Anime Marathon: Lovely Complex

I haven't marathoned an anime in a long time. After being repeatedly disappointed by with a lot of the things that I marathoned like Kanon and Da Capo, which I never got past episode 4 of each. I'm not sorry, but harem anime are crap in my books ~but their art is lovely. I really prefer something with a little more common sense or a lot of comedy apart from the blood and guts every once in a while.

I've been meaning to watch Lovely Complex for months now. But the premise of tall girl and short guy kinda put me off. Well... I watched and loved Toshokan Sensou already so I figured I should finally watch this already.

The story revolves around Koizumi Risa who is taller than the average Japanese female at 5'8" and Otani Atsushi (LOL! Same given name as that short guy the sexy beast Dojo!) who is shorter than the average Japanese male at 5'1". Both have spontaneous and fun-loving personalities who always speak their minds. They fall in love with each other but are hesitant because of they're uneasy about the height different. Risa gets over it faster and confessed to him but he took a little more time getting over the fact and they finally get together. The series spanned through the three years of high school. In between, they are surrounded by their friends some want nothing more than for the two of them to get together and a handful wants to break them up.

I love this show! It is freaking awesome! I can't believe I sat through True Tears (I had to admit, it was good but was kinda meh... story-wise) rather than watch this show that time. The story is nothing extraordinary - no on is super rich or super talented or super anything. Actually, it's incredibly ordinary, but the consistency in the characters' personality with the right injection of comedy totally made it worth it! It had the best depiction of boy-girl friendships I've ever seen in anime where the characters are not in elementary school. But the thing I love love love about this show is: common sense. It goes through the motions of misunderstandings and awkward situations, but they don't last very long because the characters are actually willing to listen to explanations when they are being made. They don't stop at, "I will never speak to you again no matter how valid your explanation is!"

The art style is suited for the anime... it's not going to win any awards for pretty animation (Also, when I started, I thought Otani looked a lot like that moron Yano from Bokura ga Ita so I had a big prejudice against because he's a moron. I got over that fast because his personality shone more than his appearance). The two OPs and EDs are nice, though it's not something I'd listen to regularly - reminds me of perky teenybopper music. I like the BGMs though... well, I am a sucker for BGMs.

The only complaint I have about the show is the sequencing. I sat through 17 episodes of getting together and only 2 or so of Koizumi and Otani as couple??? I mean, that's it? The only problem they encountered as a couple before they had a happily ever after is that other short guy in the restaurant that Koizumi worked in? Well, I heard that there are actually more things that happened to the pair as a couple in the manga, but I haven't read the manga. I certainly wouldn't have minded if they had more episodes just to make the part of them being a couple more stable.

But other than that, I don't really have any complaints about the show. This is one of those shows where brains is not really a requirement to watch and appreciate the show, which was a relief for me.
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