VOL. 3
Daakunesu Surii
9 –
Metamorphose
the group spying...
Not a bad
chapter at all, I actually felt compelled to keep reading it and find out what
was the underlying reason for Run’s visit and her reactions. The ecchi scenes are limited to a few shorter
pages, yet they have gone, once again, much further than before, and I’m almost
tempted to call it hentai now, especially with Momo’s daydream in the scene at
the park… Yami’s facial expressions was
hilarious, and similarly for her dialogue and also Nana’s dialogue, some good
one-liner humour there. Momo isn’t as
annoying in this chapter, and her plan, for some reason, sounds more plausible
and better in this chapter. The
atmosphere was handled perfectly, with the sentimental and ‘deep feeling’
scenes mixed with some light humour from Momo’s group complementing each other
really well. We also get to learn more
about Run, although by the time I got near the end, and a few pages before it
was about to happen, I anticipated what would happen and I was right, it was
confirmed when Run started glowing. The
author had hinted it throughout the chapter, with the characters saying it was
a problem etc, Run has permanently separated with Ren. I thought this was kinda a cheap solution, as
I do think Run and Ren as one is the ‘correct’ one, probably coz numerous gags
were based on that fact and also coz it was quite a big thing when it was
introduced. It just shows that Ren and
Run is nothing really special now, just like a normal human being (instead of
an alien with weird biology). This isn’t
a bad chapter (apart from Momo’s daydreams, some of which are quite funny), and
is pretty good, however, it still lacks a bit of charm.
10 –
Sisters
Run run run!
In terms of
plot development, this is pretty much a filler chapter, I think it’s starting
to become like To Love-Ru where the chapters are slowly diverging from the
story. We haven’t had a recent chapter
that had really expanded upon Yami’s storyline about her past. There is a passing sentence in this chapter
about it here but that’s it. This is
more of a carefree chapter, it still doesn't have the same positive
lighthearted atmosphere of the original, and for some reason, I didn't enjoy
this as much. There were some humour,
but more like you laugh once and that’s it, and the style of drawing is getting
more and more ‘stable’ (as I guess you would put it), however, Lala, Nana and Momo
look so similar now. Yes, I know they
are sisters, but the only distinguishing feature in some frames seem to be
their hair now. The volume of ecchi was
less, but what was there is still pretty much what is standard for the series,
most were unnecessary, especially the scene which Momo was thinking about
between Lala and Rito. Other than that,
we get to understand more of Lala, and Ren makes an appearance! Too bad he was all serious, I was wondering
now that he’s permanently ‘separated’, would he become a more credible rival of
Rito or has he given up? It seemed like
he has, or just that everyone has matured.
Haruna was noticeably absent and having a major decrease in screen time. Overall, I think it is an okay chapter, I
guess less shocking to the eye than others.
11 – True
Face
Although this looks cool, it feels weird that the trans ability can form mechanical projectile weapons
Now we’re
back to Yami’s storyline and it’s development, and this chapter wasn't half
bad, a lot more focused and serious, to the point where I’m very
surprised. The initial page was a bit
surprising and different. The ecchi
scene in which Rito gets his face into something he shouldn't have (again) was
very contrived this time around, it lost its humour; you could see it coming
from a mile away. Personally, I don’t
mind a scene like that (heck, To Love-Ru had a million of those) but it depends
on how it was achieved, in this case, Oshizu freaking out and releasing her
psychic blast has been done over and over again, I guess my point was that it
lacked innovation and surprise. On another
point, the story in this chapter was great, Oshizu played a huge part in this
chapter (which was pretty awesome, at first, I thought she and Mikado appeared
just coz they hadn’t appeared for a while), and she puts her abilities to good
use, in which was get a glimpse of Mea’s past, and her true character. I must say, this adds another dimension to
Mea’s character; she is a lot more interesting now, I’m a lot more intrigued
about her and her master after this. She
appeared fairly evil, and the mood of this chapter was just great, the seriousness,
I don’t think you would have associated this with To Love-Ru. Anyway, I thought apart from the obligated
and contrived ecchi scenes here, everything else is a thumbs up in my book, a
great chapter.
Edit: on an additional note,
as I was searching around when some readers on the internet commented that the
author was a revolutionary and creative etc, wow, he is creative, I’m surprised
that he went around the censorship like this… (if you want a hint, notice the
eyes when Yami falls on Rito) and yes, I am a bit sad (well, as sad as you can
be about a fictional piece of work) that To Love-Ru has been degraded to such
low level in which fanservice is done for the point of fanservice, at least in
the original, it blended a more modest take on ecchi with clever humour.
12 – Bad
Mood
Never knew Momo was so into her plan
Like many
of the other chapters, it started off fairly blandly and typically, letting you
think it’s another one where nothing much happens, but it picks up a bit at the
end. Focuses on Mikan (again), and hers
sibling relationship with Rito (again), and Momo has a pretty big role here too
(also, again). The few ecchi scenes that
were there, most were a bit, errr, contrived, I was surprised at one of the
frames, I had thought that the author had exhausted most, if not all of the
various ways, but I was surprised yet again.
The beginning was a bit more ‘natural’ than before, still forced, but
not as much as some other scenes. I liked
the part where Momo grabs a game from the store, the game actually parodies the
PS3 system, and I like the title (roughly translated to “Love to No Equal” or "Unrivaled Love",
hard to find the proper English term).
awwwww, so cute
A few humour scenes scattered here and there which made the chapter enjoyable, and hearing Mikan speak of her jealous and envy wasn't as tiresome and repetitive as I originally thought it was going to be. It seems like that Koujin might be added to the cast of characters for Momo’s harem plan. Anyway, not a bad chapter overall, but feels very dragged out and elongated, some compacting would do nice, too much padding.
Extra – First Love
it was very hard to find a frame that had no ecchi in it
A ‘special chapter’ focusing on Kotegawa, and Haruna features in here a fair bit too, so that’s a nice change. The beginning part with Kotegawa changing was unnecessary, but what were even more unnecessary were the visuals when Risa was proclaiming that the time when she and Rito went out on a ‘date’ they ended up at Risa’s house, and did it. The idea is a little bit amusing, but the visuals were like, errr, yeah, this is not really what I was reading this for. Other than that, this is a slow chapter, and at the end we end up with Kotegawa realising she does love Rito, so isn’t that nice, lol, readers have known it for a while but it is still good for Kotegawa to realise it herself. This is a chapter that you can safely skip though.
Overall
Yabuki Kentaro has perfected the art of drawing characters in this pose
I liked two
chapters (Metamorphose and True Face), and the other two weren’t that great
(Sisters and Bad Mood), especially Chapter 10, it just felt so pointless. The omake isn’t that much better either. Still hit and miss, but I think in general,
this was a better volume.
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Credits: due to it being faster and more efficient I just took these pictures from scans online instead of scanning the tankobons themselves. These were scanned by the group "CXC Scans"
