My initial thoughts when starting this series? "What am I getting myself into..." Those words were what ran through my head when I watched the first episode. It was ranked pretty high by the MAL Community, and I decided to give it a try. After the first episode, I couldn't help but press the next episode button... I mean, who wouldn't, right? Anyways, as I started watching the series, I hadn't noticed until around episode 17 that I had just spent 8 hours laughing my head off every episode. Strange, isn't it? We don't realize that we're doing something until we've been doing it for a long time or until someone points it out. What am I getting at here? Lovely☆Complex was probably the highlight of my month. I watched every episode in a matter of hours, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
For starters, when it comes to good quality storylines, Lovely☆Complex might cross people's minds. True, it may not sound like anything special, but truthfully it is. Usually when it comes to Shoujo animes, the storyline is based around 1 plot, and that would be getting the 2 protagonists together in the end of the series. What makes this unique is that the male protagonists are often taller then the female protagonists. In this case, it's the other way around... by about half a foot. Risa, codename "Giraffe", is a whopping 172 cm tall, and Otani, codename "Midget", is a mere 156 cm tall. It's abnormal for either of them to be that height, so when people are trying to make romance come out of that situation, it might seem impossible, especially since the two of them are fighting constantly. But overall, the story was really well played to my surprise. There was good comedy, romance, and an overall feel to the anime. I was very happy about that. It's not often where you come across a Shoujo that hasn't copied a story from another shoujo...
2007 isn't that long ago, and for an anime that's over 6 years old, it had a pretty decent art style. I liked how the characters were portrayed, however it seems like everyone in Lovely☆Complex was either really short, or really tall. I don't think there was an average height person in this show... strange, but had good quality overall. One thing I did have a problem though were those creepy-assed faces that mostly came from Risa. It ranged from a chipmunk, to a rabbit, to a god-knows-what. It's hard to like her when her face is so misshapen like that. I still laughed though, at least when I wasn't shielding my eyes.
Excellent cast for Lovely☆Complex. I really liked how they got the voice actress who played Nami in One Piece to voice Risa as well. She did really well in One Piece and transferred that profession into Risa. Then there was Otani. His voice was played by Akira Nagata. Haven't heard of him? Well neither had I until I looked up who voiced Otani. He's had 2 roles, one of them being Lovely☆Complex, so it shocked me to see him with a lack of roles. He voiced Otani so well that I was kind of sad, not being able to hear him again. As for all the other voice actors, they voiced their roles with professionalism and enthusiasm. I applaud that.
I could go on forever about who I liked best and why, but I'll keep the text to a minimum here. I liked Nobu the best, but I'll get to her later. For starters, Giraffe-- er, Risa was really funny, she was pretty when she wasn't cosplaying as a beaver, and she had an overall likable personality. Otani-- er, Midget-- wait, yeah, Otani seemed really dense, and when I mean dense, I mean REALLY dense. You could literally send him a note telling him "I love you" with your name signed at the bottom and he'd think it was a joke or for someone else. Either way, he too had some really funny moments to him. Haruka was the bane of my existence as an anime-lover. His constant obsession over Risa was almost intolerable. But either way, he seemed to have a crucial role in the story, so he was needed, to my dismay. Nobu, yaaaay! Risa's best friend. Probably the most affectionate girlfriend you could possibly have in all honesty. Truthfully I'd like to see someone get in the way of her and Nakao (Nobu's Boyfriend, and also one of the funniest characters in the show), and trust me, that person would die. Then there's Suzuki and Chiharu. I'm lumping them together because they're basically the same person, only 1 is male and the other is female. They're both really shy, but they are really nice as well. Last of all, Seiko. I'm not gonna give you a rundown of what makes Seiko a crucial character, but all I'm going to say is prepare to have your eyes burned out of your sockets and your brain blown up, along with constant laughter.
Enjoyment: 11/10. This is probably my favorite Shoujo out there today. I got my sister to watch it and she loves it as well, and she never watches any anime other than Angel Beats! and The World God Only Knows. She has a limited tendency to watch anime, but if I was able to get her to watch this, you should try it out for yourself as well. This anime had some great comedy, really good romance scenes, and an overall likableness to it. I urge you to watch it, and I really hope that those of you who have seen it can vouch for me in supporting me on how good this was.
