To Love-Ru (とらぶる Toraburu?) is a Japanese manga series written
by Saki Hasemi,
and illustrated by Kentaro Yabuki, creator of Black Cat.
The manga was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump between April 24, 2006
and August 31, 2009; 18 tankōbonvolumes
have been published in Japan. A drama CD was released in February
2008 with an original story. A 26-episode anime series
adaptation by Xebec aired in Japan between April and
September 2008. Six original video animation episodes
were produced by Xebec between April 2009 and April 2010. A 12-episode second
season by Xebec titled Motto To-Love Ru aired between October and
December 2010. A video game was released on the Nintendo DS in
August 2008, and another game for the PlayStation Portable was released in
October 2008.
A continuation of the manga
called To Love-Ru Darkness began serialization in Shueisha's Jump Square magazine
on October 4, 2010. An anime TV series adaptation for To-Love Ru Darknessproduced
by Xebec began airing in October 2012. The title, とらぶる (Toraburu?), is the Englishgairaigo (loan word)
"trouble" and "rabu" (ラブ?) is the English
loan word "love". The title is a pun on the words "love
trouble", which describes the harem aspect of the series.
Plot
The story of To Love-Ru revolves around Rito Yūki, a high-school student who
cannot confess to the girl of his dreams, Haruna Sairenji. One day when coming
home and sulking in the bathtub, a mysterious, nude girl appears out of
nowhere. Her name is Lala and she comes from the planet Deviluke, where she is
the heir to the throne. Her father wants her to return to her home planet so
she can marry one of the husband candidates. But she decides that she wants to
marry Rito in order to stay on Earth. Commander Zastin has been ordered to
bring Lala back and has already battled Rito. He reports to the emperor that
Rito would be suited to marry Lala, after hearing Rito, who was actually
defending himself instead of Lala, say that marriage is impossible unless it is
with the person you love. Lala truly falls in love with Rito and decides that
she wants to marry Rito after hearing what he said. Her father decides that, if
Rito is able to protect Lala from her fiancés, then he can marry her. However,
if Rito cannot protect Lala from her other fiancés and meet the king's
expectations, Lala's father will kill Rito and destroy the Earth.
Manga
To Love-Ru began
as a manga series written by Saki Hasemi with illustrations by Kentaro
Yabuki. The manga was
serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump between April 24, 2006 and August 31, 2009. Eighteen tankōbon volumes were released by Shueisha in Japan
between November 11, 2006 and April 2, 2010.[1] A sequel named To Love-Ru Darkness(ToLOVEる-ダークネス- ToLOVEru -Dākunesu-?) began serialization on October 4, 2010 in Jump Square.[2] The first volume for Darkness was released on March 4, 2011, and four
volumes have been published as of March 2, 2012.
Anime
An anime series adaptation produced by Xebec and
directed by Takao Kato aired in Japan between April 3 and September 25, 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!" byThyme, the first ending theme for episodes one through
thirteen is "Lucky Tune" (ラッキーチューンRakkī Chūn?) by Anna,
and the second ending theme is "Kiss no Yukue" (kiss
の行方?), also by Anna. The
anime is licensed in North America by Sentai
Filmworks and distributed by Section23
Films. The complete collection part one containing the first
half-season was released on December 15, 2009. Following the release of part
two on February 16, 2010, the series began playing on theAnime Network in
March 2010. Sentai
will release the series on Blu-ray Disc in
March 2014.
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.
A second season titled Motto To Love-Ru produced by Xebec and
directed by Atsushi Ootsuki aired 12 episodes between October 6 and December
21, 2010. The opening theme for the second season is "Loop-the-Loop"
by Kotoko and the ending theme is "Baby
Baby Love" by Haruka Tomatsu. Sentai Filmworks have also
licensed the second season and will release the complete series set in spring
2012.
An anime TV series adaptation
of To Love-Ru Darkness has been produced by Xebec and directed by
Atsushi Ootsuki, and
an OVA episode produced by Xebec was released with the manga's fifth volume on
one DVD on August 17, 2012. A second OVA was released on December 2, 2012,
and two more OVAs will follow on August 19, 2013 and December 4, 2013. The
opening theme for To Love-Ru Darkness is "Rakuen Project" (楽園PROJECT?) by Ray and the ending theme is
"Foul Play ni Kurari" (ファールプレーにくらり?) by Kanon
Wakeshima.
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