To-Love-Ru Episode 2 – How to cancel an alien marriage

No innuendos here… nope… not at all…

While this anime seemed to follow the manga pretty closely in the first episode, this second episode shows signs of the producers straying more and more off from the manga. As of now they’re just taking some of the main events of each chapter and adding more of their own content to it. I’m not sure how exactly this makes me feel about the show but, I guess it could be a nice addition for manga fans. On the other hand, it makes the show seem a bit more ridiculous than it already is.

Episode 2 takes some of the events from chapters 2 through 4 of the manga and totally mashes it up and adds “seasoning” to it. Rito must deal with Lala’s proposed marriage to him and the daily misunderstandings he goes through, as usual.

Summary

Rito wakes up with Lala next to him in bed. Mikan goes to try and wake Rito up for school and sees the nude Lala. This again creates another misunderstanding for poor Rito. Zastin appears through Rito’s window to explain the contract that Rito and Lala have. He says that when Rito grabbed Lala’s breasts (from the first episode when Lala first appeared before Rito), that was how the marriage proposal was made.

At school, Rito tries to correct what happened between him and Haruna when he accidently confessed in from of Lala. But instead, he has to deal with Lala who came to school looking for him. Many students notice the two (especially a bunch of guys) and ask them what their relation was. Rito tries to explain that there was no relation but, Lala jumps in and tells everyone that she Rito’s bride. This makes the group of guys go berserk from jealousy and they chase after Rito. Lala helps Rito escape by using the “Pyon Pyon Warp-kun” into the girl’s locker room. A naked Rito and Lala appear before Haruna (since Warp-kun can’t teleport clothes) which causes yet another misunderstanding and a slap to the face of Rito.

By now, Mikan already learns of the relationship between Rito and Lala thanks to Zastin telling her everything over a cup of tea. Rito hypothetically asks Zastin if there was any way to cancel the marriage and he learns that if he wanted the cancel the marriage, he would have to use the same method as he did with the proposal (which means boobie touching). He would, however, have to do this within three days of the proposal. The episode continues with Rito trying to “cancel” the marriage in various ways. Mikan notices this and gives Rito a good lecturing like a good imouto should.

After a bunch of failed attempts, Rito decides to try and tell Lala face to face. However, Lala interrupts with a few emotional words and Rito misses the deadline to cancel the marriage. The next day at school, while Rito thinks to himself that he’s safe at school from the whole alien deal, Lala shows up as a transfer student taking away that sanctuary he once had.

Next week’s episode will have the gang at the aquarium where Rito and Haruna’s relationship might take a turn for the better finally.

Impressions

I’m not sure if I exactly like how this episode turned out. I’m a fan of the original manga and, as always, seeing the story change can be either a good thing or bad thing. I was actually hoping to see the “fight” between Rito and Zastin and wish that they haven’t introduced him so early. Also, Rito was able to tell Lala straightout that he didn’t want to marry her during that one night. Rito just seems a little more pathetic in the show than in the manga a little. Another thing is that we learn what Lala’s true intentions were for a moment in the manga with the marriage proposal however, in this anime, it seems that they might totally dismiss that.

The whole boob grabbing as a marriage contract thing is totally ridiculous. I know this series is ridiculous already but, I don’t think they had to take it that far. It’s like a plot device that you might hear in hentai or something. They also decided to keep showing that silly transformation scene (again another anime original). The fanservice level is high enough already, you don’t have to go out of your way to make more “excuses” for fanservice in this series.

Overall, I still like the show. It’s humorous and still fun to watch. But I can’t help but feel disappointed when things are left out and dumb things are added to the show. I’ll continue to watch all the way to the end but, I hope that it only gets better from here on out.