's romantic jealousy over Keitarō. She gave Keitarō and Naru the flying turtle Tama chan as a gift.