Anime Review: Lovely Complex - Season 1

As a fellow tall girl, I can really relate to Koizumi.

Soooo, to continue on my spree of 'look I'm coming back but please don't see this as the new bar of expectations for me' I'm posting a review on a show that I watched moooonths ago called Lovely Complex. One of the original shoujos that every teenage anime girl fan who loved gushy stupid romance watched. Well, that and Shugo Chara, Kaichou Wa Maid-Sama, and the infamous Ouran. Despite this show not being the most popular of it's type, which I will go into more detail about in a later post about the shoujo genre, it was still a fairly good show.

For the few who don't already get the premise behind this show, it's synopsis time! Risa Koizumi is a brand new highschool student, and by god is she going to get a boyfriend! The only problem here? She's as tall as a giraffe. Standing at 172 cm (5ft 8in for you none metric users....I am one) she's significantly taller than the average Japanese girl... or boy for that matter. She stands as tall or taller than most of the boys at school and no boy wants to date a tall girl. Everybody only sees her as the hilarious ape girl who does what she wants, when she wants. AKA, she's a little lacking in the femininity department. On the flip side of this unconventional coin is Atsushi Otani. The shortest guy ever. Standing at a measly 156 in (5ft 1in) he's smaller than some of the girls in his class. More so around the same height as them but that's so far from being manly he can't even. Always being hassled because of his height, mostly by Koizumi herself, he falls into a sort of routine with her, making friends with her but also being a huge contrasts. (About 7 inches of contrasts)

The two decide to make a pack a little later in the year. They each have set their sites on a person they like. For Koizumi it's some quiet handsome boy whose taller than her. For Otani it's a pretty shy girl that's friends with Koizumi. They decide to help each other out. And lose. For the two get together with each other because the two they like "only sees them as one of guys/girls"

Thus the devastated pair make a pact to do whatever the other says depending on who gets a boyfriend/girlfriend first. Totally platonic right? WRONG! Over the course of maybe a year or two, they get closer to each other and to Koizumi's dismay, she starts the catch some feelings. Otani on the other hand, only sees her as "one of the guys". Now what?

And then for the last 5 or so episodes they just go back and forth to try to get Koizumi to confess to Otani, and Otani not getting it, and then Otani gets then, then Otani saying he doesn't really see her that way, to Koizumi not being able to get over him, to Otani maybe starting to like her more in the future?? It' s just.... ugh.

Obviously that's where the show takes a turn for the worse. Making the same dog on mistake every shoujo of this type decides to make. (Trust me, on the shoujo post I am going to go iiiiiin on the types of shoujo mangas out there) This show is just like many animes that have come after it. Alhtough I must say, I do believe that this show maybe one of the first of it's types in the early times of 'early 2000s', but that doesn't stop it from being horribly annoying when the main couple just can't get passed the friend stage. When you know they eventually will.

I understand that there is a second season of the show, but it was released in 2014 and the animation style is just too different from the 1st season. Also known as, I won't be watching it. Sorry. But I might read the manga because I've become invested in the main couple and I've seen the art. It's so pretty.

But back to the show. This show really doesn't have much of a plot other than these 2 kids are going to be in a relationship... eventually. As most shoujos go, the first few episodes and the last few episodes are always the best. Despite the fact in this one where the last few episodes were just short of eye racking.

The best part about this show, as is again with most shoujos, is it's main characters. You know what makes Koizumi and Otani tick, and God bless, you don't need some tragic back story to do it. Otani is a short kid who has a complex about his height. He wants to play basketball and is fucking amazing at it. He works harder than anyone because he's overcompensating from being short. Koizumi helps him find out that it's just fine being short. Koizumi, on the other hand, is obsessed with finding love. As in most main girls in shoujos. She also feels grossly insecure because she's incessantly tall compared to all the other girls in her class. Being herself consists of legs open in a skirt, mouth full of food, and yelling all the time. Many traits that aren't really associated with being girly. When told to be girly, she does a full 180 and gets quiet, and shy or loud as hell saying back the fuck off. A strong willed girl because all people ever did was tell her who and how to be.

The two are nice matches for each other, and once again, shoujos do this immaculately well. There's a reason why there are so many shows that are basically the same and they are still amazing. The other characters aren't even worth mentioning, so I won't. They're just there to fill the highschool show quota of 'fun with friends'. (I bet you guys didn't believe me when I said that I was going to go ham on this shoujo genre post, just wait.)

The animation was pretty okay for its time. The facial expressions were the best part. The opening and ending sequences matched the show's atmosphere perfectly. The opening being really up beat and over the top with slow moments, and the ending just a short sequence of the two main characters walking. A simple idea that's been done a few times, but if it isn't broke, don't fix it!

The art I already mentioned that I prefer the old style just because there is always more character shown in the old style. That may just be a me opnion though. Not much else is to be said about the show so I'll leave it at that. If you want another generic shoujo with a twist. Watch this! But you could also watch Bokura ga Ita or Ao Haru Ride and you'd enjoy both shows just as much. I have yet to see His and Her Circumstances but I bet it's pretty similar as well. In the end, the age old question of what do tall girls get if short guys like short girls and tall guys like short girls? Otani. That is all.