To LOVE-Ru - 03 April 19
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「三角関係」 (Sankaku Kankei)
“Love Triangle”
Episode at a Glance:
With Lala officially transferred to his school, Rito’s easygoing school life comes to an end as he tries to prevent her alien identity from being exposed. During an outing with Lala and Mikan, the three get caught up in an incident when Peke’s power wears down and Lala’s clothes start disappearing. Rito and the others eventually run into Haruna and they all decide to check out the newly opened aquarium. There, Lala gets caught up in some wacky antics, which interrupt Rito’s perfect chance to confess to Haruna. Despite being unable to confess, Rito feels that he’s finally grown closer to Haruna, who evidently likes him in return. Unfortunately for him though, the very next day he trips and lands face first into her chest.
Next Episode:
「宇宙のLOVEエプロン」 (Uchuu no LOVE Epuron)
“The Universe’s Apron of Love”
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PRECAUTION: If To LOVE-Ru is not the kind of show you enjoy, you need not read on. To the rest of you who enjoy an ecchi romance comedy for some laughs, please read on for some interesting relationship developments this week.
The main scene of interest for me this episode was the one we saw in the preview last time. As it turns out, Haruna was about to use this opportunity to confess her feelings to Rito. Now my original thought when I started watching To LOVE-Ru was that neither Rito nor Haruna would try to confess until near the end of the series (much like most romance comedies, let alone ecchi ones), so it was refreshing to see both characters show every indication of doing so early on. They were ultimately interrupted though, but I’m sure everyone saw that coming.
To me, all the ecchi-ness of this episode really took a backseat to the Rito x Haruna stuff, so if you’re like me and are watching more for the relationship aspect, you should be pleased to know that Rito’s not quite like the typical, spineless male protagonist you would expect from these kind of shows. In fact, he was smart enough to sense Haruna’s confession and try to do the “manly” thing by confessing first.
The other interesting thing I noticed this episode is how “relationship smart” Mikan is. Rito and Haruna were only able to get some time alone after Mikan sensed the mood. From that, I get the feeling she’s going to play a more prominent matchmaker role down the road. As for the ecchi comedy in this episode, it pretty much speaks for itself, so I don’t intend on elaborating about it here.
I stated back in my introduction post that romance comedies are one of my favorite genres. Although you may not believe me, the main reason I watch fan-service type shows like this is because they revolve around well… comedic relationships. To me, the ecchi touch is just a stylistic thing, which only means that the fan-service shots will be more abundant. Despite that, the main focus of these shows is still the relationships, much like this episode has shown us. While I’m sure there are people who watch this genre just for the perverted stuff, I’m fairly confident that there are others who see these shows as more than that.
In any case, Haruna’s character is quickly growing on me and I look forward to seeing what’s happening here next episode.
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)
- Yuuki Mikan (結城 美柑) / Hanazawa Kana (花澤 香菜)
- Peke (ペケ) / Arai Satomi (新井 里美)
- Momioka Risa (籾岡 里紗) / Yuzuki Ryouka (柚木 涼香)
- Sawada Mio (沢田 未央) / Chiba Chiemi (千葉 千恵巳)
- Fish breeding staff (飼育係) / Inada Tetsu (稲田 徹)
- High school principal (校長先生) / Ogata Kenichi (緒方 賢一)
- Arts teacher (美術教師) / Konno Jun (金野 潤)
- Catcher (キャッチャー) / Adzuma Masataka (我妻 正崇)
- Umpire (アンパイア) / Densaka Tsutomu (伝坂 勉)
- Couple man (カップル男) / Matsuo Daisuke (松尾 大亮)
- Couple woman (カップル女) / Sasaki Hinako (佐々木 日菜子)
Jay at 12:32 am on April 19th, 2008
wow this show sucks.
draego at 12:36 am on April 19th, 2008
i like this show better when it was called URUSEI YATSURA
Alex4life at 12:36 am on April 19th, 2008
reading is fun eh jay?
lordip at 12:41 am on April 19th, 2008
hmmm… yeap…this one sucks …Kanokon better … more laugh .. more echhiness …
RmX at 12:45 am on April 19th, 2008
Where the hell is my manga adaptation?
Drakron at 12:46 am on April 19th, 2008
True, Kanokon does it better … heck the manga at least was not trying to do be “serious” (I given up on this without even finishing the first episode) and simply gone down the ecchi comedy route makes it far more worthy to see that this.
Jezreel at 12:51 am on April 19th, 2008
I like this episode
esta muy xido la trama aunque sea ecchi este anime, pero no importa, lo importante es la trama y la historia en el que se desenvuelve el anime
saludos
Kona at 1:08 am on April 19th, 2008
Rito’s shirt reminds me of those old movies where peasents where those weird shirts…=_=
suguru at 1:33 am on April 19th, 2008
> i like this show better when it was called URUSEI YATSURA
I think this is actually why I like Toloveru–it reminds me of UY in a good way.
Great write-up though, Divine–I like the short episode at a glance summary, short and to the point.
divine at 1:57 am on April 19th, 2008
@suguru:
Thanks for the feedback. I plan to give “at a glance” summaries in the future when it makes sense to do so.
ramiel_salbazier at 2:04 am on April 19th, 2008
Well I’m rather skeptic about this at first. But, then I try to read the manga again and it
was hilarious. I don’t think I’ll watch the anime though. But, who knows?
Samurai Pumpkin at 2:08 am on April 19th, 2008
Woot! Well done. I admit that I like these for the romantic aspect as well. The fanservice is just a side. Thanks a ton Divine!
The_Worlds_Best_Anime_Fan_Freak at 2:10 am on April 19th, 2008
@Divine
I watched the first two episodes they were alright about 70%, i’m going to get it a few more chances. Great job on the blog!
KicktheShinn at 2:52 am on April 19th, 2008
Yeah, I’m not too much of a fan of this show…but I think divine has done an excellent job on the blogs. The format and episode details are very thorough, and your opinions are definitely well-based. I’m glad you jumped on to RandC!!
mutio at 3:34 am on April 19th, 2008
I find the manga quite amusing, however the anime doesn’t interest me a bit.
In the manga they are in a video game world atm, damn funny xD.
Diabolikul at 4:02 am on April 19th, 2008
i like divine better than patrik,hes a lot better
vexx at 4:35 am on April 19th, 2008
I almost dropped this after episode 2 …. perhaps we’ll actually give it the usual 3 episode probation. I can get my plotless wacky hijinks elsewhere but if there’s a bit of story…
IfOnlyYouKnew at 5:02 am on April 19th, 2008
can anyone say wtf to this? lol
http://randomc.animeblogger.net/image/To%20LOVE-Ru/To%20LOVE-Ru%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2003.jpg
I’m sorry but that is the most perverted alien on a unicycle sketch I have EVER scene, and I’m not even trying to be sick about it either… I don’t know if it was intentionally supposed to look THAT wrong but goddamn it really does, and I’m sorry for any little kids reading this, so if you’re lost by what I’m talking about, then you’re better off…
Deranged at 5:15 am on April 19th, 2008
Heh… it is growing on me… better than what I feel about most fanservice shows and its sort of taken a backseat in the background now…
Loved the manga to bits and Im fine with how it was adapted.
teutates at 5:20 am on April 19th, 2008
“I stated back in my introduction post that romance comedies are one of my favorite genres. Although you may not believe me, the main reason I watch fan-service type shows like this is because they revolve around well… comedic relationships. To me, the ecchi touch is just a stylistic thing,”
I believe its the same reason why i watch ecchi
Looks likes a good episode.