Love Hina is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ken Akamatsu. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine by Kodansha from October 21, 1998 to October 31, 2001 and was published in 14 tankobon volumes by Kodansha. The series tells the story of
Keitaro Urashima and his attempts to find a girl with whom he made a childhood promise to enter the Tokyo University. The manga was licensed for an English language release in North America and the United Kingdom by Tokyopop, in Australia by Madman Entertainment and in Singapore by Chuang Yi. Two novelizations of Love Hina, written by two
love hina anime series screenwriters, were also released in Japan by Kodansha. Both novels were later released in North America and the United Kingdom by Tokyopop.
Manga
In Japan,people of all ages read manga. The genre includes a broad range of subjects: action-adventure, romance, sports and
games, historical drama, comedy, science fiction and fantasy, mystery, horror, sexuality, and business/commerce, among others.
Since the 1950s, manga have steadily become a major part of the Japanese publishing industry, representing a 406 billion yen market in Japan in 2007 (approximately $3.6 billion). Manga have also become increasingly popular worldwide. In 2008, the U.S. and Canadian manga market was $175 million. Manga are typically printed in black-and-white, although some full-color manga exist (e.g. Colorful). In Japan, manga are usually serialized in telephone book-size manga magazines, often containing many stories, each presented in a single episode to be continued in the next issue. If the series is successful, collected chapters may be republished in paperback books called tankobon. A manga artist (mangaka in Japanese) typically works with a few assistants in a small studio and is associated with a creative editor from a commercial publishing company. If a manga series is popular enough, it may be animated after or even during its run, although sometimes manga are drawn centering on previously existing live-action or animated films (e.g. Star Wars).
"Manga" as a term used outside Japan refers specifically to comics originally published in Japan. However, manga-influenced comics, among original works, exist in other parts of the world, particularly in Taiwan ("manhua"), South Korea ("manhwa"), and the People's Republic of China, notably Hong Kong ("manhua"). In France, "la nouvelle manga" has developed as a form of bande dessinee (literally drawn strip) drawn in styles influenced by Japanese manga. In the United States, people refer to manga-like comics as Amerimanga, world manga, or original English-language manga (OEL manga).
