LoveCom: Lovely Complex – Anime First Impressions

I skipped watching Lovely Complex raw because I figured I wouldn’t get any of the jokes. Finally, someone subbed it, and boy am I grateful! Forget Romeo x Juliet, the truly messed up couple is in Lovely Complex!

Koizumi Risa is apparently a very tall girl. Ootani Atsushi is a short male. Together, they form the “All Hanshin-Kyojin” of their class. Because of their weird opposite personalities, they routinely fight and entertain the class with their antics.

I converted their heights into the imperial system (since I don’t do metric). Koizumi is around 5’7″ and Ootani is between 5’1″ and 5’2″. I can understand Ootani feeling short, but Koizumi isn’t really that tall! I was 5’7 in High School, and I still am now… I know a lot of girls who are that tall. I guess it might be less common in Japan, though. Plus the main point is their huge difference in their heights.

The first episode features an alliance between Koizumi and Ootani. Ootani notices that Koizumi has fallen for some new classmate. He tells her he’ll set her up with him in exchange for fast food, and Tanaka-san, one of her friends. They begin the waterpark love love daisakusen, but their plan backfires. They both get rejected due to their heights!

The episode ends with the two making a bet to see who can get a mate first. Um, hello!? You guys had fun at the waterpark together! Are they really that dense? Didn’t they watch the OP sequence where they’re all lovey-dovey together!? Hopefully this anime won’t turn into the type where they remain oblivious until the last episode climax where they realize their true feelings. That would suck.

I really like the style of this anime. The art itself is nothing to write home about, but it works for a comedy anime. The characters do a lot of XD faces, which is cool. And there’s a lot of slapstick visual comedy, which is win.

I thought that the characters looked a lot like the Kamisama Kazoku characters. I looked it up and apparently the character designer is the same for both series. Personally, I liked Tanaka-san the most, but who knows if she’ll be a regular character or not. Her voice is way too cute.

If Lovely Complex escapes the common anime theme of delaying any kind of relationship stuff to the end, I think it’ll turn out really good. Even if they remain oblivious, the characters are still really funny. I think this is the only funny anime I’ve seen all season (Lucky Star doesn’t count) so if it keeps getting subbed, I’ll definitely keep watching.

There’s also a live action movie, and the manga is going to be published in Shojo Beat, so maybe I can get ahead in the story that way, too.