To LOVE-Ru

Rito Yuuki is a hapless high school teenager 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 Kentarou Yabuki of Black Cat fame, To LOVE-Ru is -- well -- you probably haven't seen Fan Service until you've seen or read at least a minimal amount of this series. The manga debuted in April 2006, while an Animated Adaptation premiered two years later and ran for 26 episodes. Six OVAs have been released, and a second TV series, Motto To LOVE-Ru, began airing in June 2010 (amazingly, the new series manages to crank up the fanservice even further, if such a thing can be believed).

Unfortunately, due to Yabuki's messy divorce and subsequent gain of custody of his three year-old daughter (see Creator Breakdown below), the manga was officially and very abruptly canceled in the Japanese Shounen Jump magazine. He has since gotten better, and did an eight-month stint illustrating another manga series (which has cameo appearances from To-Love-Ru characters and takes place in the same city).

A Spin-Off/sequel manga titled To LOVE-Ru Darkness, launched in October 2010, brings back both the author and artist. It is centered around Momo's plan to share Rito with the others whose happiness depends on him, and an unknown antagonist who controls several assasins similar to Yami, as well as Yami's Dark and Troubled Past. While characters of the original manga return, Darkness promotes both Yami and Momo to main characters and significantly downplays the original protagonists. The fanservice in Darkness has been amped Up to Eleven, to the point where Rito has "Accidental Pervert'ed" his way through at least five heavy make-out sessions with entirely different women.

Note that "To LOVE-Ru" is a multilingual Pun on the word "trouble;" in Japanese, these are pronounced identically (toraburu).

Tropes used in To LOVE-Ru include:
  • Above the Influence - While painful for him, Rito will often resist the advances the many girls push on him.
  • 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 (also giving Lala 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.
    • Lampshaded: in one arc of the manga, 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.
    • There was a Double Subversion of this: in the fifth OVA, Rito and Lala greet Haruna and Oshizu and he trips on a can, heading straight for Haruna. The usual? No; she actually dodges. From his angle on the ground, he sees up all three girls' skirts. Seriously, he can't help it anymore.
      • Surprisingly, he manages to subvert this for the first few times in the manga.
    • Lampshaded again in the pilot chapter of Darkness:

Nana: Why does he always grab the panties?
Momo: As usual, he has a god-like skill at falling...

    • It bears stating that they say this in response to Rito falling down the stairs, faceplanting into Yui's crotch, and getting her panties stuck in his teeth.
    • Lampshaded yet again in chapter 9 of Darkness:

Nana: Why does Rito get tripped at places where there's nothing there?
Momo: It must be what people call fate.

    • Hell, in Darkness, Rito has attempted to save a girl from Naughty Tentacles only to get tangled up in them himself, resulting in an impromptu make-out session. Twice.
    • He bumps into Yami -- both of them just walking -- and they wind up on the floor with her straddling his face.

Yami: How did we get into this position from the way we bumped into each other...? It seems the laws of physics don't apply to you anymore.

  • Adaptation Dye Job - Devilukean tails are actually (very dark) red. The anime always shows them as pitch black, instead.
  • Adaptation Expansion - Motto, as part of the improvements, sometimes added scenes, usually only very small, that generally added connectivity or depth. For example, in Risa's Day in The Limelight Episode, the manga ends with Rito receiving Risa's text. In Motto, there is a following scene where Risa stares at her phone longingly, implying she was serious about her offer.
  • All There in the Manual - Motto To LOVE-Ru; while it doesn't expect you to know certain things, doesn't exactly explain them either. For example, why does Celine has a human form? Glossed over. There are other things too, but most are minor.
  • Art Evolution - There's a noticeably different art style between the first season, the OVA and Motto To LOVE-Ru. The OVA enlarges nearly everyone's eyes and headed into Uncanny Valley in the process, while the Motto has a new directing staff. The characters don't look bad, but they do look quite different from the original manga now.
  • 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 intervenes. Make of that what you will.
  • Attractive Bent Gender - Rito "Riko" gives the other Fan Service-females a run for their money.
  • Awesome Yet Impractical - Yami's barehanded fighting is quite flashy, as demonstrated when they go to Planet Mistletoe.
  • Badass Normal - Rito Yuuki, Action Survivor Ordinary High School Student Unlucky Everydude from a series full of Megaton Punch and Stuff Blowing Up, also living human weapon. Guaranteed to survive any any accident because he's Made of Iron composed of lead-level bones, fast-healing muscles and superelastic skin compiled with fireproof hair being merely human.
  • Barbie Doll Anatomy - And thank goodness; considering just how often the manga's frames are placed at crotch level (even for Mikan and Yami) during Furo Scenes, TLR would've been unavailable outside the R-18 shelf without this trope.
  • Beach Episode - Chapter 66 and 113 of the manga.
    • Chapter 113 is adapted into the third OVA, and is so overloaded with Fan Service it seemingly forgets to have a plot or dialog 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...
  • Berserk Button:
    • Nana with flat-chested comments.
    • Lala with suitors fighting over her.
    • Ren being called unmanly.
    • Yami, with any form of ecchi.
    • Rito, when someone close to him seriously threatened. Beware the Nice Ones. OH SHI-
  • Beware the Nice Ones - Lala is quite obvious, but so is Rito, just ask Ghi Bree.
    • Get Momo mad and you could very well be in trouble. Even Yami was impressed with her killing intent.
  • Big Brother Attraction - 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.
    • Her reaction for being questioned by Nana about love interest.
    • 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.
    • 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. Later, Celine works her usual magic on Mikan, which results in some sexual tension.
  • Big Damn Heroes - Averted hilariously in episode 4. Zastin busts into a classroom with some giant octopus/squid, and gets thwarted by them each time he tries to save Lala, Rito and Haruna.
  • Bishonen - Yuu, Rito, Ren and Zastin, Lala's bodyguard.
  • Blind Without Them: Tearju
  • 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.
  • Cameo - In return for visiting Stray, Peke gets some peculiar manga to read.
  • Cannot 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. He then proceeds to, at her insistence, attempt to confess to Haruna, only to be interrupted by her running away and getting replaced by half the female cast just in time for him to say the three magic words. This being the end of the last chapter, much rage ensued. The prologue chapter of Darkness explains he told the girls that he was talking to/about the pool. He thinks the girls believed him, but YMMV.
    • One has to wonder just how much Yui can possibly hold in every time she's alone with Rito.
  • Canon Discontinuity - It's stated in the first chapter that except for matters dealing with women, Rito is aggressive and strong. Unfortunately, he's almost always dealing with women, so this attribute usually only surfaces when a new haremette shows up that needs to be impressed by his hot bloodedness, or when one of his existing haremettes is in trouble.
  • Canon Immigrant - Plots from multiple H-doujinshi have been partially incorporated into the series.
  • Caught the Heart on His Sleeve - Episode three
  • Caught with Your Pants Down - Momo gets caught by Nana while playing with her tail. Although she kicks Nana out of the room before she can realize what Momo was doing.
  • 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.
      • Darkness showed how far this went by having Yui and Rito get trapped in "the rain", ending up in Rito's house due to Momo's trickery and use of a shield that projected the rain. Then Yui basically offers herself to Rito after one of his Accidental Pervert moments, and Rito appears to almost ACCEPT this offer without any sort of "freak out" in a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
    • Golden Darkness arguably received the most character development when it comes to direction, outranking Rito/Yui. She went from cold-blooded assassin to nearly being killed by an assassin because Brainwashed and Crazy Mikan was in the way and she refused to harm her, smiling constantly around Rito and Mikan, and even being nicer to Rito.
  • 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.
    • Seems to run in the family, what with a Hot Shounen Mom and all. Besides, she's so cute.
    • Rito's status is also Lampshaded rather often, mostly (though not always) by Mikan, who calls him a Playboy, or notes just how many girls surround him. Nana also calls him playboy, and we all know Momo's thoughts on the matter.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome/Out of Focus - Ren hits this so hard. Sure, we know where he is, but he doesn't appear all that often. Or at all in the last 50 odd chapters. In Motto he made two appearances over all.
    • Amusingly, this is a case of a character being made Out of Focus in favor of himself, sort of. Ren and his rivalry for Lala's affections were eventually phased out, and while the humorously embarrassing situations involving him randomly physically and mentally changing into the much more fanservice-bait girl Run became less and less common, Run herself began to appear more and more often on her own with no mention or Ren. Which leads to the odd conclusion that maybe Run just stopped changing back into Ren, and nobody cared/noticed...
    • Characters will rapidly come in and out of focus throughout the story. Barring Ren, Haruna is probably the most affected, as she becomes less prominent in the last fifty or so chapters, and Yui takes up her slack. This is because of real life issues.
  • Clothing Damage - Metric tons of it, even without a giant alien frog which literally has no purpose but to melt people's clothes off.
  • Class Is in Room X-01
  • Clingy Jealous Girl - Mostly averted: only one or two girls show any sign of jealousy (Run and/or Yui), with the latter debatable. Hell, Lala seems to enjoy it when he spends time with the other girls.
    • What is interesting is that Run and Yui only display one characteristic; Run is clingy, but doesn't really get jealous, while Yui gets jealous but can hardly be called clingy.
    • Rito showed signs of this, particularly early on. He hated it when Ren or other guys got close to Haruna and, to a much lesser extent, Lala.
  • Comic Book Time - Lampshaded
  • 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.
    • Also, Yami, who spends all day hanging around Rito's school reading books.
    • Both changed in Darkness.
      • Justified. All three want to go to school of their own will, and are in no way being forced.
  • Conspicuous CG - The octopus/squid/shrimp/lamprey ingredients in Lala's ingredients box.
  • 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: Haruna was based on the author's real wife, who turned out to be nothing like Haruna. They went through an outrageously public and messy divorce, the end of which saw his ex-wife claiming ownership of the Haruna character (and demanding all profit from the manga and anime), which directly caused his publisher's legal team to force them to end the manga immediately.
  • Cross-Dressing Voices - 16 YEAR OLD Rito is played by Akeno Watanabe. Yes, that Akeno, who played Zakuro. Yes, the Zakuro with the high pitched Yuri Shiratori-esque voice.
    • Fuyuka Oura as Ren/Run, both male and female.
  • Cry Cute - The human form of Pekeapparently.
    • Also Yui and Run in child form. DAWWWWW!
  • Culture Clash - There is a very subtle one between Devilukes and Humans, particularly Lala; she doesn't use honorifics, has no nudity taboo which she claims is due to her upbringing, doesn't mind the idea of Rito having multiple lovers as its considered normal for royalty to have a harem, her people are essentially conquerors and she herself doesn't mind fighting either. Momo and Nana are generally better at fitting in, so its hard to say what are typical behaviours for a member of the Deviluke race and what are just Lala's quirks.
  • 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.
  • Cut Short - See Creator Breakdown above, but actually a variation: unlike most Cut Shorts, this one ended abruptly due to the artist's Manipulative Bastard wife's influence, not the magazine publisher's.
  • Defying the Censors - "Darkness" seems to be doing this in response of the outrage of Moral Guardians towards fanservice. Both a higher density and more risque fanservice are prominent in the sequel series and there are no signs of it letting up.
  • 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.
    • Thankfully for Mikan fans, the OVAs and second anime keep her around the whole time and give her fanservice (Though her and Yami are the only ones without shown nipples, sadly. Despite having them on both mangas.)
    • Several members of the harem have had drastically less screen time as of Darkness, while the lolis have received much more focus.
  • 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.
      • Given similar characters' reactions to similar, it seems more likely that Yami is just learning how to be human, and that's apparently easier with females and the Double Standard is a natural reaction. This troper got the impression that, had the story and character development continued, she could have ended up being Rito's first/only female friend that wasn't part of his harem.
    • In Darkness Chapter 9, Momo and Mea get very excited by their fantasies about Rito finally losing control and ripping Run's clothes off. And Yami doesn't clobber them or even seem angry; she merely remarks "what a bunch of ecchi people."
  • The Dulcinea Effect - If Rito didn't have this, we would have said goodbye to 161 chapters.
  • Easily Forgiven - The other characters totally overlook the fact that Yami probably killed dozens of others before coming to Earth.
  • Ecchi - Duh...
  • Erotic Dream - Rito has had a couple, both in the manga and anime.
    • One notable instance in the manga is when Rito was dreaming about Haruna, which lead to an Almost Kiss between Rito and Lala because she was in his bed again.
    • The most memorable instance in the anime is actually an induced hallucination, featuring Rito, Haruna, and Lala.
  • Every Girl Is Cuter With Hair Decs[context?]
  • Executive Meddling - The end result of the Creator Breakdown, although quite justified in this instance. Yabuki's ex-wife claimed ownership of the characters (especially the one that was an Avatar of her), as well as the fact that Yabuki suddenly found himself a single father... so the publishers had to force them to kill the original manga very quickly. Fortunately, this did help lead to the rise of Mayoi Neko Overrun, a project Yabuki worked on as a form of relaxation while they tried to resolve the rights to the characters. He later conclusively solved the rights problem, almost the second he did they restarted the manga as Darkness.
    • The fact that there was anything to resolve seems rather bizarre, given that a character being based on you doesn't give you any claim to that character. So his ex-wife's claims by all rights should've been literally laughed out of court.
  • Expy:
    • Yami is Eve from Black Cat; not only do they share the same seiyuu, but also the same powers, mother, origin, and name.
    • 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.
    • There's also Kurosaki Mea, a.k.a. Alien Suou.
  • Eyecatch - Each of which is loaded with Fan Service.
  • Fan Service - ...where do we START?!
    • How about with the anime's? 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!
    • The first chapter follow-up series, Darkness, manages to somehow increase the amount of Fanservice, edging dangerously close to Hentai at points. The fact that it blatantly averts Barbie Doll Anatomy probably has something to do with this.
  • Fantastic Arousal - The Deviluke race has their tails, which are dark red in colour and are tipped with semi-individual shapes, which seem to be particularly sensitive. As Nana explains, while it affects both female and male members of her race, men are generally less affected. However, she also notes that it varies from person to person and that Lala, Nana and Momo are particularly sensitive.
  • Finagle's Law - If an opportunity for Fan Service can happen, it will happen. Especially when Rito is at the short end of it.
  • 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. He says he loves them both, meaning this applies not matter who you consider "first".
    • Momo's Harem Plan in Darkness would cause both of them to win (among others).
  • First Law of Gender Bending:
    • Ren was initially one of the more recurring secondary characters, but after Run was introduced she's steadily eclipsed his screentime to the point that he basically only appears for a panel or two each time she has a whole chapter about her.
    • While Rito has never been stuck as Riko for very long, after the first time it's happened quite a lot more than any similar oddities Lala's inventions caused.
  • First-Name Basis - Lala refers to everyone by their first name. This makes perfect sense considering she is a foreigner (alien), and won't understand this aspect of Japanese culture. Similarly, everyone is on first name basis with her. Surprisingly, this includes Rito, who is the only one to call her without honorifics, implying closeness. The rest use -san or -chii.
    • Played with with Haruna and Rito, who are on Last-Name Basis. However, at least in Rito's head, it's "Haruna-chan" and not "Sairenji", which is what he actually calls her out loud.
      • Similarly, in Darkness, Haruna once calls him "Rito-san" when she was thinking about him alone, but uses "Yuuki-kun" when they next meet face to face.
    • Rito is also on first name basis with Nana and Momo, though Momo adds the -san honorific.
    • Mikan and Rito too; it's especially noteworthy because whenever Mikan is being particularly bro-con-y she switches to "Onii-chan".
    • And finally Rito and Run, with Run adding -kun.
  • Foot Focus - The manga seems to sneak in frequent closeups of the female characters' bare feet.
  • Foreshadowing - The OT3 ending was hinted at as early as chapter 16.
    • Rito's new favourite brand: KING! Hmmm... trying to tell us something, Yabuki-sensei?
      • It's been pretty much a Foregone Conclusion for years that Rito will eventually marry Lala and become the new Deviluke king. The only question still up in the air is whether she's the only one he'll marry. Certainly not if Momo has anything to say about it.
  • Freaky Friday Flip - 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.
    • Five now with Rito and Haruna having to bathe together. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Frickin' Laser Beams - Yet another feature of Devilukean tails. Or at least of Lala's and Momo's. As the other Deviluke characters haven't shown whether they can do the same, it might just be a unique personal ability, like Momo's plant telepathy and Nana's animal telepathy.
  • Full-Name Basis - The cold manner in which Yami-chan addresses everyone (Rito in particular) except Mikan, which is a telling sign of her fondness for her.
  • 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.
    • As of Darkness Chapter 59, he's back to adult size.
  • Fun with Acronyms - "Technology of Over Level Operation for Very heavy command to Electronic control unit" in episode 5 of the anime. The "ru" was there as well, but was listed as standing for "Ru...ru?!.ru.ru.'Run!'" in Japanese, which has the implication that even the maker of the control unit didn't know what to do with that extra "ru".
  • 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 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 four times).
  • Genre Savvy - Yui seems to be genre savvy, at least in regards to Rito's little moments.
    • Saki develops some of this. When Mea enlists Oshizu to help get Rin together with Rito, Saki says:

You entrust this to a troublesome monster like her, and it's obvious that her Psychokinesis will run amok and you'll end up stripped naked and yelling "Kya----"!!!

      • Sure enough, Maron scares Oshizu and Saki gets flung through the air onto Rito's face. Kyaaaa!
  • 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.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: To-Love-Ru Darkness may as well be subtitled "How can Yabuki sneak glimpses of the girls' vaginas past the censorship laws this month?" Quite possibly the most clever bit so far is when a panty-less Yami-chan is falling towards Rito's head. Rito's eyes look like they're just drawn with pupils, but zoom in some and you can see that the outline of them is actually... well.
  • Gilligan Cut - Risa invites/guilt trips Rito into going into her house for some coffee after he spent an entire day with her, largely against his will. He tries to decline and pull away from her, sort of mumbling/muttering, then cue next scene where they're both inside her house.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom - Yami is scary when she is under the effects of a Love Potion type device.
  • Girl Posse - Rin and Aya are Saki's mascots
  • The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Nana and Momo
  • Godiva Hair - Lala, also combined with Idiot Hair (that cute little spiral ahoge on her head); Yami too, Justified Trope, since for her, more hair means more weapons.
  • Goggles Do Something Unusual - in one chapter Rito dons a pair of X-ray glasses that somehow latch on to his head. This being To Love-Ru, of course, we get to see "Rito Vision" of various girls in their lingerie. At one point, he accidentally adjusts the intensity, which renders them totally nude after that.
    • He also gets some Fan Disservice, because those glasses allow to see through male clothing as well. Near the end, Rito somehow ended up under Run's groin, and she sneezes and transforms into Ren in which Rito commented 'has become something much worse' and he passed out.
  • 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.
  • Harem Anime
  • 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!"

  • Heroic Comedic Sociopath - Magical Girl Kyoko from the Show Within a Show acts like one. Her motto is "Whatever the problem is, I'll solve it by burning it," and she means it, too. When General Mojack is giving people afros, how does she solve it? By lighting their hair on fire.
  • Hopeless Suitor - As expected of Motemitsu-senpai! He'll be instantly and permanently rejected by any girl he approaches!
  • Hot Dad - Gid, before he shrunk himself.
    • Rito is one as well, if you count Celine as his daughter.
    • Rito's father Saibai certainly counts.
  • Hot Mom - Rito's mom Ringo. At least we know where Mikan gets her looks from.
    • And Rito for that matter.
    • Lala's mom is allegedly the hottest woman in the galaxy. It's more than just good looks; she has a possibly pheromone-based power she can't turn off that makes all males except for Gid ... and Rito ... go crazy with lust.
    • Subverted with Yui's mom. In Yui's teenage years her mother is pretty normal looks-wise, but when Yui was little she was much hotter.
    • Tearju Lunatique fits, being Yami's "mother".
    • Haruna's mom is finally shown in Darkness Chapter 54. This woman's elder daughter is already in college. (Dad doesn't look particularly fortyish, either.)
  • Human Aliens - All the important ones.
  • Hypocritical Humor - Lala admonishes her sisters for running away from home. Rito immediately lampshades the hypocrisy. The same scene repeats itself, pretty much verbatim, when Saki runs away from home and goes to Rito and Lala for help.
    • Risa claiming that teasing women is sexual harassment. The look on her face makes it seem like an Invoked Trope.
  • Idol Singer - Run becomes one, which is probably to the dismay of her alter ego Ren.
  • I Know Madden Kombat - When in the game world, Rito notices that "Knight class" Haruna's swordplay seems to derive from tennis techniques.
  • Improbable Weapon User - Haruna several times uses Rito as a weapon. A ridiculously effective one at that.
  • 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. Strangely, her sisters are not.
      • It's most likely that she is comfortable showing her body to people she likes (Rito and co), but people she doesn't are a whole other story.
    • Even Lala has limits, as shown when she once landed from a stumble, straddling Rito's face while wearing nothing but a jacket, giving Rito a full view of her lower half. Even she was embarrassed at that one.
  • 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.
    • In Darkness, Mikan mistakenly believes the same thing about Momo and Rito. It turns out that they're just playing a video game. Mikan even lampshades the familiarity of the scene. Of course, this being Momo (who notes she didn't sneak into Rito's bed "this time"), the innuendo probably wasn't so innocent at all.
  • Insignificant Little Blue Planet - Invoked by Gid when he threatens to destroy Earth.
  • 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. Rito and any of the aliens, for that matter.
  • 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 Ecchi 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 it's biologically possible. Ringo, on the other hand, should know better.
    • A bit of Fridge Brilliance leads to conclusion that she IS his daughter, his and Lala's to be more precise. After all he got Celine from Lala (as a plant) and then nurtured her until she bloomed and gave birth to little Celine-chan. Lala "impregnated" Rito with Celine, he nurtured her for the time of pregnancy and then Celine was born.
      • Well, Celine did call him Mama when she was born...
  • 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 Just Joking - As part of her charater development, Yui occasionally jokes about Rito's little moments instead of snapping at him as she usually does. Its only when she is in a really good mood though.
    • Subverted in a chapter of Darkness, when she waves off as a joke her implication that she would be willing to sleep with him if he only did it with her, when in truth she was completely serious.
  • I Was Quite a Looker - Old Honegawa-sensei after he gets sprayed by an alien youth-skunk.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold - Peke can be rather mean to Rito, although most likely she only picks at him because she wants the best for Lala and doesn't like Rito's indecisive nature.
  • Left Hanging - Due to Yabuki's messy divorce, the series "ended" with No Ending. Thankfully that was resolved and the series was restarted under the Darkness title (with slight protagonist shift to Demote Haruna to an Extra).
  • Legal Jailbait - Yami is 24 Earth Years Old... Fanboys, you can stop feeling bad about owning Doujinshis of her now.
  • Lens Flare Censor - Replaces Speech Bubble Censoring in the anime.
  • Lethal Chef - Lala; almost literally.
    • 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...
    • May have shades of Alien Lunch - many of Lala's failures in cooking are due to using Dark Matter, which is apparently Lala's favourite seasoning.
  • Limp and Livid
  • 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 7 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 Fan Service the anime is, this is quite a surprise, but only present in the broadcast version of the first season of the anime.
  • Magnetic Girlfriend - Lala; after she sets her sights on Rito, it sets off a chain reaction that sees the latter unwittingly gathering a Harem.
    • Literally in the manga (and the OVA), when a device made by Lala accidentally "glues" Rito's hand to her tail with a super-powerful magnet.
  • Marshmallow Dream: A variation. When Mikan crawls into Rito's bed to catch one of the other girls in the act of crawling into his bed while he's sleeping, he grabs her butt in his sleep and his mumblings hint that he is acting like he's grabbed the 'marshmallow'. When she pinches his cheek to have him release her, his response is to claim that the 'marshmallow bit him'.
  • 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 (she never does); he nearly gets suffocated and/or squashed multiple times.
  • Mars Needs Women
  • Master of the Mixed Message - Rito infrequently does this with his less potent suitors, like Nana and Yami.
  • Meaningful Name/Theme Naming - Lala and her family. Their second names come from different mythological/religious demons: Satalin = Satan, Velia = Belial, Asta = Astaroth, Lucion = Lucifer.
  • Meganekko - Mio and Aya, they like Scary Shiny Glasses though
  • Mega Neko: FROM SPACE!
  • The Men in Black - Zastin's assistants, Maul and Smutts, at least dress the part.
  • Moment Killer - Lots, though Rito-Haruna moments suffer the most
  • 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.
    • The Devilukeans are a warrior race, after all. It's just that the ones we always see are a trio of pampered teenage princesses. Not to mention the revelation that the Great Galactic War lasted for centuries (meaning it presumably started generations before any of the cast were born), which would imply that Gid actually saved countless lives by putting an end to it.
  • Naked People Are Funny - Oh, yes they are.
  • 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...episodes 4 & 6...that is all.
      • And episode 25, if you count plants.
      • There's also some that are part of the security system Zastin set up, in episode 5.
    • A repeated plot element in Darkness - Rito attempts to save Lala from one of her own inventions, and one of the new girls from an ambulatory plant; result, the tentacles grab his wrists and twist them into the girl's shirt and skirt. Aliens Made Them Do It.
    • This trope is very much a Running Gag in both the manga and the anime versions of the series.
  • 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.
  • Noblewoman's Laugh - In the anime. Just listen to Saki Tenjouin.
  • No Ending - Initially, Rito was never given an official relationship with anyone. Hopefully, Darkness will resolve this.
  • 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?"
    • Rito's hidden feelings for Haruna have sort of evolved into this. To Saruyama and Mikan (those that know him best or at the very least longest) his crush is painfully obvious. Risa, Mio, Mikado and Ringo are implied to know, or at least suspect, and as of Darkness Lala and Momo know all about it.
  • No Guy Wants an Amazon - Anime only.
  • Not Himself - A spray Run orders accidentally turns Haruna from sweet and innocent into a pure sadist. Turns into a Funny Aneurysm Moment, given what the real-life inspiration for Haruna turned out to be like.
    • And the time an alien cold virus makes Lala act shy and feminine, as opposed to her normal temperament.
  • 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 occurrence.
  • The Nudifier - Lala's personal teleporter has this as a side effect since for some reasons, it will only teleport the person. Any items they may be carrying, including clothes, are left behind. There's also a gas with the specific purpose of dissolving clothing, which Run uses occasionally. It always backfires on her, and fanservice ensues.
    • Later, Lala's attempt to fix this flaw in her teleporter fall rather short: it now allows some of the person's clothes to be teleported with them. As Rito notes, this isn't actually an improvement over being naked.
  • One Myth to Rule Them All - With the sole exception of the Cute Ghost Girl, everything can be explained by alien powers or technology.
  • 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 - Oshizu, although she does receive an artificial body.
  • Out-Gambitted - Mikan thought she was defeating Momo's intent to slip into the bath with Rito. She forgot that Momo wants Mikan to become part of Rito's harem, too. Momo seemed quite excited that Mikan was bathing with her brother....
  • Panty Shot - Primary method of Fan Service.
  • Parental Abandonment/Parents as People - Quite a few characters actually, but the most noticeable is Rito and Mikan's parents. Ringo has appeared only twice as she works overseas, and while it's implied they see Saibai more often, he's almost never at home (apparently living in his office). This was 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.
    • The long term effects of their parents' hands-off approach is actually explored somewhat in Darkness, and is cited as the reason that Mikan and Rito are so close. They had no one to rely on but each other.
    • Haruna and the Deviluke sisters voluntarily left their parents, the former to live with her sister so she could continue to go to school with her friends, and all the Devilukes ran away; Lala because she was being forced into a marriage, and the twins because they hated studying.
  • Perverse Sexual Lust - Mikan's incredibly sexed up for a grade schooler.
    • 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.
  • Playboy Bunny - At the start of the "Trouble Quest" arc, the Guild assigning "adventurers" their Character Class had a staff of Bunnies -- well, actually, multiple copies of one Bunny (there was also a Bunny on the sign outside the door). Then, when Yami shows up, she's been dressed as a Bunny as part of her character class. Yami, who hates anything Ecchi...
    • When Rito first suggested Lala should dress to blend in with Earth people, she had Peke transform, of course -- and kept copying inappropriate outfits: a businessman's clothing, a policewoman's uniform, a Bunny... That one led Rito to wonder in shock where she'd seen it.
  • 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 immediately come to mind. This is just the tip of the iceberg though...no, really.
    • Special mention goes to Peke.
  • Promotion to Parent - In a weird way, both Rito and Mikan promoted themselves to this role for each other in the face of their parents' long absences. It's much more noticeable in Mikan, who is generally more emotionally mature and takes care of the household chores, but Rito, especially in their younger years, looked after and protected Mikan. He continues to worry over her and goes the extra mile to make sure she's happy.
    • Celine's appearance may be a more literal for everyone involved, though Mikan especially.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: Lala, as a non-villainous example. If you think about it, she fulfills the traits: innocent, strong, very smart, often not considering the consequences of her actions and lacking common sense.
  • Relax-O-Vision - In the anime, Ren's training cuts out several times before different fights to show bathtime footage (of the girls, obviously), instead.
  • Robot Girl - Peke can turn into one.
  • RPG Episode - The manga's "Trouble Quest" arc.
  • Rule of Cute - Strange alien girls can become students at the school without any form of identification very easily, mostly because they're cute and the principal is a pervert.
  • The Runaway - Momo and Nana who ran away from their studies. Lala's of the Runaway Fiance variation.
  • 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 chagrin.
  • Scenery Censor - Lala has a spade-headed tail to go along with her Godiva Hair, meaning she can keep all her naughty bits covered and be stark naked. Of course, since Devilukean tails are erogenous zones, it's pretty much like she covers up her crotch with her breast.
  • 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".
  • Sequential Artist - Yuki's father who treats every page like a battle.
  • 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 14 of Darkness is a huge Ship Tease between Rito and Yami.
    • Chapter 36.5 of Darkness has a line of narration on the last page that calls Celine Rito and Mikan's daughter -- while Rito and Mikan sleep together again ... and he's having the Marshmallow Dream again, as well. Unlike the previous Marshmallow Dream occurrence, Mikan is asleep, too -- and appears to enjoy whatever she's dreaming while he unconsciously feels her up.
  • Shirtless Scene - Yui's brother's very first appearance was one.
    • Rito has had a few in his time, as well.
    • Zastin when he is possessed.
    • An episode in second season also showed naked Zastin, with just Scenery Censor for the bare minimum.
  • 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.
      • In a way, the series itself is a gigantic Shout-Out to Urusei Yatsura.
    • Let's not forget those Dragon Ball shout outs either, such as Lala changing into several different costumes from that series.
      • There's even a Dragon Ball reference in the first chapter.

Lala: Ah, even though I have a tail, it doesn't mean I'll transform when I look at the full moon.

    • 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.
      • Another fun fact: the chapters where Train's Expy appeared have titles that were lifted from two of Black Cat's episodes... particularly when Train saved Eve.
      • Fairly early in the manga, several of the cast go to sing karaoke at a place named Kuro Neko.
    • Look very closely at 92/9.html this page]].
    • During Episode 7 of "Motto To LOVE-Ru" (the second series), Peke is reading a manga with certain familiar characters on the cover. Currently both To LOVE-Ru and Mayoi Neko Overrun! (both drawn by Yabuki Kentaro) are published in Jump SQ. This could also be seen as a fourth wall breaker as the TL-R characters show up in the backgrounds of Mayoi Neko Overrun at least once per chapter, so Peke is reading a comic that has her fellow characters in it.
    • Rob appears as one of Lala's inventions in Chapter 10 of Darkness
  • Skinship Grope - Haruna's friend Risa tends to feel her and Lala (and any other girl present) 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 viewer will be hopelessly confused.
  • Sound Effect Bleep - An episode of the Show Within a Show Magical Kyoko in the manga portrayed Kyoko telling a fellow that in thanks for something nice he'd done, she'd "have XXX with you!" (He responded in shock, "Is that alright? This is a kid's show!")
  • Speaks Fluent Animal - Nana and Momo, Lala's twin little sisters, who can talk to animals and plants, respectively.
  • 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.
    • Rito towards Haruna in the beginning, at least a little. Enough that Saruyama teased Rito about it. He very quickly stops as he gets closer to her naturally.
  • 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."

    • The Tenchi Solution has actually been foreshadowed as early as of chapter 16, in which Rito, Lala and Haruna top a dare coming in first place. Rumor has it that the couple making it through the dare usually ends as a romantic couple.
    • As of 'Darkness' Momo is VERY aware of this trope regarding Rito and the girls. Her dream is to actually achieve this result with her taking an active approach.
  • Three Shorts: The format to Motto To Love Ru.
  • Title Drop - Rito's e-mail address seems to be Rito@ToLOVE. Its hard to tell the rest, but this should be enough to qualify.
    • The example listed under Fun with Acronyms.
    • May also happen rather often due to the multilingual pun of To Love Ru being pronounced the same as Trouble; Rito occasionally mentions how his days are filled with Trouble, ect.
  • Thanks for the Mammary - Which, for some reason, means a marriage pact in the anime.
  • 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 Harem.
    • Might be played straight when it's Yami for Lala, however.
  • The Tease - Risa, so very very much.
    • Momo's no slouch, either.
  • Token Mini-Moe - Mikan and Yami are clearly designed with this in mind. Nana and Momo also qualify, despite Momo being more developed then others.
  • Too Kinky to Torture - Sorta. See Episode 6 of the anime. Saruyama enjoys being "dissected" by Lala, and the principal asks for "more...more" after being tied up.
    • Also, when Haruna got sprayed with a personality-change drug, she made some nasty remarks about Saruyama ... and it turned him on.
  • Transformation Sequence - Lala's clothing bot Peke does this for her quite often, but it's thankfully skipped after the first few episodes.
    • In the OVA, Mikan of all people does this with Peke's help. She is totally surprised how Peke "forces" her to do the movements Lala normally does.
  • True Love's 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.
    • Saki and Yami in the anime finale: "I'm not doing this for you."
  • Twelve-Episode Anime - The second season, which is just as well as there likely weren't enough manga chapters left to adapt for a 26 episode season at the rate the Three Shorts format was burning through them.
  • 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 as more 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."
  • Unmoving Pattern - Prominent art design in Saruyama's Dream Sequence.
  • 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.
    • Even when Rito accidentally reveals to Haruna, Mio, Risa and Kenichi that Lala is an alien, none of them think it's any big deal. Aside from thinking that it's cool and explains a lot, they barely react. They're similarly nonchalant about discovering that Ren and Run are male and female personas of the same alien and that Yami is an alien shapeshifter. It soon becomes widely known that the characters are aliens, and nobody at all seems to mind.
  • Visual Innuendo - When Risa is playing with a cherry in Motto To Love Ru 10.
  • Welcome to Corneria - Parodied in chapter 93 of the manga.
  • Wise Beyond Their Years - Mikan, the most emotionally mature and level-headed member of the cast (though with this cast, that's not necessarily saying much, she is quite mature). Also the youngest.
  • X Meets Y: The Show is UFO Princess Valkyrie Meets Urusei Yatsura
  • 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.
    • Rito's (and his mother's, probably) red hair is unusual in Japan, except if he's descended from Scotland, and even there, red hair is damn rare (about 13 percent). But yes, it was Realistic
    • Haruna's hair is apparently black, though in most materials and colour pages, it's violet. Presumably, this also applies to Akiho, her Cool Big Sis.
  • Zettai Ryouiki - Lala's a nice Grade A example.

To Love Ru Darkness provides examples of:

  • Above the Influence - Averted, subverted and played straight in one sequence. During Yui's visit at Rito's, Momo tries to setup a special mood between them, which is seemingly about to be disrupted by their usual antics. She considers an aphrodisiac, but dismisses that thought as she feels it is not appropriate. Then Yui herself makes a move on Rito, but is basically shot down by Rito.
  • A Date with Rosie Palms - Semi-invoked with Momo, who looks like she's fighting off the urge to play with herself every time Rito gets into an ecchi situation.
    • She more or less gets away with this on-screen in one of extra chapters. How, you may ask? She's thinking about Rito while rubbing her tail. Despite not technically being masturbation, it gets the point across well enough, especially when Nana walks in on her.
  • Adored by the Publisher - It's almost unprecedented. To LOVE-Ru was doing bad on the polls but selling really well, then got ended with no resolution due to the lawsuit, and then, after the legal stuff was sorted out, it comes back in the monthly magazine to high sales and gets serialized in the other magazines in the SQ line simultaneously, meaning it is serialized three times at once. This totals 11 pages minimum per week overall, only 6 pages under the amount we'd get from a weekly serialization. Proof that if you want to continue something that sold well, the publishers will pull strings to get it back moving in full force.
  • Almost Kiss - Rito and Yui, who is wearing nothing but a shirt.
  • All Men Are Perverts - Traditionally.
  • Anchored Ship - Rito refuses to move forward with Lala until his feelings for Haruna are resolved. Presumably, this involves a confession.
  • A Worldwide Punomenon: Lala made another wacky invention. This one duplicates things -- or Rito. It's built into a robot cat she named "Nyan Nyan Copy-kun." That's right; she created a Copy Cat.
  • Breakout Character - Yami, though one can argue Momo's getting just as much the protagonist spotlight.
  • Call Back - One of the side chapters is about Haruna being turned into a cat and Rito petting and bathing her. The entire thing is a role reversed call back to a chapter in the original To Love Ru where Rito is turned into a dog and Haruna does the same. To drive the point home, Rito even remembers that time while bathing Haruna, not knowing it was her.
  • Character Development - If Yui and Yami are any indication, Darkness will have considerably more character development than the original.
  • Celibate Hero/Chivalrous Pervert - Apparently Rito has upgraded himself to these.
  • Crapsack World - Run and Ren's home planet Memorze has been revealed to be this. It's a planet where there are two suns, locking the planet in eternal day time. 80% of the planet is dry desert and the rest is also inhospitable, so much so that the dual-gender bodies evolved in order to help survival in a land with little food and water. Only trade with other planets has given the people relief.
  • Darker and Edgier - Faintly, in the sense that there is now an actual ongoing conflict revolving around Yami's backstory in addition to the harem antics.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen - Aside from the harem building, the other major driver of the story is Yami finally thawing from light ship teasing to fully accepting both Rito and her life on Earth.
    • Yui is also defrosting at an even quickier pace than before.
  • Date Peepers - Momo, Mea, Nana and Yami all travel in a group to follow Rito and Run on a date, though for different reasons. Yui also follows them, though we aren't shown her doing this until she and Nana burst out to interrupt the date
  • Did You Just Have Sex? - Nana seems to be about to ask this of Rito, though its more a case of Were You Just About To Have Sex?
  • Dude, She's Like, in a Coma - There are some serious rape undertones when Mea straddles a sleeping Rito and gives this comment:

Mea: If we join together, I might find out what kind of person you are ?

  • Expy:
  • Fetish - Darkness has shown us that some of the girls are developing these, particularly Mea who has shown great interest in licking, while Haruna is developing a fascination with bathing.
  • Genre Shift - The manga started out as a fairly standard harem where the only girls who actually had a chance of winning were Lala and Haruna. By the time of Chapter 14 in Darkness, it's combined multiple aspects of Black Cat (whereas it only had a few callbacks and Yami herself in the original series) and morphed into a modern Tenchi Muyo!, complete with a Tenchi Solution in the works (or at least with Momo actively scheming to make sure it's in the works).
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar - All kinds, every where.
  • Harem Seeker - An interesting inversion: Momo, one of the girls in Rito's Harem, wants to create the harem for him, with her in it, and pretty much every other female he has ever met.
  • Headbutt Thermometer - used by Rito to check Mikan's temperature in 8.5
  • Hotter and Sexier - Think the original was overloaded with Fan Service? Sorry, but Yabuki thinks otherwise.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming - Topic in English~A Flowery Description About Said Topic in Japanese~
    • The exception here is the first four chapters, which simply say the same thing twice, but with the same structure. The prologue chapter is an odd one out, using the title "ProloguePrologue and Activation".
  • If It's You It's Okay/Single-Target Sexuality - Momo, Mea, Lala and Haruna all mention how cute female Rito is. Momo and Mea even go as far as groping and licking his female form.
  • Imagine Spot - Momo has one of the heavily censored kind when she thinks of Rito. And multiple somewhat less censored ones of how she hopes things will turn out during Rito's time alone with various individual harem-candidates. The actual events are invariably tamer than what Momo is hoping for (though still very much NSFW thanks to his Accidental Pervert nature).
  • Innocent Innuendo - Yuuki Rito is a beast.
  • Long Lost Sibling - Yami has one, and she really wants Yami to kill Rito and come home. Complicated by the fact that she's also attracted to Rito.
    • Chances are they are not actual siblings, but someone who has the same abilities and similar origins. Since Yami is herself a clone, an actual sibling would most likely look identical to her.
  • Literal Split Personality: At the end of chapter nine Run goes through a metamorphosis that her species goes through when they reach adulthood. The result? Ren and Run are pulled apart from one another and they become two separate people. They're both absolutely thrilled by this development.
  • Man, I Feel Like a Woman - Unlike the first few times Rito got turned into Riko, in Darkness he decides to check himself out in a mirror and feel his breasts. He promptly decides that they'll just get in the way. Only he gets caught by Momo in the process, who tells him that if he wanted to experience the female form, he could have just asked her.
  • Not Himself: Rito in an extra chapter. Thanks to one of Momo's plants, he becomes a pervert and abuses Lala's inventions. He even agrees to the Harem Plan under its affects.
  • Pensieve Flashback - Mea induces something like it in chapter 3. May or may not have been influenced by the dream like state Rito was in at the time. Something was added on that we didn't see before though.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: It was stated from the beginning that Lala's father, King Gid, could be this. In Chapters 60 and 61, he fights Nemesis, who was created to be a weapon. Taking on everything thrown at him, he never quite looks bored, but he never looks at all worried, either. Nemesis later admits to a bit of embarrassment about how one-sidedly he defeated her.
  • Porn with Plot: Barely short of actual sex (Momo's fantasies REALLY push the envelope), the Fanservice in the sequel is so intense that in Taiwan it is outright slapped with an R18 sticker and sold in such sections.
  • Double Standard Rape (Sci Fi) - The rapist in question was being mind-controlled into doing it so she's not to blame. The one controlling her on the other hand... Fortunately, Momo was on hand to beat the perpetrator within an inch of her life, before turning her over to Zastin to be imprisoned.
  • Double Standard Rape (Female on Male) - Rito would like to object.
    • In one short during episode 10 Season 2, Risa continually forces Rito to hang out with her, and then eventually guilt trips him into walking her home, then going into her room. She then forces herself on him, but Rito is clearly uncomfortable during this entire ordeal. Risa later sends him a text that she's willing to do anything with him, and tries to pass off the entire event as "killing time", but it seems perhaps she's starting to fall for him too...
  • Selective Obliviousness - Rito clearly does this about his new batch of Harem (see Chivalrous Pervert above).
  • Serial Escalation- While the original was Fanservy enough, every chapter of Darkness seems to be trying to top itself. with the way things are going, very few people are going to be surprised if somebody ends up getting screwed silly.
  • Serious Business - Momo really wants to get herself and just about every other girl she knows laid by the same dude. She has intricate plans and strategies to achieve this.
    • Justified because if she does it right, Rito becomes the emperor of the known universe and all conflict is averted. If she fails, competition between haremettes could literally tear the universe's political stability apart with succession crises and such. Oh, and she's horny.
      • On the other hand, her plan succeeding could create its own succession crisis, given that it could easily result in dozens of half-siblings with a claim to the throne.
      • Depends. If the succession continues to be through Lala, then only the children she bears would be claimants.
  • Sexy Shirt Switch: Invoked Trope by Momo, switching a tracksuit for Yui (at Rito's house) for only one long-sleeved shirt.
  • Shipper on Deck - Momo's trying to create a harem for Rito, after all. She appears to be considering each and every female except Peke and his Mom as a love interest.
    • Lala also fully supports Rito/Haruna, with the added twist that she is hoping that it'll lead to Rito/Haruna/Lala.
    • Risa seems to be pushing for the Rito/Lala ship, and has been nothing but helpful to Lala in trying to get them together, albeit in her own way.
      • Mio too.
    • Nana is the edge of this when it comes to Rito/Lala and Rito/Haruna.
    • Mikan appears to want Rito/Lala, considering she keeps chastising Momo for coming on to Rito, saying that it'll make Lala upset. However, this could also be due to her own jealousy.
    • Yuu wants Rito/Yui, although he is sympathetic to Rito's trouble-filled life.
    • Saruyama has often helped to encourage the Rito/Haruna ship.
  • So Beautiful It's a Curse: Lala's mother, Sephie Michaela[1] Deviluke, is supposedly the most beautiful person in the universe. She's not of the Deviluke people by birth, but is the last of the Charmians, whose beauty causes uncontrollable infatuation in the opposite sex. This isn't just her saying it; it's apparently a matter of well-known record. According to Peke, the Great Galactic War Lala's father put an end to began as a quarrel over another Charmian. Queen Sephie has to wear a veil whenever she's around males of whatever species, to tone it down. As Nana realizes, the stage is set for one of Rito's little moments....
  • Super-Powered Ecchi Side: When the "Darkness" Nemesis talked about takes over Yami's mind, her costume turns Stripperific and she now enjoys Rito accidentally giving her a wedgie. And she explicitly says she loves him ... and is going to kill him as an act of love.
  • Too Hot for TV: Still managed to get adapted into a TV series, despite the Hotter and Sexier elements.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Several characters, but Rito took this in terms of personality instead, what with his being a legitimate Chick Magnet instead of the whiny Hot-Blooded Harem Hero we knew. Basically, when he's serious, either him or someone badass will hammer the plot. Probably heading for Archer?
  • Umbrella of Togetherness: On the cover of Volume 3. Amusingly, the other name is scribbled out leaving only Rito's name legible.
  • When She Smiles: Yami's big pleased smile is unexpected but definitely not unwelcome.
  • Why'd It Have To Be Dogs: Oshizu really does not like dogs, although they usually seem to like her.
  • Xanatos Speed Chess - A minor one developing between Mea and Momo and it's a race to see whether the latter's "Harem Plan" will prevail or whether Yami will make do on her promise to kill Rito.
  1. ↑ This name is either a weird coincidence or a Shout Out to the 1632 series, in which Michael Stearns' daughter Sepharad is nicknamed "Sephie." If it is a coincidence, "Sephie" was probably derived from "seraph," and "Michaela," of course, from the archangel.
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