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Rito Yuuki is a hapless high school boy who's hopelessly in love with the shy, gentle Haruna Sairenji, but just can't work up the nerve to confess his feelings. One night while taking a bath, however, a gorgeous (and naked!) alien princess named Lala Satalin Deviluke crash-lands into his bathtub, and things just spiral out of control from there...
Written by Hasemi Saki and illustrated by Black Cat's Kentarou Yabuki, To-Love-Ru is — well — to the troper that made the This Ugly Yet Beautiful World page, you probably haven't seen fanservice until you've seen or read at least a minimal amount of this series. The manga debuted in April 2006; an anime series premiered two years later and ran for 26 episodes. Five OVAs have been released; the sixth is due in April 2010.
Note that "To Love Ru" is a multilingual pun on the word "trouble;" in Japanese, these are pronounced identically ( toraburu).
Unfortunately, due to Yabuki's messy divorce and subsequent gain of custody of his three year old daughter (and so on), the manga's officially canceled in the Japanese Shounen Jump magazine (mostly for the sake of Yabuki's well-being, but its low ratings could also be a factor). He has since gotten better, and currently illustrating another manga series (which has cameo appearances from To Love Ru characters).
This series has a character sheet.
This show provides examples of:
- Accidental Marriage - Apparently groping an alien princess' breasts is grounds for engagement! Really! In the manga, it's more of his speech about freedom of choice that causes her to fall in love with him (giving her a good excuse to not go home), and she decides he's the only wedding candidate worthy of her. No matter what the cause, Rito's now engaged to the princess of the galaxy.
- Accidental Kiss - Rito and Ren
- Accidental Pervert - Poor, poor Rito...or not
- It's even lampshaded: in one arc, when the lights go out, resident tsundere Yui Kotegawa immediately thinks he's going to fall on top of her. SHE falls on top of HIM.
- Hell, let's just say that somehow, Rito's face becomes a magnet for the female body, especially breasts or crotch.Perhaps it's due to one of Lala's unfinished inventions...?
- There was a recent Double Subversion of this too. In the fifth OVA, Rito and Lala greet Haruna and Oshizu and he trips on a can, heading stright for Haruna. The usual? No, because she actually dodges! Then from his angle on the floor see's up all three girls skirts. Seriously, he literally can't help it anymore.
- Perphaps we should make it a drinking game? Whenever Rito has an accident, take a shot. You'll be lucky to get past episode two.
- Adaptation Decay - Saki Tenjouin's Unrequited Love for Zastin is overturned by forcing her into Rito's Unwanted Harem for the anime, to the point where she must seduce him to win his heart, just so she's more popular than Lala.
- Run nearly gets turned into a full-blown Stalker With A Crush, dedicating an entire episode about her stalking him
- The third OVA has less plot than an average manga chapter and dials the fanservice to sickening levels, and that's not even mentioning Yui and even Rito's Character Derailment.
- To elaborate, Yui decides to indulge in a little Skinship Grope (something she'd NEVER do), while Rito (still keeping his embarassment) makes no attempt to get away from the sight of naked girls, and in some scenes, just sits there and watches them fondling. Normal(ish) teenage behaviour? Maybe, but not something their manga counterparts would ever do.
- Sickening levels? Were we watching the same thing?
- Anime Anatomy - And thank goodness; considering just how often the "camera" of the Manga's frame is placed at crotch level (even for Yami-chan and Mikan-chan) during bath-scenes, this manga would have been unavailable outside the R-18 shelf (yes, they do exist in Manga stores in Tokyo) without this trope.
- Somewhat subverted in that, while the Weekly Shonen Jump versions of the chapters don't show nipples, the tankoubon versions do. Also, extremely close examination of even the serialized chapters show incredible acts of getting nudity past the radar. NSFW proof
 .
- Artificial Riverbank - Where Rito takes Lala in an early effort to break up with her. It doesn't work.
- Attempted Rape - Rito, tied up to a bed as an Amazon slowly reaches lower, while talking about how he will be her husband, before Lala intevenes. Make of that what you will.
- Attractive Bent Gender -
Rito "Riko" gives the other fanservice-females a run for their money.
- Badass Adorable - Golden Darkness (or simply, "Yami"), who is also a...
- Badass Bookworm - ...who spends most of her earlier appearances reading, is a legendary assassin, on top of being a...
- Little Miss Badass - ...though according to the anime, she's 24 years-old by Earth standards.
- Beach Episode - Chapter 66 and 113 of the manga.
- Chapter 113 is adapted into the third OVA, and is so overloaded with fanservice it seemingly forgets to have a plot or dialogue and just features the girls posing in swimsuits to ambient music for several minutes at a time. And then there's the comparison of tanlines near the end...
- Betty And Veronica - Haruna's the Betty, Lala's the Veronica.
- Bishonen - Rito, Ren and Zastin, Lala's bodyguard
- Bumbling Dad - Saibai Yuuki, Rito's father
- Butt Monkey - Zastin; quite explicitly in the manga, while he's merely an idiot in the anime.
- Breather Episode - Episode 14's a refreshingly mundane, but heartwarming look at what Rito and Haruna's relationship could be like without all the extraterrestrial insanity. A wise directorial choice, considering for the rest of the series, this blessed normality never returns again.
- Brother Sister Incest - Evidence has piled up that Mikan has a deep-seated crush for her brother Rito.
- Made more obvious in the second OVA with a jealous Mikan wondering what it would be like if they weren't related right after joking about marriage.
- The infamous Chapter 157, in which:
- Mikan's accused of turning down her male classmates' affection because of, as her friends put it, her "awesome brother". Cue Suspiciously Specific Denial to the accusation.
- She has an unusually jealous reaction to Momo hanging onto and teasing Rito.
- "T-that's not marshmallow!"...You'll need to read the chapter to understand the context of that.
- To be fair, she does pinch Rito to make him stop...after a moment or two...
- She questions herself, thinking "What exactly am I trying to do here...?" In the end, it seems she's rather content to be the beloved little sister.
- ...Maybe...
- She plays with this trope a bit when she tells Rito they are not related by blood just to see his reaction, only to admit she's just kidding afterwards.
- Can Not Spit It Out - Rito's repeated attempts to confess to Haruna.
- And even when he manages to, Lala gets in the way.
- Although, inverted for Haruna about Rito.
- Averted for Rito towards Lala though. As soon as he is sure of his feelings, he takes her aside and tells her he loves her
- One has to wonder just how much Yui can possibly hold in every time she's alone with Rito.
- Caught The Heart On His Sleeve - Episode three
- Censor Steam - Used quite a bit in both the anime and manga. Streams of light coming through a window is rather creatively used for this.
- Censor Steam and Godiva Hair only appear in the serialized version of magazines and episodes. The collected volumes and DVDs of the manga and anime subverts this and are "uncensored", featuring unobstructed views of the female characters' chests.
- Character Development - Subtle, but definitely there.
- Rito goes from boy with crush on a girl he can't even think about in a bikini without a meltdown to a boy in love with two girls and only freaks out if they're naked.
- Lala goes from a bratty princess who only pretended to like Rito to stay away from her suitors to a kind, unselfish and mature(ish) young woman very much in love with Rito 'and her best-friend/love-rival, and willing to risk her life to protect both of them.
- Haruna goes from painfully shy and self-conscious to... less shy and self-conscious.
- Yui drastically mellows out over to course of the series, going from "how indecent" to joking and laughing about Rito's Accidental Pervert moments.
- Chaste Hero - Rito's generally more concerned about his life being shaken up by the various adventures his haremettes bring than noticing any of their crushes on him.
- The Chew Toy - Poor, poor Rito.
- Also, Zastin, quite frequently.
- Chick Magnet - Rito, obviously. Curiously, it seems Mikan's the genderflipped version, constantly asked out by boys her age, but always rejecting them.
- Clothing Damage - Metric tons of it, even without a giant alien frog which literally has no purpose but to melt people's clothes off.
- Clingy Jealous Girl - Mostly averted: only one or two girls show any sign of jealousy (Run and/or Yui), with the latter debateable. Hell, Lala seems to enjoy it when he spends time with the other girls.
- Comicbook Time - Lampshaded here
- Compulsory School Age - Played straight with Oshizu, but subverted with Nana and Momo. Despite looking around Mikan's age, there's no mention of them going to school. While it isn't outright stated, it's subtly shown they mainly hang out at the Yuuki residence all day.
- Control Freak - Yui, though she mellows out quite a bit.
- Cosplay Otaku Girl - Mio, one of those two girls.
- Cousin Oliver - Celine, in her little child form.
- Creator Breakdown - A particularly ugly and messy real-life example: it's not exactly easy to continue writing a story of the sweet and lovely Girl Next Door (Haruna) when the woman she's based on eventually turns out to be a cheating-lying skank who tries to steal your life-savings AND your three-year-old daughter after stealing your heart and giving it to a wannabe-musician, who THEN sues you for monetary rights to the sweet girl who's nothing like the hateful whore that she is.
- A good summary of the issues are here. Essentially, he had to end the manga to prevent his ex-wife from making a third custody and money grab for his daughter — after she illegally wiped his bank accounts out, stole the laptop he used to create the manga, and
blackmailed him for custody sold him his own daughter after kidnapping her. Even now she is claiming rights to the Haruna character and all profit made from the anime, manga, and merchandise.
- Cry Cute - The human form of Peke, apparently.
- Cute Bruiser - Given that Yami is, for all intents and purposes, the exact same person as Eve, it should come as no surprise she's tiny, adorable and can kick your ass.
- Cute Little Fangs - Nana
- Cute Ghost Girl - Oshizu
- Cute Monster Girl - Lala, what with the whole alien thing and all. Her sisters probably count, too.
- Cut Short - See Creator Breakdown above, but actually a variation: unlike most CutShorts, this one ended abruptly due to the artist's Manipulative Bastard wife's influence, not the magazine publisher's.
- Demoted To Extra - Going to watch the anime? Hope Mikan isn't your favorite character, or you'll be disappointed at how she makes very few appearances after the first 3 episodes or so. Particularly egregious since most other characters get the opposite treatment if anything.
- Dirty Old Man - The school principal.
- The Doctor Dolittle - Nana and Momo, Lala's twin little sisters, who can talk to animals and plants, respectively.
- Double Standard - Yami makes her hatred of "ecchi" people clear by hitting or slashing at men or boys (especially Rito) who accidentally get a look under her skirt or touch her breasts - or even just look at her with too much admiration. But when a girl fondles her while another flips up her skirt to check out her panties, she merely asks them - rather weakly - to please stop.
- Her early appearances implied she was developing a crush on Lala, not Rito, and she certainly seems rather fond of Mikan. Maybe not so much a double standard as one more hint that Yami just likes girls.
- Ecchi - Duh...
- Elegant Gothic Lolita - Yami
- Ensemble Darkhorse - Yui, arguably the more well-received and popular female character of the cast.
- In one online poll of all the females, Yui came in first, with at least 50% more votes than the second place finisher. Fans love their tsunderes and Yui fits the archetype better than most other anime tsunderes out there.
- Momo's not doing too bad either, but is nowhere near Yui's level.
- Erotic Eating - Mikan seems to eat solely chocolate-covered fruit and popsicles. And ice cream.
- Every Girl Is Cuter With Hair Decs
- Expy - Yami's a dead ringer for Black Cat's Eve; they even share the same seiyuu in the anime and drama CDs. Also, the manga throws in "Magical Flame Kyoko", who is TLR's version of Kyoko Kirisaki, including a bounty hunter named "Kuro" (Black), none other than the expy of Train Heartnet, the protagonist of Black Cat.
- Everyone Calls Him Barkeep - The principal
- Eye Catch - Each of which is loaded with...
- Fanservice - ...where do we START?!
- How about with the anime's opening? Nothing but fanservice shots, including one of the credits listed on the tan line of boobs.
- Summed up pretty nicely in the 'follow-up' chapter released after series cancellation, which features Rito thinking back on everything that's happened since Lala came into his life... and it's nothing but six solid pages of fanservice shots from across the series. In color!
- Fantastic Arousal - Lala and her sisters' tails.
- Just to hit home: only female members of their species are aroused this way, and they are most sensitive to such stimulation if it comes from their sisters. So the Devilukan race naturally evolved a means by which its female members could quickly and easily arouse their own sisters to the point of leaving them virtually paralyzed with ecstasy. Um... wow.
- Well, I've heard of Kin Selection, but that's taking it a little far....
- Fetish Fuel - As an ecchi series, to-LOVE-ru makes a deliberate effort to cater to any number of fetishes.
- First Girl Wins - Two possible interpretations, Lala, who appears on the first page of the manga, or Haruna who Rito has known since Middle school. Due to the abrupt end, it's never clear exactly who he ends up with, but he says he loves them both, meaning this applies. The alternate choice is that he marries both, meaning this still applies.
- Foot Focus - The manga seems to sneak in frequent closeups of the female characters' bare feet, but this chapter really brought it to the forefront (see also Freaky Thursday entry).
- Foreshadowing - The OT 3 ending was hinted at as early as chapter ''16''
- Freaky Friday - The manga's done this on four occasions: one has Rito switching places with a dog, another has Lala and Haruna switching places with each other, Mikan and Yami, and the last one with Rito and Peke.
- More like Rito was absorbed into Peke's programming.
- Freaky Thursday - This one, too: a spray Run orders accidentally turns Haruna from sweet and innocent into a pure sadist. That's not an entirely bad thing...
- Given that this occurred after the Creator Breakdown started, seeing the sweet and innocent Author's-Wife-Avatar turn into, well, who his wife really was, well... Fridge Brilliance / Cry for help, much?
- And the time an alien cold virus makes Lala act shy, feminine and heavily Moe Moe, as opposed to her normal temperament. Again, not entirely a "bad thing"; Rito's got a thing for shy girls, after all...
- Fridge Horror - Ren and Run can become this if you think about it to hard. Two completlely separate personalities share a body and can change at (more or less) will. Sounds innocent enough, right? Then you realise that they are of opposite gender and are quite heterosexual. A bit creepy, but hey, as long as they are largely unaware of their otherselves activities, it's fine right? Wrong, because it is quite clearly shown that they are aware of what the other half is doing, and implied that they can feelit to. (Run falls for Rito because of the kiss through Ren). Then you realise that they are very often not willing to co-operate with each other and as the series progresses Run begins to dominate the body, leaving Ren in a partial And I Must Scream. It is also implied that Earth is a very easy planet for them to transform on, meaning that on other planets one personality could be pretty much trapped with no control over their own body, as their, for lack of a better term, sibling, does whatever the hell they want. shiver
- I could have sworn the reason they are aware of each others actions is because they share the same memories, not because there are two consciousnesses in the same body. The whole Run/Ren thing came off to me as a case of multiple-personality (so only one consciousness), only both personalities can remember what the other did and the personality shift also affects the body. While this means that Ren wouldn't be watching helplessly from the inside as Run uses his body (and vice versa), this can also be seen somewhat as Fridge Horror itself as the submerged version essentially stops existing until it comes back via sneeze.
- It's explicitly shown here (as well as on at least one other occasion) that each personality is or at least can be aware of events in real time.
- Full Name Basis - The cold manner in which Yami-chan addresses everyone (Rito in particular) except Mikan-chan, which is a telling sign of her fondness for her.
- Funny Aneurysm Moment - The Freaky Thursday chapter that had Haruna act like an evil sadist was pretty funny. Then it turns out the woman she was based on, the artist's ex-wife, rather than being a sweet Girl Next Door type was actually a hateful and sadistic woman that was also a philanderer, thief, kidnapper and extortionist. Maybe the writer was trying to tell him something...
- The writer probably was: by the time he knew about it, Yui was written in more and more subsequent chapters and Haruna was written out. Undoubtedly, it's probably what led to Yui's Ensemble Darkhorse status, but one doesn't write out one of two female protagonists in favor of a secondary character without good reason.
- Fun Size - Lala's father, Gid Lucione Deviluke, despite being the most powerful being in the galaxy (capable of singlehandedly destroying planets), looks like a four year-old boy.
- Justified because he used a lot of his power ten years prior to the series to end galactic war. His current form is his Sleep Mode Size.
- Gadgeteer Genius / Bungling Inventor - Lala creates all sorts of inventions, but many of them tend to malfunction in hilarious ways. Lampshaded here.
- Gainaxing - The anime manages to focus on Lala's bouncing boobs even when she's completely covered in shadows. That, my friends, is talent.
- The opening for the OVA consists entirely of this.
- Gender Bender / Involuntary Shapeshifting - Justified for Gender Bender, due to Ren's species able to transform into the opposite sex at will, and Involuntary Shapeshifting because he cannot control it, courtesy of a sneeze. When that happens, he becomes a Moe Moe girl named "Run" that's utterly infatuated with Rito, much to his chagrin.
- Then, purely by accident, Rito himself becomes a girl. After this, Lala makes a Transformation Ray so she can do this to him whenever she wants (as of current in the manga, she's used it three times).
- Genki Girl - Lala, mostly, but some of the other girls in the cast also qualify.
- Genre Savvy - Yui seems to be genre savvy, at least in regards to Rito's little moments...
- The Glomp - How Lala generally greets Rito, or anyone she regards as a friend, for that matter. Run has done it a few times to Rito, too.
- How Risa and Mio generally greet Yami, much to the poor little one's confusion.
- Girl Posse - Rin and Aya are Saki's mascots
- Godiva Hair - Lala, also combined with Idiot Hair (that cute little spiral ahoge on her head!)
- Gratuitous English - It's everywhere in the opening theme. "So we are never give up", to start with...
- Grievous Harm With A Body - Haruna's reaction to anything that truly terrifies her is to panic, scream, and wildly beat the crap out of it with the nearest blunt instrument...which is invariably Rito.
- Guilty Pleasure
- Hadaka Apron - Lala occasionally does this.
- For bonus points, it's one of the few things Rito has shown any amount of interest in...at least in the OVA.
- Half Human Hybrid - Magical Girl Kyoko is half human, half flame alien. It's what gives her her powers.
- Also what Rito's children would be if he had kids with Lala.
- Handsome Lech - Yui's brother, Yuu Kotegawa. Shades into Chivalrous Pervert when he defends Riko from the perverted principal.
- Heavy Sleeper - All these girls sneaking into Rito's bed while he's asleep — and he doesn't wake up fully even when one of them pinches his face.
Rito (still mostly asleep): "The marshmallow bit me!"
- Hello Nurse - Ryouko Mikado, also an alien.
- Hopeless Suitor- Ren; he didn't stand a chance.
- As expected of Motemitsu-senpai! He'll be instantly and permanently rejected by any girl he approaches!
- Hot Shounen Mom - Rito's mom Ringo. At least we know where Mikan gets her looks from.
- Human Aliens - All the important ones.
- Innocent Cohabitation - Lala lives with Rito and his sister. In a bit of a subversion, no one really thinks they're having sex, causing local Lovable Sex Maniac Risa to wonder "why not?" She sees it as a bit of a waste, actually.
- Innocent Fanservice Girl - Lala
- Lala's nudity taboo tends to be plot influenced. If the plot calls for her to be threatened and saved by Rito, she will try to cover herself (so she can't defend herself). Otherwise, she'll happily prance around naked, wondering why Rito's demanding she get dressed.
- Innocent Innuendo - Mikan mistakenly believes Lala and Rito are doing something naughty after hearing a bit of suggestive dialogue in Rito's room and immediately interrupts. Slightly justified as his hand was glued to Lala's tail, but contrast Mikan's reaction in the beginning of the series when finding him in bed with a naked girl only leads to dull surprise.
- Instant Cosplay Surprise - One time when Peke gets confused and dizzy it ends up flying from person to person, changing their outfits into something much more fanservicey.
- A separate time, when Rito becomes Peke he loses control and transforms half the class's gym clothes into extremely reveling costumes, including Yui wearing a ''whipped cream bikini''.
- Interspecies Romance - Rito and Lala. The ending throws in around half of the harem.
- In Vino Veritas - The second half of the fifth OVA. To summerise Nana and Momo release a pollen to test Rito. All the girls but Lala begin acting drunk, including Haruna zigzaging between sweet and violent, angry at Rito for not choosing yet, Yui declaring Rito can only do Echi things with her, and Mikan almost confessing her love. Strangely, Rito is unaffected.
- Is That Cute Kid Yours? - Celine is occasionally mistaken as Rito's daughter. An old woman can be forgiven for the mistake, as she looks about 2 and he's 17, so while it's biologically possible, Ringo, on the other hand, should know better.
- I Want My Beloved To Be Happy - When Lala finds out that Haruna and Rito both have secret crushes on each other, she decides it's her duty to get them together so they will be happy. Of course that doesn't change her plans for her and Rito to also be together...
- I Was Quite A Looker - Old Honegawa-sensei after he gets sprayed by an alien youth-skunk.
- Jerk With A Heart Of Gold - Ren, Saki
- Kuudere - Yami
- Legal Jailbait - Yami is 24 Earth Years Old... Fanboys, you can stop feelng bad about owning Doujinshis of her now.
- Les Yay - Risa and Mio, to everyone.
- Lethal Chef - Lala; almost literally, as evidenced here.
- It might be literal: since Devilukeans are sturdier and powerful than humans, they managed to survive this, but if that soup was served to Rito or any other normal human...
- The Libby - Saki; played for laughs on some occasions, portrayed with sympathy on others.
- Limp And Livid
- Lolicon - Mikan and Yami are clearly designed with this in mind.
- Might as well include Nana and Momo, then
- Lovable Sex Maniac - Gid
- And Risa, who really seems to enjoy a Skinship Grope with her female classmates a little more than what's considered healthy...or legal.
- Consider this scene, where she's not only fondling Lala's tail while commenting on how sensitive it is....
- Mio doesn't hold back much either.
- Risa + Mio = serious Les Yay (but not, seemingly, towards each other).
- Momo seems to stray into this direction a couple of times, but is a much more subtle example.
- Love Potion - The chocolates from chapter 40, but of the aphrodisiac variety.
- Celine's pollen is slightly more traditional, making anyone who comes into contact with it fall madly in love with Rito, and only him. It only lasts for about 30 minutes, though.
- Love Triangle - Type 4 (Lala is A, Rito is B, Haruna C), but it becomes more of a Type 1 as time goes by (Rito as A).
- At this point, it's really become a Love Dodecahedron, expanding to include Ren/Run (in love with different people, of course), Yui, at least one of Lala's sisters or probably both of them, maybe Yami, Rito's best (male) friend who's in love with his Attractive Bent Gender, hints of Mikan...things have gotten complicated.
- As of the second-last chapter, the main triangle has become a full-on type 8: Rito has admitted, if only to himself, he's in love with Lala and Haruna; both of them are in love with him. While the girls have no romantic connection to each other, they are best friends.
- Made Of Iron - Luckily, Rito doesn't seem to have a health insurance policy that covers constant beatings from angry women...(nervous laugh)
- Man Eating Plant - The Yuuki family has one in the backyard named Celine. It's mellowed down to become a giant, friendly, recurring pet.
- Until it, uh, "blooms" into what looks like a preschool infant with a flower growing from her head
- Magical Girlfriend - Lala probably counts, and that's not mentioning "Magical Flame Kyoko" in the manga's "Trouble Quest" arc.
- Magic Skirt - Considering how overloaded with fanservice the anime is, this is quite a surprise. This
may be different is non-existent in the manga, however.
- Magnetic Girlfriend - Lala; after she sets her sights on Rito, it sets off a chain reaction that sees the latter unwittingly gathering an Unwanted Harem.
- Literally in the manga, when a device made by Lala accidentally "glues" Rito's hand to her tail with a super-powerful magnet.
- Marshmallow Hell - Taken to new heights: after one of Lala's machines accidentally shrinks Rito to about 5 inches tall, she hides him by carrying him around in her cleavage all day. Naturally, she's not wearing a bra; he nearly gets suffocated and/or squashed multiple times.
- Mars Needs Women
- Meganekko - Mio and Aya, they like Scary Shiny Glasses though
- MIB - Zastin's assistants, Maul and Smutts, at least dress the part.
- Moe Moe - Minus that lousy scumbag of a principal and Saruyama, everyone else in the cast...Rito/Riko included
- Moral Myopia - Sure, Lala's a bright, sweet and kind-hearted girl who looks out for and cares about everyone, even her romantic rival, but the fact she's never shown to be even slightly disturbed about the fact her father has committed genocidal extermination of millions, if not, billions of worlds makes you wonder how decent a person she really is.
- Naughty Tentacles - In one chapter, a scummy alien kidnaps Haruna and binds her with ropes acting similarly to these. Also, Lala's Dress Form transformation...uh, the blushing and orgasmic moaning REALLY DOES NOT HELP.
- Anime...episode 4...that is all.
- Nice Hat - Lala's hat in her standard costume. IT HAS WINGS!
- They apparently allow her to fly (note the hat is not held in place in any manner).
- The manga explains they're anti-gravity wings when they sprout out the back of her bikini in the obligitory Beach Episode.
- Shush, you.
- Nightmare Fuel - Ghi Bree. Brr...
- Noblewomans Laugh - Saki
- No Ending
- Not Blood Siblings - Jokingly invoked by Mikan to squick out Rito.
- Though, her reaction to being told she enjoys her brother's company starts making her motive for the above invocation somewhat suspicious...
- The Not Secret - The schoolwide reveal of Lala being an alien only results in "Oh, that explains the tail". Man, people are just way too easy-going about extraterrestrials in TLR...
- The usual reaction to new girls is "Oh, are you an alien too?"
- No Guy Wants An Amazon - Anime only
- Not What It Looks Like - This happens so much to Rito, especially in the manga, the very laws of probability weep at the frequency of its occurence.
- The Nudifier
- Only Child Syndrome - Averted; every main character has a sibling.
- Ordinary High School Student - Rito spends quite a bit of time angsting about this in episode 4.
- Our Ghosts Are Different - Ghost girl/haremette/nurse's assistant Oshizu, though she does receive an artificial body to use, including using it to go to school. Must be because of the Compulsory School Age.
- Panty Shot - Primary method of fanservice.
- In the anime, at least, panty shots only show up with tennis skirts for some reason (one assumes because they're nigh unavoidable with tennis skirts in real life).
- Disturbingly enough, Mikan gets a few panty shots. It's disturbing because she's still in grade school.
- Parental Abandonment - Quite a few characters actually, but the most noticable is Rito and Mikan's parents. Ringo has appeared only twice as she works overseas, and while its implied they see Saibai more often, he's almost never at home, proven when he first met Lala after she'd been living with them for at least a few weeks, and that's when she and Rito went to visit him at work.
- Pepper Sneeze - At least in the manga, Ren/Run carries pepper in case s/he needs to change gender on the fly.
- Perverse Sexual Lust - Mikan's incredibly sexed up for a grade schooler. Pineapple-head is sexy.
- The fact Mikan's consistently shown eating popsicles in official art and fanart does not help, either.
- Pettanko - Nana, much to her frustration.
- Phrase Catcher - "As expected of Motemitsu-Senpai!"
- Plant Aliens - Rito's giant plant, Celine, turns into one of these.
- Please Put Some Clothes On - Rito's reaction to Lala anytime she shows up in the nude, which is most of the time when they're at home.
- Power Perversion Potential - A lot of Lala's inventions have this to some degree or another. The teleporter that doesn't take clothes and a device that can control people's bodies immediatly come to mind. This is just the tip of the iceberg though...no, really.
- Special mention goes to Peke, especially after chapter 153
- Pretty Freeloader - Lala
- Princess Curls - Saki
- Relax O Vision - In the anime, Ren's training cuts out before his fight with Rito to show Lala and Mikan bathtime footage, instead.
- Robot Girl - Peke can turn into one.
- RPG Episode - The manga's "Trouble Quest" arc.
- Runaway Fiance - Lala, who ran away because of all the unwanted marriage interviews. She then almost immediately finds a boy she likes and integrates herself into his life, much to his chargin.
- Scenery Censor - Lala has a club-headed tail to go along with her Godiva Hair, meaning she can keep all her naughty bits covered and be stark naked.
- However, it gets really weird when one realizes that Lala's tail is actually an erogenous zone every bit as sensitive as said naughty bits! Do we have a trope for alien g-spots?
- Screw The Rules, I Make Them! - Essentially what Peke tells Rito to do in the final chapter. After all, when you're King of the Universe, why should you follow Earth laws?
- Second Episode Morning - Lala states quite simply, "I wanted to sleep with you".
- Ship Tease - If there are any other points of chapter 157 than to drive Rito/Mikan theorists into a frenzy...
- Some Yui chapters deals with just about the same amount of shipping...and then there's Momo...
- Chapter 107 especially for Yui — she's not ready yet — and look how her hands are not positioned to push him away....
- Shirtless Scene - Yui's brother's very first appearance was one.
- Rito has had a few in his time, as well.
- Shout Out - Besides the expy deal, there's a brief Shout Out to the Halo games in episode 4, with one image showing Rito standing in the sunset of a cratered wasteland holding a gun very similar to the assault rifle from the first game, and another depicting a space battle in the shadow of a gas giant with part of a Halo-like structure and the Covenant capital city.
- The entire character of Run seems to be a Shout Out to Ran from Urusei Yatsura.
- Let's not forget those Dragon Ball shout outs either, such as Lala changing into several different costumes from that series.
- Yabuki's previous series, Black Cat, has a tendency to do this. Aside from Yami's conveniently named spaceship "Lunatique" (after "Tearju Lunatique"), the blink-and-you'll-miss-it homage in chapter 134, wherein Lala plays a target shooting game...dressed as Train, right down to the Hades gun and XIII tattoo. With Yami in Eve's clothing, of course.
- And of course, when Train, in his Chronos, pre-Saya persona, actually appears.
- Fairly early in the manga, several of the cast go to sing karaoke at a place named Kuro Neko.
- Look very closely at this page.
- "You mean, there are aliens hiding all over this planet? That sounds like a movie."
- Skinship Grope - Haruna's friend Risa tends to feel her and Lala up on occasion.
- When Rito's mother meets Lala for the first time, her first reaction is to start feeling her up, though justified because she's a fashion designer and was still in "work mode."
- Slasher Smile - Ghi Bree
- Something Completely Different - Episode 20 isn't even an episode of To Love-Ru; it's an entire episode of "Magical Kyoko."
- There's also episode 23. It focuses sorely on minor character Saruyama's nonsensical Dream Sequence composed entirely of references to Japanese historical folktales and period novels, which Saruyama even lampshades. Without knowledge of Japanese culture and folktales (or handy Fan Sub footnotes), a non-Japanese veiwer will be hopelessly confused.
- Speech Bubble Censoring
- Stalker With A Crush - Run has some tendencies in this direction, especially in episode 16, which focuses almost entirely on her stalking Rito.
- Tenchi Solution - In the abrupt manga finale, Lala not only doesn't mind the possibility of both her and Haruna marrying Rito but is actively enthusiastic about it. Later, he accidentally says "I love you" to several of the other girls (even though it was meant for Haruna), Lala doesn't mind sharing him with them, too. It's implied that, by Deviluke law, he can practice polygamy when he becomes king after officially marrying Lala. Hooray for the harem?
Peke: "When Rito becomes King of the Universe, then the rules of Earth won't matter anymore."
- Thanks For The Mammary - Which, for some reason, means a marriage pact in the anime.
- The Runaway - Momo and Nana who ran away from their studies. Lala's a variation.
- The Only One Allowed to Kill You - Yami for Rito, although it's just an excuse for her to stay on Earth and become an addition to his Unwanted Harem.
- Might be played straight when it's Yami for Lala, however.
- The Tease - Risa, so very very much.
- Momo's no slouch, either.
- Transformation Sequence - Thankfully skipped after the first few episodes.
- True Loves Kiss - Having accidentally possessed Haruna, Oshizu thought one of these from Rito would wake Haruna's consciousness and free Oshizu from her body.
- Tsundere - Yui's a Type A; her default expression in the beginning seems to be a scowl, and Rito is surprised the first time he sees her smile.
- Twice Shy - Rito and Haruna.
- Unlimited Wardrobe - Sort of: Peke can copy any outfit that Lala asks him to, from casual wear to nurse uniforms. However, too much time spent in clothing-form will cause her to wear down and cause Clothing Damage, and we all know where that leads...
- There's also the fact that if the hat (Lala's primary outfit) or hairpin (all her other outfits) come off, so do the clothes.
- Later in the manga, Peke ends up becoming dizzy and flies from one girl to the other, destroying their current outfits and replacing them with previous outfits Lala wore in the series. When Peke ends up on Rito, it mimics a one-shot joke outfit: a whipped cream bikini...
- The frequency that Peke's separated from Lala or disabled makes one wonder why she doesn't just wear regular clothes...
- *cough*
- Though it's justified canonically as mostly convenient, and that Lala is strongly attached emotionally to Peke(and vice versa)
- Unknown Rival - Ren/Run. Saki, too, with her unrecognized "rivalry" against Lala for being the "queen of student body."
- Unlucky Childhood Friend - Ren again.
- Unwanted Harem
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight- Lala's tail. A bit of a subversion, as everyone notices, but just thinks it's an accessory of some kind when they first meet her..
- Viewer Gender Confusion - Wait: Peke is female?! (re: chapter 145)
- Welcome To Corneria - Parodied in chapter 93 of the manga
- White Haired Pretty Boy - Ren
- Wise Beyond Their Years - Mikan, the most emotionally mature and level-headed member of the cast.
- The Woobie - Aww, poor Yami is just so huggable.
- With the end of the manga, Kentaro Yabuki himself. His wife had been cheating on him, and he basically gave in to her every demand for the sake of his daughter. Papa Wolf indeed.
- He could have fought his ex-wife in court for Lord knows how long but figured his daughter had suffered enough drama after being freaking kidnapped by her own mother. He chose his daughter's well being over his own pride and perfectly justifiable rage.
- Yamato Nadeshiko - Haruna, to an extent.
- Yandere - Momo shows a slight psychopathic side a couple of times.
- You Gotta Have Colorful Hair - Lala, among others of the cast.
- Noteable in that only aliens have impossible hair while humans are shown with realistic hair colours. Except Haruna, who has dark purple, So Yeah...
- Zettai Ryouiki - Lala's a nice Grade A example.
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