Love Lab (also known as Renai Lab) is an anime series based off of the 4-koma of the same name. The series is written by the author Ruri Miyahara whom has little presence in the manga industry. Her other work known as Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou also has similar themes involving love in a slice of life story with awkward comedy, drama, and romance. However, Love Lab is a little different because it takes the idea of love and focuses it on exclusively as a sort of experiment. Our main characters at Fujisaki Girls Academy plays the role of the scientists and tries to find out exactly what love is through these so called "love experimentation".
For starters, Love Lab's concept consists of the idea of discovery. This primarily focuses on discovering how to attract the opposite gender and what love is. It's quite a difficult task because there are all sort of mishaps dealing with love. I mean, think of this way....when you first fell in love, how did that feel like? At any rate, the experiments dealing with the discovery of love and its concepts are explored at Fujisaki Girls Academy. The school itself is famous and pretentious because its school body is composed of well mannered students with elegance. A primarily example is Natsuo Maki, the Student Council President. With her elegance and beauty, she almost seems to be the perfect example of a Yamato Nadeshiko. Hmm, or is she?....
Among its other cast members is Riko Kurahashi, an admired girl but with a rather tomboyish personality. She is one of those girls where is very straightforward with their brutal honesty. In fact, she is even known by others as 'The Wild One'. This is clearly evidenced in the first episode with her actions. Coupled by the fact that she grew up with a little brother younger than herself, expect Riko to be the contrasting side of Maki. If Maki represents the princess, then Riko would be the beast. Then, there are also other characters of the series also become member of the school's life as they are on the journey of perfecting their discovery of....love.
Because the series takes place at all-girl school, expect some undertone yuri. However, this is rather a facade because the tone is actually not as explicit as people may think. This is more evident later on when other characters enters the story that degrade this genre. (if it can be considered one at all for this series). To put it simply, it's NOT yuri.
What makes Love Lab entertaining though are a variety of its ideas. The surprising concept is immediately presented when Riko discovers Maki with her obsession. It doesn't help Maki disprove her case as she is caught red handed with a toy that she practices on. While this is essentially seen as a joke, it's clear that Maki is actually serious about romance. She hopes to make the hearts of boys go 'doki doki'. In reality though, she is already considered elegant with a beautiful face and figure. This is prove especially later on when she actually has several chance encounters with the opposite gender.
As for the experiments go, the theme focuses on love and its various little gags. The fun part typically involves with Maki and she tries to practice with situations that she believe will trigger 'flags'. In a way, her ideas can be relatable to otome games. Unfortunately for her though, these concepts don't always apply to reality and she learns it the hard way. Furthermore, her denseness on the concept of love makes her go to extreme measures with delusional ideas on several occasions. These experiments varies in many degrees as the girls tries at all sort of weird ideas. It's not very simple to explain so it's better to watch the series yourself to see what's going on. However, it can be relatable to high school experiences. Remember the first time you asked out someone? However, the process of actually verbally ask the question is a lot harder than it seems. It takes trials and error to get the right response usually. Here, the girls are in a similar situation.
Being tagged as comedy also, expect Love Lab to have many humorous dialogues and absurd character interactions. There are moments where we can't help but laugh with Maki's behavior regarding to the experiments. In fact, her initial encounter with Riko becomes an abrupt bubble burst with humor. Riko on the other hand is fun to watch as she becomes a sort mentor to Maki. It's like teacher and apprentice without the light sabers.
At some point though, Love Lab might become a chore to watch if decide to follow it all the way through. For one thing, we should want Maki to succeed and unlock the doors behind romance. However, the key to opening it often has her grasping on the wrong set of the key chain. This is proven by her naive ideas and because she lacks experience involving actual interactions with the opposite gender. Also, Maki often interprets almost everything as serious and often fails to recognize words behind the meaning. This is proven later on when she gets into a situation where she gets trapped in a zone of confusion. Additionally, Love Lab often tries a bit too hard and the ideas are cliched. These ideas are usually seen in most romantic comedies but here is taken as a joke. Unlike capturing targets similar to TWGOK (The World God Only Knows), the girls often finds themselves to be the targets.
Artistic wise, the series is pretty generic in its designs. The only two characters that seems to stand out among the others are our two lead female protagonists – Maki and Riko. Maki is designed to look, dress, and act elegant. Riko on the other hand has that tomboyish look for her hairstyle. She even changes her hairstyle too but no one seems to notice it. Two of the supporting characters also goes along with glasses to their design that makes them seem more mature and geeky. Yuiko Enomoto's eyebrows are also designed to look noticeable and commented on many times throughout the show. Finally, there's also the school design that gives off that girlish feeling. It's a girly show after with girls trying to learn romance.
As far as soundtrack goes, Love Lab once again adapts that girlish tone through its OP song, “Love Shitai”. Hearts are clearly seen in the song along with blushing moments of the girls. The OST itself is lighthearted but maintains a poor position because the majority of the series focuses on romance rather than a music band. However, Riko's VA Manami Numakuma does a terrific job in her role because of her tomboyish personality. Her tone of voice clearly presents the vocals of a tomboy. The way she speaks truly makes her the “Wild One”.
I won't say I love Love Lab but it's definitely something fun to watch to pass time by. It has its moments with the girls and what they do at school. In many ways, we see a familiar side to what girls think of the opposite gender as a rather entertaining outlook on the anime industry. Usually, it's the guys that goes after the girls like no tomorrow. But here, the girls wants to learn about love, educate themselves with romance, and maybe even earn themselves a boyfriend. Ultimately, this series might seem to be a bit different but it's certainly can be worth the time to watch through. Love Lab isn't just about experiments of love but also about discovery through experiences.
