First Impressions / To LOVE-Ru

「宇宙人の刺客」 (Uchuujin no Shikyaku)
“Alien Assassin”

Episode at a Glance:
Zastin and his men detect an unknown light heading towards Earth and while Zastin believes he can easily intervene, he decides that this is a trial that Rito should pass on his own. On Earth, Lala and Rito are in biology class and about to dissect a frog, but after finding out that dissecting something allows you to learn more about it, Lala is more interested in dissecting Rito. Meanwhile, an alien has crash landed on Earth and while spying on them, realizes that Rito is Lala’s fiancé, but Haruna is his real love interest. The alien, Gi Buri, then runs into the principal and assumes his form to lure Haruna to the gymnasium storage room.

Later on, Saruyama finds Lala still chasing Rito with tweezers and a scalpel on the roof, and passes on a message to Rito that the principal has taken Haruna to the storage room. Hearing this, Rito rushes off and Saruyama gladly substitutes in as Lala’s dissection toy. At the storage room, Rito finds Haruna tied up and unconscious and Gi Buri tells him to get away from Lala so he can marry her and become the king of Deviluke. In the meantime, Lala is still waiting for Rito to return, but after talking to Peke, decides to send out a search dog with Rito’s scent to find him. She eventually finds Rito and upon seeing Gi Buri, reminds the alien how much she hates him.

Gi Buri doesn’t mind hearing that, but he transforms and continues to take advantage of Haruna in an attempt to get Lala to marry him. Infuriated, Rito steps in and is about to punch Gi Buri, but it turns out that Gi Buri is actually scared of being beat up. Realizing this, Rito screams and scares him one more time, which causes Gi Buri to revert to his true form. Gi Buri’s wife and child then show up, as well as his wives and children from other worlds. To deal with the crowd, Lala summons a machine that warps them all back into space (with some of them warping into Zastin’s spaceship.)

Peke then fixes Haruna’s ripped up clothes and Lala takes her to the school infirmary. When Haruna wakes up, Lala tells her that she collapsed in the gymnasium and Rito saved her. Back in the storage room, the real principal is still tied up and enjoying being a masochist, while Saruyama is feeling the same way on the roof.

 

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

Ahem, tentacle “groping” goes to all new highs this episode as poor Haruna gets her clothes ripped off and fondled beyond belief. Since we all know those single screenshots don’t do those scenes any justice, please refer to the full length screenshots here, here, and here. They’re there for your viewing pleasure. :X

Saruyama on the other hand chooses to be Lala’s dissection “toy”, which was pretty darn hilarious when she first took her tweezers to him. Ever wondered what Allelujah Haptism would sound like if he screamed and cried to tears? Well here’s your opportunity to, as Yoshino Hiroyuki delivers in that department.

As for Lala, I thought I’d take this opportunity to mention how distinctly different a voice Tomatsu Haruka can do, without it coming off as sounding forced. Lala’s voice is pretty high, but cute and not annoying in anyway. In fact, I’ve actually come to really like the voice that Haruka uses in To LOVE-Ru. On the other hand, Himemiya Senko/Midarezaki Chika’s voice in Kyouran Kazoku Nikki is a lot lower and has more of an attitude behind it. The voice she uses for Senko/Chika isn’t necessarily “bitchy” or anything though, it’s just the kind of voice you would expect from a character who’s a bit stuck up. If you heard these two voices separately, I would say it’s almost impossible to tell that they’re played by the same person. Now that’s skills.

There are other seiyuus that can do this as well, but there aren’t that many of them. Some examples are Kugimiya Rie (Miharu in Nabari no Ou vs Nagi in Hayate no Gotoku!), Tanaka Rie (Lacus Clyne in Gundam SEED vs Suigintou in Rozen Maiden), and last but not least, Sawashiro Miyuki (Shinkurou in kurenai vs Shinku in Rozen Maiden vs Maria in Zetsubou Sensei). Because of this, when I find a seiyuu that can play a wide range of voices well, I usually take notice as I did here.

Next week it seems like we see the introduction of Ren Elsie Jewelria, who’s actually played by a female seiyuu, Ooura Fukuya. Based on the episode title, I’m assuming he’s supposed to be a pretty rugged kind of guy, but he doesn’t seem to be looking very composed in his boxing match. We’ll also see Lala and Haruna taking up the role as the ring girls, with Haruna looking embarrassed as always, despite having a body like this. Either way, it should make for some good laughs and ecchi fun as always. Otanoshimi ni~

 

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)
– Gi Buri (ギ・ブリー) / Madono Mitsuaki (真殿 光昭)
– High school principal (校長先生) / Ogata Kenichi (緒方 賢一)
– Zastin (ザスティン) / Koyasu Takehito (子安 武人)
– Peke (ペケ) / Arai Satomi (新井 里美)
– Saruyama (猿山) / Yoshino Hiroyuki (吉野 裕行)
– Gi Buri’s wife (ギ・ブリーの妻) / Satou Chie (佐藤 智恵)
– Momioka Risa (籾岡 里沙) / Yuzuki Ryouka (柚木 涼香)
– Buwartz (ブワッツ) / Matsuo Daisuke (松尾 大亮)
– Mauru (マウル) / Konno Jun (金野 潤)
– Student (生徒) / Nishino Youko (西野 陽子)

31 Comments

  3. glad to know that you enjoy ecchi like i do 🙂 not like other bloggers who always QQ bout ecchi and how theyre wrong and stuff…It pisses me off like why will they blog an ecchi show if they dont like it in the first place? deep down inside they too enjoy it but are in denial fucking noobs…but ur not I love ur blogs and keep up the good work ecchi comrade 😀

    death_killz
    Reply

  7. I thought things wouldn’t be worst… until now.

    So, Haruna will have to suffer from here to the end of the series as all aliens who wants Lala or the position of king of her planet will eventually come to Earth, challenge the idiot as Zastin leave things like that even though he could powned all of them. All that as certain pink-haired-airhead do whatever she pleases.

    So, unless there are nicer things planned for Haruna, Mikan or the rest of the Earthling girls (who are way better than Lala), this is truly FAIL.

    SeedStriker
    Reply

  8. @seedstriker: if you’ve been keeping up with the manga, haruna and co. don’t get a break either. To Love Ru’s plot is just an excuse to get in the ecchi and crack random jokes.

    Tmoo
    Reply

  10. About 35% of this episode was a filler stuff. Sigh…and it seems like majority of next episode will be bunch of filler. Why can’t they just stick to manga’s material? It’s so much better.

    kenshin514
    Reply

  11. i just can’t understand television like this. this is just porn without nudity. it’s designed to be a cocktease, and it lacks a substantial plot. i don’t understand?

    242
    Reply

  12. A couple of things come to mind from reading some of the comments thus far.

    1.) Anime adaptations are just that. An adaptation. In most cases, you should refrain from simply treating the manga as an absolute source of material, because it was never intended to be in the first place. When an anime adaptation starts, it usually can’t follow the manga precisely because they have no idea when the manga will end or when they’ll catch up to its material, but the anime is already scheduled for X number of episodes. Exceptions to this rule are long-running series such as Dragon Ball, Naruto, and Bleach, but we all know what happens when they run out of manga material.

    Also, treating the manga as absolute is a really easy way to ruin any entertainment for yourself. If you view the anime for what it is without constantly comparing it to its manga, you will probably see it in a much different light. For this very reason, I choose not to read the manga the same time an anime adaptation is airing. If I was already reading it, that’s another story, but I’m not going to pick up a manga right when an anime adaptation comes out, power through all the available volumes, and make weekly comparisons to the anime. I get no joy out of doing that and I can’t imagine others getting any either.

    2.) If everything was the same plot-intensive, serious type of show, we would’ve never had a comedy genre to begin with. You have to keep in mind that shows like this aren’t trying to impress you with some super convoluted story that results in an over exemplified ending. There are shows that are going for that effect, but this isn’t one of them. It’s trying to entertain, that’s all. You just have to set your expectations accordingly. Do you watch comedy movies always expecting a lot of depth? Also, would you judge the movie as a whole after watching only 20 minutes of it?

    In this particular case, the show is trying to entertain with some ecchi flair because its target audience is teenage males. Unless you’re a total saint about anything sexually related or the sight of an attractive girl revealing skin turns you off, I’m sure you can get some laughs out of this and still be able to appreciate shows at the other end of the spectrum. The relationship aspect of these shows do get built up eventually. You just have to be around for it when it happens. If you stop watching a series a quarter of the way through, is it fair to judge the series as a whole at that point?

    In short, it’s all about expanding your perception and appreciation of other things. In this case, types of anime.

    divine
    Reply

  15. i thought episode 4 is going to be the only tentacle episode. i guess not. i’m not particularly a fun of tentacle groping scene but it got stuck to my head to expect at least 1 scene where they r in a beach, girls get tentacled, swimsuit girls, sex positions featured, bouncing boobies while running and etc. I hope kotegawa yui shows up soon! thnx a bunch for d review divine.

    D_D
    Reply

  16. Ha! Divine, I did not expect such an acutely perceptive and overall well-thought out post in the comments section of a series not known for requiring mental exertion. However, I’ll gladly take up this opportunity for good debate!

    1) I think you sum up my feelings on the manga/anime-version topic nearly completely. Manga and anime are fundamentally two different mediums of storytelling. There are techniques one mode can use to imitate the other and vice-versa, but they are too different in the way they are made and how they communicate to their respective audiences for someone to fairly expect one version to compare with another. This continual comparison bewtween manga and anime also hinges on some common beliefs that I don’t think hold much water: that is, that the first version is best, and that the original is “right”.

    “You should refrain from simply treating the manga as an absolute source of material, because it was never intended to be in the first place.”

    Divine states quite the opposite. It can be seen like how a writer drafts a book; the first, second, or even third drafts can be trash, or after the work is published, the author simply wanted to change things in retrospect.

    I think a more valid argument would be like, “I don’t like X and Y because the focus was taken away from the relationship between characters A and B” rather than “I don’t like it because it’s different from the manga.” The real problem is that too many people just say, “It’s different from the manga,” as a catch-all, and they don’t truly express what specific qualms they have with this or that particular version.

    2) “Variety is the spice of life” is an often used cliche, but it can be appropriately applied here. Divine is saying that different people will have different tastes, from their values and unique experiences, and one’s expectations of the works others offer up have to adjust according to what the creators were trying to convey. Is it fair to fault a snake for being a snake? It’s important to take something for what it is first. Then you can critize it’s distinct shortcomings, rather than rail on the common traits of “snakes”, if you get what I mean.

    The final point, I think, is where Divine and I diverge opinions. “Is it fair to judge the series as a whole at that point?” Professionally speaking, no. To critically analyze a work and give your honest opinion of it to others, you must put your full effort to review the series as a whole.

    But as casual fans, enthusiasts looking for some entertainment to fill an evening, it’s completely fair to make a snap judgement about a series and whether to continue to watch it or not. If someone, like you say, Divine, had been following this series up to now and said, “Eh, I don’t like what I’ve seen so far. I’m looking for originality/comedy/serious romance/sci-fi action, and (either) this anime has failed to deliver on it’s promise/this anime simply does not have the elements I like, so I won’t watch anymore.” This is an absolutely valid opinion you can hold, and are free to say so.

    Phew! I didn’t expect to write such a lengthy post (especially in the comments of a series I don’t even follow), but I hope it promotes some intellectual discussion.

    kadian1364
    Reply

  17. @Divine

    I agree. To me, To Love-Ru is a good diversion from serious, plot-heavy animes like Macross and Code Geass R2. I’m not expecting much from the series, but so far it’s been enjoyable (It doesn’t fall too much into the ecchi genre like Kanokon, which I have yet to finish ep. 1).

    Also, good job on the screenshots etc.

    Cloud9
    Reply

  18. @kadian1364:
    Thanks for the input. It was a great read. =)

    I agree with your addition about making snap judgments. They’re completely fair game provided they have some basis, which you’ve already pointed out. I guess the point I was trying to get across was much like what you said earlier. “Don’t hate the snake for being a snake.” Except here, it’s don’t hate an ecchi anime for being an ecchi anime.

    With that said, I don’t think there’s much of a debate here between you and me though, as it sounds like we’re on the same page. As for trying to spark intellectual discussion, that’s kind of been my goal since joining Omni here at RC. I’ve been trying to spark discussion in all the shows I’m covering, regardless of its genre.

    divine
    Reply

  19. @divine and @ kadian1364

    My apology if my interectual and logical of anime is not as high as you guys. However, there are many things that I disagree with your guys. Also, I have very bad day today so I’ll apologize in advance if any I about to say may often you guys.

    OK, first of all, have you guys ever read To-Love-Ru manga? If you guys haven’t then it’s not going to be a good discussion then. I read 95 chapters of that manga in 3 hours and then the next day I read the whole thing again so I pretty much know in and out of that series.

    You said “I think a more valid argument would be like, “I don’t like X and Y because the focus was taken away from the relationship between characters A and B” rather than “I don’t like it because it’s different from the manga.” The real problem is that too many people just say, “It’s different from the manga,” as a catch-all, and they don’t truly express what specific qualms they have with this or that particular version.”

    Well, everyone says that because they realized that this To-Love-Ru anime adaption will be different from manga. The reason is because the manga is still continue and every time that they tried to do any anime adaption of ongoing manga. It will always be different and usually it never good as anime. For example, Claymore, it followed the manga almost exactly the same for 4/5 of the series. However, since they have to cut short due to 26 episodes and manga is still going. They have to make up the ending which is still stisfied and most people can accepted that. In contrast, To-Love-Ru anime already mess up some of the time-line that make the series become like typical eechi comedy without deep love romance. For example, this episode should happen before episode 3, when they went to the aquarium. Haruna had a feeling for Rito before but she always shy and doesn’t want to show that. So when Lala told her that Rito help her at the end of this episode. It makes her like him even more that why she pulled him before he ran to find Lala. So by switch the timeline of this episode and episode 3. It already change a lot of meaning behind it. And what’s wrong with compared to manga and anime? People know this manga is better than anime because there are more plot storyline, more character developed, more consistent and all the timeline makes sense. Anime kinda screw most of that stuff. They know but they just don’t want to say it too long and just sum it to “Manga is better than Anime” and you have to admit that sometime variety doesn’t equal to better. So having differnt stuff from anime adaptation doesn’t mean it will be better or as equal as the manga version. In fact, anything deverenges from the manga make it less original to what the mangaka want it to present. What make a good anime or manga doesn’t always need to have a logical sense to back up and say that it’s good series because of this and that. As long as that manga or anime can present a good solid material and really touch our heart then feeling alone is good enough.

    kenshin514
    Reply

  20. Wow…alot of writing going on here…meh I’m too lazy to read.But I watched this a couple of days back and…
    I LOVE EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF THIS!!

    IMO, this episode was the best so far and I loled more times than the all the previous episodes combined.For me, I finally think the studio understands what I have been praying for them to do.As for Ren-chan…yes “-chan”.He’s a sissy boy but he’s too cute to get mad at.

    And Lala being played by another voice actor,WHAT?! I’m more concerned about why they switched more than her skills(I admit I’m impressed though)

    God~knows~
    Reply

  21. @God~knows~:
    Lala’s not played by another seiyuu. I was just comparing Tomatsu Haruka’s acting as Lala in this show vs. her acting as Senko/Chika in Kyouran Kazoku Nikki.

    divine
    Reply

  25. for those who tl;dr: anime can’t keep with ongoing manga, comedy isn’t meant to be deep.

    that said, i see no harm in comparing anime to manga in seeing what’s different. this isn’t degrading based on it, but it’s because of the manga that i’m watching this in the first place. in that frame, using manga as the ‘original’ material is justified.

    Tmoo
    Reply

  26. Funny … History Strongest Student Kenichi was for most part exactly as the manga, it was as the panels were animated.

    Yes, they modified and dropped things but for most part, it was the manga.

    The whole argument about manga vs anime is rendered moot for the fact the reason they are adapting the manga is because the manga is popular.

    The only argument you can make about that is when the original is a (light) novel and there is a anime and a manga series.

    Also give me a break, Chobits was close to the manga but they added filler that make characters bad traits worst and somehow completely altered the ending (you have to read the manga and the anime to know what was altered) but it cannot hold when “fridge logic” comes it as the manga ending makes sense.

    I avoid anime adaptations on ongoing manga series like the black plague and I seen enough to make that decision.

    Drakron
    Reply

  27. @ divine,
    i actually watched this episode to try and see where you’re coming from. it didn’t happen. i really fail to see any comedy here at all –
    https://randomc.net/image/To%20LOVE-Ru/To%20LOVE-Ru%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2022.jpg
    how is that funny? that’s rape. unless you’re trying to tell me that rape is funny, i missed it.
    this “ecchi genre” that you so tote as comedy shows me nothing more than the guy characters flipping a nut and getting nosebleeds when they see a girl’s body. it’s the SAME, even in series with plots (i just saw soul eater 4 do the nosebleed, for instance).
    i also think your saint comment was very uncalled for. of COURSE it’s not because i dislike the female body, that’s just short sighted. it’s because i find no entertainment from porn with no sex, and i find no comedy from guys half-seeing girls boobs and throwing a shit fit.

    242
    Reply

  28. @242:
    But no means did I say the particular scene you pointed out was funny. I wasn’t laughing while Haruna was getting felt up, so please don’t misunderstand me here. That’s just fan-service, not comedy. In what I said above, I was more speaking of the genre as a whole. It has its fan-service (which isn’t necessarily funny) and then it has its comedy.

    For example, the funniest scene in this episode for me was when Lala took her tweezers to Saruyama here, which didn’t involve any girls in revealing situations.

    As for the nosebleed reaction, that’s kind of the consensus in Japanese culture, which is an ongoing gag in not only anime, but dramas as well. Watching the guys get in uncomfortable situations is pretty funny since the characters themselves do have a conscience, but no one is trying to make you laugh when you see a naked girl. The comedy comes from how the guy(s) react to those situations.

    This is actually what makes ecchi anime notably different than your typical hentai anime. In ecchi anime, the main male protagonist has his perversions much like any other guy, but he generally doesn’t try to take advantage of the girls. You’ll see this in To LOVE-Ru and you’ll also see this in Kanokon.

    Finally, fan-service scenes are just that—fan-service scenes. Even non-ecchi anime use them quite a lot. Take CODE GEASS R2 as an example.

    divine
    Reply

  29. divine:
    Don’t forget the other value shows like this provide. I haven’t watched or even downloaded any of this series or Kanokon (or any other “pure, pure fanservice” type shows), nor do I have any intention of ever doing so. But reading the comments (and especially the debates) in cases like this amuses me 😛

    Justin Olbrantz (Quantam)
    Reply

  30. @Justin Olbrantz (Quantam):
    Fair enough, but as I mentioned, I get some amusement from watching our male characters in awkward situations, and there is an underlying relationship theme that I suspect will become more prominent as we go along.

    In other words, there are other merits to these types of shows. However, if someone is looking for a series with a lot of “plot depth” from beginning to end (i.e. a series where almost every episode ends with a cliffhanger that ties into the next), then it’s evident that this show won’t satisfy in that regard as it never intended to.

    (P.S. Again, thanks to everyone for your input.)

    divine
    Reply

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