To-Love-Ru
[ 0 Comments ] Written by Shadowfire on 14/06/08 @ 12:33PM. Located In Manga, News and Updates, To-Love-Ru
Name: To-Love-Ru
Author: Hasemi Saki
Artist: Yabuki Kentaro
Anime produced by: XEBEC
Plot
Rito Yuuki is a typical high school student with a rather large crush on his classmate Haruna Sairenji. Unfortunately for Rito, he always has trouble confessing his feelings to her. One evening after another failed attempt at confessing, he is moping in the bathtub when suddenly a naked girl called Lala appears in front of him. This strange girl turns out to be an alien princess from the planet Deviluke, and after Rito mistakingly proposes to her, she agrees to become his fiancée! Now in additional to his feelings for Haruna, Rito must deal with Lala (who decides to live in his house and even transfers into his class at school), and to top it all, fight off Lala’s extra-terrestrial fiancées candidates who come to challenge him for Lala’s hand in marriage.
Characters
Rito Yukki
A 15 year old high school student with a large crush on his classmate Haruna. Due to various circumstances, he has always failed to confess his love to her. He finds Lala’s arrival not only annoying, but he worries how it will interfere with his hopes of having Haruna as his girlfriend. He seems to have a bit of a green thumb and was an enthusiastic soccer player during junior high, but quit playing in order to help his father produce manga, as well as spend time at home with his younger sister. His mother is often working abroad as a fashion designer and model scout. He has a habit of unintentionally groping girls or finding himself in otherwise perverted situations.
Lala Satalin Deviluke
An alien princess from the planet Deviluke. As the eldest daughter of Deviluke’s king, whomever Lala marries will inherit the throne and rule most of the universe. Many fiancée candidates from across the universe attempt to marry Lala with this in mind, and their attempts are usually very violent and in complete disregard of Lala’s own feelings. Lala ran away from home to avoid being married off, and crashed landed on earth. After using a ring she invented to randomly teleport into Rito’s bathtub, a misunderstanding occurs where she believes Rito proposed to her. Lala initially accepts the proposal so that she can remain on earth, but soon develops genuine feelings of love for Rito. She is a genius inventor and often produces strange inventions she has created at opportune moments, however they regularly malfunction in a way that makes the situation more troublesome. Lala has a black devil-like tail that is very sensitive, but otherwise appears completely human. She is usually wearing her clothing robot Peke, so a running gag will be her suddenly becoming naked due to Peke losing power. She is completely uninhibited to the extent that she is comfortable being naked in front of other people, especially Rito.
Haruna Sairenji
Rito’s classmate and object of his affections. She also has feelings for Rito which are not initially obvious. She mistakenly believes Rito loves Lala due to their engagement, and therefore is unaware that she herself is the one Rito really loves. She and Lala become friends, and this deters Haruna from expressing her feelings to Rito. Haruna lives in an apartment with her older sister. She is very kind and gentle, except when she encounters a ghost, at which point she will lose control and swing the nearest object (in most cases, Rito) around violently in self defence.
Mikan Yuuki
Rito’s younger sister. Despite being younger, she is very mature and reliable. She takes care of the family household due to her parent’s busy working habits. She is very independent and though she often teases Rito or treats him with no respect, deep down she cares for him and begins to miss his company when Lala moves in. She is perceptive when it comes to people’s feelings, enough so that she is able to sense the feelings Rito and Haruna have for each other.
Zastin
Lala’s bodyguard and the best swordsman from the planet Deviluke. He came to earth to retrieve Lala after she ran away, and though he initially disapproved of Rito, he accepted their engagement after misinterpreting a speech by Rito. He is quite foolish with a horrible sense of direction, acting his bad luck acts as comic relief most of the time, such as being hit by trains during battles.
Kenichi Saruyama
The stereotypical perverted best friend of Rito. He knows about Rito’s feelings for Haruna, and often jokes about his failed attempts at confessing to her.
Peke
A robot invented by Lala. He can transform into any type of clothing for Lala to wear, but loses form when his power level is depleted, gradually rendering Lala naked. Lala can also be left naked when Peke is suddenly dislodged from her body. Peke can talk and serves as Lala’s loyal friend.
Reviewer’s (Shadowfire) comment:
To-Lo-Ru is an ongoing manga series, with an anime adaptation also currently being aired. While loosely based on the plot elements from the manga, the anime has a very different feel to it, both in terms of story and comedy style.
The manga itself if horribly clichéd (the alien-girlfriend-appears-and-lives-with-normal-boy idea is certainly not original), and like most male protagonists in manga/anime, Rito is exposed to at least one embarrassing and perverted situation each chapter to ensure the viewer their dose of ample fan service.
Despite this, the story is simple and easy to read. It is just a fun story with a bit of humor and no deep thought required, like most typical harem-style comedies. The first few chapters of the manga start off slow but does get more interesting as it progresses, especially with the introduction of some very interesting characters later on (particularly the aliens).
As previously mentioned, the anime differs greatly from the manga. The basic plot and story elements are the same, but the delivery has been changed so that some episodes appear stretched out and padded with pointless content that adds no humour or progress to the plot. Episode 7 is a prime example, as there is a very drawn out and tedious Rocky spoof that last for over 10 minutes (almost half of the episode), with an episode punch line that was rushed and difficult to understand to anyone not a fan of the manga.
In conclusion, the anime lacks the charm and most of the humour of its source material. My recommendation is to read the manga if you are a fan of this genre, and only watch the anime if you are a really big fan or otherwise have nothing else to do.