To Love-Ru Darkness 04

An intergalatic assassin comes searching for Yami for revenge.

Admit it Mikan, you'd like to sneak into Rito's bedroom and play video games with him too.

Summary:
Out in the woods somewhere, Mea meets Azenda who has just arrived on Earth after being called by Mea's master Nemesis. Azenda is an intergalactic assassin who was defeated by Yami towards the end of the war and has been holding a grudge ever since. After learning that Yami is on Earth Azenda couldn't pass up the opportunity to exact revenge, a this is all part of Nemesis' plan to make Yami get her killing instincts back.

The next morning at the Yuuki residence, Mikan wakes up to get ready for school, but she hears Momo's voice coming from Rito's room. Mikan bursts into the room thinking that Rito and Momo and doing something indecent, but Momo and Rito are just playing video games with Celine. Mikan is relieved but warns Momo again about sneaking into Rito's bed at night. Momo reassures Mikan that she is rooting for Lala, but also silently states that she is rooting for Mikan as well. Momo then returns to the attic apartment for a shower, and afterwards she teases Nana about not being able to use a bra due to Nana's flat chest.

Later at the high school, Rito and friends are fooling around in the hallway again which ends with Haruna's crotch landing on Rito's face. Everyone except Yami is eager to check out the commotion. Feeling down for some reason, Yami goes to meet Mikan after school. After sharing taiyaki, Mikan takes out a pair of taiyaki-shaped key chains and gives one of them to Yami as a sign of their friendship, and Yami is cheered up. Unbeknownst to the two, Azenda is watching them from a nearby building.

It's all about the taiyaki for Yami.

After saying goodbye to Mikan, Yami soon runs into Rito who is out buying art supplies for his father. Yami tells Rito of her time with Yami today, and Rito thanks Yami for being Mikan's friends since Mikan has a lot of responsibilities and stress. Yami starts going off saying that she doesn't deserve happiness, but Rito tells her to do whatever and enjoy life, and this leads Yami to joke about killing Rito on the spot. Suddenly, a bunch of traffic signs and bikes fly right at the two and Yami pulls Rito out of harm's way. Azenda appears and challenges Yami to a fight. Yami tells Rito that Azenda mostly uses her whip for combat, but she has some psychic abilities as well (which are not as strong as Oshizu's). Yami is confident she can beat Azenda, but Azenda reveals that she has Mikan under her control.

If you wondered what if Mikan and Yami ever came to blows...

Azenda sends Mikan against Yami, and Yami is reluctant to engage. Yami tries to go after Azenda instead but hesitates when Mikan gets in the way, and this allows Azenda to hit her with the whip. The blow causes Yami to drop her taikyaki key chain (given by Mikan), and Yami gets hit some more when she tries to recover the key chain. Rito tries to restrain Mikan, but Mikan knocks him out by stuffing her crotch in his face. Azenda and Mikan then proceed to double team Yami, and Yami is unwilling to hurt Mikan and is beaten up. From the top of nearby building, Mea is wondering why Yami isn't fighting back, but she still believes that Yami can never allow herself to lose.

Never ever mess with Momo.

This is what can happen if you mess with Momo.

After Yami has been beaten into submission, Azenda gets Mikan to start molesting Yami and states that she'll kill both of them so they have company. Rito wakes up and yells at Azenda, prompting Azenda to go after him first. However, Azenda is stopped in her tracks when her face is cut by a flying rose thrown by the arriving Momo. Momo wondered why Rito and Mikan didn't come back home and came out looking for them. Azenda attacks Momo, but she quickly falls to the ground, and Momo explains that the rose she threw was poisonous. Momo then summons a plant that shoots seeds out like cannonballs and has the plant target Azenda. Azenda begs for forgiveness, but Momo tells the plant to fire anyways.

A little while later, Mikan finally comes to her senses and is immediately hugged by Yami. Yami thanks for Momo for saving her and Mikan and states that she now understands what it means to depend on friends. As for Azenda, Momo has called Zastin who will contact the appropriate authorities. While the happy scene unfolded on the ground, Mea is a little shocked and disappointed that Yami is becoming soft.

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This was one of the somewhat rare To Love-Ru stories that actually had a fair amount of action and fighting, and I have to say I'm disappointed with the anime's efforts. In the manga, the fighting looked good (Kentaro Yabuki did author Black Cat after all), but in this episode the animation looked pretty wonky and lazy. I'm not expecting great animation, but the quality of the animation from the action sequences looked pretty bad in some place. The lack of quality ruined Momo's absolute ownage of Azenda which was oh so delicious when I first read it in the manga.

So in this episode, Mea and her master sic one of Yami's old rivals on Yami in hopes of turning Yami back into a killing machine, but Yami is "weakened" by her friendship and is defeated and almost killed if not for Momo's timely intervention. Yami has changed a lot since her debut in the original To Love. She's more "human" than before, but that also means Mikan and her friends can be used against her. As for Momo, she shows that she is just not the type of person to be messed with. You mess with Momo and you could pay very dearly. Momo might be troublesome with her naughty and mischievous ways, but when it comes to defending her allies she's pretty dependable.