TV-Series
Description
Kenichi Saruyama is a first-year high school student at Sainan High School who later advances to his second year, standing 166 centimeters tall with black eyes and spiky black hair. His birthday falls on April 15, and his blood type is B. He has been a close friend and classmate of the protagonist Rito Yuki since their junior high school days, serving as one of the few significant male characters in the story.
Saruyama possesses a pronounced perverted personality, openly fixating on girls with an enthusiasm that Rito lacks. He frequently attempts to peek into girls' hot springs or locker rooms, often dragging a reluctant Rito along and promptly placing all blame on his friend when they are caught. His bedroom displays posters and magazines of bikini models, further demonstrating his unabashed obsession. Despite these tendencies, he is genuinely sociable and interacts normally with female classmates beyond just his perverse interests. He struggles with waking up early and enjoys going to the movies and appreciating beautiful women.
A significant motivating factor for Saruyama is his constant jealousy toward Rito. Along with most other boys at school, he envies how closely Rito is surrounded by numerous attractive and popular girls, including the alien princess Lala Satalin Deviluke and Rito's crush Haruna Sairenji. This envy stems from his own consistent lack of romantic success, a frustration that drives much of his scheming behavior. In a notable subplot, Saruyama develops a sincere crush on a girl named Yūsaki Riko, completely unaware that Riko is actually Rito transformed into a female form by one of Lala's inventions. He often imagines romantic scenarios with Riko, which the transformed Rito finds deeply disturbing.
Saruyama plays a supportive yet often complicating role in the story as Rito's best friend and confidant. He is one of the few people aware of Rito's long-standing feelings for Haruna Sairenji and occasionally offers advice, encouraging Rito to finally confess his love. He sometimes attempts to create opportunities for Rito to be alone with Haruna, though these efforts are frequently mixed with his own perverted agendas that ultimately fail. He is active in school events, serving as a member of the broadcasting club where he handles live commentary during sports festivals, and he proposed the animal costume café idea for the school festival.
His key relationships center primarily on Rito, with whom he shares a long-standing but complicated friendship. While he is a loyal friend who understands Rito's shyness and clumsiness, his envy and willingness to blame Rito for his own misdeeds create friction. His relationship with Haruna is minimal, as she dislikes his perverted comments despite their acquaintance through Rito. He finds Lala highly attractive, referring to her with the -chan honorific, and she has occasionally helped him, such as when he wanted to go on a date with Riko. In the sequel series To Love-Ru Darkness, he continues to express jealousy toward Rito and occasionally partners with the equally perverted school principal in their failed pursuits of female attention.
Throughout the series, Saruyama undergoes minimal character development, remaining a static figure whose role is largely that of a luckless comic foil. He consistently desires romantic attention but never achieves it, serving as an underdog to the more successful Rito. His schemes and peeping attempts invariably end in failure or backfire on him, reinforcing his role as a source of comedic relief. In Darkness, his appearances become less frequent, though he participates in notable events such as being manipulated by the character Mea to attack Golden Darkness, and later being recruited by Nemesis to betray Rito in exchange for a group date with alien beauties—a plan that ultimately fails when the girls intervene. His crush on Riko remains unchanged throughout the story, and he never discovers Riko's true identity.
Kenichi Saruyama possesses no special abilities or superhuman powers. He is physically average, does not participate in battles, and his only notable talents lie in his skills at public speaking for school events and his talent for creating comedic mischief.
Saruyama possesses a pronounced perverted personality, openly fixating on girls with an enthusiasm that Rito lacks. He frequently attempts to peek into girls' hot springs or locker rooms, often dragging a reluctant Rito along and promptly placing all blame on his friend when they are caught. His bedroom displays posters and magazines of bikini models, further demonstrating his unabashed obsession. Despite these tendencies, he is genuinely sociable and interacts normally with female classmates beyond just his perverse interests. He struggles with waking up early and enjoys going to the movies and appreciating beautiful women.
A significant motivating factor for Saruyama is his constant jealousy toward Rito. Along with most other boys at school, he envies how closely Rito is surrounded by numerous attractive and popular girls, including the alien princess Lala Satalin Deviluke and Rito's crush Haruna Sairenji. This envy stems from his own consistent lack of romantic success, a frustration that drives much of his scheming behavior. In a notable subplot, Saruyama develops a sincere crush on a girl named Yūsaki Riko, completely unaware that Riko is actually Rito transformed into a female form by one of Lala's inventions. He often imagines romantic scenarios with Riko, which the transformed Rito finds deeply disturbing.
Saruyama plays a supportive yet often complicating role in the story as Rito's best friend and confidant. He is one of the few people aware of Rito's long-standing feelings for Haruna Sairenji and occasionally offers advice, encouraging Rito to finally confess his love. He sometimes attempts to create opportunities for Rito to be alone with Haruna, though these efforts are frequently mixed with his own perverted agendas that ultimately fail. He is active in school events, serving as a member of the broadcasting club where he handles live commentary during sports festivals, and he proposed the animal costume café idea for the school festival.
His key relationships center primarily on Rito, with whom he shares a long-standing but complicated friendship. While he is a loyal friend who understands Rito's shyness and clumsiness, his envy and willingness to blame Rito for his own misdeeds create friction. His relationship with Haruna is minimal, as she dislikes his perverted comments despite their acquaintance through Rito. He finds Lala highly attractive, referring to her with the -chan honorific, and she has occasionally helped him, such as when he wanted to go on a date with Riko. In the sequel series To Love-Ru Darkness, he continues to express jealousy toward Rito and occasionally partners with the equally perverted school principal in their failed pursuits of female attention.
Throughout the series, Saruyama undergoes minimal character development, remaining a static figure whose role is largely that of a luckless comic foil. He consistently desires romantic attention but never achieves it, serving as an underdog to the more successful Rito. His schemes and peeping attempts invariably end in failure or backfire on him, reinforcing his role as a source of comedic relief. In Darkness, his appearances become less frequent, though he participates in notable events such as being manipulated by the character Mea to attack Golden Darkness, and later being recruited by Nemesis to betray Rito in exchange for a group date with alien beauties—a plan that ultimately fails when the girls intervene. His crush on Riko remains unchanged throughout the story, and he never discovers Riko's true identity.
Kenichi Saruyama possesses no special abilities or superhuman powers. He is physically average, does not participate in battles, and his only notable talents lie in his skills at public speaking for school events and his talent for creating comedic mischief.