Lovely★Complex

Love★Com (ラブ★コン) • Toei Animation • 2007

💭 My Take (Honest Critique)

I thought this was genuinely great, but my only real gripe is the romance itself. It was difficult for me to stomach how often the male lead kept instigating fights with the female lead, to the point where I was questioning if he even liked her or was forced to go along with liking her. Eventually we do see both getting more connected together, but what ultimately made me feel slightly against the relationship was the last chapter when he forgot her birthday.

I’m not a person who’s too picky about red flags, but I think I just got tired of their constant bickering when she was trying to be way more honest. I’m a romcom connoisseur, so I feel a bit bad saying that it started off pretty strong and tapered off by the end.

That said, it’s still one of my favourite shoujo. Heck, I’d say maybe even one of my favourite anime. It definitely played a part in why I’m a regular anime watcher now.

While the tall girl / short guy dynamic is certainly uncommon, it’s not the main draw for me. It’s the fact that these two feel like regular people. They’re imperfect and flawed. You wouldn’t call them bad people, but they’re not exactly the most upstanding, gentle, kind people either. They’re really just average people, and that feels surprisingly rare in fiction.

I also love how they’re treated as equals. It’s not like one of them is on a pedestal. They’re both just trying to get through things and make it work. And when they do manage to get past their bickering and realize they’re closer than they think, it feels so good as the audience to see them cross that line.

Oh, and the soundtrack is amazing as well. That definitely plays a part too.

🫶 Characters & Voice Cast

• Risa Koizumi – Akemi Okamura
• Atsushi Ōtani – Akira Nagata
• Nobuko Ishihara – Saori Higashi
• Heikichi Nakao – Yasuhiko Tokuyama
• Chiharu Tanaka – Kazuko Kojima
• Ryoji Suzuki – Kenjiro Tsuda
• Haruka Fukagawa – Masaya Onosaka
• Mayu Kanzaki – Yuki Matsuoka
• Umibōzu – Hisao Egawa (Smokey Tetsuni for singing)
• Kuniumi Maitake – Junichi Suwabe
• Kiyoji Nakano – Masashi Hirose
• Mimi Yoshioka – Kae Araki
• Kazuki Kohori – Hiroki Shimowada
• Seiko Kotobuki – Fujiko Takimoto
• Kazuko Matsubara – Keiko Tsukamoto

🗺️ Character Diagrams

📚 Manga Cover