Yami

Golden Darkness (金色の闇 Konjiki no Yami), mostly referred to by other characters as Yami, is a major character in To Love-Ru and the main protagonist of To Love-Ru Darkness. She is a lonely assassin who is initially hired by Lacospo, one of Lala's arranged suitors, to kill Rito Yuuki. But when Lacospo effectively annuls the job, she decides to take her time and, under the pretense of still needing to complete her mission to kill Rito, stays on Earth. As she spends more time on Earth, she builds a very strong relationship with Rito's mature younger sister, Mikan Yuuki and to Rito himself, to whom it is very possible that she developed feelings for (Chapter 158 of the manga; In "To Love Ru Darkness" Chapters 001 and 002, witnesses realize that Yami is really attracted to Rito).

In To Love-Ru Darkness, Yami replaces Lala as the main character. This is because there is a group that wants her to join them as the heartless assassin she once was. Her "sister", Mea Kurosaki (a product of the same program that created Yami), has been sent to Earth to take her away and revive the old heartless/murdering self that she once was.

While Yami rediscovers her own humanity and interacts with more people she can call her friends, she becomes uncertain if she truly belongs in such a peaceful life she has found during her stay on Earth, or her real place is inevitably her old life as a cold assassin. It has been revealed by other assassins from her old life, Yami has fought as though she was an emotionless automation. As she continues to spend more time on Earth, she becomes more used to living in a more peaceful life and becomes more comfortable around other people, mostly around Mikan, her only genuine friend, and also significantly Rito, with whom she develops a trusting but often humorously abusive relationship.

Throughout the story line, Yami has come to realize that when she's in trouble, it will be her friends, and not just herself, whom she can rely on; however, she states that she can't rely on Rito Yuuki (in the anime, she was just kidding).

Yami has grown to care greatly for Mikan that she would protect and save her from her enemy Tyrant Azenda, even going to the point to sacrifice her own life just to save her. Yami's other most significant relationship is with Rito, for whom she has mixed and undefined feelings, but also trusts him with things she hasn't confided in anyone else. She tells Rito about her past with her creator, Dr. Tearju Lunatique, who named her Eve, and how the evil organization tried take advantage of her until it collapsed, at the time when King Gid Lucion Deviluke triumphed in the Galaxy's Unification Wars.

Golden Darkness/Yami's character and appearance are based on another character named Eve from the manga series Black Cat (another series by Kentaro Yabuki). This Eve has also been created by a character from Black Cat, whom Tearju Lunatique was designed and named after.

Appearance
Yami has long blonde hair, dark red eyes, and a child-like figure. Although it should be noted that she can change her appearance to look older with her transformation ability, her choosing to remain in her child-like form is most likely due to the fact that it is comfortable when in combat. This can be seen in both the manga and OVA where she wonders on whether or not having larger breasts and a more mature body would affect her balance.Characters have made several notes about the shape of her thighs throughout a few points in the manga--most notably the principal, who makes the remark during their first meeting. Of course, this was all before they were pummeled by none other than Yami herself.

She is additionally famous for her all-black Gothic-style signature outfit. Her outfit has a star shaped gap at the chest of her clothing, which can also be found on the clothing of Mea and Nemesis. It also features two waist belts, five leg belts on both of her legs, and two sleeves that attach to her upper arm via belt.

Another notable aspect of her appearance are her hair clips on each side of her head which give her a cat-like appearance, possibly paying homage to the illustrator's earlier work, "Black Cat", from which her character design also originated.

Personality
Though she does come off as stoic, motionless, and withdrawn in actuality she is pretty kind, but she would attack people who talks about something that she doesn't like. She also hates perverted people and normally attacks Rito (despite knowing its not his intention), who by his clumsy nature trips into her and gropes her, or the principal, whose perverted nature makes him come running to her in almost no clothing whenever he sees her. She also has a weakness towards anything slimy and with tentacles. Yami is often  reading books to understand Earth's culture and learn more about emotions such as love. She had been contracted to kill Rito, but after their initial meeting she chose to 'assess' him. Since chapter 158 she by has begun showing small inklings of feelings towards him for not taking advantage of her while affected by Celine's pollen.

In To-Love-Ru Darkness Yami's feelings for Rito are show quite a few times. He shows kindness to her, and because of this she's not sure about her feelings or whether she really wants to kill him but tries to convince herself that he is still her target. Strangely, he is the only person she has ever opened up to about her origin and about her old life as an assassin, instead of to her closest friend Mikan, which is also something that confuses herself. One time she looked at him from behind holding a book titled "lovers", further hinting her feelings for him.

She has a fondness of taiyaki, which was the first and only food she eats after coming to earth. It was given to her by Rito. Shortly before her attempt to assassinate him.

In the beginning Yami wasn't always heartless and cold. Before she became an assassin, she was a happy, cheerful and playful little child, especially around Tearju, but was left heartbroken when hearing that she had left and Yami was left in the hands of the organization that made her the emotionless person she is today. However, as the series progresses, she begins to show a more happy and gentle side from time to time and opening up more around others especially to Rito, whom she shows love/hate feelings to.

Since Tearju's arrival, Yami has remained distant towards her. The real reason for this was because of her life as an assassin and what she became after they last met, she was afraid of the awkwardness between them, but with some encouragement from Rito and Mea, Yami slowly tries to become closer to Tearju.

Background
There is not much background information on Golden Darkness until she opened up to Rito. She is a living weapon created by Dr. Tearju; who named her Eve and raised her like a younger sister from when she was little, Eve was a happy little girl who looked up to Tearju. Tearju would always read a bedtime stories and cook for her little sister and despite the food being badly made Eve would still force herself to eat it. Until the organization that had Tearju create Eve took her away to be trained as a weapon renamed Golden Darkness and tried to have Tearju killed. Tearju escaped but was separated from Eve and couldn't find her until they meet again on Earth in To-Love-Ru Darkness. The organization was destroyed by the hitman Black (a character based on Train Heartnet, the main character from Black Cat), setting her free.

Tearju is also the name of the scientist who created Eve in Black Cat, whom Yami is based on. The connection between the two is also strengthened by the fact that her given name is also Eve.

Before she met Rito and Lala, she lived in the universe alone, doing her job as an assassin. Yami had fought and mercilessly defeated the assassin called Tyrant Azenda because of a dispute within the assassination organization they both worked for.

Powers and Abilities
Golden Darkness' signature ability is her transformation ability. This ability allows her to turn almost any part of her body parts into various objects, preferably weapons or tools used for combat; the nanomachines that circulate through her body allow her to do this. She usually uses her long hair for transformation, occasionally using her arm and feet. A few examples of her transformation capabilities are:

A downside to her powers is that if she uses her power excessively, the nanomachines in her body overheat, leaving her extremely weak and unable to move and causing her to pass out (To Love-Ru Chapter 45). Yami considers her power to be a "cursed power" and that it can only be used for hurting people, however, she is truly able to use her powers for harmless and trivial purposes with safe precision, such as cutting up Lala's tofu (Chapter 76) or doing maid work at Saki Tenjouin's mansion (To-LOVE-Ru Darkness Chapter 31). Apart from her alien powers, she also has excellent martial arts skills. Her physical combat skills nearly match her transformation power, meaning that even if her transformation powers were taken away from her, she could still win a fight with just her fighting skill, as shown when she beats up the school principal while in Mikan's body only using kicks and punches, she has also shown to be skilled with a regular sword.
 * Hair Transformation: Yami's most notable ability is her control over her hair. She can control its movements, extend its reach and uses it to create giant fists, dragon heads, sword blades, metal teeth, claws, battle axe, spiked maces, drills, hammer, frying pan, wrecking balls (sometimes spiked wrecking balls) and even a giant shoe that's similar to the one's she wears.
 * Hand Transformation: Yami can change her hands into huge blades or just her fingers like bladed claws.
 * Feet Transformation: Yami can even transform her feet into spiked wrecking balls.
 * Person and Animal Transformation: Yami is able change her size and measurements to look more mature and adult like. She is also able to change parts of into animal like features that gives her extra capabilities, growing a pair of feathered wings from her back to enable her fight and turn her legs into a fish tail (similar to a mermaid) with gills that lets her breath and swim better underwater.
 * Attire Transformation: On her "date" with Rito, Yami used her abilities to change her black Gothic outfit into a cute dress, but she said that she can't hold it for very long.



Rito Yuuki
Yami was initially hired to kill Rito by Lacospo (one of Lala's suitors), but after learning that Rito is not Lacospo described him to be, she turned on him, but still claims that she will kill Rito eventually and will stay on earth until her mission complete (even though the job is technically over). Later, she actually confirms to Rito that she only said that as an excuse to stay on Earth, and warns him not to make her too angry (Chapter 138). As time passes, Yami seems to grow some feelings for Rito. It is Rito who introduced her to taiyaki, the only thing she really eats. Rito carried her on his back to Mikado's clinic when she overused her powers, saved her from another assassin hired by Lacospo, and, unbeknownst to him, showed her a kinder side of himself that made her envy Mikan for being so close to him. Yami hates it when Rito sees her naked or changing, and she never hesitates to use her transformation powers to give him a powerful punch to the face.

Yami appears to have love-hate feelings towards Rito. She convinces him, and perhaps herself as well, that he is still her target. And she often states how much she hates perverts. Naturally, Rito's pattern of accidentally falling and groping girls earns Yami's wrath more than a few times. Even when seeing Yami naked is clearly not Rito's fault, she would still proceed to give him a beating. However, like other female characters, Rito's kindness does manage to slowly grow on her. It's possible that Yami knows that Rito isn't as perverted as some think and just hates it when he sees her without clothes.

In Chapter 158 of the manga, Yami was accidentally sprayed by Celine's pollens, causing her to feel infatuated with Rito. She then forces Rito to spend time with her (like a date), and soon after, asked him to kiss her, but Rito refused to. After the effects of the pollen wore off, Yami asked why he didn't kiss her. Rito replied that he couldn't do that if she was not on her proper mental state. Yami then called him idiot for showing kindness to an enemy, but also made it clear that she doesn't hate idiots. She then smiled very sweetly at him. This is the only time Yami ever showed her soft side to a male, and also the only time she smiled heartily in the whole manga. All of this suggests that it seems possible that Yami started developed feelings for Rito from this point.



In To Love-Ru Darkness (the sequel of the original To Love-Ru manga), while Yami is still wrathful to Rito's usual clumsiness, her relationship and feelings with him continue to grow and develop. In Chapter 002, Yami makes a taiyaki miso soup especially for him and then asks him if it was tasty. When Rito said that it was, Yami blushes and says that she feels relieved. Momo, who was present, further concluded that deep down, Yami is attracted to Rito more than she imagined at first.

In Chapters 013-014, Rito and Yami get caught by Lala's invention and become stuck together, temporarily unable to seperate, much to her bitterness. After a day putting up with each other, when things finally calm down at night, they are finally able to speak more calmly with each other while being alone together. Yami begins revealing to Rito about her past with Tearju, and the organization that separated them and turned Yami into a weapon, something she never spoke about even to Mikan. When Rito condemns the organization, she finds him quite strange because even though Rito knows that he is her target to kill, he would get mad for her sake at the people from the organization who used her like a weapon. Yami notes that she feels safe and at peace when she is around Rito, feelings she does not often experience in her unhappy life as an assassin. After the effects of Lala's invention wore off, Yami still clings to Rito as she falls asleep. Rito is the only person whom she has opened up to about her past.

When Tearju becomes the homeroom teacher for her class, Rito tries to convince her to come back to school, which she refuses at first, but with surprising help from Mea, who had a change of heart after a conversation Rito, Yami returns to class in her uniform (To-Love-Ru Darkness chapter 30). Yami is perhaps grudgingly grateful to Rito for being meddlesome enough to help her take the first steps to reuniting with Tearju.

Mikan Yuuki
Yami's most significant friendship is with Rito's younger sister, Mikan Yuuki. This may be because of Mikan's frequent friendly advances on Yami, and Mikan constantly talking with and helping Yami. In Chapter 139, she and Mikan use Lala's invention to switch bodies for a day, both wanting to see what the other's life was like, and Yami envies the life and relationship Mikan has with Rito, and considers the brief experience as a precious memory. In Rito and Mikan, she sees the peaceful life she could have had, and desires deep down. Mikan is the only person Yami actually calls "friend" and is seen by her side often.

Lala Satalin Deviluke
Yami is forced to fight Lala when she is assigned to kill Rito. After they stop fighting, they become friends (at least in Lala's eyes). As of Yami's opinion of Lala, she seems oblivious to Lala's friendly behavior towards her, but she never attacks Lala or says anything bad about her after their fight.

It was Lala who named her Yami-chan (Yami means darkness in Japanese), a name repeated by most other characters.

Mea Kurosaki
Yami doesn't appear to be particularly attached to Mea after discovering that she is technically her sister and, also like her, a (second generation) transformation weapon made from the same organization as Yami. It is Mea's mission to return Yami back into space and back into her previous cold assassin's life, which is a task set to her by her master Nemesis. Mea at least desires for "Yami Onee-chan" to join her. But Yami encourages Mea to learn and embrace the human life and companionship on Earth, just as Yami is learning to do.

Mea still thinks that Yami should be the ultimate weapon and unstoppable by anyone. However, in To-Love-Ru Darkness chapter 30, Mea has a slight change of heart after her conversation with Rito. When he explains how Tearju sees her and Yami as her little sisters and how families are important, she helps him persuade Yami to come back to school and perhaps rebuild her relationship with Tearju.

Tearju Lunatique
Tearju is the one who created and gave life to Yami from her own DNA, making Tearju sort of like her mother, but Yami stated they were more like sisters. Before her life as an assassin, Yami used to play and have fun with Tearju and would even eat whatever she cooked (despite being badly made). Yami seems to hold high respect for Tearju even now. When Tearju escaped the organization, she was unable to take Yami with her, although Yami doesn't blame her for it and says she's glad that Tearju is alright. Tearju wants to be close to her again, but because both are similarly emotionally awkward and unsure, neither would approach each other unless forced to. Since Tearju's arrival as a teacher at Sainan high, Yami stopped wearing her uniform and stopped attending classes.

If Tearju had rescued Yami from the organization that turned her into a weapon, Yami would have grown up differently with a better and happier childhood. It is revealed that Yami is afraid of becoming closer to Tearju because she doesn't know how to face her after becoming a notorious assassin, and feels she doesn't deserve to be with her again after what she has become. But with help of Rito and Mea, they persuade her to come back to school. Tearju has become her new homeroom teacher, and was tearfully overjoyed to see her in her uniform.

Nemesis
Nemesis is also a transformation weapon like Yami and Mea. Nemesis and Yami seem to know each other, though have only met each other once (To Love-Ru Darkness chapters 23-24). Nemesis originally planned for Yami to return to her old life as an assassin, starting with finishing what she started when first coming to Earth which is killing Rito. However, because Rito can change the way a transformation weapon acts, Nemesis decided to observe how things progress, first by approaching Rito herself.

Nemesis says that one day, Yami will inevitably once again become an emotionless killer when she uses a hidden ability known as "Darkness", which she describes will bring about chaos and destruction to the universe.

Story Role


Yami is one of the most popular and main characters, aside from Rito, Lala, and Haruna. This may be because she is almost identical to Eve from Black Cat, which was also made by To Love-Ru's illustrator Kentaro Yabuki. She appears regularly in the To Love-Ru series, but not in every chapter.

Due to her popularity, she was made the main heroine in the spin-off series "To Love-Ru Darkness", which is the continuation of the first To Love-Ru manga. In this series, she replaces Lala as the main heroine, though Lala is still seen a bit less often. In the anime, she appears in a few episodes, including all of the OVAs.

For a list of manga chapters in which Yami is present see the article "To Love Ru-Manga Chapters".

Yami also made a cameo appearance in the manga Mayoi Neko Overrun in chapter 7 page 27.