Manga 671 To Love-ru

I first started reading this manga about a year ago. I finished the anime (which sucked, by the way), and I saw that there was a "readaptation," Motto To LOVE-Ru, that followed the manga more faithfully, which sparked my interest in reading the manga. I walked into the manga, not expecting much, and the first few chapters were closely related to the first anime. I dropped the manga for a year after being disappointed, thinking it wouldn't change. I recently picked it up again and actually read the entire series in less than two weeks. Let me explain why I became obssesed with such a ... simple manga.

Story

There's not much to it. Rito is surrounded by many attractive girls who all like him for their own reasons and he gets caught in various accidental scenarios involving boob touching, ass grabbing, etc. For the most part, it consists of episodic chapters, focusing on random comedic situations, or archs that are about 2-3 chapters long that are more concetrated on developing characters. There aren't many words on the pages, making for an easy read. It's not the strongest feature, so don't be reading this for a deep story with complicated plot twists.

Art

The art is amiable, with playfulness eminating from almost every page. Rito's faces are drawn perfectly to capture the effect of his comedic accidents. All the girls have cute designs and each one is unique and pleasing to look at. The ecchi scenes are top tier, abundant in every chapter, and are portrayed expertly. They vary in positions and the way they happen. Characters are rarely seen not blushing, always giving you the essence of "love in the air." The quality is consistant with only a few drops usually small enough to be overlooked. I just wish I could find better scans, though, so I could see it at its best all the time.

Chararcter

The characters were one of the most striking elements of To LOVE-Ru. Rito starts out as your typical wimpy kid who can't even stand the sight of his crush in a bikini without losing his head. However, he grows and matures into a brave and endearing person as we progress. Lala is always joyful and spacey (no pun intended), but is also caring an considerate towards her friends. Haruna is a shy girl who grows outgoing and strong, just as Rito does. The plethora of supporting characters all get their moment to shine as well, moving forward and growing together. This surprised me, as harems usually tend to overgo the development of the supporting cast; this manga faithfully and actively includes many of the characters so they seem less like cute cardboard cutouts that just follow Rito.

Enjoyment

This is one of the most enjoyable manga I have read in a while. It is lighthearted and always lively, making me flip page after page for hours on end. Comedic scenes were reused, but they never weren't funny or took away from the experience. I often discovered I was smiling while I was reading, actually.

Overall

To LOVE-Ru is one of the most entertaining harems you will read. The characters set it apart from the crowd and the ecchi scenes bring a perverted grin to your face. When the manga ended, I felt almost melancholy to depart from the characters and the world that was shaped around them. I would recommend this to mostly guys who are looking for a great harem that you can't help but smile at and say, "Thanks for the good times."

After finishing Black Cat, I decided to check out some of Yabuki Kentaro's other works. Since I never found Yamato Gensouki, I figured I'd settle for To-LOVE-Ru, even though he only did the artwork and the premise was practically a carbon copy of Urusei Yatsura's.
To be honest, I actually found the first few dozen chapters to be fine. The jokes were largely hit-or-miss, but Yabuki's artwork and the chemistry between the characters kept me reading. All-in-all, it was a typical ecchi harem that didn't really wear out its welcome.
But then, at some point, writer Hasemi Saki lost steam. Her jokes grew more and more bland, ... losing any semblance of charm there may have been early on. In addition, what little drama there was, she didn't handle very well. Two scenarios in particular (Lala and Haruna becoming rivals but remaining friends, and Rito realising that he has feelings for both of them instead of just Haruna) could've been really good for character development, but their potential is squandered in her hands.
Overall, the series never rises above mediocrity after its initial stretch. Yabuki's artwork is great and the fanservice is fine, but Hasemi never exploits any of her good ideas and her humour becomes repetitive and dull far too quickly. The ending is also extremely abrupt, and is ultimately an unsatisfying conclusion to an unsatisfying series.
I personally wouldn't recommend it to anybody except die-hard ecchi fans.

// WARNING: Contains Spoilers //

I read all the volumes, I really enjoyed the 161 chapters, the art is beautiful, the characters are endearing, some of their adventures are certainly negligible, but these make us discover a little more about these characters all the same. It's a 8 for me.

But wait a minute... There are 162 chapters and not 161? The 162nd doesn't exist, come on! If? Oh, let me check... Oh no... There is a 162nd chapter...

This 162nd chapter has made me assign only 4 to this manga (instead of 8 or even 9). I mean, when you write a story, there is the introduction ... of the characters, the adventures etc...
In To-Love-Ru there are all the elements that make the story almost awesome (A L M O S T). Because when a story is coming to an end, we must have a conclusion, we must know who Rito will choose at the end of the story. 162 chapters is very long, and at the end of this story, we are entitled to a """conclusion""" that leads to a sequel ("To-Love Ru Darkness" that I have not read and that I will not read).

That's why To-Love Ru is objectively worth 8 (even 9), but subjectively 4.
It's a really captivating manga, I recommend it to you, but if there's a sequel, it's because you already know the outcome of these 162 chapters....