To LOVE-Ru OVA

To Love-Ru OVAs are just a whole lot better than the TV-series. At least from an ecchi enthusiast's point of view. Why so? I'm here to tell you.

First of all, there are many good insider jokes, since it is supposed, that you already know the characters and the main plot lines. Such humor wasn't quite yet awailable until the very latest of the TV episodes, as the characters were still pretty much unknown to the audience. So, even when the plot still contains random outcomes (always leading to ecchi scenes, though) for various random reasons, the scenario gained many new and fun details.

Secondly, the characters ... themselves have improven, gaining new experience. Rito grows temporary breasts and sees the world through the eyes of a dog, his younger sister gets a new face when she reveales the first signs of puberty (although she already acts more mature than the rest), Lala's cute, caring side is shown more closely through her change of personality and her sister twins were a great addition to the Devilukian saga. So now, after their debute, I can't wait for the next season season to come. And it is coming - Motto To Love-Ru!

The third point is, there is no needless censure, at least in the version I saw. The TV-series contained a great deal of "fog" and other unfitting things, like sunshine, used for that. This no kid's show anyway, whether it's censured or not, I'm pretty sure you agree to my point of view (only if you're not a kid yourself ;) ). And there were no more ugly aliens, which spoiled my fun before, only the cute ones were there, like Justin and Lala's dad (he's an awesome character, third place on my list after Lala and Yami, which is REALLY high ranked). These are the reasons why my enjoyment rose significantly.

So, if you've watched the first season of To Love-Ru, but haven't seen the OVAs yet, watch them at once! You will not be disappointed.

"Magical Kyouko-kun! Solves any problem by burning it..."

Story: In terms of the material chosen for the episodes. I thought they picked pretty good chapters to animate. Ones that fans would appreciate watching. No episodes entirely of filler (For the most part) not based on the Manga like the actual series. Just going to give some quick (Except 3 and 6) thoughts on each episode.

Episode 1: This is where Rito turns into a girl, chapter 100. A good place to start. I didn't have a problem with the episode, it was a pretty good adaptation of the chapters.

Episode 2: Mikan feels a bit neglected because Rito spends a lot of time with Lala. ... I liked the way this episode was handled and thought it was a good pick. Just one of those awwwww kind of episodes. Well, if you ignore the ecchi that is.

Episode 3: This was the downfall of this Ova. This is the Revenge of the Fallen, the Endless Eight. I mean, the filler from the last series was bad but not this bad. So everyone gets to go to Saki's beach house and Rito swaps places with Haruna's dog, Maron. Most of the episode is just ecchi stills. Does Rito change back? What's Maron been doing in Rito's body? Who is Eric Cartman's father? None of these questions are addressed. I know To-Love-Ru is part of the ecchi genre but this is just bad. This episode was a big waste of time and a terrible pick for part of what might be the last adaptation of To-Love-Ru. I should also point out that this was supposed to be the last Ova episode until 3 more were announced so originally this was the final episode. Yuck...

Episode 4: Everyone gets stuck in an Rpg game. A great choice because I thought it was pretty well done and it's a memorable story from the Manga. For whatever reason, I had to laugh at Rito's first use of his watering can. This bit was nothing amazing humor-wise but it was just funny to me at the time. Good episode.

Episode 5: It basically gives you an introduction of Lala's sisters. I didn't like it as much as 2 or 4 but I'm sure many fans wanted to see an episode based on Momo and Nana and they got it.

Episode 6: Okay, if you read my review of the previous series, I said that instead of stretching out one story using filler to fill 20 minutes or just making original filler episodes not based on the Manga, the studio should've went with a Full Metal Panic Fumoffu approach where they do multiple stories/chapters in one episode since some of To-Love-Ru's stories are one chapter long. Here it is, we got 3 different chapters in one episode. None of it felt rushed to me and I thought this format definitely worked. Why didn't they do this for the last series? It certainly would've been much better because no one likes bad filler especially for a series of mostly filler anyway. I believe the studio had more than enough material at the time to not resort to original filler. One-chapter stories use this format and should a story need 20+ minutes, do that. Anyway, I'm going to say it's a good episode. I remember these chapters and they were well adapted.

Art: They went for a lot more ecchi. They revealed a lot more which kind of reminds me of the Love Hina Again episodes and how different they were from the original series in terms of ecchi-ness. I honestly don't care for ecchi but because it's To-Love-Ru, it's got to be there. Beyond that I thought the episodes looked great compared to the last series. Sometimes it would look a bit... not good but I thought they went a level higher on the animation for some of these episodes.

Sound: I liked the opening song, didn't care much for the ending. I believe the background tracks were the same for the last series but don't quote me on that. I didn't keep track of the background music for this series since I didn't like too many of the songs. No problem with the voice actors as usual. Thought they did a great job and I liked Momo and Nana's voices.

Character: Just good enough. Episode 2 brought in a side of Mikan we didn't really see before. It wasn't out of nowhere and I can see why she would feel this way. Go character development. Last part of episode 6 was another one of those aww kind of moments brought on by Lala and it was really the only part of these 6 episodes that focused on her. If they needed a chapter that focused on Lala, this was a good one. Also Celine makes an appearance which was nice to see. Lala's sisters aren't my favorite characters but I certainly don't dislike them and understand why they do what they do so no complaints on their arrival. There weren't many changes to the other characters so I'll leave it at that.

Enjoyment: One point higher than the first series sounds good. Other than 3, I liked the episodes well enough. When compared to the first series, this one was far better in quality. I really liked seeing episode 6 use multiple chapters and if there is a second actual season, I'd like to see more episodes like this and less bad filler. Can't use lack of material as an excuse this time.

Overall: If this was generally speaking, 8 is very generous. This definitely does not rival some of the other series that I rated at 8. I gave it an 8 for what it is. To-Love-Ru is nothing amazing as it is a mostly ecchi Anime and that's not really my thing despite how many I've watched but if they focused on the character interactions more and the relationship-driven chapters I think it would work out as a decent ecchi-comedy barring the Manga ending. That was terrible but most could see it coming. Would I recommend this series? Just to people who go for the ecchi stuff. I wouldn't recommend this to people who like comedy as it isn't that funny. It's also not a general series I'd tell others to watch either sadly but I liked the Manga well enough. If there was an actual second season, I'd watch it.

Thank you for reading my review. Feedback would be greatly appreciated. Hope this helped.

Before you click Unhelpful because of the low score read the review and judge based on helpfulness. It's not Agree/Disagree it's Helpful/Unhelpful.

To LOVE-Ru OVA:
I watched this after the TV Series To LOVE-Ru. The first thing I noticed was the increase in ecchi scenes. If you enjoy ecchi, than you will be quite happy with this OVA. Also the source I watched included a lot less censorship which again should be a positive for anyone who loves ecchi.

The characters are similar to the series and continue to be entertaining. The characters in my opinion are one of the best features of the ... show, I really enjoy their antics and the situations they end up in.

The art and sound are on par with the TV series. I didn't care as much for the Opening in the OVA but the Ending theme was great. The voice actors were the same, and they fit the roles pretty well in my opinion. Sound effects and the art style were fulfilling to the overall experience but didn't stand out as anything spectacular.

But let me get to the reason why I scored the OVA so low.

First off, all I know about the To LOVE-Ru universe is what I've seen in the series. The OVA makes the assumption that individuals have read parts of the manga. There are a couple additions and changes to characters that isn't explained. I felt instead of making that assumption it would of been easy to explain changes using a very short 1 or 2 min comedic flashback to for the uninformed audience.

The third episode is Awful. I don't mind ecchi (otherwise I wouldn't be watching this) BUT about 12 minutes of the 3rd episode is a series of pictures in the style of a slideshow with music playing in the background. Something I could do in 5 minutes using any photo manager. What's worse is they try to have a story they don't really do anything with it. Considering there are only 6 episodes total, that's a big knock against the OVA.

Finally: I scored the OVA so low because the 6th episode is wonderful. Confused? Let me explain. The 6th episode is split into 3 mini stories. Each story takes about 5 to 8 minutes and there was just the right mix of story, comedy, ecchi, and enjoyment. It was great. The problem is because the 6th episode was done so well, it shows how inferior the other 5 episodes are. It shows the true potential of To LOVE-Ru. I felt robbed of an enjoyable OVA and had to put up with 5 mediocre/crappy episodes and one outstanding episode.

A score of 5 might be a little harsh but for how good the 6th episode is the 3rd episode cancels it out with how bad it is. That leaves the 4 remaining mediocre episodes. Hence the mediocre score.

Conclusion:
This OVA had a lot of potential and falls short. But If you were a fan of the TV Series I would still recommend watching this show. The characters continue to be amusing and if you are a fan of Ecchi, this OVA should be enjoyable for you. But if you are expecting anything meaningful here, you should probably just pass this up and look for something different.

*Edit 9/15/2011* just saw that in my Anime List I gave it a 6 not a 5. Changed the overall score here. Guess I was trying to be too harsh haha.

It's pretty much more of the same, and the episodes in this OVA could have fit in just about anywhere in the series. If you liked the original you will surely like this. Although this is much more heavy on fanservice, if that is even possible. They have a whole episode devoted to still and pans of all the female characters in swimsuits, there is even a subplot of Rito becoming a dog, but it gets ignored in favor of more fanservice. Over all, its not a bad OVA to watch, but if you expecting a continuation of the anime's storyline you are barking up ... the wrong tree.

Like all OVAs that Ive watched so far this is basically made for the fans.. it really just is complete randomness that.. since I havent read the manga.. I found funny just simply because of the silly situations..

Let me describe a couple of the episodes for you if youre wondering if its worth taking the time to watch...

The first ep.. Is the gender-bender.. its sort of funny.. I think people who like to watch the gender bender scenarios would probably love this..

The second ep is basically all about Mikan.. Which is a really good plot for a single OVA.. its basically about her growing up.. ... but realizing shes not grown.. This maybe the ONLY To Love Ru ep Ive ever seen that actually dealt with mildly emotional and structured plots lol...

The third is the resort ep.. this one is purely for the fans of the girls.. There is absolutely no plot here.. no story.. nothing.. I would say its about 12 minutes of just gravure scenes .. of like an idol IV... is it worth watching? well YES! .. if you liked the girls of course..

The fourth ep is the RPG episode.. and the introduction of Lala's twin sisters that she mentions in season 2 but you never see.. I found this episode hillarious.. I love it when anime incorperates RPG themes.. I laughed everytime they "leveled" up.. and the status screen would pop-up.. This one is probably the best to watch of the group also for a LITTLE bit of relationship development.. I think I should just say that.. because I really dont want to spoil it..

The art was great.. the music was pretty good.. all in all.. it pretty much stuck to the randomness of the Seasons 1 and 2... but these are definately made with the fan in mind.. I hope you enjoy!

Hmmmm..... How can anyone sum up what occurs in To Love-Ru OVA, breasts.
One episode is about the manga part with Rito transforming into a girl named, Riko. Though like the manga, The Riko saga is short and only one episode. Overall it is good, if you enjoyed the series and manga, you will definitely watch the OVA too

they nailed it. this is what the anime should have been like, animating actual chapters from the manga, with filler only there to add to the story and bridge gaps that are made due to taking things WAY out of order, and it manages to do it all well.

for the most part the characters are the exact same as they were in the manga, the parts form the manga they animated were more or less all one off chapters with no real development in them at all, so its perfect to pick up and watch.

the only fault that i found in this was ... episode 3, compared to the other 5 this one was realy lacking and felt like it had no conclusion, it was only a fan service episode. but even that didnt make me not want to watch the rest like the first season did after 3 episodes.

i recommend this to everyone who loved to-love-ru, but was severely disappointed with the first anime. this is what we were hoping for.

Be sure to watch this OVA so you can keep up with the story of To Love-Ru!

Story: Not too much to say here, it's just six episodes - some of these episodes have no real plot to them. Others do though and appear to be important to the story of To Love-Ru. It was pretty enjoyable.

Art: I think in this OVA there's actually a slight improvement in the artwork. I could be wrong though, but if you read this review and agree with me, let me know.

Sound: No real difference in the sound, it's just fine.

Characters: Even more characters have been added to the series, ... and already existing ones have gotten a bit more interesting too.

Overall Enjoyment: For all the things To Love-Ru lacks, it still makes me laugh more than any other series has in a long time. So, it's pretty high on the scale of enjoyability.

And so, next is Motto To Love-Ru!

A bit of a Preamble:

I think the first thing to mention here should be the unfortunate state of these episodes. As of writing this, there is no legitimate streaming service anywhere, Japan or otherwise, that has these 6 episodes; if you want to watch them, the only legal means of doing so is by purchasing the Japanese home video discs second hand. Of course, that's much more difficult/expensive outside of Japan, but is possible via Japanese proxy purchasing sites, just keep in mind there are no subs for them.

This is obviously a bummer on its own, but making it worse is the fact that Motto ... To Love-Ru, the actual sequel season to the first season, heavily involves characters that appeared in these episodes and frequently refers to events that occurred within them with no context for anyone who hasn't seen them.

With that out of the way; my opinions.

If you're watching To Love-Ru, I'm going to assume you're watching it for the fanservice, or at least initially came to it for that. If you were looking for more, you're going to be extremely pleased. The fanservice has been cranked up to absurd levels and is damn near constant. Think of any risque situation that happened in the first season, and make it twice as lewd. Fully exposed butts and breasts are everywhere, characters are fully nude in every episode, and no character is safe from it. If that's your thing, this show is what you want.

And it's enhanced thanks to the much better art and animation quality of these episodes. Everything overall looks much cleaner and more colorful, and this is most prevalent in the character design. All the characters have had their designs tweaked a bit, and look much better over the first season. They did give them a...cuter? I guess?...design, so it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I feel it suits the show much better. It's not on the same level as Motto in my opinion, but it's a definite improvement over the more dated look of the first season and still holds up well.

Everything else about the show is pretty much what you would expect from OVA's of an ecchi series. Plot is non-existent outside of the basic setup of the events occurring in each episode. It's just there to facilitate the copious amount of fanservice you'll be getting. That said, unlike the first season which only loosely followed the manga, these episodes apparently do a better job of following chapters from the source, so there is that. However, at times this works to viewers who didn't read the manga's detriment as there are some references to the manga with no context for those unfamiliar, such as one of the new characters, Celine, who just sort of randomly appears with no back story or explanation at all. Due to the lighthearted nature of the show this doesn't really have that big of an impact, but it does lead to some confusion.

I honestly was torn when it came to whether or not I recommend these OVA. The biggest factor against me recommending them is the sheer difficulty of just being able to watch them. Simply obtaining them requires a good bit of work that the average person outside of Japan likely wouldn't want to deal with, especially for a show that can't be understood unless you are fluent in Japanese. But at the end of the day, even if you can't understand what's being said, the lack of a serious plot and the fact that the show is hyper-focused on fanservice means you don't don't necessarily need to understand it to get what you're looking for out of it, and for how solid the fanservice is, I do think it's worth the trouble if you're a fan of the series.