For some weird reason 11yo me was absolutely infatuated with this show like only 1 before it; starting from watching youtube clips on mum’s Ipad, and that sentiment definitely followed me as I watched more anime, then when I thought I was finally done simping for the anime, I started reading manga - This was my first.
I again became attached to this fucking story and it’s fucking characters all over again… This manga sometimes feels like a fever dream with some of the whacky shit the writer pulls, and in no way am I saying it's somehow more sophisticated than the unapologetic degenerate garbage it seems to be… but I genuinely believe there's beauty in that. To Love-ru is the definition of “committing to the bit”, it knows what it is and wants to be and doesn't even attempt to be anything more. The plot solely exists to serve the characters and to feed in new and creative ways for them to fall onto of be fell on by Rito; it is an entirely secondary feature to the narrative and despite me saying all this… it still goes hard in a fair few places: The Nemesis Vs Gid fight was fucking epic and the whole Rito x Nemesis arc which resulted was so incredibly fun, Yami’s confession brought me more joy than I'd like to admit and Just Yami's character arc in general was fantastic. Surprisingly underneath all the nudity, harem cliches and constant panty shots (literally every other panel), there's a writer who can actually tell a decent story - simple as it may be.
I'm all for praising great characters based on (meaningless) values like depth, plot relevance, morals and shit like that, I'm sure we all love a bit of Thorfinn, Eren, and maybe even a sprinkling of Lelouch whenever we debate about arbitrary anime related topics online. However that can get tiring, boring, and lame (you fucking sheep). To Love-ru offers a much simpler solution: they're just likeable. Most of the characters that aren't relevant to the plot are nothing more than what you see at face value, they solely exist to fill out the checklist of classic character archetypes you see in every harem and play out as greatly exaggerated versions of said archetypes. Now… despite this, I'd consider the characters themselves to be the highlights of the entire manga: They’re simple, they’re well written, their character interactions are always fresh and entertaining and the plot allows them to have an endless supply of quirks to utilise to entertain us.
I really - truly can’t describe my love for this story, I like to make a checklist of talking points for when I write reviews, this one read: “I Honestly have no clue what to talk about because I cannot accurately describe my affection for this manga”. This has been the most un-serious and informal review I’ve ever written simply because I do not know what time write. So uhm yeah, Cya.
<3
