Story: 5
The story is of a boy that we can easily call Anonymous, because this kind of character is a little rehashed. He can't confess to a girl, and then another alien girl appears that's running away from her planet. To stay on Earth, she says she'll marry Anonymous. Alright. This kind of idea could be good. The problem is, too many characters were introduced and the focus of the story was kind of lost Anonymous never really becomes closer to the girl he likes or Lala, the alien girl.
The falling point in the story department is that although the story itself had some sort of potential, that potential was lost when it became too much of an ecchi harem. I know the idea of some extraterrestrial girl falling in love with a pathetic human is hawt, but it's not realistic. At most the alien would become interested in the human, and use them for lodging, and perhaps over time they may see something in this person. In a way, Lala does this, but she falls in love with him immediately. If I was Lala, I'd look at my options. Surely there was a better guy than Anonymous on that planet? I don't know, someone with more PERSONALITY?!
Art: 9
Now, this is where To LOVE-Ru is very good. The art is rather beautiful and clean. The opening art was very well done. I only wish they didn't do so much zooming on their tits and crotch for credits. Seriously. I almost didn't watch this anime because of that. Each character design is unique in my opinion Lala's space outfit was something that drew me to this anime, as it looked like a mix of a devil, alien, and slut outfit. To LOVE-Ru is one of those animes in which the characters actually look their age, and not like little midgets trying to convince everyone they really are 16.
Sound: 9
To LOVE-Ru's opening is "Forever we can make it," which was a song I immediately fell in love with. For me, often the opening is what ultimately convinces me if I should watch an anime or not, and To LOVE-Ru's opening art along with song convinced me to watch it. The ending, "Lucky Tune," was also catchy, though not as much. I've often hummed these songs out loud in public because of how great they are.
As for voice acting, I'm going to have to watch a clip or two before I review this, because I've forgotten all about it.
-INTERMISSION-
Alright I'm back. The voice acting is very good, actually. The women do their parts of screaming in embarrassment pretty well, and the guys do a good job of voicing perverts and Anonymous. I wouldn't say "realistic" is the word. Honestly. Girls don't really scream out in embarrassment. I'm a girl. I should know. Maybe some do, but most would cover themselves up and hiss at the guy. And the guy would apologize, close the door, and find a nice quiet room to rub one out.
I'm getting off topic, aren't I?
Character: 3
Now, one could say the majority of the cast being girls is a falling point too. I disagree, unless every single one is a part of the harem. Let's consider a non-anime famous story: Harry Potter. Weren't most of the cast male? Does that mean Hermoine was banging a new guy every week? No! The majority of the cast can be female, but not if that's their only selling point. And the male characters aren't any better. The principal's only point is to be a pervert, Lala's bodyguard, whats-his-face is even less of a bodyguard than Anonymous. It seems like he's just there to spout shit and be a source of fanfiction.
But the other problem with a lot of characters being introduced quickly is that there's no development. I never finished To LOVE-Ru, because I don't think I could withstand more. Not even Anonymous got any development throughout 20 episodes, and I doubt there would have been any in the next 6. That's why I'm calling him Anonymous.The characters are too 2-dimensional and it makes it hard for me to sympathize with them. If Lala was hit by a truck in the middle of the series, I wouldn't shed a tear.
You know a series in which the characters develop a lot, and in less than 26 episodes? There's Puella Magi Madoka Magica, or Elfen Leid, which is more ecchi than this. Tokyo Mew mew was even longer, and obviously took their time to develop the characters, although the guy was also an anonymous.
Ah, I love a good rant.
Enjoyment: 8
Now, with all the shit I said about To LOVE-Ru, why do I give it a rather high rating? Because I fully remember watching this and liking it. I just lose interest quickly, and that's why I stopped it. I watched episodes 1-18, and a year later I watched 19-20. Then I wondered why I enjoyed this so much. Perhaps it was fun to see the strange antics Anonymous and his harem get into? perhaps it was fun to see Anonymous have his ass kicked by a girl every episode, the whiny loser? Perhaps I wanted to see some fucking development? The only kiss was an accidental male on male-that-can-change-into-a-girl-with-a-sneeze-and-vice-versa, and I'm not a fan of Yaoi. Or Yuri, for that matter. And this show has the nerve to call itself romance.
It did give me a few laughs. Lala's sudden useless inventions did make it interesting. See, this is realistic. Lala bringing in some random shit that turns out to be dangerous. A lot of people do that. What's not realistic is this thing being an octopus that tentacle rapes Lala and the love interest girl. It's also not realistic that nearly twenty girls have some connection to Anonymous. However, I digress. I fully remember enjoying this show. Hey, even the smelliest shit has something good in it. Perhaps it was the music, or the art.
Overall: 6.8=7
Through some mighty calculating, I give this show a fair rating. It had a good story, great art, and beautiful music, but they just couldn't fit that all together into something amazing. Maybe if To LOVE-Ru wasn't a harem, I would have gave it a better rating. Yes, it's a harem. At least five girls are in love with Anonymous for some reason. The problem with most harems is that they don't really give that much of a reason to LIKE the main character. I'm planning to watch R-15, since it seems the main character isn't some washed-up perverted loser. He's an intelligent perverted writer. I'm not sure. I haven't watched it yet.
I'm not saying harem animes are bad. The problem with them is that they give much reasoning behind them. Why would an alien girl suddenly love a human. Why would ANYONE like a guy that's so indecisive a king took him by the collar and yelled "YOU INDECISIVE BASTARD!" in his face, and he STILL couldn't make a decision? Come on. It's not that hard to tell an alien princess to fuck off, is it? And please don't put so many girls in the harem, unless there's a valid reason to love the main character.
Come on, Harem genre. It's not too late to show your potential.
