To LOVE-Ru Darkness (To LOVE Ru Darkness)

As close encounters of the twisted kind between the residents of the planet Develuke (represented primarily by the female members of the royal family) and the inhabitants of Earth (represented mainly by one very exhausted Rito Yuki) continue to escalate, the situation spirals even further out of control. When junior princesses Nana and Momo transferred into Earth School where big sister LaLa can (theoretically) keep an eye on them, things SHOULD be smooth sailing. But when Momo decides she'd like to "supplement" Rito's relationship with LaLa with a little "sisterly love," you know LaLa's not going to waste any time splitting harems. Unfortunately, it's just about that point that Yami, the Golden Darkness, enters the scene with all the subtleness of a supernova, along with an army of possessed high school students! All of which is certain to make Rito's life suck more than a black hole at the family picnic. Unless, of course, a certain semi-demonic princess can apply a little of her Develukean Whoop Ass to exactly that portion of certain other heavenly bodies!

(Source: Sentai Filmworks)

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Adaptation:	To LOVE-Ru Darkness
Prequel:	Motto To LOVE-Ru
Side story:	To LOVE-Ru Darkness OVA
Sequel:	To LOVE-Ru Darkness 2nd

Hidaka, Rina
Japanese

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Nakayama, Nobuhiro

Producer

Kazumasa, Sanjouba

Producer

Chino, Takatoshi

Producer

Ootsuki, Atsushi

Director

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Opening Theme

"RAKUEN PROJECT (楽園PROJECT)" by Ray

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Ending Theme

"Foul Play ni Kurari (ファールプレーにくらり)" by Kanon Wakeshima

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Dec 21, 2012

Rezurrekt

Recommended

First off, I want to say To LOVE-Ru Darkness is not for everyone.

This show is NOT for people who hate fanservice and/or harems. This show IS for people who love tons of ecchi, harems, and more ecchi. To top it off, To LOVE-Ru Darkness actually has... wait for it... a plot. *Gasp* Really?! Yes, it does. It's not just mindless fanservice (although that's cool too). You should definitely watch this show if ecchi is your thing.

...But you all probably knew that since this is the third season of the To LOVE-Ru series and you've seen the first two seasons (To LOVE-Ru and Motto To LOVE-Ru, ...

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Oct 26, 2013

GonzoLewd

Recommended

One series can only be considered at the forefront of a particular genre that gives it its own identity or face; that series in question would be To Love Ru. It has had a rough start in adapting to the source material by not providing a coherent narrative to the manga. It has made a name for itself for being one of the top ecchi anime, thanks to the later seasons that are somewhat “reboots” if you want to take it that far. Now comes To Love Ru Darkness, a separate manga that continues the story of To Love Ru to breathe new life into ... its characters and comedy. To put it bluntly, it is a triumphant sequel that exceeds all expectations.

“That’s a perfectly natural behavior for a living creature,” says Mea Kurosaki. This quote itself, in which the word “that” is supposed to signify sexual thoughts, encapsulates the entirety of To Love Ru Darkness’s charm. It tells us how we should view Darkness as nothing more but a fun joy ride through joyous comedy and beautiful girls through sexual feelings, but we shouldn’t be ashamed by this mere fact alone. That is one of the main selling points of the show. It lives off of making us feel excited through hilarious incidents of girls in suggestive situations without making it feel demeaning or deliberate to either of the sexes. This aspect alone that To Love Ru Darkness expresses should be an example that all Ecchi shows should follow, which sadly isn’t always the case.

Now to express how all the things I mentioned in the previous paragraph work, unlike in most shows in what Darkness follows, the one thing that works is how every character carries the show with their likability despite their very cliched nature. Cliched in that, you have Yui Kotegawa, the stereotypical tsundere who wants order in the classroom. Nana, who’s another tsundere. Mikan, the younger half-sister who loves him. Yami, the Dandere psychopath. And Haruna, who the protagonist has feelings for, yet she so happens to be in love with him. Despite how many would view cliches as a negative term, however, how Darkness handles them is through sheer charm and personality makes them feel energetic and alive. You even feel contempt for them whenever drama happens between the characters, even with their stereotypical archetypes. However, if one character must have one entire paragraph alone to analyze would be the one and only Momo Deviluke.

Because she is the new heroine of the series, replacing Lala, Momo is what makes Darkness unique. Thanks to the glorious voice of Aki Toyosaki, Momo’s sarcastic and devious personality makes her such a delight to see on-screen. The best is when she has one of her humorous fantasies and clever schemes to make the girls fall more in love with Rito. With these things in mind, you might think that Momo’s personality only gives off this one-sided aspect, primarily being a devious pervert throughout the show. I want to describe a scene involving her and Rito in a gym closet room in the last episode. Momo is on top of Rito, seducing him as usual, until we suddenly see Rito finally give in to his instincts and do the same things to her. Then we suddenly see Momo in a very vulnerable state. It isn’t until later that we find out it was just another fantasy that Momo imagined while on top of him. This fantasy she envisioned took her by surprise, something which we had never seen her go through before. It wasn’t until Rito finally tried to stop her by putting his hand on her arm, which suddenly surprised her, and she jumped away from him quickly in fear and respite with her constant breathing and blushing face. We now see Momo in a completely different light than we are used to seeing her before. This scene alone makes Momo a three-dimensional character not through general exposition but character interaction.

Something that has changed from previous installments of the series is the art direction. While all characters still look the same, everything is now colored in very bright overtones. While many can argue that Motto To Love Ru's art looked better in terms of how the characters looked, that should not disregard that Darkness’s art still looks excellent in keeping the traditional manga art in context with the show. I’ve always admired the series, and more so in Darkness is how they’ve always drawn the girls and their figures that look gorgeous without overemphasizing anything on their body like other ecchi shows tend to do. Thanks to this, the girls look like high school-aged girls who have just hit their period of going through many body changes.

To Love Ru has not been widely known for having an impacting story to show forth underneath its charming fan service; it wasn’t until Darkness that we do have one that fills this very gap. Generally, most people will think that the writers wouldn’t bother writing a competent story because it is an ecchi series, and those typically don’t go so well. While Darkness doesn’t break any new ground in this aspect, it has an exciting twist in the harem genre where the heroine is doing all the work to help our protagonist get all the girls. As I mentioned with Momo’s schemes, her intentions in doing these are very well-handled in how it balances sweet romantic moments and pure fun comedy. Thankfully, there isn’t a sudden tonal shift between drama and humor to make it edgy. The plot might not be a deep one to experience. It doesn’t try to be one in the first place and sticks with it, which is very well appreciated.

As a protagonist, I would say Rito can be grating at times in how slow they build him up to be a harem leader after years of seeing him flustered over women falling over him. In Darkness, it still portrays Rito as if he hasn’t experienced a girl falling on him in a questionable position before, even though we’ve seen him in the past in these types of positions countless times before. You’d think he would get used to it by now and not be phased by it after all these months. He still has some moments where he comes across as caring and likable to everyone he meets, so there’s never really a moment where you think to yourself, “Why would any girl fall in love with this boy in the first place?”

Onto the comedy itself, needless to say, there will not be one person who is into suggestive comedies to be disappointed with Darkness. Almost every situation is handled with great comedic timing. Whether it be a scene involving Rito bumping into a girl and, in true ecchi fashion, being in an awkward position or a scenario that’s in a constant pace in showing jokes that involves hilarious dialogue, a great example would be between Nana and Mea or Momo, or vice versa. Not all of them hit the right notes throughout the show’s duration. Still, it will nevertheless entertain the masses who love to engage in hilarious perverted comedy like myself.

Not only do the characters themselves make the show enjoyable to watch, but the voice acting is what gives them their endearing personality through the sheer talent that Darkness brings to the table. I’ve already mentioned Aki Toyosaki previously, but she’s not the only great Seiyuu in the casting. Kana Hanazawa plays wonderfully as an upstanding little sister for Rito and gives Mikan a clear voice that feels perfect for her. Nana and Momo are among the best sister duos in anime, thanks to the great chemistry between Itou Kanae and Aki Toyosaki. They have previously worked together in a somewhat similar situation in Railgun. Only this time, it’s Aki who plays the devious one instead of Kanae, and it shows that Aki’s voice does fit with that archetype more than Kanae. Finally, we have Kaori Nazuka as Yui Kotegawa, probably one of the best tsundere roles we have had in a long time. Her authoritative voice, combined with childlike embarrassment, will surely make any man’s, no matter what age, heart burst with joy and pure ecstasy.

It all comes down to that Darkness won’t win any new fans that aren’t into something like To Love Ru, but even with that said, it is something that you should still at least try to see once to see if it pulls you in. Anyone who is a fan will feel right at home with this new installment that has so much to offer for ecchi fans and people who are fans of the series for more than the fan service. It will be funny and sometimes heartwarming in its romantic undertones for everyone who has followed the franchise. That will ultimately lead to our hunger for more, and for now, with the OVAs coming out to continue it. For now, Darkness is more than enough for us to enjoy while we wait for the next extensive anime installment for To Love Ru.

Grade: A

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Dec 31, 2012

The_Pro_At_Stuff

Recommended

...and the reward for best Ecchi anime of 2012 goes to... To LOVE-Ru Darkness!!!

Those of you who do not like Ecchi/fanservice anime might want to stop reading here. This anime focuses mainly on these two things and will most likely not be for you. Now for those who are in to Ecchi/fanservice, I will tell you why i think To LOVE-Ru Darkness is so great.

To LOVE-Ru Darkness is a sequel to the original To LOVE-Ru series. I highly suggest watching To LOVE-Ru, Motto To LOVE-Ru, and all the OVA's before you watch Darkness. For those who have watched and are familiar with the To ... LOVE-Ru series, To LOVE-Ru Darkness continues straight off from where Motto To LOVE-Ru leaves off. It - believe it or not- actually has a plot to it that extends for more than one episode.

The story this time mostly focuses on the alien princess Momo and her harem plan for her beloved Yuuki Rito. We also get a some back story about Yami, who was a side character for most of the To LOVE-Ru series. The plot is nothing special, but it is still pretty good. We get random nonsensical episodes here and there, then we would be thrown back into the actual story. There is a good balance of serious scenes and comedic scenes that makes the series quite enjoyable even if you do not like Ecchi that much.

An important thing to remember is not to focus too much on the plot though. Like the other To LOVE-Ru series, the story should not be taken too seriously. The issues do not even get resolved by the last episode, so yes it is a cliff hanger ending. What truly carries this series is it's very appealing fanservice.

That brings us to the artwork. The backgrounds are extremely bright and colorful. The characters are beautifully drawn and very hot. If you are looking for an anime with a cast of very sexy girls doing borderline hentai stuff, then this is what you are looking for. The only problem is the bright lights of censorship, but those will be taken away in the blu-ray releases.

The characters are really nothing special though. Yes, they are all pretty, but their personalities are as generic as you can get in anime. The way i see it, you can split the characters in to two groups. One side has all of the girls who want the main character, Yuuki Rito , and will be all over him when ever they get screen time. The other side also likes Rito, but they are too shy to express their feelings. Pretty normal for a harem anime.

Does this mean that they are not fun to watch? Hell no. Watching their hilarious and erotic interactions with Rito has been great a experience. Many of these scenes are very risque, so it would be best to turn down the volumes and lock your bedroom doors. This is probably the best part of To LOVE-Ru Darkness. Some of the scenes might seem a bit cliche- like the classic falling over and groping a girl's chest scene- but it can still be very amusing. Enjoy To LOVE-Ru for the Ecchi/fanservice because that is where this show excels the most.

So what is my overall opinion of this anime? It's a great show, but definitely not perfect. Its ability to only attract a specific audience- the Ecchi/fanservice lovers- severely lowers it's potential. For those of us who do favor fanservice heavy shows, then this is like a treasure among treasures. Definitely give this a shot because you'll like what you see.

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Poll: To LOVE-Ru Darkness Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Oct 4, 2012	154 replies	by Gympy »» Feb 23, 3:39 AM
Poll: To LOVE-Ru Darkness Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Nov 30, 2012	64 replies	by nghuytoan1993 »» Feb 6, 6:18 AM
Poll: To LOVE-Ru Darkness Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Oct 26, 2012	74 replies	by nghuytoan1993 »» Feb 6, 5:35 AM
Poll: To LOVE-Ru Darkness Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Oct 19, 2012	82 replies	by nghuytoan1993 »» Feb 6, 5:14 AM
Poll: Who is your LEAST Favourite Female Character in To LOVE-Ru Darkness? ( 1 2 3 ) ShiroiKishi- - Dec 31, 2012	107 replies	by SilverTongue_ »» Jan 14, 6:10 PM

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