(L) To Love-ru -Trouble- Darkness [manga]

[Soraya21]

Pretty much what Freeter said. Though I did find it pretty peculiar that Haruna still remains more at the forefront of Rito's mind and that he's dealing with Lala's half of the situation in how it relates to her. I thought that by the first end of the series he'll be a bit more evenly split between the two, but I guess not.

[Shinji103]

Maybe I just missed it being pointed out here in the thread, but I don't think it's been said how Momo pointed out an interesting fact: Yami's favorite earth-food is taiyaki, and Rito was the one who first gave her that food way back when they first met.

[blooglah24]

Originally Posted by Xagzan

One thing in this chapter I didn't fully get was when Rito was in the tub, and he said he didn't want to treat his relationship with Lala as insurance without getting closure first. What did he mean? The wording seemed a bit strange to me. Was he saying he currently is treating it that way?

With the way things are set up now, it's almost like Rito is treating Lala as some kind of backup plan in case things with Haruna don't work out. Of course Rito, being the traditional guy that he is, doesn't like this perception and wants to just concentrate on a single relationship. He's basically saying that he feels it's pretty messed up that he's still harboring this intense crush for Haruna when he's already confessed to Lala and made his feelings for her pretty clear.

At the same time, he doesn't want to have any regrets which is why he's debating whether or not to confess to Haruna. If he does confess to her, he can at least say he did it and gain closure for their relationship in order to concentrate on Lala. Remember that confessing to Haruna doesn't necessarily mean that they're gonna start going out or something. He could always say something along the lines of, "I've had this crush on you for the longest time but I've already committed myself to another relationship, sooo....." and have that be the end of it.

Though Momo has made it clear that she has other plans for Rito's love life.

Originally Posted by Soraya21

Pretty much what Freeter said. Though I did find it pretty peculiar that Haruna still remains more at the forefront of Rito's mind and that he's dealing with Lala's half of the situation in how it relates to her. I thought that by the first end of the series he'll be a bit more evenly split between the two, but I guess not.

It's not so much that Haruna is at the forefront of his thoughts as much as it is that he's barely made any progress with her. With Lala, there's not much else to think about as they're already pretty much a couple. He's confessed to her and they've been living together for the longest time.

With Haruna, there hasn't been all that much change in their relationship since the beginning of the manga and he's hardly gotten anywhere with her. Unless you count seeing her naked a couple dozen times as progress.

So it makes sense that he's gonna be spending more time thinking about how to deal with his relationship with her as opposed to Lala's, which is pretty set.

[Xagzan]

I think that all makes sense. Well, whenever I see Rito and Lala alone together, whether towards the end of the first series or even this chapter alone, I'm thinking "Cmon Rito, show her you love her. Take her on a date or something." Seriously, harem aside, even with Lala alone he's a lucky son of a bitch.

[Used Can]

The problem is that Rito, no matter how tolerant he may be, still is your typical shōnen main character who is normal, wants a normal life and wants to keep things that way. This is a big issue, because Lala is by no means normal. Sure, he's already made it clear he does love her, but Haruna still represents the type of girl he believes is ideal for him. Of course, it doesn't have to be Haruna herself. Any girl with that type of personality will do, as it was shown back in the first series when Lala caught a cold.

[Kanon]

Hopefully, Momo will be able to open his eyes and offer him a new perspective on love. God, I would kill to get his harem. Whatever happens, I just hope he'll able to make up his goddamn mind in this series.

[wingman32x]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Hopefully, Momo will be able to open his eyes and offer him a new perspective on love. God, I would kill to get his harem. Whatever happens, I just hope he'll able to make up his goddamn mind in this series.

Yeah his Harem is amazing. Aside from the obvious physical reasons, they're also all very likeable characters. It's one of the few series where I actually SUPPORT a harem ending, instead of tolerating or hating the idea. I just don't want to see a girl lose in this series.

[Von Himmel]

I just don't want to see a girl lose in this series.

Yep, even Haruna Actually, she's my favourite girl at the start of the series
.....then her position got easily replaced by Kotegawa...

[blitz1/2]

I wonder if we'll see more "dark" plots, maybe bring some more factors from Black Cat or something. xD

[Xagzan]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Hopefully, Momo will be able to open his eyes and offer him a new perspective on love. God, I would kill to get his harem. Whatever happens, I just hope he'll able to make up his goddamn mind in this series.

At least he finally knows that other girls like him, although Momo didn't really tell him who. But it would be nice to see him acting like he cared about Lala more often, acting like a couple, even though his love for her is obviously a more subtle one than his one for Haruna. Because no matter how much of a nice guy he is, I'll be pissed if he never shows Lala that he does care.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

Maybe I just missed it being pointed out here in the thread, but I don't think it's been said how Momo pointed out an interesting fact: Yami's favorite earth-food is taiyaki, and Rito was the one who first gave her that food way back when they first met.

If nothing else I know it's been commented on and discussed back when the first series was being released.

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Hopefully, Momo will be able to open his eyes and offer him a new perspective on love. God, I would kill to get his harem. Whatever happens, I just hope he'll able to make up his goddamn mind in this series.

I guess he is one of the more enviable protagonists right now, huh?

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by blitz1/2

I wonder if we'll see more "dark" plots, maybe bring some more factors from Black Cat or something. xD

I hope so. Tearju NEEDS to appear at some point. A Sven cameo would be cool too, however, it might be a bit too much. If he just keeps introducing characters from BC, he might as well just make a sequel for that manga.

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

I guess he is one of the more enviable protagonists right now, huh?

Yes. Yes, he is. Seriously, To Love-ru 's harem is one the best I've ever seen. There isn't a single girl in it I dislike.

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Yes. Yes, he is. Seriously, To Love-ru 's harem is one the best I've ever seen. There isn't a single girl in it I dislike.

There are harems where you don't like a girl? Usually every girl is likable. I can't think of a harem where I dislike a girl.

[Freeter]

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

I can't think of a harem where I dislike a girl.

I can. *points at Nishino and Suzuka*

[Used Can]

To be honest, I tend to actually dislike harems. I've got nothing against the idea of polygamy, but I'd rather have proper romantic development, than a lot of girls with no meaningful romantic development and a lot of comedy (which tends to be pretty much similar, in most harems). Not to mention that, even though these are harem stories, they rarely have harem ends. In fact, harem ends are rather rare in harem stories. They usually end with the girl who was rather obvious at the very beginning, or they have no resolution at all.

As for dislikeable girls in harem stories, yes, there are, plenty.

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by Freeter

I can. *points at Nishino and Suzuka*

*GASP*

Originally Posted by Used Can

To be honest, I tend to actually dislike harems. I've got nothing against the idea of polygamy, but I'd rather have proper romantic development, than a lot of girls with no meaningful romantic development and a lot of comedy (which tends to be pretty much similar, in most harems). Not to mention that, even though these are harem mangas, they rarely have harem ends. In fact, harem ends are rather rare in harem stories. They usually end with the girl who was rather obvious at the very beginning, or they have no resolution at all.

As for dislikeable girls in harem stories, yes, there are, plenty.

Well, some series have harem elements but aren't exactly harems like TLR. If every female is endearing to the protagonist and two or more girls have romantic feelings, it's counted as a harem (see Suzuka). There are harem series where there is an actual plot and development in all of the comedy, like Love Hina. And then there is a rare one that is perfect on all counts, like Umi no Misaki.

I think we need a topic for this. I am going to see if there already is one, if not, make it. So hold your replies.

EDIT: I made a topic, couldn't find an already existing one, so yeah.

[Soraya21]

Originally Posted by blooglah24

It's not so much that Haruna is at the forefront of his thoughts as much as it is that he's barely made any progress with her. With Lala, there's not much else to think about as they're already pretty much a couple. He's confessed to her and they've been living together for the longest time.

I see. Everything makes a bit more sense from this angle. Kudos to you, man.

Originally Posted by Used Can

To be honest, I tend to actually dislike harems. I've got nothing against the idea of polygamy, but I'd rather have proper romantic development, than a lot of girls with no meaningful romantic development and a lot of comedy (which tends to be pretty much similar, in most harems).

Ah yes, the good ol' cop-out reason for what many may consider them to be. I myself am kinda split between the two. It's nice to have your girl 'win' in the end, but at the same time, the series as a whole can become less interesting if the focus is set on a heroine you don't particularly like.

Harem endings usually happen sometime around the end of a series as a consequence of the hero's indecisiveness/the heroines willingness to share. Though I think Darkness is pretty unique in that it's so very open and blatant about it right from the get go. Whether this series actually ends in a harem or not doesn't matter to me. It's really the unique situations that can be created from this type of scenario that I'm looking forward to enjoying.

[Used Can]

Originally Posted by Soraya21

It's nice to have your girl 'win' in the end, but at the same time, the series as a whole can become less interesting if the focus is set on a heroine you don't particularly like.

It's not necessarilly about the story focusing on a girl I don't like. There may be a harem in which I like all girls, but I'll still find it annoying if it's obvious the girl the MC saw first will be the blatant end. Of course, there may be exceptions if one girl in particular is the soul of the story, like Himari in Omamori Himari, for example.

Originally Posted by Soraya21

Whether this series actually ends in a harem or not doesn't matter to me. It's really the unique situations that can be created from this type of scenario that I'm looking forward to enjoying.

In TLR, I think there's been good development for a good amount of girls. The focus could be distributed a lot better, rather than focusing on Lala and Haruna, though. At the same time, my main issue with TLR is Rito's attitude. We've got a good amount of girls getting well developed, but Rito barely even changes. Even if he knows there's many girls who like him (apparently, he does), he shows no particular interest on any girl other than Haruna. I believe that was okay for the first part of the series, but after all this much development for all these girls, I believe he should start noticing them as well. Some of them, at the very least. Of course, one could say he said he loved Lala, but he doesn't really show it. In fact, when he said for the first time he loved Lala (i.e. when Momo and Nana showed up for the first time) I found it really weird. I mean, they sure were together for quite some time and had got closer, but Rito had never really shown any serious interest in her. So, I think this is something Hasemi should work on.

[Xagzan]

Originally Posted by Used Can

It's not necessarilly about the story focusing on a girl I don't like. There may be a harem in which I like all girls, but I'll still find it annoying if it's obvious the girl the MC saw first will be the blatant end. Of course, there may be exceptions if one girl in particular is the soul of the story, like Himari in Omamori Himari, for example.


In TLR, I think there's been good development for a good amount of girls. The focus could be distributed a lot better, rather than focusing on Lala and Haruna, though. At the same time, my main issue with TLR is Rito's attitude. We've got a good amount of girls getting well developed, but Rito barely even changes. Even if he knows there's many girls who like him (apparently, he does), he shows no particular interest on any girl other than Haruna. I believe that was okay for the first part of the series, but after all this much development for all these girls, I believe he should start noticing them as well. Some of them, at the very least. Of course, one could say he said he loved Lala, but he doesn't really show it. In fact, when he said for the first time he loved Lala (i.e. when Momo and Nana showed up for the first time) I found it really weird. I mean, they sure were together for quite some time and had got closer, but Rito had never really shown any serious interest in her. So, I think this is something Hasemi should work on.

He didn't say he loved her then, he said he "probably liked her." He only really said at the end of the whole thing, but yeah, even then the maximum extent of his feelings for Lala that we see are only when he's thinking about them. Which isn't gonna be good enough anymore.