To Love Ru Darkness [Anime Review]

I'm actually shocked that a factoid about this anime escaped me. The name of the series, To Love Ru is actually the English word Trouble. ToRabuRu, right up there in hiragana, is the Japanese phonetic (is that the right word in this situation?) pronunciation of Trouble.

Usually I'm joking when I say that the fan-service in
a series is the plot. This time... I'm serious. It is the plot.

The subtitle of this season of To Love Ru, which is the third season in the series, is also appropriate. There are two main characters this season focuses on, one being named Yami. Yami (闇) is the Japanese word for darkness. 

4 out of 5 stars

Hello plot points! Again, not a total joke.

I oft joke that many anime have fan-service as their central plot. To Love Ru is an example of an anime that actually fits that accusation perfectly. Here's the rub, it's not a bad series despite that. It is actually quite enjoyable, and no, I do not think you have to have overt prurient tastes to enjoy it either. If one thinks about Hollywood and mainstream sitcoms, a healthy chunk of their comedy is sexual in nature. That is what To Love Ru works with. It is a pretty good comedy, one that as I have established, relies on fan-service.

It is also very well animated fan-service. Especially if you get the Bluray... some of the online episodes, ok, all of the online clips from some places such as Hulu contain censoring (which is odd since season 1 & 2 were not censored online, or so the interwebs informs me). 

Of course my review thus far has ignored what is the real plot. It is actually about friendship and family, often pushing the bounds of what one considers a traditional family. The main plot revolves around Yami and her interactions. Rito Yuki still plays a mjor role in the series, as he is technically the protagonist. Momo (one of Lala's younger sisters) is as important a character in this season as Yami. Lala (the Devilukean princess that Rito is engaged to) has a somewhat smaller role this season compared to the first two. There are a lot of characters, so one can get bogged down in them if one does not pay attention (watching the first two seasons is a big help).

One thing drove me nuts when I was watching the first To Love Ru, and that was Yami. She had the same name and looked exactly like a character from a series called Black Cat. Research showed me that there was a very good reason for that. They were both written b the same mangaka, Kentaro Yabuki. Finally here in the third season we get a much deeper look into her background... It has been too long since I've read Black Cat to remember if they really match. I somehow expect that they do. 

This is fun series worth watching, but get the bluray. You will quickly tire of the censoring otherwise.

This is the Golden Darkness. Yes, the blonde girl is named Yami.