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• bladegirl

Lovely Complex Review

Story: 7
The concept of this anime is simple: You have a girl who is 1.70 tall and a guy who is 1.56 short with loud characters, who both face certain problems due to their heights, throw in an entertaining side cast and you have Lovely Complex. The first part of the anime is immense funny because both main characters dislike each other and constantly tease one another with their lengths.

Later in the anime, this story deepens somewhat and the plot gets more serious and while the comedy is still there, it isn’t the main focus of the series anymore. It’s good that they took this road because I think a 24 episode series with the same humor over and over again, would get boring after a while. However don’t expect the story to take any unexpected turns since it’s basically build up as a typical high school romance story.

Unlike most romance stories this anime is really fast paced, a little to fast to my opinion sometimes. The story covers all three years of high school and jumps from one special event to the next, like for example one episode it’s x-mas and the next it’s Valentines Day already. For me it made the story feel rushed at times, and left me wondering if nothing had happened between those times.

Animation: 7.5
I would describe the animation as simple and sometimes plain ugly. This is done intentionally to bring out the comedy aspect more. For example: Risa is drawn in a way that she seems even longer then she already is. Everything in the anime is drawn kind of exaggerated, like for instance facial expressions. I really liked this aspect of the animation, especially because the characters also react to the ugly drawn facial expressions. It might take some time to get used to the style but I grew to like it, it really supports the absurdness of this anime.

Audio: 7.5
The voice acting of the series is brilliantly done! The actors manage to bring out the comedy even more. Also the voices from the side cast fitted the characters well.
The first opening theme is catchy; however to my opinion the singer isn’t the best out there and the second opening is even worse. The first ending is a slow, mellow song but it didn’t catch my attention to ever finish it once throughout the whole series. I had to listen to it just now so I was able to write something about it; however it is the best song of the series. The accompanying background music and sound effects are once again to support the comedy aspect of the series and they succeed at doing so.

Character development: 7.5
This is the main focus of the series since the plot itself isn’t very thick. The relationship between the main characters undergoes several stages throughout the series. Also the main characters separately grow throughout the series, especially Risa, the female lead. I have to say all though I admire her for her determination; she also became a very whiny character and cries almost every episode. It certainly became a point of annoyance at points.

The side cast is a bunch of funny characters but don’t really develop throughout the series until the last few episodes. Suddenly the focus shifts to them and this came across very unnatural. It felt like they needed to fill the remaining episodes. The ending was of course very cliché, like it should be with a series like this.

Overall: 7.5
Even though I think this series would have been better if it would have been 12 episodes, I generally enjoyed watching it. The absurd comedy effects in animations and characters made this anime one of the better comedies out there, especially the first half of the series is really good. I wouldn’t watch it though if you are not into the romance theme, because the focus is more shifted to that aspect in the second part of the series. Even though the comedy aspects remain, the whiny factor can become a point of annoyance.
Still with these flaws I had a good time watching it and I think a lot of people will be able to appreciate the absurd outlook on romance that this series offers.