Kita ze Inbou! - キタぜ陰謀!

[ Episode 2: Triangle Relationship ]

Lala Cosplay Edition

Call me a simpleton or what not, but I am a sucker for a cute and hot anime character wearing skimpy outfits, that’s the reason why I liked this episode of to Love-Ru. THAT being said, it is probably the worst episode so far of the show due to the fact it leans heavily on stereotypes of the comedy genre.

Rito is not content with Lala attending his school, as she cause bad luck whenever she tags along with him. In order to cheer him up and to show Lala more around earth, Mikan suggests to take the two to sightsee around the city, and she happily agrees. After an unfortunate encounter with Haruna, she tags in with the three and they go to an aquarium. While Lala and Mikan are looking around separately, Haruna and Rito are left by themselves. Haruna tells Rito that she always looked for him and appreciated his kindness and Rito feels ever more pressured since the girl of his dreams actually likes him back despite all the unfortunate events. Before the two manage to confess, Lala manages to flood the entire aquarium and ruin the perfect moment.

The bad thing about this episode it follows the “magical girl” cliche all the way. First you see Lala being clearly stronger and gaining more attention than anyone else, and then she does something outrageous that causes mayhem around. It was funny the first time with the Tentacle Sucker, but the Elephant Squirter (at least that’s how I call it) was a bit too much. Even the guy who works at the aquarium had a weird reaction by first panicking about the fish not being in their water tanks but later after Lala floods the place, he talks his suit off and actually tell her to go swim naked in the pool. What? For god sakes there are sharks and other creatures there! Who on their right mind would go there. And after the water gush throughout the entire place, I am surprised no one demanded the place to be repaired. This is the thing about the magical girl shows: everything is destroyed but it resolved like nothing happened. I also don’t like it in stuff like Bleach where the Shinigami fight Hollows or Arrancar and no one wakes up from all the explosions, but maybe I’m reading too much into this now.

I liked the scenes in which Lala changes to different costumes attempting to blend with the environment. She goes through many unique costumes that will probably cause most guys in the neighborhood to have an erection, but finally manages to find something appropriate after Rito feels uncomfortable. There is logical problem, though. When Lala found the outfit, it is suppose to hide her identity as an alien. If that’s so, why no one notices the fact SHE HAS A TAIL!? Am I the only one who see something weird with the picture? It’s funny how Rito and Peke ask Lala to keep her identity secret, but her tail, after her hair and boobs, is her most noticeable feature. Why did no one found out? The guy that works at the aquarium really takes the cake when it comes to ignorance by not saying anything to a sprinkler that generates water from absolutely nothing and drowns an entire aquarium. I know I shouldn’t over analyze shows like to LOVE-Ru, but I had to get it out of my system. That, and the nice selection of Lala’s coplay pictures!

It wasn’t a bad episode though, because there were some cute moments. While Lala became more cliche, I was actually surprised by Rito. He was obnoxious the first time, but by this episode he is a lot more devoted to his relationship with Haruna. In fact, the best parts of the episodes were the confrontations between the two as you can cut the tension with a zanpakuto (another Bleach reference, yay). In most shows the romance part takes a back seat, but it was set beautifully in this episode. I love the moment in which Haruna held Rito’s hand and in his mind time just stood still, as this is his premiere moment in life because he would never imagine she will address him. It is an interesting love triangle, and it saved the episode from being a complete disaster.

To LOVE-Ru, by now, is a mixed bag. It is funny and charming, but after a while you can easily see how cliche it can get. The characters start to have more substance and the story seem to make sense. I never really mentioned the manga is drawn by Kentaro Yabuki who created Black Cat. Then again, the guy who did the art for Hikaru no Go did for Death Note later so I am past the weirdest transition. Even so, I still hope it won’t go down as a cliched show, despite all the articulate muscle behind it.

6.5/10