To-Love Ru/To-Love Ru Darkness
Rito Yuuki is your average high school student-awkward, shy, and hopeless when it comes to confessing his feelings to the girl of his dreams. But one day, an alien princess on the run suddenly appears in his bathtub! When Rito finds himself engaged to the beautiful Lala after a misunderstanding, he becomes embroiled in the chaos of extraterrestrial politics, rival alien suitors, and harem hilarity! The story continues in To Love Ru Darkness, when Lala’s younger sister Momo begins her own machinations to marry Rito…but it can only happen if he is coronated as king of their interstellar empire, which would allow him to marry as many women as he wants!
Publisher: Sentai
Tags: romance, shonen, sci-fi, harem, 2008, akatsuki yamatoya, manga, saki hasemi, shonen jump
My Rating: 💗💗💗💗💗
This is definitely one of my all-time favorite series. I never managed to get around to watching the anime, but the manga… the manga… (kisses fingers like a bougie chef) is a masterpiece!
For starters, it contains all the elements I so highly prize: ecchi (not hentai), harem, and genuinely likable – and believable – characters. And the plot, as goofy as it is, does make sense. Especially the more the series goes on and you start to understand more about the characters.
The only thing that threw me a bit was the dramatic focus shift of main characters. During the first part of the series, To-Love Ru, the focus is primarily on Haruna Sairenji and Lala Satalin Deviluke; during the next part of the story, To-Love Ru: Darkness, the cast remains the same but focuses instead on Lala’s little sister, Momo Belia Deviluke and her twin sister Nana Astar Deviluke. The others kind of fade in the background; they still exist, but you don’t really see them until the end.
And the ending. It’s a typical, open-ended, no closure having ending that mangas tend to have (which I absolutely fucking hate).
Still, though, it’s not about the destination, but the journey, right? And this is one fun, sexy, and often silly journey. I’m not complaining. 😍
Want to check it out yourself? You can find it on Amazon or MangaFreak!
