Episode 4 Events:

- Studying for the entrance exam, a look into Keitaro's journal and an intriguing entry from Naru's Diary

The fourth episode of Love Hina opens from the perspective of Keitaro, narrating for the audience through the avenue of a diary entry. He reveals to us, in his own unique way, that the girls have confronted him about the prep school I.D that was found at the end of the third episode. Keitaro is forced to reveal to them that he is not a Tokyo U student but rather a prep school student who is still struggling with his Tokyo U entrance exams. He blames his voidance of informing them on the fact that he had intended to tell them sooner and that he was reluctant to tell them because he has been having the best time of his life since moving to the Hinata.

All the residents seem to be of a similar mind to evict him, when Naru proposes an alternate solution; if he can achieve an adequate score on his upcoming prep school exam, then he will be allowed to stay. Of course, on top of preparing for the exam, he must maintain his duties at the apartment manager as well. Everyone agrees to this arrangement and it seems that Keitaro may have been cut a break; that is of course, until the girls begin hurling the managerial duties of the Hinata at Keitaro one after the other. Cleaning floors, windows, the bath and cooking all take up a significant amount of his day, not to mention that Keitaro makes the chores more difficult and time consuming for himself by regularly botching them in his own loveable way. Later, after completing his duties, Keitaro attempts to ask Naru for help on his studies and in the process, sneaks a peek at Naru changing her pants and is rewarded the with the “Naru Nuclear Punch” in return.

Later on, the two are studying in Narusegawa’s room; or rather Keitaro is stumbling his way through mathematics problems that an exasperated Naru has to help him with. After working Keitaro through a problem that should be an elementary concept for a Tokyo U applicant, Naru inquires from Keitaro his reason for being singularly focused on Tokyo U. He tells her that he made a promise to a girl, 15 years prior, that he would meet her at Tokyo U when they were ready to go to college and that he had every intention of keeping that promise. When he asks Naru if she thinks it is a stupid reason for trying to get in, she informs him that she thinks the opposite, that it is a very important promise and he should do whatever he can to try and fulfill it.

After a bit, Keitaro ends up being kicked out of Naru’s room for the usual reasons, namely a perverted act involving Naru’s thigh, a kotatsu and Kitsune. Deciding that he can’t have the distraction of Naru living over him, he attempts to close the hole between their rooms. While doing this, he accidentally bumps into Naru’s book shelf and knocks several books down, one of them being her diary. He attempts to put it back but ends up inadvertently reading several sentence fragments, such as “15 years ago” or “trying for Tokyo U” and “promise”. At this point, Naru returns to her room, finding him looking at the diary. She is hurt over the intrusion in privacy and pushes down the hole between their rooms and during the fall, he cuts his foot

Keitaro attempts over the next several days to confront Naru about the incident and apologize but she won’t hear any of it and consistently ignores him. He finally reaches the conclusion that the only way to make it up to her, is to do well on the exam. Come exam day, Keitaro seems determined and able, despite obvious fatigue from his duties and the long study hours. After the test is over, he attempts to grade it, revealing that he got the first three problems wrong and he becomes frustrated and stalks out of the testing center.

Returning home that snowy evening, he arrives just in time to see the other girl congratulating Naru on her great score on the same exam. When Shinobu inquires as to Keitaro’s whereabouts, they all determine that he is not returning home due to a low score on the test and is too ashamed. Depressed and frustrated, Keitaro decides to leave Hinata house but not before returning to his room to retrieve his essential belongings. While attempting to leave, he runs into Shinobu and she mistakes him for a burglar, primarily because of the way he is sneaking around and the fact that he is wearing a cloth of some kind on his head to keep warm. Shinobu screams, causing Motoko and the other girls to rush to her aid and a chase ensues that ends with Keitaro fleeing from the Hinata house at all speed but not before dropping his diary on the ground.
Naru finds the diary and informs them all that the burglar was in fact Keitaro and they again reason that he must be running because he scored badly on the prep exam. The girls determine that he has made his decision and how he must face the consequences of it but Haruka reminds them that he is trying his best and that Naru was in the same situation Keitaro is only several years prior. A search ensues across the town of Hinata Hot Springs, although Keitaro is nowhere to be found.

Cut to Tokyo U, where Keitaro has meandered to, wishing to take one last look at the university of his dreams. While there, he is met by Naru, who has traversed the hour and a half train ride between Hinata and Tokyo U. He rushes to apologize to her and is met by a request to close his eyes, which he complies with. Naru then decks him across the Tokyo U proper; although she determines that he’s off the hook for reading her diary. They romp around in the snow for a bit, when Naru reveals to Keitaro that the reason she is attempting to go to Tokyo U is also because of a promise. This statement, combined the earlier reading of her diary, causes Keitaro to mistakenly determine that Naru is his promise girl.

After returning to the Inn, Naru also informs everyone that Keitaro didn’t actually finish his exam grading, he simply stopped after getting the first three problems wrong. After grading his exam completely, he finds out that he made the cut-off grade by a substantial margin, a fact that he is so excited about, that he interrupts the girls bath to tell them. He is awarded for his efforts with a punch that knocks him clear of the baths and the house but he’s to happy to care. The episode is closed with Keitaro reminding us that he thinks Naru is his promise girl, while we are awarded a full shot of Naru’s diary, which shows that she did not make her promise to Keitaro but rather to someone named Seta.

Critics Opinion: This is a good episode for several reasons; firstly because it sets us up for the Seta/Naru/Keitaro situation and it also begins to show us more of the softer side of Naru. Naru is often portrayed as very violent and hot-tempered and while this is true, I believe that the girl has a very soft side that isn’t shown enough and this episode does an admirable job of doing that. The highlight of the episode is the girls running Keitaro through his chores, as you cant help but feel sorry for the poor bumbling fool.

End of Episode 4

 

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