Lovely★Complex

Love is unusual for Risa Koizumi and Atsushi Ootani, who are both striving to find their ideal partner in high school—172 cm tall Koizumi is much taller than the average girl, and Ootani is much shorter than the average guy at 156 cm. To add to their plights, their crushes fall in love with each other, leaving Koizumi and Ootani comically flustered and heartbroken. To make matters worse, they're even labeled as a comedy duo by their homeroom teacher due to their personalities and the stark difference in their heights, and their classmates even think of their arguments as sketches.

Lovely★Complex follows Koizumi and Ootani as they encourage each other in finding love and become close friends. Apart from their ridiculous antics, they soon find out an unexpected similarity in their music and fashion tastes. Maybe they possess a chemistry yet unknown, but could love ever bloom between the mismatched pair?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Koizumi, Risa Main

Okamura, Akemi Japanese

Ootani, Atsushi Main

Nagata, Akira Japanese

Ishihara, Nobuko Supporting

Higashi, Saori Japanese

Kotobuki, Seiko Supporting

Takimoto, Fujiko Japanese

Kohori, Kazuki Supporting

Shimowada, Hiroki Japanese

Nakao, Heikichi Supporting

Tokuyama, Yasuhiko Japanese

Umibouzu Supporting

Smokey, Tetsuni Japanese

Kuniumi, Maitake Supporting

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Fukagawa, Haruka Supporting

Onosaka, Masaya Japanese

Yoshioka, Mimi Supporting

Araki, Kae Japanese

Seki, Hiromi Producer

Abe, Junko Producer

Uda, Kounosuke Director, Episode Director

Fukutomi, Hiroshi Episode Director

Reviews

Sep 20, 2025

Bakrio_16

Recommended

A really nice and cosy anime, i enjoyed it very much. It encapsulated both romance and comedy; it was quite funny, with great gags, and the style and animation did them justice.

The animation was great, nothing too crazy, but it provided what was needed for the show. The style was quite a nice sight too, the character designs in themselves are pretty generic but it's the grotesque and weird faces that they make during the gags that really stand out.

The romance was great, it didn't feel like some nonsense where they just fall for each other immediately, it took quite a bit of time ... for them to get together truly. Nothing really feels dragged; the pacing was good. However, there wasnt enough of Otani's perspective during the show, it was mostly Risa, which to be fair, is quite expected considering this is a shoujo and all.

The characters were great and memorable, even side characters that rarely showed up like the teacher, were nice. They were the type of characters that are interesting and have something going on. A jolly and diverse bunch.

My only criticism is a few plot points didnt really feel justified, nor did they leave an impact on the story or the characters. It was like they were just there to fill up some episodes.

Overall, it was a great watch, recommended if you want a good anime romcom, 8.3/10. This one is definitely an anime I'm gonna miss.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Oct 16, 2025

megumiswofe

Mixed Feelings

This really was not as good as I was hoping. First off, this is probably the SLOWEST burn I’ve ever watched. This one drags it out to the extreme, and it does that in a very repetitive and frustrating way. It’s the same arguments, the same jokes, the same misunderstandings, over and over and over and over !!!!!!

That said, some parts were funny, I’ll give it that, but mainly only in the beginning when they were fresh.

Now for my problems with the height difference: Risa is 5’7” and Otani is 5’1”, that is a height difference of barely over 5 inches. Yet in the anime, ... Risa TOWERS over Otani. She literally looks 6 feet tall!!! At that point, why not just lean into it and make her actually taller, like a full 12 inch difference, because that’s what it looks like on screen ! The inconsistency is just so distracting.

Story: 7/10 - It’s a good concept, not something you usually see
Animation: 6/10 - It’s fine, nothing special
Characters: 6/10 - Otani is unseemingly dense, Risa is simply insufferable, no real depth
Overall: 6/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 25, 2023

BadGuyBoog

Not Recommended

Funny

This is another shoujo that I heard was pretty good, and even had great reviews on Letterboxd. But looking at it in hindsight it’s kinda… weird. Like in From Me To You, it was a romance between the least popular girl in school, the one everyone bullies, and the most popular guy in school. Ok, that’s something that girls can relate to and desire. Makes sense. Forbidden love, classic. But in this show it’s: “wait, those two people who get along perfectly well to the point that we have a pairing name for them fall in love!??!?!??!??! But, she’s tall and he’s short???? Impossible. Inconceivable. ... I can’t believe those two people who we always saw paired together could possibly be interested in each other romantically. This is the most surprising thing ever. Of all time.” Like, why is this seen as so weird? Why is it such a big deal that they can’t see each other romantically? It’s like “he only sees me as the second half of his comedy act”. Like what the fuck does that mean? Are you goddamn Penn and Teller??? You’re not fucking business partners in stand-up comedy, you’re two friends who play off each other well, who bicker and get into entertaining arguments. That sounds like the perfect couple pairing to me. So why is it so inconceivable that they fall in love? I just don’t get it. Anyways yeah it was pretty good. Besides that glaring flaw the drama was alright, I guess. Still cringe, yada yada. I kinda feel the same way about this one as I do about From Me To You, just with a lot less coherent plot.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	First time I seen them use a joke meant for JP in the dub otomon - Feb 27	6 replies	by Frosty »» Nov 9, 12:03 AM
	Poll: Lovely Complex Episode 6 Discussion ( 1 2 ) tainteddonut - May 16, 2007	72 replies	by The_Vindicator »» Sep 21, 12:31 PM
	Poll: Lovely Complex Episode 24 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) cyruz - Oct 11, 2007	225 replies	by Biisoo »» Aug 24, 9:15 AM
	Poll: Lovely Complex Episode 22 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Madonnalal - Sep 19, 2007	123 replies	by Biisoo »» Aug 24, 7:25 AM
	Poll: Lovely Complex Episode 19 Discussion ( 1 2 ) cyruz - Aug 20, 2007	97 replies	by Biisoo »» Aug 18, 8:47 AM

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