Kanako Urashima is
Keitaro Urashima's adopted younger sister. Kanako Urashima is a master of disguise and is able to impersonate anyone, which Kanako Urashima uses to try to get control over the Hinata Inn (Keitaro Urashima is the only one who can see through her disguise at simple view); Kanako Urashima also has a passion for erotic bondage. Kanako Urashima never came to see Keitaro Urashima as a brother, and had loved him since they were children. When they promised to run an inn together when they grew up, she had assumed it would be as husband and wife. However, Keitaro does not share these thoughts and only sees her as a sister.
Kanako Urashima
first appears in Volume 11 in the
love hina manga, and in the Love Hina Again OVA. Her appearance is often accompanied by the sound of a bell carried on the tail of her unusual cat Kuro.
After travelling with her grandmother for some years, she returns to Japan to fulfill her promise to her brother to run an inn together. She arrives while Keitaro was away in the U.S.A., and after assuming control, immediately changes the Hinata Inn from a girls' dormitory back into an inn. The residents are forced to either stay and work for her, or to leave.
Kanako Urashima soon realizes that all of the girls in Hinata Inn have some sort of affection for her brother, and tests their affection in a variety of ways. She then tries to drive them away by being as mean and cruel as she could to them. At first it seemed to be working, as one by one everyone but
Naru Narusegawa left the new Hinata Inn. When the girls (except for Naru) start to suspect Kanako Urashima's feelings for Keitaro and why she forces them to be mean to him, they form the "Hinata House Liberation Front" in order to reclaim the Inn. Kanako Urashima, Naru Narusegawa and
Mutsumi Otohime form the Hinata-roshi (translated as "Hinata Rebel Alliance") to reclaim it under the name Urashima Kanako-no-suke).
Even without knowing her, Kanako had harbored a deep hatred for the little girl to which Keitaro promised to go to Tokyo University with, as she believes that the promise is what plagued his life with bad luck. As such, she believed that by eliminating this girl, the "curse" would be lifted. At first, she thought that
Mitsune Konno, who was leading the "Liberation Front", was this girl, but in the nick of time, Naru ended up revealing that she was most likely the girl. Disheartened for having trusted her unwilling sworn enemy, Kanako attempted to sabotage Naru's relationship with Keitaro upon his return. However, in the end, she recognized that it was Naru whom he liked, and reluctantly accepts their relationship. In the
love hina anime television series, Kanako is voiced by Natsuko Kuwatani in Japanese and Melissa Fahn in English.
In
The Love Hina Game Kanako Urashima is by far the hardest girl to get to know, since she only has eyes for
Keitaro Urashima! But give it a change!
