The Love Hina TV series ended rather abruptly despite its 24-episode duration, but it wasn't the last piece of Love Hina animation to be made. Mr. Ken Akamatsu's popular manga would spawn an additional (OVA) episode, two TV specials, and a final three-part OVA. The first of the TV specials was Silent Eve, the winter special. In true Love Hina fashion, the winter special sort of completes the dangling plot thread concerning Keitaro's promise, maybe. But not everything about this special is same old, same old. Perhaps it's the spirit of the season, but darned if this special wasn't a lot more romantic than the series was able to be.

The plot of this special is the standard Love Hina episode plot: Su, Sara, and/or Shinobu misunderstand something, Keitaro misunderstands something, Naru misunderstands something, and Keitaro gets hurt - by Naru. And then somebody finds out something about Keitaro's promise to distract Naru from killing him. There's probably studying for exams in there somewhere, and I'm sure Su is constructing some sort of mechanized doomsday weapon, or eating. And Kitsune's drunk, of course. There is no lapse in the normal shenanigans by any measure, but Ken Akamatsu himself appears! That's different at least.

There are some new happenings in the little love triangle the series had going on, though. This special is special indeed, in that there is finally a concrete development concerning both Keitaro's love interests and his childhood promise. Viewers of the series will likely have felt they waited a long time for this, but these new developments aren't the real reason for the winter special being so enjoyable. It's the change in sentiment.

Me want cookie!	Naru strolls along, blissfully unaware that her every action is being watched by drooling pimple-faced youths.

Going back to what I said earlier, the winter special really turns on the romance. The driver for it all is commercial (isn't everything at Christmas?) - a couple of cuties on TV singing about this being a "special" Christmas Eve, and you had better make your love confession before midnight if you want your wishes to come true! The idea is dumb, and crazy, but insanity is the norm for the Love Hina characters anyway. The silly gimmick works, largely because the time is ripe for some confessions. The delivery comes smooth and natural, striking a good balance between the humorous and romantic elements.

The music definitely helped out on that end. Music from the series is reused for a portion of the special, but there are also some new tunes - Winter Wish being of special note. The song has two versions: one has vocals and is performed by Megumi Hayashibara, and the other is orchestral. Both versions were performed well, and added a good portion of feeling to the later parts of the special. There were a couple rare moments where the blending of animation, music, and story really caught me, and these moments in particular improved the series as a whole.

Bandai released another piece of Love Hina animation as an extra to the special - the 25th episode of the series, originally released as an OVA. It doesn't add anything new to the main plot of the series, but instead plays out like a regular episode. The episode captures a little clash between Motoko and her sister, which Keitaro (of course) gets caught between. It's fun, and a good thing that it got released. The other extra that came with the winter special is its ending sequence, sans text. It's one of those things that nobody gets excited about, but it's an amusing waste of a few minutes.

The Love Hina winter special is in my opinion the best piece of animation that was made for the property. One of the series' few faults is that it beats around the bush with the romance subplots, but the special is refreshingly forward. Even though the series doesn't end with the winter special, it does finally reach a point where viewers can catch their breath. Isn't that alone worth celebrating with spiked eggnog?

Distributor: Bandai
Creator: Ken Akamatsu / Production I.G.
Released: 2001 

Plot: A-
Character Design: B
Animation Quality: A
Music: B+
Overall: B+