Friday, January 9, 2015

To Love-Ru Darkness Vol. 11

VOL. 11

41 – Prediction is Impossible

This is Part Three of Yami’s uncontrollable breakout of Darkness.  Her powers have grown exponentially, including gaining the ability to warp space (pretty cool, you must admit).  The plot doesn’t advance too much in this chapter, a lot of pages are dedicated to providing some fan service, which is starting to become over the top again.


A retcon happens in how Yami ends up approaching Mikado.  This chapter lacks the more interesting and funny elements and becomes another generic fodder for ecchi.

42 – Escape

In this chapter, Yami’s obsession with Rito becomes even worse, to the point of creating a giant version of him…  Lala gets some screen time, arriving to fight Yami, it’s brief but welcome.  On the other side, Mea internally fights with Nemesis and we learn that Nemesis isn’t really Mea’s Master in the traditional sense like we were led to believe.


Nemesis basically came to Mea when she was weak and exerted her leadership skills (so to speak).  Mea gains an unlikely ally and all this talk of darkness and friendship surprisingly doesn’t feel too cringe-worthy.  It’s odd to see Yami smiling so innocently when she fighting or speaking, it doesn’t suit with her current state.

43 – Whose Thing is a FiancĂ©?

Lala’s fight against Yami is the main draw here but before we get to that, we have to see some more backstory between Mea and Nemesis.  The fight scenes are okay, nothing too intense or amazing.  Lala’s sword breaks which was surprising but she pulls through with some random inventions.


In a intentional or unintentional nod to Black Cat, Yami performs a move that is visually similar to Creed’s Level Max Imagine Blade.  It looks like this will be a longer than normal arc as the chapter ends in another “To Be Continued”.

44 – Power and Power

Yami’s fight against Lala continues with Rito getting in the way as per usual.  A surprising appearance by Zastin in the chapter leads to some laughs, although unfortunately he is still regulated to being comic relief and cannot be taken seriously.


There seemed to be a lot of exposition in the chapter which doesn’t advance the plot in this arc at all.  Nothing outrageous or extremely daring happens and the chapter ends yet again with “To Be Continued”.  It’s hard to stay interested when nothing meaningful happens much.

Extra – Technique

Fan service is back with its full power.  This time it’s between Momo and Risa and things get a bit… different I guess.  It ends up making Momo question Risa’s tendencies and whether to include her into the plan.  This is a thoughtless and unremarkable chapter.

Extra – Holiday

Haruna and Rito star in this extra, along with Celine and Maron.  Haruna and Rito do some cooking together and the author managed to resist for most of the chapter before putting in the obligatory fan service.  Just because this has been done many times, the events that happen such as Haruna and Rito spending quality time together, doesn’t feel as gentle and sweet as it should have.  Well, that and the fact that Haruna continually have impure thoughts seeming at odds with the character.

Overall

Volume 11 carries on the story arc that began in Volume 10, in which Yami gets out of control.  Much of the chapters revolve around Lala fighting Yami and to be honest, it is not that interesting.  The author needs to pull something amazing or unexpected in order to recapture your interest because the ecchi is not enough of a draw to keep you.

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