Based off a popular web manga of the same name Rikei Ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei ShiteMita which is better known by its English title of Science Fell in love, so I tried to prove it is a romance and comedy genre anime that gives us a unique opportunity to see what will happen if science is used to measure one of the most fundamental aspects of relationships that occur between human beings which is that of romantic love. While romantic comedies as a genre has never been one that’s able to dominate the seasonal rankings for animes in recent years this has begun to change thanks to the adaptation of popular series like The World God only knows, Yamada and the Seven witches, Kaguya Love is war, Ao-Chan can’t study and of course, the most notable one in my eyes the excellent Wotakoi Love is Hard for Otaku series. The combination of these series I believe served to make the genre of Romantic comedies that much more noticeable to anime fans.
However, what can be said to be the one aspect that drew me to this series was the series main premise which was the experiment to determine whether it was possible to prove the existence of romantic love between two people via the usage of scientific theory via the observation of the relations between the lead researchers of the lab. While the examination of the concept of love served as the main interest complementing it was both the insight into the means to which it will be accomplished as well as the potential hilarity that will come from the interactions between not just the main leads of Ayame and Yukimura but also from the members of the Ikeda lab that they all belong to all of which served to ensure that this is a series that I will watch to the end. The series’ first ep while doing an excellent job in introducing and establishing the main cast members of the lab also did well to show that despite their differing personality’s that the chemistry between the cast is one that while somewhat difficult to see at first is one that’s not just present but one that’s actively motivating the members of the Ikeda club in pursuing their passion for science within the lab. This combination of excellent character chemistry when paired with the hilarity that comes from the practical experiments, I felt only served to enhance the series overall enjoyment and make each episode that much more entertaining for me.
Ayame Himuro
Ayame Himuro portrayed by veteran seiyuu singer Sora Amamiya of Aldnoah Zero and Konosuba fame is one of the main characters of the series and is the main female lead of the series. A first-year graduate student of the prestigious Saitama university’s Ikeda lab and Yukimura’s fellow lab member Ayame on initial appearance is shown to be an intelligent, logical and determined person by nature that like her fellows is someone that’s shown to be passionate about the field of science and is shown to have great pride at being seen as a science type. While certainly, a logical person by nature Ayame, unlike her fellow lab member Yukimura, was someone that was shown to show her emotions and feelings more freely and indeed is one that’s more easily affected by them than any of her fellow lab mates. However, rather than being seen as a negative trait by others this aspect of hers I felt serves to expand upon her character as a whole for it allows us to see a more playful and competitive side to her that allows her to not only show kindness and care towards her fellow lab members but also at effortlessly breaking down complex concepts for people not well versed in science aspects that are shown well in her close relationship with fellow lab member Kanade to which she both mentors and relies upon as a friend.
In terms of core development as a character, I felt that Ayame’s gradual evolution from an intelligent, composed and logical person that was only fixated on science to one that was able to show kindness, care and consideration to her fellows was an excellent one. Her gradual reveal of her maiden side that was all too often hidden behind her science type persona through the act of being more socially aware of both various romantic situations as well as her natural beauty I felt was a great complement to this development and even more so when taken with the insight into how troubled her childhood was before she encountered the subject field of science and meeting the members of the Ikeda Lab.
Yukimura Shinya
Yukimura Shinya portrayed by veteran voice actor Yuuma Uchida of Kono Oto Tomare and Ryuuou no Oshigoto fame is one of the main characters of the series and is the main male lead of the series. A first-year graduate student of the prestigious Saitama university’s Ikeda Lab Yukimura on initial appearances is shown to be an intelligent, serious and analytical person by nature that can be said to personify the very image of a science type on account of his preference for relying on solid facts and logic and his disdain for feelings and emotions that he views as illogical. While certainly allowing him to be efficient in his field this serious nature and preference for working often gave outsiders the impression that he was a cold person that was very demanding on his fellows while also making him somewhat inflexible when within normal social events like dates and flights. This latter aspect is shown well during the labs' journey to Okinawa in his desire to commence the experiment in mid-flight despite social norms stating otherwise.
However unlike a typical science type within the field Yukimura while certainly, a confident and composed person was someone that was also shown to have a surprisingly kinder side to his personality as shown in the advice that he provides to his fellows within the series as shown in the action he took to protect Ayame from delinquents and in comforting Kanade during her presentation. While certainly a confident person and one that was able to get through much of his life without encountering major difficulties its interesting to note that when presented with a situation that he’s aliens to that even Yukimura’s mask of composure can get shattered as well showing a surprisingly fragile side to his personality that’s seldom seen due to it being hidden behind his default science type persona. While allowing us to see a hidden side to Yukimura’s personality this fragile side of his also allows us to see Yukimura’s attempts to change his personality as a result of both the reveal of his inexperience in social interaction as well as the lessons that he learned from interacting with the members of the Ikeda lab. Overall in terms of development as a character while Yukimura’s development was not as visible to us as Ayame’s development was I felt that his evolution from someone that was overly serious and concerned about his experiments to someone that finally understood that while efficiency and focus was vital to a scientist that without friendship, trust and social knowledge that no matter how excellent of a scientist you are to the people that you will work beside you will be nothing more than a hindrance to them.
Kotonoha Kanade
Kotonoha Kanade portrayed by new seiyuu Natsuko Hara is one of the main support characters of the series and is one of the members of the Ikeda lab. A 4th-year college student and a part of Saitama university’s Ikeda lab to which she serves as a lab assistant Kotonoha on initial appearances is shown to be a positive, cheerful and responsible person by nature that can be said to be the only responsible one within the lab on account of her honest nature an aspect that I felt serves well to both contrast her with her fellow sempai’s while also ensuring that their experiments are kept on a firm leash. While shown to have a great deal of both respect and confidence in the intelligence of both Ayame and Yukimura it can be seen that she is somewhat exasperated at both their lack of social experience as a couple as well as the lack of feelings that would otherwise be present in such a relationship. However, despite the rather tall trial that comes from acting as the pairs primary adviser it can be seen that Kotonoha rather than being put off by their lack of experience is rather quite determined to make this experiment a success both to prove that love itself is something that can be determined via science and also because of the strong bond of friendship that she shares with her two sempai's that she seeks to assist in whatever capacity she could.
Overall the character of Kotonoha I felt was an interesting one and while her development was less pronounced than the main leads I felt that the sense of responsibility and honesty that she exhibited did an excellent job of not only keeping the experiments that were performed by the leads on track and the chaos that they cause to a minimum but also act as a stabilising force within the lab’s relationship dynamics and ensure that the lab members unique natures did not cause too much trouble for others.
Ena Ibarada
Ena Ibarada portrayed by new seiyuu Nichika Oomori is one of the main support characters of the series and is one of the members of Saitama university’s Ikeda Lab. A second-year graduate student and the lab’s overall leader Ena on initial appearances is shown to be a relaxed and carefree person by nature that seems to be only concerned with playing games and having snacks an image that can be said to be the opposite of what most people picture a lab leader to be like. However, while her initial appearance is something that will cause most to doubt her credentials it can be seen that this is but a facade of sorts for Ena while certainly moody and lazy at times is someone that’s intelligent, perceptive and logical and someone quite capable of reading the finer points of an experiment and determine the pros and cons of them with ease. While certainly playful and adept at enjoying herself at other's expense Ena was also shown to be someone that possessed a surprising amount of cunning which when combined with her ability to speak eloquently made her a difficult person to outwit whether in intelligence or general conversation.
Despite Ena’s carefree nature, it can be seen that Ena was someone that was kind by nature and someone that cared deeply about her fellow lab members. However, while caring towards them it can be seen that Ena rather than cheering on people that needed motivation would rather use a more unique method that would belittle them and fire up their passions through the flames of anger a fact that is shown well in her curious relationship with fellow lab member Kosuke. This method of motivation while certainly a workable if risky means of motivation I felt was one that matched Ena’s core personality relatively well reflecting well on the fact that she prefers to achieve the greatest outcome via the least effort possible methodology that she seemingly follows. Overall the character of Ena Ibarada I felt was one that I felt was developed really well throughout the series. While Kotonoha can be seen to be the solid foundation of the lab that served to keep the members antics grounded Ena can be said to be a jack of all trades being able to swiftly switch between the role of a valued leader that’s able to provide sound advice to others when needed to a joker that loves to take advantage of the lull between experiments to have fun at the expense of the others. This is perhaps best exemplified in the curious relationship that she enjoys with her fellow lab member Kosuke to which she seems to take particular delight in messing with. On the surface, while this may simply be Ena’s way of merely having fun from another angle this can also be seen as Ena trying to give her dear fellows the final push that they need in their respective pursuits in her unique way.
AMV
In terms of animation while the number of locations that the cast visited within the series wasn’t especially many I felt that the locations that were visited featured not just an excellent variety but were also locations that proved to be excellent venues for the many experiments that took place within the series. Notable locations that I felt were memorable in this regard was the amusement park, the Ferris wheel and the beach that the cast visited in Okinawa. In terms of experiments and romantic situations, I felt that the series featured a surprising variety of both that was used to determine the sub-theories that make up the overall experiment’s goal.
While the experiments proved to be entertaining affairs that aided the gathering and correlation of data effectively for the lab, I felt that within the series the underlying concepts that each experiment sought to both prove and make use of were aided greatly by two aspects. The first of these aspects was the explanations of select parts of the experiments by the joints efforts of both Ayame and Kanade that did an excellent job of summarising the main points of an experiment while still keeping up with the scene in which it was featured in. However, it can be said that it’s the second aspect which was the explanations offered up by Rikekuma that had a larger overall impact due to the combination of the depth that it goes into both breaking down the theories and concepts that were used and explaining it in a way that’s easily understood by people not well versed in science. When reinforced with Rikekuma’s unique personality and disdain for its job I felt that this simplification went a long way in providing both education and entertainment to the audience.
In terms of music, the series made use of one opening and ending theme which was Paradox which was performed by Ayame’s seiyuu veteran seiyuu singer Sora Amamiya and Turing Love which was performed by Akari Nawano feat.sou. Both of these songs while excellent in their own way I felt conveyed a different sense of feeling with the former giving a sense of revelation and disbelief that was combined with a sense of determination to uncover the truth by working together with others while the latter had the opposite in that it gave a sense that each new day was one where the team will both work hard to discover new results while also reinforcing the bonds that exist between the labs individual members despite the unforeseen new challenges they encounter along the way. Voice acting-wise I felt that overall the series main voice cast all did an excellent job at portraying their assigned characters whether they were main or support ones. In particular, I feel that Sora Amamiya, Yuuma Uchida, Nichika Oomori, Natsuko Hara, Jun Fukushima and Momo Asakura all did an excellent job at portraying their assigned characters of Ayame, Shinya, Ena, Kotonoha, Kosuke and Rikekuma respectively. While only appearing in the latter part of the series I felt that Yui Ogura managed to do an excellent job at portraying the character of Arika Yamamoto arguably one of the first villains within the series.
Overall conclusion
In overall I felt that Science fell in love so I tried to prove it was an excellent anime and was one of the best titles of this season. The series' main strong points, in my opinion, was its unique premise, story, well designed and developed characters, excellent voice acting and its excellent balance of being both entertaining and at the same time being educational.
The series overall premise and story I felt were one of the series main highlights due to the unique subject matter that it was trying to address. While the concept of love and trying to prove whether one has a romantic interest in another was an interesting if a rather difficult subject matter, I felt that within the series this endeavour was aided greatly by a number of factors that served to not only make the experiments much more interesting but also aid in providing crucial data that will otherwise not be recorded. These factors included the surprising variety of romantic situations that the cast was put through that went from basic to surprising and the gradually deepening bonds and chemistry that is forged between both the leads and the members of the lab as they take part in the experiments. When reinforced with the educational segments of the show that served to expand upon the theories and concepts that were used within the series I felt that the story managed to strike a perfect balance of being both entertaining and educational of which the last part was aided greatly by both the combined talents of Sora Amamiya, Natsuko Hara and Momo Asakura with Momo’s portrayal of Rikekuma adding an extra level of hilarity to the series due to its disdain for its job and its attitude when explaining things to the audience.
Overall as a final score I would say that that Science fell in love so I tried to prove it deserves a final score of 8/10 for while the series had an excellent and unique premise, story, characters, voice acting I felt that by the latter half of the series that the chemistry between the leads had started to pelt out mostly within Yukimura. However this was offset by the appearance and actions of Arika Yamamoto whose plans served to bring new life into the romance between Yukimura and Himuro. I felt that Arika as a character could have been given much more of a role and expansion into her character given how effective of one, she was to the overall story. At the same time, I felt that the supporting cast of Kotonoha, Ena, and Kosuke could have been developed a lot more as I really enjoyed the chemistry between the latter two characters.
