To Love-Ru

To Love-Ru (Japanese: To LOVEる -とらぶる-, Hepburn: To LOVEru -Toraburu-) is a Japanese manga series written by Saki Hasemi and illustrated by Kentaro Yabuki, creator of Black Cat. The manga was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine between April 24, 2006 and August 31, 2009, and the chapters collected into 18 tankōbon volumes. The manga series' title, とらぶる (Toraburu), is the English gairaigo (loan word) "trouble" and "rabu" (ラブ) is the English loan word "love". The title is a pun on the words "love trouble", which describes the harem aspect of the series.

A drama CD was released in February 2008 with an original story. A 26-episode anime series adaptation by Xebec aired in Japan between April and September 2008. Six original video animation episodes were produced by Xebec between April 2009 and April 2010. A 12-episode second season by Xebec titled Motto To-Love Ru aired between October and December 2010. Three video game have been released for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita.

A continuation of the manga called To Love-Ru Darkness (To LOVEる -とらぶる- ダークネス, To LOVEru -Toraburu- -Dākunesu-) began serialization in Shueisha's Jump Square magazine on October 4, 2010. Xebec produced four OVA episodes of To-Love Ru Darkness and later an anime TV series adaptation that aired between October and December 2012. A second season of To-Love Ru Darkness, called To Love-Ru Darkness 2nd, has been announced and is scheduled to air in July 2015.

Plot

The story of To Love-Ru revolves around Rito Yūki, a high-school student who cannot confess to the girl of his dreams, Haruna Sairenji. One day when coming home and sulking in the bathtub, a mysterious, nude girl appears out of nowhere. Her name is Lala and she comes from the planet Deviluke, where she is the heir to the throne. Her father wants her to return to her home planet so she can marry one of the husband candidates. But she decides that she wants to marry Rito in order to stay on Earth. Commander Zastin has been ordered to bring Lala back and has already battled Rito. He reports to the emperor that Rito would be suited to marry Lala, after hearing Rito, who was actually defending himself instead of Lala, say that marriage is impossible unless it is with the person you love. Lala truly falls in love with Rito and decides that she wants to marry Rito after hearing what he said. Her father decides that, if Rito is able to protect Lala from her fiancés, then he can marry her. However, if Rito cannot protect Lala from her other fiancés and meet the king's expectations, Lala's father will kill Rito and destroy the Earth.

Media

Manga

To Love-Ru began as a manga series written by Saki Hasemi with illustrations by Kentaro Yabuki. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump between April 24, 2006 and August 31, 2009. The chapters were collected into eighteen tankōbon volumes were published by Shueisha in Japan between November 11, 2006 and April 2, 2010. A sequel manga named To Love-Ru Darkness began serialization on October 4, 2010 in Jump Square. The first volume for Darkness was released on March 4, 2011, and 12 volumes have been published as of December 4, 2014.

Drama CD

A drama CD for To Love-Ru was released on February 29, 2008 with an original story, featuring the voice cast later used in the anime, along with character songs.

Anime

An anime series adaptation produced by Xebec and directed by Takao Kato aired in Japan between April 3 and September 25, 2008, and contains twenty-six episodes. The anime uses characters and general themes from the original manga, it captures various chapters and events from the manga in no specific order. The anime's opening theme is "Forever We Can Make It!" by Thyme, the first ending theme for episodes one through thirteen is "Lucky Tune" (ラッキーチューン, Rakkī Chūn) by Anna, and the second ending theme is "Kiss no Yukue" (kiss の行方), also by Anna. The anime is licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks and distributed by Section23 Films. The complete collection part one containing the first half-season was released on December 15, 2009. Following the release of part two on February 16, 2010, the series began playing on the Anime Network in March 2010. Sentai will release the series on Blu-ray Disc in March 2014.

Three original video animation (OVA) episodes produced by Xebec and directed by Takao Kato were shipped starting on April 3, 2009 with pre-ordered copies of the manga's 13th, 14th and 15th volumes. An additional three OVA episodes were released with the bundled version of the 16th, 17th and 18th volumes. The opening theme for the OVAs is "Yatte Koi Daisuki" and the ending theme is "Apple panic"; both songs are by Haruka Tomatsu and Sayuri Yahagi. A second season of the anime titled Motto To Love-Ru (もっとTo LOVEる -とらぶる-) produced by Xebec and directed by Atsushi Ootsuki aired 12 episodes between October 6 and December 21, 2010. The opening theme for the second season is "Loop-the-Loop" by Kotoko and the ending theme is "Baby Baby Love" by Haruka Tomatsu. Sentai Filmworks have also licensed the second season and released the complete series set on DVD on April 3, 2012; the Blu-ray set was released on May 27, 2014.

Five OVA episodes of To Love-Ru Darkness were produced by Xebec and released with the limited editions of the manga's 5th, 6th, 8th and 9th volumes on DVD on August 17, 2012, December 19, 2012, August 19, 2013, and December 4, 2013, respectively. A twelve-episode anime TV series adaptation was also produced by Xebec and directed by Atsushi Ootsuki. The opening theme for To Love-Ru Darkness is "Rakuen Project" (楽åœ'PROJECT) by Ray and the ending theme is "Foul Play ni Kurari" (ファールプレーにくらり) by Kanon Wakeshima. Sentai Filmworks released To Love-Ru Darkness on DVD and Blu-ray in North America on July 15, 2014. A second season of To-Love Ru Darkness, called To Love-Ru Darkness 2nd, has been announced and is scheduled to air in July 2015. The opening theme will be by Ray while the ending theme will be by Mami Kawada.

Video games

Two To Love-Ru video games have been released. The first is a 2D and 3D visual novel on the Nintendo DS entitled To Love-Ru: Exciting Outdoor School Version (To LOVEã‚‹-とらぶる- ワクワク! æž—é–"学校編, To Love-Ru -Toraburu- Waku Waku! Rinkangakkō-hen) which was released on August 28, 2008. The second is a 2D adventure visual novel on the PlayStation Portable entitled To Love-Ru: Exciting Beach School Version (To LOVEã‚‹-とらぶる- ドキドキ! 臨海学校編, To Love-Ru -Toraburu- Doki Doki! Rinkaigakkō-hen) which was released on October 2, 2008. A third game, titled To Love-Ru Trouble Darkness: Battle Ecstasy, was released on May 22, 2014 for the PlayStation Vita. It was developed by FuRyu, the developer of Unchained Blades. Lala appears as a support character in the Jump crossover fighting game J-Stars Victory VS. A fourth game, titled To Love-Ru -Trouble- Darkness: True Princess, will be released in 2015 for the PlayStation Vita.

Reception

The seventh manga volume was the best selling manga volume in its first week of release in Japan.

In 2012, To Love-Ru Darkness was reviewed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly to see if it violated their newly passed controversial Bill 156. This was after they had received a phone call from a parent who discovered a To Love-Ru Darkness book while cleaning a son's room. The parent did not like that there was frontal nudity of a female character, including her lower body. At the meeting on April 9, 2012, they decided it did not violate the new ordinance, but did include the aforementioned nudity.

References

External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• Xebec's website for the anime (Japanese)
• TBS's website for the anime (Japanese)
• Video games official website (Japanese)
• To Love-Ru (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia