「男とはかくあるべし!」 (Otoko to wa Kaku Arubeshi!)
“This is What It Should Be Like with a Man!”

While rushing to school in the morning, Rito passes by a girl wearing a male uniform, but doesn’t think too much of it. In class, Honekawa-sensei announces another new transfer student, Ren Elise Jewelria, who quickly declares Lala to be his bride. After figuring out who Rito is, Ren also proclaims that he’s going to take Lala back. Unfortunately for Ren though, Lala doesn’t remember who he is, so he shows her a childhood picture of them and explains that Lala used to play with him… as a toy. He also reminds her how she agreed to marry him if he became manlier.

The subsequent school days involve Ren flaunting his manliness to Rito in very absurd ways. This includes ripping up a magazine in front of him, rushing to a doorway to push him down and say “after you”, and lapping him over and over again while running in P.E. class. Despite Ren’s efforts though, Lala doesn’t recognize his manliness, so he resorts to asking Rito how he does it. Unsurprisingly, Rito proves unhelpful, so Ren for some reason or another, decides to ask Haruna, Risa, and Mio, and ends up with some misconception.

Failing again to get Lala to recognize him, Ren happens to watch a “Pocky” movie and gets inspired to follow a similar path. After a lot of intensive training, the media suddenly starts taking notice to him and his efforts, but Lala’s still indifferent to telling him that he’s manly. After a “fake” 3 years later, Ren competes in a series of fights and after many struggles, manages to come out on top. Finally, after a long 120km run, Ren has Lala tell him what she thinks of him in front of a large crowd. However, before Lala can finish her sentence, a fly lands on Ren’s nose, causing him to sneeze and change to his female form, Run. Seeing this, Lala says that it’s unfortunate, but she can’t recognize a girl to be manly.

 

Next Episode:
「清廉潔白風紀委員」 (Seirenkeppaku Fuuki-iin)
“The Honest and Upright Public Morals Committee Member”

Impressions:
Well, I guess it’s apparent why they casted a female seiyuu to play Ren, given how his Memoruze (メモルゼ) species has the ability to change between genders. Personally, it’s been a while since I’ve seen this “concept” used; however, it’s not new to me at all, having watching a lot of Ranma 1/2 back in the day. The only difference here is that instead of using hot and cold water to change sexes, it seems like all Ren has to do is sneeze to change into Run (…and vice-versa). What’s kind of “unique” here though (besides the obvious), is that Ren is a completely different person from Run in both mind and boy. In other words, Ren and Run are basically two separate people who alternate between using the same body. Now wouldn’t it be a bit disturbing if Run started going after Rito, while Ren continued to go after Lala? *shudder* Hmm, having said that, I get the feeling this is going to happen. -_-;

Other than that, the comedy was pretty light this episode, but there were a ton of parodies to put a smirk on your face, such as Rocky Balboa, E. Honda from Street Fighter II, and Joe Higashi from Fatal Fury. I did find it a bit funny how they threw up on-screen messages saying Ren’s training fights aren’t that interesting and to watch some fan-service scenes of Lala, Mikan, and Haruna instead. I guess if I had to choose between watching either of the two, it would be a mistake not to pick the latter. Speaking of which, it was nice to see Mikan again, even though she only had a minor role this episode.

Next week it looks like we’ll see more of Saki again and be introduced to another new character, who I believe is a member of the school’s Public Morals Committee. I’ve been told the new character is Kotegawa Yui (古手川 唯), who’s played by the usually soft-spoken but always pleasant to listen to Nadzuka Kaori (Eureka in Eureka Seven, Yuasa Hiromi in true tears, Nakatsukasa Tsubaki in Soul Eater, Nunnally in CODE GEASS). In retrospect, there sure have been a lot of new characters introduced lately.

 

Cast:
– Yuuki Rito (結城 梨斗) / Watanabe Akeno (渡辺 明乃)
– Lala Satalin Deviluke (ララ・サタリン・デビルーク) / Tomatsu Haruka (戸松 遥)
– Sairenji Haruna (西連寺 春菜) / Yahagi Sayuri (矢作 紗友里)
– Ren/Run (レン/ルン) / Ooura Fukuya (大浦 冬華)
– Saruyama (猿山) / Yoshino Hiroyuki (吉野 裕行)
– Peke (ペケ) / Arai Satomi (新井 里美)
– Yuuki Mikan (結城 美柑) / Hanazawa Kana (花澤 香菜)
– Momioka Risa (籾岡 里沙) / Yuzuki Ryouka (柚木 涼香)
– Sawada Mio (沢田 未央) / Chiba Chiemi (千葉 千恵巳)
– Honekawa-sensei (骨川先生) / Asou Tomohisa (麻生 智久)
– 24 hour TV announcer (24時間TVアナウンサー) / Furushima Kiyotaka (古島 清孝)
– Announcer (アナウンサー) / Sakaguma Takahiko (坂熊 孝彦)
– Subordinate (手下) / Konno Jun (金野 潤)
– Man (男子) / Matsuo Daisuke (松尾 大亮)
– Woman (女子) / Nishino Youko (西野 陽子)

30 Comments

  1. its going to happen… run fall in love with rito…for sure..read the manga…btw,,,in chapter 100 (latest)…rito turns into a girl…chances for ren?…
    well rito get a harem of 6 girls + 1 sister + 1 ghost + 2 hot sisters in law…and then turns into a woman…to love ru

    roflcopter
  2. Well, quite a lot of filler in this episode but at least they still introduce both Ren & Ran. Yes !! My second favorite character, Yui, in this series will be introduce next week. My favorite is still Haruna-chan

    kenshin514
  3. They are really going all out changing the story order.

    Yui before Yami? 0_o

    Not that it’s a bad thing, I like the Public Morals Committee girl just as much as some of the other girls (she looks like she’ll be a perfect tsundere). She’s seems like she’ll be a good counterbalance to Lala and Saki the Slut.

    At least it is as new to the manga readers as newcomers. You never know how they are going to twist the plot!

    Melchior
  4. I did never make many as mistakes givinf out quick judjements to new series like i did this spring season.

    I screamed miracle to Allison to Lilia and it was showed being crap. I wouldn’t give 2 cents to To Loveru, as it looked the inexpressive clone of Urusei Yatsura, but i was so wrong! This show is turning out funny and fresh. Maybe it’ not so original but a nice watch. Sure it beats up badly the other rival harem Kanokon!

    Solaris
  5. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Huh? If Kanokon is your soft-hentai then ToLoveRu might become the new ecchi harem standard. 7 Episodes so far and it looks quite promsing. At least better than that Vampire thing before.
    I still reading the manga. But for sure, this Anime will probably get some anime-only characters. But if that statement above about the 6 to 10 girls harem and that “transformation” (probably a one episode slap stick, Ranma?)is true. Than its ToLoveRu!

    Still – nice show! How many Episodes will it be? 26 or 52+?

    exodus
  6. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Huh? If Kanokon is your soft-hentai then ToLoveRu might become the new ecchi harem standard. 7 Episodes so far and it looks quite promsing. At least better than that Vampire thing before.
    I still reading the manga. But for sure, this Anime will probably get some anime-only characters. But if that statement above about the 6 to 10 girls harem and that “transformation” (probably a one episode slap stick, Ranma?)is true. Than its ToLoveRu!

    Still – nice show! How many Episodes will it be? 26 or 52+?

    Nemo
  7. HAREM SHOWS REALLY PISS ME OFF

    i mean i actually though ren was a better character than run..run is damn boring there is nothing special about him and somehow manages a harem? geez…

    at least if they had a harem lead with something special about him that would be understandable…but run is anything but special…..

    bobofet
  8. Nothing special about rito?
    well he mangaged himself(more or less) from a shy guy that faints at nude skin to a guy with 6-11 nude bitches. well and he turn himself in a woman, now… so nothing special, huh?

    roflcopter
  9. Hopefully the dvd sales go well, then I can get to see a second season :)I’m shell-shocked that they forgot to mention that it was Rito and Ren’s first kiss back there.Poor attention to detail on XEBEC’s part.

  10. @Silver: I still like Allison to Lilia, but i admit i overextimated it a lot. I thought it was to be the best anime of the season but i was wrong. I’ll answer why in some post about that show, k?

    @Exia: Kanokon and Toloveru ARE actually harem. What’s harem otherwise?

    Solaris
  11. Ooh dang i just wrote a big comment and as soon as i tapped enter it came up empty! Please tell me it worked right? I dont want to type it again if i do not have to! Either the blog freaked out or i am an dum dum, the second option doesnt surprise me lol.

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