Lovely complex Anime review

Synonyms: LoveCom, Love Com

Type: TV

Episodes: 24

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 7, 2007 to Sep 27, 2007

Producers: Toei Animation, TBS, TAP, DiscotekL

Genres: Comedy, Romance, Shoujo

Duration: 24 min. per episode

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Manga review is right HERE

Simplicity, a wonder if you use it well, a disaster if you fail at it, thankfully, Lovely Complex uses it in a magnificent and refreshing way.  When I started this series I seriously doubted the charm and the capacity of this anime, and thankfully, I was wrong, I never should have even though that this could be bad, for it is seriously great.

I really, really, really loved LoveCom.

It was cute, insightful, hilarious and endearing.

This anime, inspired from the manga with the same name, actually has one of the simplest stories that I have ever seen. It’s basically the normal everyday life of Risa Koizumi, a taller than the average girl, and Atusushi Otani, a smaller than the average guy (and they both have somewhat very close interests) they are known as a comedy duo and this is shown all along the anime. The complex of these two is actually their heights, which they both see it as a big problem. Both of them start off liking someone of their height, so they arrange a double date, and, obliviously, they end up alone since both of their dates go with the others. Obviously enough, romance is the main subject of this anime, but apart from that, that’s pretty much the whole story, their school life.  Even though this sounds pretty simple, it’s a really great setting since its so simple and so well exploited. Keep in mind though, this is still a shoujo, so if you were expecting some kind of fan service you can quite forget it, plus, if you’re looking for a really slow paced anime this is not the one you want to be looking for, its full of drama (the REALLY good kind) full of emotions and full of pain and joy. And seriously enough, it’s actually really well done, really realistic (by that I mean if you were ever got is some kind of situations shown in the anime you can actually feel some of the emotions and understand them).  

Like a lot of romances, the second big focus of this anime is the comedy, which is pretty good I must say, some of the laughs and joke style might resemble the style featured in Seto no Hayanome (with less epicness, but it still puts a smile on your face, and makes you laugh sometimes).  I can’t emphasize enough on the fact that even if this is an extremely simple and casual setting it is actually extremely original anime, that originality is shown all along the anime. Plus like I mentioned earlier there is some great drama in there, making you feel bad and sad (and I mean really sad and really deep) during the strangest and weirdest scenes (ex: bear curry, you will get what I mean when you get there). Another good thing about this anime is that it stays almost the same calibre through the whole anime (I still prefer episodes 1 to 18, which are more the main story, compared with the other 6 episodes who almost feel by times like fillers). Even though, this is not an anime for anyone to watch, it’s still heavily based on romance, and seriously, it can sometimes get a bit long for some people. But overall, it’s a wonderful romance story, which will most likely attract more girls, but that I would recommend to almost anyone. Plus, strangely, the height ‘’problem’’ is actually a pretty important and funny point of this anime, and without it the anime wouldn’t be as good

The characters, quite amazingly, were all very interesting, even though some were quite the ‘’I have seen that character before’’ style (ex: the shy girl who always cares about others), even though I must say that all the characters that were introduced are seen and we actually get some development for almost all the characters, which is really good for this type of anime. One thing though, I must say that the main characters (even if they can be annoyingly stupid sometimes) are really interesting and quite nice. As I said, due to the simplicity of this anime it’s actually pretty easy to understand the characters and their ‘’feelings’’, which really help the romance part. Plus, one other thing I can’t help but like is the insults shouted by these 2 main characters, very  interesting (ex: you totem pole).  Even if we don’t get a great back ground story out of these 2, they are well developed and you can only like them through the whole thing.  Although these are pretty good characters, they are not memorable, you won’t necessarily remember them that well or actually miss them once the anime is done.  So, to sum it up, this show offers a great cast, yet not a memorable nor a greatly elaborated one, but I can’t say I didn’t like the 2 main characters (even if Otani is really stupid and really sucks (at life I mean).

The artwork is actually your typical shoujo artwork, obese eyes, long and slim men (which happen to have absolutely no body hair)… big smiles and small noses. Its the usual type of artwork for this type of anime and its well done, even though the artwork can still get on your nerves after a while.  I personally think this kind of artwork is actually quite annoying at times, yet, I can’t say there would be another more suitable style.

One thing I just can’t take away from this anime is its music, it’s the main thing that causes the whole drama, it sets the mood, it supports the feelings, and it makes you sad when you should be. Without its music, this anime is nothing, for the music is the strongest point of this anime along with its simplicity. But, some of the music can actually, sadly, get quite repetitive. In the end , the whole emotion of this anime clearly lies in its music, and that said music, is really good, so it really improves the manga.

Finally, this is a really great anime, offering a great simple story, awesome and deep drama, an okay cast, and epic music, even with all this, the final 5-6 episodes really were unnecessary and felt like fillers, which degraded the overall value of this great anime. Could have been better, but is still a great work in the end.

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