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 has increased importance as a character in 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, Momo realizes that Yami is attracted to Rito).

In To Love-Ru Darkness, Yami becomes one of the main characters. 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 transformation weapon of the same program that created Yami) and a mysterious figure known as Nemesis, arrive to Earth to take her away and revive the old heartless/murdering self that she once was.

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 Tearju Lunatique 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. Her 3-sizes are 75-52-77. Although it should be noted that she can change her appearance to look older with her transformation ability, her choice 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 leather 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 silver and black 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.

When the Darkness Transformation was activated, her appearance (mostly her clothes) drastically changed. She wears another black gothic outfit, only this time it shows more skin, she has clawed fingers with her arms being wrapped in the leather clothing and now has two black horns on her head.

Personality
"I hate ecchi people." ―Yami's view on perverted things



Though she does come off as stoic, emotionless, 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 shown 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 before being 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 she eats after coming to earth which was also given to her by Rito, shortly before her attempt to assassinate him. It's stated that since becoming an assassin, Yami has never slept with a calm mind (her body always "standing" on guard), but she appears to have slept calmly ever since she slept next to Rito (Darkness Chapter 13).

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, although she still cares for her greatly. 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. Yami is shown to evidently be shy, constantly avoiding mushy moments and Tearju, whom she still feels awkward towards.

Darkness
"I feel really perverted." ―Darkness

When the Darkness Transformation is activated, Yami's personlity changes quite drastically. She is shown to be more playful and now enjoys ecchi things and seems to be more openly infatuated with Rito, wanting him to do more perverted things to her. She has absolutely no problem admitting she loves Rito, and yet, as he is her "target" she will still kill him. In fact, she contantly believes that by killing him there, he will then be in her heart forever and they will become one, which she describes as the most ecchi thing possible. However she acknowledges that for him, this reality is one of being chewed up and swallowed like Taiyaki. She thus uses her newfound powers to manipulate matter and prepared the most fitting place for the "ecchi" him to die as tribute.

Despite Darkness' ecchiness compared to Yami, she appears solely interested in Rito, and still dislikes the principle.

History


There was not much history known about 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.



Right when Yami became an assassin, she came to a planet whose inhabitants had tentacles in it. Though she herself refused to relive the experience it is strongly implied that it caused her paralysing fear of anything slimy and with tentacles.

At some point she bought an artificial intelligence for her spaceship from a junk shop and named it Lunatique.

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.

During her life as an assassin, Yami had shown signs of amnesia, which was further expanded upon when Mikado explained her first meeting with her. Yami came to her full of injuries but with no memory of how she got them or the time it took to get to Mikado. What happened to her during that time is currently unknown, this perhaps further hints Nemesis meaning of Yami "unconsciously becoming aware of her true self". Her memories before she became an assassin have also become black until she retained these memories from being close to others, especially Rito, whose warmth she compares to what she felt with Tearju.

Powers and Abilities
Transformation Ability: Golden Darkness' signature ability is her transformation ability otherwise known as the Trans-ability. This ability allows her to turn almost any part of her body into almost any animate objects (preferably weapons or tools used for combat) or reshape the size and figure of her body. The nanomachines that circulate through her body allow her to do this. 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 (Darkness Chapter 31). However, the complete nature of her Darkness ability and their consequences have yet to be fully revealed. Expert Hand-To-Hand Combatant: 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 Katana (though created from her hair).
 * Page19.jpgn Transformation: This ability gives to change any and all part of her body into weapons like her hands turning into blades, claws or huge mechanical gauntlets. Yami mostly uses this ability to create weapons from her hair, she has also been shown to create non-weapon objects such a frying pan or even some medical equipment but is still useful against opponents.
 * Hair Manipulation: Yami's most notable ability is her control over her hair. She can control its movements, extend it's reach and uses it to create giant fists and dragon heads. She can even solidify her hair to form metallic objects like sword blades, metal teeth, battle axe, spiked maces, drills, hammer, wrecking balls. etc. Even a giant shoe that's similar to the ones she wears.
 * Body Transformation: Yami is able to change her bodies size and measurements to look more mature and adult-like.
 * Partial Animal Transformation: 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 Transmogrification: 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.
 * Darkness Transformation: Following Tearju's expulsion from the organization, the scientists affiliated with the group implanted a program called "Darkness" into Yami. Nemesis has stated that this form is a grand weapon of destruction that has the capability to destroy the whole universe. It was also feared by Tearju after Rito and Momo mentioned it to her during the Festival (Darkness Chapter 24). Because the scientists ultimately hated the fact that the universe was heading towards peace, they designed "Darkness" to activate when Yami felt a sense of peace in her heart. The Transformation starts with Yami losing control over her transform ability, in which it started molesting her with her hair. After a while, she is then cocooned by her hair and emerges in a transformed state. In this form her appearance and personality change drastically, she now wears a more revealing outfit and is more playful and has a tendency for erotic things.Yami also gains some new abilities:
 * Limitless Transform Ability: According to Nemesis, the Darkness form is what happens when Transform runs amok and removes all of its limits, which she refered to as the Limitless Transform Ability. This ultimately turns Yami from an Anti-personel weapon into an Anti-planetary weapon.
 * Wormhole: Yami can create wormholes with the use of her hair and teleport anything or anyone anywhere. It is described by Tearju as applying her Transform abilities on space to displace it.
 * Water Manipulation: Yami is seen to be able to control the water, creating huge hands and is also able to stand on it. Again, this is implied to be her applying her Transform ability on the water, rather than space as she does to create her Wormholes.

Enhanced Strength: Yami is shown to have a great amount of strength despite her child-like appearance.

Enhanced Durability: Yami is able to withstand heavy attacks like a direct hit from a laser from Lala's tail.

Enhanced Agility and Reflexes: Yami has really good athletic skills, capable of doing somersaults, leaping over buildings and dodging certain impacts, but is still unable to dodge Rito's clumsiness, who always seems to manage to stumble upon her regardless.

Expert Tactician: Yami has seemgly proven herself to be an excellent tactician, as shown from observing her opponents and finding any sort of weakness, such as being knowledgeable of the Demon Sword, Bladix, at first sight or single-handedly finding out the rough alien Khameleon at the Tenjouin beach resort like a detective (due to reading too many detective mangas, as pointed out by Mikan).

Trivia



 * 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 one of the main characters 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.


 * Yami's transformation powers such as being able to transform her legs into a mermaid tail and wings were inspired by Eve from Black Cat


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