[A Shitty Version of Love Hina]

Inaba Rabbits is similar to Love Hina, in terms of its premise, however its execution and delivery is sorely lacking. In fact, upon reading the first chapter, everyone will realize how predicable, simple, and unexciting this manga really is.

STORY:

Ookuni Kenichi made a childhood promise to an unknown girl promising that they will both become shrine maidens to the Inaba Shrine, and ‘tie everyone’s fate’ and make everyone happy. Years later, he returns to Inaba Shrine to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps, i.e. to become a head priest, and to have a reunion with that promised girl. Unfortunately, he doesn’t remember her name or appearance. Upon entering Inaba Shrine, he realizes it has become a girls’ residence hall, housing four beautiful sisters. Kenichi, determined and persistence, must figure out if one of those four girls is his promised girl. Will Kenichi find his promised girl? Well, you will have to read it to find out.

If anybody has read Love Hina, they will immediately recognize that this premise and its first chapter are very similar, except for three differences: 1) the main character and the girls are in high school, 2) the girls can transform into bunnies by spouting only bunny ears, and 3) this manga focuses more on the "ecchi” and cliche content, dull fight scenes, and the girls’ interactions with one another than story progression.

Luckily, this manga has only ten chapters and can easily be summarized. The first chapter is your typical "get in trouble with all the girls” scenario, due to accidents and misunderstandings. By next chapter, everything is resolved and all the girls, except Uzuki, like him because he’s the next head priest, and has money and a stable job. Then the remaining chapters involve stupid, ecchi situations that Kenichi ends up in, and a “huge” dramatic finale that is resolved abruptly and predictably. The conclusion of this manga is inconclusive, resulting in many questions left unanswered. Overall, the story is cliched, short, and subpar.

CHARACTERS:

The characters are literally walking cardboard cutouts of anime archetypes:
– Ookuni Kenichi is a kind and caring person with a pure honest dream. He is serious in his training to be a priest, and wants the shrine to run correctly.
– Matsuri, second oldest, is a money grubber and will do anything to get it. She sometimes acts like a delinquent and her weapon of choice is the bow and arrow.
– Jun is the youngest of the four girls, and relies on other people to do other tasks. Her weapons are japanese bells.
– Shigure, the oldest sister, likes using chemicals and spiritual items as her weapons. She likes to play tricks on Kenichi and others, causing lots of mischief.
– Uzuki is a tsundere, and is the most serious when it comes to running the shrine correctly. Her weapon is a katana.

Overall, there is barely any character development, besides Uzuki, and no emotional build-up, so that we, as the reader, can relate or connect with.

ART:

This is where the manga really shines. The art is good, like the clothe and character design, and facial expressions, and very detailed, like certain background scenes and how the clothes appear. The female characters are drawn to be very cute, sexy, and beautiful, while the main male character looks very generic, i.e. short black hair, looks like a high schooler, and gets flustered a lot. The fight scenes, while short and boring, are also well drawn with lots of detail. Overall, the art is good.

ENJOYMENT:

I didn’t really enjoy this manga as the story was too short and too cliched, and the characters were one-dimensional as they lacked proper development. It’s best to just enjoy the art and forget the story and characters.