To Love Ru

To Love Ru Set in the fictional city of , the story of To Love Ru revolves around Rito Yuuki, a shy and clumsy high-school student who cannot confess his love to the girl of his dreams, Haruna Sairenji. One day when sulking in the bathtub, a mysterious, naked devil-tailed girl appears out of nowhere. Her name is Lala Satalin Deviluke, the runaway crown princess of the planet Deviluke. Her father wants her to return home to marry one of her marriage candidates. When Devilukean commander Zastin arrives to bring her home, she swiftly declares she will marry Rito in order to stay on Earth, leading Zastin to attack Rito. But when Rito angrily declares that marriage is only possible with the person you love, the two dull-witted aliens misunderstand him, believing he truly understands Lala's feelings. Lala quickly falls in love with him, and Zastin also approves of their engagement, much to Rito's dismay. While Zastin reports his support for the pair to Lala's father, Gid Lucion Deviluke, who is the King of Deviluke and much of the known universe, Rito reluctantly helps Lala transition to life on Earth, while gradually befriending his dream girl, Haruna, along with a colorful cast of other girls (both humans and aliens alike), such as the uptight, high-strung girl Yui Kotegawa, the sex-switching alien Run/Ren, and the queen bee Saki Tenjouin, among others. In the meantime, Rito must also fight off Lala's antagonistic alien suitors, one of whom sends the alien assassin Golden Darkness to kill him. To Love Ru Darkness The story continues in To Love Ru Darkness, which focuses on Lala's little sister, Momo Belia Deviluke. She and her twin sister, Nana Astar Deviluke, have since come to live with Lala in Rito's house. While Rito remains indecisive between his longtime crush on Haruna and his growing affection for Lala, Momo has also fallen in love with Rito. But not wanting to steal Rito away from her sister, Momo instead plots to build a harem of girls around Rito, hoping that if Rito marries Lala and becomes the King of Deviluke, he can legally marry every girl who is in love with him, including Momo herself. While Momo works in the background and plays matchmaker with Rito, a plethora of beautiful girls gradually enter Rito's life and warm up to his kindness, including Golden Darkness, who has since lived peacefully on Earth but struggles to escape her dark past. Thus, Rito's otherworldly love troubles continue forever. ==Production==

Writing and development Manga artist Kentaro Yabuki first met anime screenwriter Saki Hasemi at preliminary meetings for the 2005 anime adaptation of Yabuki's previous series, Black Cat. When Hasemi told Yabuki that he was interested in writing an original manga, the artist told Hasemi he could contact him if he had any questions. To Love Ru has origins in Yabuki's 2004 one-shot "Trans Boy". When the time came for him to create a new series, Yabuki said he "hit a brick wall". The editorial department asked him to go in a different direction, so he started asking Hasemi his opinions on things. Hasemi said that Yabuki was set on two things; having a love triangle between Rito, Lala, and Haruna, and that Rito could not be a pervert. They initially imagined the series as mainly a comedy featuring Rito and Lala, with Rito only longing for Haruna. But as they had more meetings, this changed to Haruna also being a featured character with feelings for Rito, in order to emphasize the love triangle. Hasemi described it as a spin-off with the intention of carrying on the original's spirit, while "adapting its relationships to a new vector of development". He said he was satisfied with how they portrayed the changes in Momo's heart, and that Lala and Haruna made romantic progress as well. Yabuki also initiated the ending of Darkness, telling Hasemi, the editor-in-chief, and all others involved around May or June 2016, the tenth anniversary of the entire franchise. He had several reasons; the events included in volume 18 finished telling everything there is to say about "the Darkness arc of Momo and Yami as we originally planned it", both the authors and the readers had become too desensitized to the sexiness, 18 volumes matches the original manga, and 10 years seemed like an ideal run. Yabuki also said he could not let To Love Ru Darkness drag on pointlessly forever, because he cares about the work. In the final volume, Hasemi described the conclusion of Darkness as being a "sort of waypoint" that leaves open the question of what really happens in the end, and both creators stated that it was not the end of To Love Ru. Yui was the character that was planned to have the most character growth, as she was the only one who would bring up the perverted stuff Rito does to them. But Yabuki said he did not expect her to turn into such a serious love interest. The artist also cited Nana and Momo as having great character development and standing out in the latter half of the series. Because the other females are all young high school students, Ryouko Mikado was introduced to inject more adult appeal into To Love Ru. The latter half of the manga features a lot more quirky and unique characters because, the newer the character, the harder Hasemi and Yabuki had to work to establish and differentiate their personality. Yabuki said that by the latter half of the series, they were treating all the female characters as main heroines. In the manga's third year, the creators thought about having the main cast move up a grade, but decided against it because Saki would have to graduate and Mikan would have to grow up. Hasemi stated that when To Love Ru began, "there weren't any limits" on romantic comedies in Weekly Shōnen Jump. Yabuki said that at that time, he never would have imagined that lewd scenes would become the main focus of the series. As the manga went on, Yabuki said it became more and more about testing the limits as to what Weekly Shōnen Jump would allow them to draw. When there was a question on a reader survey about wanting more eroticism in the manga, it received an overwhelming response and the duo was happy to respond since they had fun creating those scenes. But heading into the second year of serialization, Hasemi said that coming up with erotic situations had become a lot more difficult. For example, having Rito accidentally fall down and touch someone had become worn out. Yabuki had to make subtle changes when that type of scene was still used, such as using a different angle or making the girl the one to fall on top of him. The artist said that by the halfway point of serialization, simply touching the girls was not enough for their readers, Rito's fingers had to end up in certain places. Uchida said that this caused every week to be a battle against the editing department. Yabuki said that drawing the nudity in To Love Ru really "sap[ped] more of my strength" than any other kind of art in the manga. On the bright side, in February 2010 the artist said he is now able to draw perverted scenes that he previously would have been too embarrassed to draw. At that same time, Uchida said that the editorial department was using Yabuki's style of drawing soft breasts as reference for newer artists. == Publication ==

To Love Ru is written by Saki Hasemi and illustrated by Kentaro Yabuki. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump between April 24, 2006, and August 31, 2009. The 162 individual chapters were collected into 18 volumes and were published by Shueisha between November 11, 2006, and April 2, 2010. The series was republished in a 10-volume edition between November 18, 2016, and March 17, 2017. A sequel manga, To Love Ru Darkness, was serialized between October 4, 2010, and March 4, 2017, in the monthly manga magazine Jump Square. Shueisha collected and published its 77 individual chapters in 18 volumes for Darkness from March 4, 2011, to April 4, 2017. Additionally, two bonus chapters were published in the May and June 2017 issues of Jump Square. To celebrate Yabuki's 20th anniversary as a professional artist, a special To Love Ru story was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump on April 27, 2019. A full-color To Love Ru Darkness one-shot was published in Jump Square on May 2, 2019, for the same occasion. To commemorate an art exhibition held as a conclusion to the manga's 15th anniversary celebrations, a To Love Ru one-shot was released on the Shōnen Jump+ website on January 13, 2023. Both manga series are licensed in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment, which releases them in print and digital formats. To Love Ru was published in two-in-one omnibus volumes, while To Love Ru Darkness was released as single volumes. Both series were originally slated to begin publication in October 2017, but were later delayed to December 2017. == Media ==

Anime An anime television series adaptation produced by Xebec and directed by Takao Kato aired in Japan between April 4 and September 26, 2008, and contains twenty-six episodes. The anime uses characters and general themes from the original manga, it captures various chapters and events from the manga in no specific order. The anime's opening theme is "Forever We Can Make It!" by Thyme, the first ending theme for episodes one through thirteen is and the second ending theme is both are sung by Anna. The anime is licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks and distributed by Section23 Films. The complete DVD collection part one containing the first half-season was released on December 15, 2009 and part two containing the second half-season was released on February 16, 2010. Sentai released the series on Blu-ray on March 18, 2014. Sentai Filmworks later produced an English dub of the series, which began streaming on Hidive on March 27, 2020. Three original video animation (OVA) episodes produced by Xebec and directed by Takao Kato were shipped starting on April 3, 2009, with pre-ordered copies of the manga's 13th, 14th and 15th volumes. An additional three OVA episodes were released with the bundled version of the 16th, 17th and 18th volumes. The opening theme for the OVAs is "Yatte Koi Daisuki" and the ending theme is "Apple panic"; both songs are by Haruka Tomatsu and Sayuri Yahagi, the voice actresses of Lala Satalin Deviluke and Haruna Sairenji, respectively. A second season of the anime, titled Motto To Love Ru, produced by Xebec and directed by Atsushi Ōtsuki aired 12 episodes between October 6 and December 22, 2010. The opening theme for the second season is "Loop-the-Loop" by Kotoko and the ending theme is "Baby Baby Love" by Tomatsu. Sentai Filmworks have also licensed the second season and released the complete series set on DVD on April 3, 2012; the Blu-ray set was released on May 27, 2014, and the English dub began streaming on Hidive on February 2, 2021. Six OVA episodes of To Love Ru Darkness were produced by Xebec and released with the limited editions of the manga's 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 12th, and 13th volumes on DVD on August 17, 2012, December 19, 2012, August 19, 2013, December 4, 2013, December 4, 2014, and April 3, 2015, respectively. A twelve-episode anime television series adaptation was also produced by Xebec, directed by Atsushi Ōtsuki, and aired between October 6 and December 29, 2012. The opening theme for To Love Ru Darkness is by Ray and the ending theme is by Kanon Wakeshima. Sentai Filmworks released To Love Ru Darkness on DVD and Blu-ray in North America on July 15, 2014. A second season of Darkness, titled To Love Ru Darkness 2nd, aired in Japan between July 7 and October 29, 2015. The opening theme is "secret arms" by Ray while the ending theme is "Gardens" by Mami Kawada. Sentai Filmworks released To Love Ru Darkness 2nd on DVD and Blu-ray in North America on November 1, 2016. Three OVA episodes of To Love Ru Darkness 2nd were produced by Xebec between January 4 and December 2, 2016. A fourth OVA episode to commemorate the 10th anniversary of To Love Ru was released on November 2, 2017, with a book titled To Love Ru Chronicles. Video games Five To Love Ru video games have been released. The first is a 2D and 3D visual novel on the Nintendo DS titled which was released on August 28, 2008. A third game, titled was released on May 22, 2014, for the PlayStation Vita. It was developed by FuRyu, the developer of Unchained Blades. Lala Satalin Deviluke appears as a support character in the Jump crossover fighting game J-Stars Victory VS. A smartphone game titled was released on March 19, 2014; the game was later added to the website DMM.com on May 13, 2015. A game titled was released on November 5, 2015, for the PlayStation Vita. Hikaru Wakatsuki wrote two novels based on the series; was published on August 3, 2009, and was published on August 17, 2012. Three art books have been published for the two manga series; Love Color on January 4, 2010, Venus on October 9, 2012, and Harem Gold on May 2, 2016. An official data book was published on March 4, 2011, while a guidebook to Darkness was published on October 3, 2014. To Love Ru Chronicle, a special book celebrating the tenth anniversary of To Love Ru and its sequel, was published on November 2, 2017. It features tribute illustrations by artists such as Akira Toriyama, Rumiko Takahashi, Eiichiro Oda, and Hajime Isayama. == Reception ==

Sales and popularity To Love Ru and To Love Ru Darkness had over 16 million copies in circulation by March 2017. According to Oricon and Tohan, the collected volumes of To Love Ru consistently ranked in the top 10 best-selling manga during their first weeks of release in Japan. Volume 7 was the best-selling manga volume in its week of release, while two versions (a regular and a limited edition) of volumes 13, 15, and 17 ranked in the top 30 during their respective release weeks. Like its predecessor, the collected volumes of To Love Ru Darkness all ranked in the top 10 best-selling manga during their first weeks of release. Two versions (a regular and a limited edition) of volumes 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, and 17 ranked in the top 40 during their respective release weeks. According to Oricon, To Love Ru Darkness sold 1,067,988 copies in 2011, while its fourth volume alone sold 460,543 copies in 2012. The series sold 1,558,973 copies in 2013, 437,671 of which were from volume 7. Oricon reported that in the first half of 2014, volumes 9 and 10 sold 326,208 and 334,502 copies respectively. Volume 15 of To Love Ru Darkness sold 277,118 copies in the first half of 2016, while volumes 17 and 18 sold 262,024 and 262,201 copies respectively in the first half of 2017. In November 2014, readers of Da Vinci magazine voted To Love Ru number 20 on a list of Weekly Shōnen Jumps greatest manga series of all time. In early 2018, a Goo poll of 5,322 people saw To Love Ru voted the most erotic manga in Weekly Shōnen Jumps history. Critical response Anime News Network had four different writers review the first two-in-one omnibus volume of To Love Ru. Lynzee Loveridge, Amy McNulty and Rebecca Silverman each gave it a 3 out of 5 rating. Loveridge described the work as pure harem and praised Yabuki's comedic artwork, but felt that the personality types of the love-triangled main characters were "retreading well worn ground." McNulty disagreed, calling Lala "refreshingly charming" and noting that Haruna does not enter tired tropes either. Silverman called Yabuki's art dynamic and attractive and recommended the series to fans of harem rom-coms, but called the plot very cliché and providing nothing new. McNulty stated that the beginning with just the original love-triangle works just fine, making the love interests added later seem unnecessary, and comes off as quaint when compared to To Love Ru Darkness. Also in comparison to the sequel, Loveridge described the original series as tame in comparison to the "thinly veiled hentai" that is To Love Ru Darkness. Austin Price, the fourth writer, gave it a scathing review, calling the story a straight rip-off of Urusei Yatsura and claiming the jokes were ripped straight from harem comedy classics such as Ranma ½, Tenchi Muyo! and Love Hina. He also called Yabuki "the most utterly unremarkable artist in Shonen Jumps history." When they reviewed the Motto To Love Ru anime, Høgset and Jones felt it improved significantly as it reduces manga arcs into 7 minutes each so as to include three in each episode. They gave it 3 out of 5 stars, but stated it unfortunately focuses on the "lesser characters" too often, and their "antics will get old in 5 minutes." Controversy In 2012, To Love Ru Darkness was reviewed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly to see if it violated their newly passed controversial Bill 156. This was after they had received a phone call from a parent who discovered a To Love Ru Darkness book while cleaning a son's room. Throughout the second half of 2022, the Australian Classification Board refused classification for volumes 2–13 and 15 of To Love Ru Darkness for containing material that "is likely to cause offence to a reasonable adult." The decision means that the volumes "cannot be sold, hired, advertised or legally imported in Australia". == Notes ==