This anime series is based on a comic series for young college-age men by Ken Akamatsu.

Keitaro Urashima's family name, Urashima, is a reference to "Urashima Taro," a Japanese fairy tail about a young fisherman who is taken to a sea kingdom by a large sea turtle after saving her from her tormentors.

Mutsumi Otohime's family name, Otohime, is also an Urashima Taro reference. The word means "sea princess" in Japanese. She is the princess whom Urashima Taro met in the underwater kingdom.

In the original comic version, Shinobu was already a resident of Hinata Inn.