To LOVE-Ru OVA

To LOVEる -とらぶる-

7.2(105,299)

MAL Score

Ranked #3539

Popularity #1514

Comedy
Ecchi
Romance
Sci-Fi
Harem
School

Episodes: 6
Duration: 25 min per ep
Aired: Apr 3, 2009 to Apr 2, 2010
Status: Finished Airing

Synopsis

*To LOVE-Ru OVA* collects six short side stories that lean into the franchise’s romantic comedy chaos, with Lala’s latest inventions repeatedly turning everyday school life upside down. One experiment meant to enhance her figure backfires spectacularly by transforming Rito into a girl, while another mishap later leaves him literally stuck to Lala in an especially awkward way.

The episodes also shift into lighter character moments and playful adventures: Mikan, feeling left out by Rito’s time with Lala, runs off and prompts a search that’s intercut with childhood memories; Haruna wins a southern island resort trip that Rito reaches only after being turned into a dog; and an RPG-like game world traps Rito and the girls in a quest to rescue Lala and face an “evil witch” version of Kyouko. Nana and Momo stir up trouble during a cherry blossom viewing, and additional vignettes follow Yami and Yui’s run-in with an upperclassman, plus Mikan getting caught up in a bag-snatching incident while shopping with Peke.

Otaku Consensus

To LOVE-Ru OVA is best received as a fan-targeted expansion rather than a corrective sequel: Takao Kato and Xebec keep the first TV season’s brisk ecchi-comedy timing intact, while the six-episode format lets the cast cycle through stranger, more concentrated gags than a standard cour would allow. Its 7.24 MAL score and 68/100 AniList score reflect a comfortable but not runaway reputation, with the most consistent criticism being that several segments feel like filler and the earlier Xebec look has aged next to later To LOVE-Ru entries.

Why You Should Watch

Watch this if you want the To LOVE-Ru formula in its least ceremonious form: fast harem escalation, alien-tech excuses, schoolyard embarrassment, and very little interest in pretending the side stories are essential mythology. It scratches the same itch as the chaos-comedy parts of Ranma 1/2 and the unapologetic harem energy of Rosario + Vampire, but with To LOVE-Ru’s specific emphasis on sci-fi gadgets and escalating physical comedy. The OVA works especially well for viewers who already like Lala, Haruna, and Rito and want a compact bridge between the first anime’s older style and the later seasons’ more polished fan-service rhythm. If you want romantic progress without detours, this is the wrong stop; if you want concentrated cast chemistry and shameless slapstick, it is exactly calibrated.

Key Characters

L
Lala Satalin Deviluke(VA: Haruka Tomatsu)
Lala remains the franchise’s engine of affectionate chaos, with Haruka Tomatsu also tied to the OVA’s theme song performance, reinforcing how central her presence is to this release.
H
Haruna Sairenji(VA: Sayuri Yahagi)
Haruna gives the OVA its gentler romantic counterweight, and Sayuri Yahagi’s dual role as cast member and theme song performer makes her one of the production’s most visible voices.
R
Rito Yuuki(VA: Akeno Watanabe)
Rito is less a conventional harem lead than a precision-built slapstick target, and Akeno Watanabe’s performance keeps his panic readable even when the comedy turns surreal.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
Xebec produced the OVA as a six-episode release spread from April 3, 2009 to April 2, 2010, giving it the rhythm of bonus chapters rather than a weekly television season. That structure helps explain why reviewers often call it enjoyable but inessential.
2
Director Takao Kato returns the material to the first anime’s comedy-forward approach, prioritizing fast embarrassment setups and punchline timing over long-form romantic development. The result aligns with fan comments that the OVAs deliver exactly what the existing audience wanted.
3
Yuuichi Oka served as both character designer and chief animation director, which helps keep the character acting consistent across a collection of disconnected side stories. The tradeoff is that this OVA retains the older To LOVE-Ru visual identity that some viewers prefer less than later seasons’ updated look.
4
The AniList tag profile is unusually revealing: Female Harem, Nudity, and Aliens all sit at 80%, while Psychosexual, Episodic, Slapstick, and Meta cluster at 79%. That combination accurately marks the OVA as a gag-first sci-fi harem release rather than a romance-first spinoff.
5
The RPG-style segment is the OVA’s clearest meta-comedy pivot, briefly reframing the cast through game logic instead of ordinary school hijinks. It is the kind of genre parody detour that makes the OVA feel more experimental than its reputation as simple fan-service filler suggests.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: The original creative pairing behind the source is represented directly in the credits: Saki Hasemi is listed for the original story, while Kentarou Yabuki is credited with the original character designs.
Fun fact 2: Tsuyoshi Nagasawa is credited as episode director for episodes 3 through 6, meaning the back half of the OVA had a distinct directorial hand within Takao Kato’s overall series direction.
Fun fact 3: Masafumi Mima handled sound direction, a notable credit because the OVA’s comedy depends heavily on reaction timing, impact sounds, and quick tonal pivots rather than extended dramatic scoring.
Fun fact 4: On MAL, the OVA sits at 7.24 from 105,266 votes with a popularity rank of #1513, showing that it is widely sampled for a side release even though its ranking position, #3536, is more modest.
Fun fact 5: AniList records 397 favourites for the OVA, a small but telling number for a six-episode side-story release whose main appeal is continuity of character chemistry rather than a major franchise turning point.