I'm a huge fan of ecchi anime, yet I had the audacity to never have watched To Love Ru. After many, many years of delay, I decided to watch it, and this great journey has finally come to an end.
I must admit I had a lot of preconceived notions. As I mentioned, I'm an ecchi fan, and therefore, I'm very demanding. I hate it when they belittle my favorite genre, saying it's just fanservice with no story. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ecchi is a genre full of great stories with immortal characters and extraordinary adventures.
That's why it bothers me when some authors truly forget the plot and misuse the genre's name. Honestly, when I read the synopsis of To Love Ru, I thought it was one of those types of anime, so I refused to watch it.
I was very wrong. I should have known from the sheer number of episodes and OVAs.
To Love Ru isn't an anime with a complex story or electrifying plot twists. Rather, it's a psychological anime that plays with the emotions, feelings, and desires of its characters.
To Love Ru is a psychological anime, disguised as comedy, presenting desires of love (like all the girls have for Rito), forbidden desires (infidelity, incest, among other perversions), friendship (the great devotion among them), and a complex universe (stories that could well be spinoffs or prequels in the style of Star Wars, complex alien cultures, etc.).
In To Love Ru, everyone has a forbidden desire they try to justify. There's depth in each character's backstory, which is revealed slowly, leaving loose ends for potential continuations.
It's surprising how there's a huge cast of female characters (as in any harem), and all receive attention, a story, and a personality worthy of them.
All this is told through a comedy anime, easy to understand but for mature audiences only.
It's an anime that plays with the viewer's moral principles because of the many perversions it discusses. But everything, being presented in a digestible manner, makes you stop judging and start enjoying.
I can't help but recommend this great anime. A grand saga. A true work of art in anime. That's why it's a classic.
THE GOOD: Handling of deep psychological plots under the guise of a light comedy anime.
THE BAD: Rito's indecisiveness always bothered me. All characters mature from the first episode to the end, but he, although he changes, it's very little.
THE AMAZING: It's the anime that best manages many characters while preserving the essence of each one. I bid a sad farewell to Princess Momo, Golden Darkness, Mea, Mikan, Lala, Kotegawa, and so many others who will always remain in my heart as a fan.
