To Love Ru

.....

Sadly enough, that's probably an improvement.

Actually, it's not that big a deal. The combined page count between the three serializations amounted to just a bit less than the total monthly page count for the series when it was still running in Jump.

edited 19th May '15 3:36:53 PM by burnpsy

New chapter.

Wow, the author's ability to waste time is impressive.

He does have some guts to call the chapter "A Step forward". =[

Couldn't someone just put Devilukian herbs in Haruna's drink and get over with this? Since it seems she only has guts when something changes her personality.

(also, there's a little translation mistake on page 24 − Momo doesn't say Yui and Run are "the most fixated on themselves" but "the most self-assertive").

edited 26th May '15 7:27:54 AM by Lyendith

Didn't even notice the title. I was thinking of how the first 2/3 was just wasted on reactions. Well, I guess it's a step forward towards what I consider basically the worst possible ending.

Which is…? A RitoMomo ending?

Rito/Momo monogamous ending, yes. Not only is that basically spitting on her older sister (who would probably support them since she's stupidly nice) but she's spent the entire run of Darkness up until this point dragging other girls into Rito's affairs and pushing them towards him. To just snag him at the last moment after setting them up all this way would be a real dick move.

Well, that said, if anything she'll probably just make an attempt at it, get shot down and then things will be left open ended, which is slightly less awful, but only slightly.

edited 26th May '15 10:58:27 AM by Arha

I doubt it will happen. Momo having doubts about her willingness to "share" Rito is nothing to be surprised about, I don't think it's leading to a Momo ending.

The problem is that this whole harem plot seems doomed to crash into a dead-end. A bonafide harem ending would be very polemical by its very nature − that's the kind of thing you can only pull off safely in a hentai, really − but a monogamous ending would basically mean "remember that whole harem plot we spent the entire series building up? Yeah, that didn't count. <=D"

So if anything, I'm curious to see how the author is gonna get out of these quicksands.

that's the kind of thing you can only pull off safely in a hentai, really

Eh, not really. The Tenchi franchise got away with it. It's not that it's hard to pull it off without being blacklisted by the public or companies (the real causes of the downfall of the Tenchi franchise are others), but that is the general perception anyway.

I'm curious to see how the author is gonna get out of these quicksands.

See, that's the thing. Most harem authors just never bother to pull out of the quicksands, they just leave the characters there, pave over them and then move on.

edited 26th May '15 11:18:40 AM by NapoleonDeCheese

Yeah, I expect this series to never figure out a proper resolution. Especially when the focus character is Momo, who has absolutely no business winning. Is she supposed to narrate Rito hooking up with his one true love Maron or something?

Also, there's an anime running right now that's going to be a harem ending, actually. I just don't think most writers have the balls to do it. Plus it's probably harder to write given assumptions of monogamy in relationships and that you can only love and commit to one person. I don't think that's true myself, but I'm in the minority.

edited 26th May '15 11:25:18 AM by Arha

Which anime is that? Everything I can think of that is based on other material hasn't even finished yet.

Grisaia no Rakuen. It and Meikyuu were a sequel of sorts to Kajitsu. The implication was that Yuuji had completed all their routes and fixed all their problems as well as he could but hadn't committed romantically to any of them. So after the happy ending in Rakuen (Oh, spoilers) he just ends up on a tropical island and sleeps with all five of them, plus maybe Chizuru and his sister.

edited 26th May '15 11:44:35 AM by Arha

Uh, so it actually exists… didn't quite expect that even from Japan.

Has Hasemi Saki any past work showing how he gets out of this situation (if at all)?

Or else Rito says "fuck you all", becomes Riko permanently, and marries Saruyama.

… Or this, yeah.

Well, I'm assuming they don't wuss out on it, which may not be the best assumption to make. But hey, they had that ridiculous bathing scene at the beginning and those OVAs.

We'll see a gay ending in a male-oriented harem series the day Hell freezes over.

Edit: I mean, I'd applaud an author who had the balls for it, but the editorials and anime houses would never approve it.

edited 26th May '15 6:20:32 PM by NapoleonDeCheese

New chap is out in raw.

Welcome back, Lala! Other than that… nothing much happens. :x

Chapter 57. There's no progression whatsoever, we follow the principal('s face) for an entire chapter, i.e. a reader's worst nightmare, and there's barely any fan-service to compensate.

Yay.

Latest chapter has been scanlated.

Chapter 59 is available in raw. With the return of PLOT! And of a long-forgotten character.

Oh, and there's also a popularity poll (or at least a part of it).

I'm a bit surprised at Risa's second place, considering she doesn't really have much panel time.

Why do people like this crap? Why is it so insanely popular? Why don't they just look at hentai instead? The answer to all these burning questions, coming never.

This comes out about once a month. There's more than enough time to read both.

Because this is as close as you can get without having to be 18 to buy a Hentai... Also its funny.

Also its a Japanese thing to really not care about it going anywhere, The ending really doesn't matter to most its how you get there and how entertaining it is on route. Basically its all about the characters, antics, interactions and such and plot takes a backseat to it all.

edited 13th Sep '15 3:56:47 AM by Memers

I may be weird, but I like TLR better when plot pokes out (hence why I generally prefer Darkness). And I'm glad it's back in chapter 59.

TBH, I would like this series much more if it weren't for Rito. I mean, he's seen girl's T&A 1,295 times and he STILL acts all flustered?! It's infuriating, and I'm a chick!