No matter
how many years go by, it seems that the throne of ecchi romantic comedies still
belongs to a single franchise and no one else. Almost a decade after the
serialization of To Love-Ru Darkness was completed, the work of Kentaro
Yabuki and Saki Hasemi once again paralyzed the manga market in
Japan with the release of their new compilation volume of short stories,
proving that interest in Rito and his chaotic alien harem is as alive as the
first day.
The new
compilation volume, entitled To Love-Ru Short Story Collection: Parade,
went on sale on October 2, 2026 under the Jump Comics imprint of the Shueisha
publishing house. The publication brings together a careful selection of short
stories and special episodes that were originally published in magazines but
were never included in the standard compilation volumes of the main work,
immediately becoming a must-have collector's item for fans of the franchise.
The impact
on Tokyo's brick-and-mortar stores was felt from the early hours of the morning.
At the well-known Melonbooks branch in Akihabara, a huge display full of
volumes located near the entrance was completely empty shortly after opening.
The situation forced businesses such as COMIC ZIN to implement a strict limit
of only one copy per customer to avoid massive purchases from resellers, also
prohibiting people from standing in line again, while the store requested an
urgent resupply from the publisher. For its part, the Gamers online store sold
out all its available copies and confirmed that the exclusive special
illustration that they gave away with the purchase is no longer available.
Part of the
great attraction of this edition are the exclusive incentives drawn by Kentaro
Yabuki himself for different distributors, presenting unpublished illustrations
of popular characters such as Yui Kotegawa. Among the stories collected within
the volume is a special episode focused on a new invention of Lala that causes
Rito to multiply every time she sneezes, triggering absolute chaos as the clones
interact with the girls in the story.
To
Love-Ru is a
celebrated sci-fi romantic comedy manga franchise written by Saki Hasemi
and illustrated by Kentaro Yabuki. The series began serialization in the
pages of Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 2006, marking the beginning of a
story that celebrates its 20th anniversary with this special release. After the
success of the first installment, the work continued with its acclaimed sequel To
Love-Ru Darkness in Jump Square magazine, achieving multiple
animated adaptations and consolidating itself as an absolute benchmark within
its genre.
The story
follows the misadventures of Rito Yuuki, a deeply shy high school student
unable to confess his feelings to Haruna Sairenji. The protagonist's life takes
a drastic turn with the sudden appearance of Lala Satalin Deviluke, the first
princess of the planet Deviluke, who flees to Earth to avoid an arranged
marriage. After a curious misunderstanding, Lala decides to commit herself to
Rito, dragging him into a crazy coexistence full of flawed alien inventions,
alien girls, and situations on the edge.
