VII: "Black Cat" and "To Love-Ru"

Recovering from a cold a month ago, I did my first multi-anime review as my 7th post on Black Cat and To Love-Ru.

Black Cat is generally an action paced anime, with some comedic moments involved. It centers around Train Heartnet, who leaves his position from the organization Chronos, and becomes a Sweeper. Despite his complete shift in persona, people normally recognize him by the number 13 (XIII) tattoo near his neck. He is also known as the titular character Black Cat, as he was dressed in complete black when working as a Chronos Number, giving bad luck to his assigned targets. This follows primarily his life as a sweeper, who harbors inside a bit of revenge for the death of Saya, a woman that "freed him" before her end by his enemy, Creed Discenth. The series runs for 24 episodes, licensed by Funimation.

Next to that, we have To Love-Ru, which is a Sci-fi harem comedy. As the typical guy who has no luck in asking out the girl of his dreams, Rito Yuuki is dazed to find an alien in his bathroom (the very tub he was in, the lucky bum!) This alien, Princess Lala Deviluke, chooses to marry Rito after refusing to go back home to marry one of her arranged candidates. Over time, she truly falls in love with Rito, and after being reported by Commander Zastin, the emperor acknowledges this under one premise: if he fails to meet his expectations and cannot protect Lala from other fiancés, his life, as well as that of Earth, are doomed. Simply put, if marriage is a life changing experience, then for Rito, it's a matter of life or death, especially for him. This anime harbors 26 episodes, in addition to 6 OVAs and a follow-up series Motto To Love-Ru.

Despite the difference in plots and characters, To Love-Ru has a few references from Black Cat. (This is the tidbit spoilers, if you don't wish to know now, avoid this section) For starters, Eve of Black Cat, and Golden Darkness/Yami of To Love-Ru aren't one in the same, but have similar features to one another. She shares Eve's trait of morphing her body to anything she desires, most of which are weapons. They even have the same seiyuu (coincedence?) Next is Kyouko Kirisaki, a character in BOTH titles. In Black Cat, she is one of the opposing faction to Chronos, called the Apostles of the Stars (though she eventually leaves). She carries a Tao power to control fire. In To Love-Ru, she is half-alien, half-human, also able to manipulate fire. She is mostly seen as the heroine "Magical Kyouko" on a show Lala got really hooked on to. She has more appearances in the manga (as usually the case regarding ANY character), but the civilian clothes seen on the show looks close to, if not the exact copy of, the outfit worn in Black Cat.

Enough babbling. I grade Black Cat an 8 of 10, as it is a good balance of silliness and serious moments, while To Love-Ru gets a 7.5 of 10 from me. Even though I tend to fume from jealousy sometimes in dealing with harem, I enjoyed what I could about To Love-Ru, the follow up series, and the OVA. I liked them, I doubt you'd feel the same, but they're out there if you want to go check them out.