Lovely Complex ~ Lovecom

Information of Anime

Risa Koizumi is a tall high school girl that can't find a boyfriend.  Atsushi Ootani is a short high school boy that can't find a girlfriend.  Koizumi & Ootani are classmates that fight against each other for their sizes & earn the comedy duo nickname All Hanshin-Kyojin.  One day during their summer classes, a transfer student named Ryouji Suzuki catches Koizumi's eyes.  In turn, Chihara Tanaka catches Ootani's eyes.  Koizumi & Ootani decides to put their differences aside & help each other on their love goal.

Storyline (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Below is a summary of the storyline I've seen  If you haven't seen the series yet & don't want to be spoiled, skip this section.  If you want to know the story & want to see how I viewed it, read on.

Despite hunting their goal, Koizumi & Ootani give up when they see Suzuki & Tanaka fell for each other during their pool trip plans.  However, Koizumi & Ootani decide to spend their summer hunting again & challenge each other to see who will get a lover first.  But during the first love hunt, Koizumi starts to have second thoughts about Ootani when they being to understand one another better.  As a result, she goes after Ootani & confesses her love to him many times despite being embarrassed about it.  However, Ootani doesn't believe it since he found it to be impossible.  But when he finally realizes it, Koizumi has started giving up on him.  However, it would go back as Koizumi can't accept the fact of giving up on him since she still has feelings for him.

The one-sided love would go in circles until Koizumi finally gives up when an ill Ootani stole her first kiss accidentally & has no memory of it.  At this time, a student teacher named Kuniumi Maitake comes from Tokyo to teach in Koizumi & Ootani's class at the start of the new school year.  Instantly, most of the girls fall for his character & looks; especially Koizumi as Maitake resembles Cain-sama, a game character from one of Kozumi's ren'ai games.  Because Ootani proclaims that Kozumi isn't his girlfriend, Maitake warns him that he might take her if Ootani doesn't make a move.  However, Maitake was trying to fix their bonds which he does as the comedy duo has gone back as friends.  Kozumi says to herself that she won't love Ootani.  However, she can't stop herself & Ootani is now being more honest about himself & the situation.

Since then, roles have been switched with Kozumi being the idiot & Ootani making the approach.  Ootani wants to take the relationship further while Kozumi actually never thought beyond kissing.  Their so-called secret love would be exposed to many people as Ootani is now proclaiming Kozumi being his girlfriend after he was trying to keep it a secret from others.  However, Ootani & Kozumi's paths to the future different as Ootani plans to go to university to become a teacher while Kozumi is looking for a career path.  Even with these trouble, more obstacles come between them as outside people try to take Kozumi or Ootani away which creates confusion.  Thus, more on & off break up relationships.

In the last arc, Ootani goes to Kozumi's place to study the night before the entrance exam after being booted out of his house due to his whole family getting sick.  After the examination, he & Kozumi go out on a date.  During this date, Kozumi decides on a career path being a stylist after seeing a model photo shoot.  The show ends with Ootani being accepted to the university he wanted & the comedy duo delivering the valedictory speech for their school's graduation ceremony.

My Personal Review

Lovely Complex ~ Lovecom wasn't a show that I thought would grab my attention.  I didn't think it was pretty popular that the manga not only spawn a anime series, but a live-action movie as well.  The series is aimed for a female audience.

Animation

The character designs have that manga feel to them.  Large round eyes with long faces with pointy chins.  Body parts are long & thin as well.  The girls & boys don't look alike as they have some small difference here & there on their facial features.  But overall, they are like simple rough sketches almost.

The backgrounds are okay.  Not a lot of details & it does have it's dull side at times.

The colours are dull.  It's probably done to get the manga feel to it.

In terms of the animation movement, it's a mixture.  Sometimes the movements are realistic & sometimes the movements are not normal.  But they are quite smooth with some strange cycles such as walking & running.  It looks unnatural.

Sound

The sound effects are really on the silly side.  Very fix for a love comedy.  The sounds aren't too clear at times, but otherwise it's okay. 

The seiyuus here aren't too bad.  Most, or else all, the characters here talk with a slang as if they come from the countryside.  I thinking it's either the seiyuus have that dialect or the characters are suppose to be like that.  Not a bad performance nevertheless.

The music is mainly on the pop side.  However, I don't seem to notice the music being played in the background.

Story

At the start, the two height-complex kids fighting with each other on who will get a lover first.  However, the two tries to help each other out when they start to understand each other much better.  We get Kozumi's view the most as oppose to Ootani's.  But Kozumi starts to fall for Ootani & couldn't find ways to confess to him as he thinks it's all a joke.  Although the story is interesting, the ending outcome is very predictable in terms of who the two will end up with.  But the story goes too much of a circle.  The show adds some obstacles in certain parts where Kozumi & Ootani seem to hit a critical point in their relationship.  It's pretty much the jokes that keeps the show interesting & drags it through their entire high school years.

Because of the number of circles, the character development is actually pretty weak.  Although Kozumi makes a number of moves on Ootani & gives up at times, it makes her look indecisive.  Ootani, who knows that Kozumi loves him after figuring it out for a long time, seems to be dumbfounded in the whole situation & can't make up his mind at all.  Not only are the supporting characters in the show angry about them, the viewers can be doing the same as well.  This would later turn the tables when Ootani finally makes his move & Kozumi is now the dumber one.  This goes one for the entire show right to the end.  Although both of them as well as the supporting cast are looking towards their post high school life, it doesn't do much to the story & show.  It's not a very deep show overall.  But the ending is presented well as things are wrapped up nicely.

Overall Conclusion

Love Complex ~ Lovecom is hilarious & witty.  Not many love comedy anime shows use the concept of a tall girl & a short boy falling in love.  If you want some wacky love comedy, this is recommended.

Love Complex ~Lovecom gets a 7.5/10.  The story is interesting at the start & Kozumi & Ootani make a great comedy pair.  However, the outcome & plot is quite predictable.  You can pretty much guess what the ending is going to be.  This should be watch for entertainment more than seriously focusing on the story, because the story is just a number of circles that doesn't go anywhere.