Love Hina is a manga series written and illustrated by Ken Akamatsu. The series was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 1998 to 2001, running weekly for 118 chapters. The individual chapters were collected and published in 14 volumes by Kodansha, with the first volume released on March 17, 1999, and the last released on January 17, 2002. The manga was also later released in Japan in a partially colored format known as "Iro Hina version" (literally "Color Hina version") at an increased price.[1] In November 2010, all 14 volumes of Love Hina were offered for free in the beta test of Ken Akamatsu's J-Comi website.[2] Kodansha has also published a bilingual (English and Japanese) edition under its Kodansha Bilingual Comics label,[3] with the English translation provided by Giles Murray. Eight volumes were produced under the bilingual format.[4] Kodansha stopped publishing the bilingual version in 2001.[5]
The series is licensed for an English language release in North America and the United Kingdom by Tokyopop, which released the 14 volumes between May 7, 2002 and September 16, 2003. The English release was one of Tokyopop's first releases in the "Authentic Manga" lineup of titles using the Japanese right to left reading style. In doing so the artwork remained unchanged from the original.[6] The series has appeared consistently in Tokyopop's top five selling manga and has been reprinted several times.[7] In August 2009, it was revealed that Tokyopop's license had been left to expire by Kodansha and would not be renewed.[8] Kodansha USA, Kodansha's American division re-released the manga in a five-volume omnibus format with a new translation from October 25, 2011 to March 26, 2013.[9]
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