To LOVE-Ru – 14

ED2 Sequence:

ED2: “kiss no Yukue” 「kissの行方」 by Anna
Watch the 2nd ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2

「ふたりだけの秘密」 (Futari dake no Himitsu)
“The Secret Between the Two”

Episode at a Glance:
Figuring that he has to change somehow in order to become the greatest man in the universe, Rito takes up jogging on a daily basis. During his first outing, he runs into Haruna at a nearby park, who supports his desire to change. This leads to the two of them meeting regularly at the park with Haruna bringing homemade snacks for Rito, which makes him feel that this is secret between just the two of them. After the two of them make plans to met on a Sunday, it dawns on Rito that this can probably be considered a date with Haruna. Likewise, Haruna’s sister, Akio, notices how she’s also been really cheerful lately, which makes Haruna feel that she has to change too.

On their “date”, Rito ends up diving into the water to save Haruna’s pet dog, Maron, so she invites him back to her place to wash up while she dries his clothes. Taking a bath at her house, Rito’s mind starts to fantasize. After the bath, Rito waits in Haruna’s room while his clothes are drying, where she informs him that her sister and mother won’t be around tonight. Shortly after, Rito stumbles upon middle school pictures of him and Haruna, and after looking through it together, Haruna pulls out a bunch of photo albums. Seeing her trip as she walks away, Rito tries to catch her, but ends up stumbling on top of her in a somewhat opportunistic position. After Rito decides to move in for a kiss, Akio suddenly returns and Rito’s towel falls off, so he runs off in embarrassment.

 

Next Episode:
「密林のプリンセス」 (Mitsuri no Purinsesu)
“Princess of the Jungle”

Impressions:
The beginning of this episode included pretty much included the entire end of the last episode (i.e. the scene where Lala’s father threatens Rito and tells him to become the greatest man in the universe), which made me wonder if the production studio was pressed for time and/or material this week. This may have very well been the case too, as the episode was fairly simple and only revolved around Rito and Haruna. That’s not to say that the episode was bad though, as it did have some moments that made me laugh. In any case, I’m not quite sure how picking up jogging will help solve Rito’s problem, but apparently he’s hoping that he’ll realize his true feelings towards Haruna and Lala during this time. Regardless of whether or not this train of thought makes any sense, it did set up a feasible premise for him to get closer to Haruna, which I did enjoy watching. For a moment, I almost thought Rito and Haruna would finally get their feelings for one another across (with a kiss and all), but naturally, shows like To LOVE-RU just love teasing us until the very end.

As you’ve probably already noticed, we have a new ending this week, which is sung by Anna, who also performed the first ending song. “kiss no Yukue” sounds a lot more profound than her cheerful “Lucky Tune” song, so I can see it growing on me over time. At episode fourteen, we’re now halfway through the series, so it was about time for an opening or ending change. We still have the same opening though, so it’s possible that the producers have decided to stick with one opening and two endings for this series (which is pretty common). As for the end sequence, it’s all Haruna here (wet clothes plus sexy lips) and actually has a serious/intimate mood behind it, which I find is a nice contrast to the lighthearted nature of the actual series.

Next time, we have a drastic change in scenery as everyone’s pulled into some prehistorical world, with dinosaurs, a King Kong, and a bunch of big-busted amazons.

On a blogging note, this was probably the first time I actually took advantage of being in Japan, as I was able to get most of this post written up (summary included) while watching the broadcast on TV. (^_^)v I would have had this up a lot sooner if I had time to take screenshots. >_<

 

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)
– Peke (ペケ) / Arai Satomi (新井 里美)
– Yuuki Mikan (結城 美柑) / Hanazawa Kana (花澤 香菜)
– Honekawa-sensei (骨川先生) / Asou Tomohisa (麻生 智久)
– Sairenji Akio (西連寺 秋穂) / Takahashi Mikako (高橋 美佳子)
– Maron (マロン) / Yoshino Hiroyuki ()
– Soccer player (サッカー選手) / Konno Jun (金野 潤)