Wednesday, August 28, 2013

To Love-Ru Darkness Vol. 8

VOL. 8

29 – Manservant

This turned out to be quite a funny chapter.  The jokes used were better than normal and wasn’t as contrived (well, there were still those moments but they weren’t as frequent).  Nemesis comes to play with Rito and makes Momo jealous.  I thought the whole situation was contrived.  The explanation about the ‘darkness’ ability in Yami was lame although I think that was done on purpose to make it more funny (and it did work).  If they didn’t have that bath scene at the end, it would have been so much better.


The plots have started to diverge and the chapters are more vague and aimless now.  Even though the author tried to tie it back, it felt weak.  You get the suspicion that Nemesis has already started falling for Rito (even though he did nothing...).  Rito’s also too naive; it’s starting to get ridiculous.  You would have thought that he’d have built some resilience to what was happening around him but nup.  Still, it’s a good time passer.

30 – Resistance

It feels like more of the same (once again), with a whole chapter dedicated to how Yami and Mea’s way of thinking has changed for the better.  We see how they ‘puzzle’ over their feelings and find out their true self, blah blah blah.  Of course, Rito must have his hand in things and get into weird and awkward ecchi situations.  It was really obvious in this chapter how naive most of the characters are, and also how forced some of the dialogue and jokes are.


It feels as if the characters are spouting the same stuff over and over again (they are) with nothing new added in to make it interesting or different.  Oshizu makes an appearance which was nice (although as you’d come to expect, she gets afraid in the presence of a dog and goes psycho).

31 – Cleaning

This chapter wasn’t too perverted, which was surprising (I guess they come in spurts).  As per usual, the plot feels contrived at times and it will somehow involve Rito getting into awkward situations.  Some of the humour was good; they’ll give you a solid chuckle.  There are also a few side characters that make a lengthy appearance like Zastin and Rin.  This lets this chapter feel different and give more variety compared to previous chapters.  Then again, Momo’s plan is starting to get too large and unwieldy with the amount of potential candidates.


If you thought that the first few pages where Zastin was telling the story of a cursed blade to be some trivial mention, it turns out that it wasn’t.  The mentioned blade makes an appearance at the end of the chapter (apparently a plan created by Master) leading to a cliffhanger (something we haven’t seen for quite a while now).  The maid costumes worn were fairly typical and feel overused by now.  Momo’s display of perversion is starting to become disturbing too.

32 – Danger

A continual of the previous chapter’s plot (which is paper-thin anyway), which now involves Rin getting possessed by a cursed sword.  If that isn’t repetitive enough for you, then get ready for a whole slew of reused gags, ecchi moments and action.  It’s slightly disappointing, but there is one or two redeeming humour in there which I thought was quite funny (the passing comment by Yami explaining how Rito is able to dodge all those quick sword slashes despite being a human is the best one in the chapter).


Most of the chapter is comprised of fighting, but it isn’t terrible exciting due to the focus on extreme focus on ecchi (although it isn’t that bad in this chapter).  The cursed sword feels like another useless plot device and doesn’t push the plot forward much.  That and the continual of the cheesy saves and selflessness of Rito make this chapter a bit monotonous.

Extra – Adhesion

This is just another typical extra.  It’s starring Yami this time as she gets into one of those typical exposing poses (thanks to Rito).  Hmmm, if I think about it, this chapter is really pointless since I don’t know if what happened is interesting enough to be even drawn.  Anyway, the chapter is flat-lined until the final two pages, in which is actually picks up!  It was funny at the end (which was unexpected) but it was also an abrupt end (it skips to another scene which at first I thought was a daydream, then something happens and that’s the final page!).

Extra – Mobile Phone

Lala actually makes a bigger appearance in this extra, which is surprising.  However, as can be expected, she unintentionally stuffs some things up, in this case, she fixes Rito’s (outdated...) phone causing some disastrous consequences.  It’s just another excuse though and the ecchi goes a bit further than some of the previous chapters, with some very obvious innuendoes.  Is it funny?  Not really.  Is it boring?  You can’t really say that.  Is it original?  Nup.  It’s what you expect though.  The plot of the chapter does seem shallow and pointless.

Overall

The volume is basically more of the same, and you can’t help but think that it’s starting to get stale.  There’s barely anything here that pushes the plot forward, rather, it’s just a whole collection of fan service.  It feels as if the author has run out of ideas for this series (maybe they should just let it die or at least go on a hiatus and start another series).  As per normal, the art is very nice.

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