Koi to Uso

In a futuristic society, Japan has implemented a complex system referred to as "The Red Threads of Science" to encourage successful marriages and combat increasingly low birthrates. Based on a compatibility calculation, young people at the age of 16 are assigned marriage partners by the government, with severe repercussions awaiting those who disobey the arrangement. For Yukari Nejima, a teen that considers himself average in every way, this system might be his best shot at living a fulfilling life.

However, spurred by his infatuation for his classmate and long-time crush, Misaki Takasaki, Yukari defies the system and confesses his love. After some initial reluctance, Misaki reciprocates his feelings in a moment of passion. Unfortunately, before the two can further their relationship, Yukari receives his marriage notice. He is then thrown into a confusing web of love and lies when his less-than-thrilled assigned partner, Ririna Sanada, becomes fascinated with his illicit romance.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Takasaki, Misaki Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Sanada, Ririna Main

Makino, Yui Japanese

Nisaka, Yuusuke Main

Tachibana, Shinnosuke Japanese

Nejima, Yukari Main

Oosaka, Ryouta Japanese

Igarashi, Shuu Supporting

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Yajima, Motoi Supporting

Taniyama, Kishou Japanese

Ichijou, Kagetsu Supporting

Kurosawa, Tomoyo Japanese

Mimasaki, Arisa Supporting

Shimamura, Yuu Japanese

Patrol Officer Supporting

Kuroda, Takaya Japanese

Nisaka, Kidou Supporting

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Furukawa, Shin Producer

Itou, Hirofumi Producer

Satomi, Tetsurou Producer

Tateishi, Kensuke Producer

Reviews

Jun 22, 2023

tahiyat_tasdic

Recommended

Koi To Uso, is a romantic slice-of-life anime is adapted from the manga with the same same and identical plotline, based in alternative version of modern Japan, where the Government assigns partners to every child to boost childbirth and combat lower birthrates.

One of the best romantic animes I have every watched - blend of humour and melancholy, grievance and unconditional love, determination to protect the one you love even though you may not be able to live your life with that person, regret and happiness, gains and sacrifice - with good quality sound track, beautiful artistic styles, and of course good music.

"Telling lies to ... protect someone you love will only destroy you/them in the end" formed the basis of the anime/manga.

The first episode was of huge enjoyment with humour with inclusion of melancholy and being lost in the end of it. As the anime carried on, it brings much more homour, cringeness, some minor explicit scenes, one scene of BL, but in my opinion the anime is mainly melancholic. Humours in the sense that Yukari Nejima is being asked to kiss his crush by his assigned wife, which was cringy as well. But, hey, she only knows romance though reading and watching shows, but never experienced it hence has no idea of the concept of "love". Hence it is alright for her to say this only to find herself a bit annoyed in the end, isn't it?

Only the ending, might have ruined the enjoyment of the story, as it shows a stubborn characters and sacrificial mentality, keen to choose two girls together and what not, which might not be liked by some people, and they could have covered a bit more of the manga to cut off that disappointment. Because, when something ends suddenly like this without you knowing why they have this scene, it will bring out disappointment towards the anime. Once you read the manga and cross this scene and go forward, the context of that incident. The timing and the covering content was bad there.

And yes, I highly recommend to read the manga more than watching the anime, or immediately after watching the anime to get a good idea of the story and to cut off the disappointment you might have after watching the anime. It is super-recommended to read the manga. IF YOU ARE DISAPPOINTED OF THE ENDING, PLEASE READ THE MANGA!! Chapters after the chapters covered in the anime, the manga is mostly melancholic and reading it, you will get very emotional. Sadness, grievance, sacrifice for the person you love and lying to that person to protect him formed the basis of the rest of the manga with little humour to hold on the readers' interest.

Overall, rating this 8/10

Opinion: I honestly have no idea why they are not bringing a second season. The storyline covered in the first season might look a bit disappointing, as usual that some manga have some disappointing scenes at the start and as we go on it gets really beautiful. What happens next is wayyy more interesting and beautiful and lovely, and bringing season 2 with the perfect timings and coverings of the manga will easily collect higher ratings. I would honestly love a second season of this.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Sep 26, 2023

RESOLVING_POWER

Mixed Feelings

I watched Koi to Uso (including OVA), also known as Love and Lies or Koi to Kuso. Here are my thoughts:

Koi to Uso is about a group of highschool students in a world where marital partners are assigned by the government. Most of the story revolves around the MC's affections being divided between his government-assigned partner and the girl he naturally desires.

My first impulse was to drop this, and for about half a year I did, but I ended up coming back to it out of curiosity. What I discovered is that Koi to Uso is an utterly ridiculous show but it has enough redeeming ... qualities to be enjoyable. For the record, I have never read the manga.

The story of this literally feels like a 13-year-old's creative writing assignment. Everything has this juvenile logic to it; the story demands a lot of suspension of disbelief. I really can't overstate how cheesy and pulp-fiction-like the story is. Even by highschool romance anime standards, this show is unbelievably corny and ridiculous. Forgive my use of youthful lingo, but this show is another level of 'cringe'. The secondhand embarrassment I felt watching this was extreme. A lot of the character interaction felt unnatural and it was kind of eerie. The way this show treats romance in general feels quite immature and juvenile, although it is somewhat endearing. It's possible that my perception of this is clouded by cultural differences in the courtship process.

The male MC is awful and has zero personality besides being a spineless, indecisive, clueless idiot, like most highschool anime protagonists. However, both the main female love interests have unique personalities and surprisingly a lot of depth to their character that unfolds throughout the show. They are more-thoughtful characters than the typical female love interests of a male-oriented hetero romance (a pretty low bar to overcome).

The thing is, pretty much all the flaws I've discussed above are storywriting issues. If you can look beyond that, Koi to Uso is actually a fairly well-directed show. It does a decent job of setting up romantic tension, and overall kept things dramatic and interesting. The character interaction, although written in an absurd manner, is sometimes surprisingly well executed. There are some romantic scenes in here that absolutely knock it out of the park with great script, music and cinematography. I know I'm showing contempt for this show in this review, but do not be mistaken: there are some scenes in here that made me gush they were so intimate. Furthermore, Koi to Uso is unique – it fully embraces its premise and explores the concept quite thoroughly. I also appreciated the absence of comedy; this show delivers its corniness with a totally straight face and I appreciated that.

As for visuals, I liked the character designs, including the eyes; the characters' eyes are huge and bug-like even by anime standards. I liked the characters' faces but they're definitely a little uncanny and other people may find them off-putting. The character animation is decent for a non-action anime, better than I expected at least. The facial expressions are well animated. During some scenes the cinematography is more sophisticated than I'd expect from a typical highschool romance show. Overall the production value is a notch above your average anime, although the manifestations of this are subtle.

The soundtrack is surprisingly good and felt quite modern and well produced – definitely a much better OST than your average anime. The background music elevated a lot of scenes and enhanced the show considerably. Conversely, I found the voice acting mediocre and none of the VAs impressed me.

I liked that the existence of sex was acknowledged in this. As opposed to so many other highschool romance shows where handholding might as well be our species' means of reproduction. This show is fairly 'sex positive' so to speak, which is somewhat rare for romance anime and might be a desirable feature for some viewers.


My overall rating: 6/10
Koi to Uso is SO BAD it's KINDA GOOD. The writing of this is comically moronic, but the execution is good enough to salvage this fanfic-tier story. The show is fairly well directed and decently produced. If you're prepared to endure a weapons-grade level of cringe, this anime is actually pretty enjoyable and entertaining. State of mind is hugely important though – you really need to embrace the corniness of this to enjoy it. There are some surprisingly romantic scenes in here if you have an open-minded attitude. Koi to Uso exceeded my low expectations.

If you're just looking for some ridiculously campy telenovela-tier romance, then this anime is a good candidate for that. It literally feels like some teenager's fanfiction randomly got an anime adaptation. I want to reiterate again how juvenile this show is: I think it would be hard for someone older than 14 to take it seriously. That's part of its charm though – it's so silly that it's fun. For fans of highschool romance, I think this anime is worth checking out, especially if you like this kind of thing served over-the-top ultra cheesy. This is definitely not an anime for everyone, but there is a specific kind of audience that would enjoy it. I'm glad that I gave it a second chance and didn't discard it based on its poor first impression. Also, if you're a drinker, this show is best enjoyed with a little booze to make you more receptive to the cringiness and cheesy romance.

If you are weirdly fixated on the idea of the government assigning you a spouse (I've actually seen this seriously discussed many times on the internet), then you might be interested in this show – it explores that topic quite thoroughly. Also, in case you hadn't inferred already, I think a female viewer is more likely to enjoy this due to the focus on marriage and relationship dynamics.

If you like ultra-cheesy highschool romance, you should give Koi to Uso a chance.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 2, 2024

AMNEZICUL

Not Recommended

i dont like the anime cause manga better allways but thats not even the beging whats wrong abt this adaptation the art its bad i dont recognize misaki the way shes animated and drawn its bad you can compare them anime to manga the diferences are big and the voice actors kinda dont matches my expectations cuz i read the whole manga first than watch the anime so in conclusion i recomand reading the manga instead thats what i did idk abt yall but when i read it i had other voice actors in my mind when i wass reading it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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