Love Lab

At Fujisaki Girls Academy, student council president Natsuo Maki is the epitome of grace and perfection, admired by all the young girls who attend the school. One day, Riko Kurahashi walks into the student council room on an errand, only to discover Natsuo practicing her kissing techniques on a pillow, an act that is neither graceful nor elegant. Riko soon discovers that Natsuo desires more romance in her life, leading her to practice "romantic situations" in secret.

Sympathizing with her, Riko agrees to help Natsuo with her love research. Named "Love Lab," the project practices the essentials of love and romance, such as bumping into each other "accidentally" and holding hands. Soon, the entire student council joins in on the fun in the Love Lab too! Through their research and real life encounters, what will they learn about romance?

Weaving together funny characters and comedic situations, Love Lab builds a story of friendship and romance, while never missing a beat with the laughter.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Maki, Natsuo Main

Akasaki, Chinatsu Japanese

Kurahashi, Riko Main

Numakura, Manami Japanese

Mizushima, Sayori Main

Taichi, You Japanese

Enomoto, Yuiko Main

Sakura, Ayane Japanese

Tanahashi, Suzune Main

Minase, Inori Japanese

Ikezawa, Masaomi Supporting

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Nagino, Satoshi Supporting

Mizushima, Daichuu Japanese

Minami, Momoka Supporting

Akina Japanese

Tanahashi, Hiroka Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Sugihara, Miyabi Supporting

Arai, Satomi Japanese

Toba, Yousuke Producer

Kananiwa, Kozue Producer

Maruyama, Hiroo Producer

Kamata, Hajime Producer

Reviews

Nov 10, 2024

toxicgreen777

Recommended

Love Lab is a very fun watch that doesn't require a lot of attention investment. Each of the main characters' strengths and weaknesses really shine and drive the show's comedy and entertainment. Each of the Love Lab experiments the main cast partakes in gives the laughs of a good comedy skit, but also the precious moments of them becoming better friends. If you like slapstick humor that slaps every time with a dose of heartwarming moments of friends being friends, this is a good show to watch.

Also, I need to warn you; this show will jump scare you 1 time ... with blackface. It will be the most out of left-field thing... and the funniest scene in the entire series. You have been warned.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by toxicgreen777 (12)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Nov 15, 2021

Fishymonster_

Recommended

My biggest pet peeve with comedy anime, which is especially prevalent in moe comedy anime it seems, is when emotional tension is undermined by poorly placed gags or jokes. Sure, I'm watching the show because it's funny, but if a show was ONLY funny and nothing else it wouldn't be interesting. This is something that love lab does NOT DO. They actually handle the more dramatic scenes really well. They still interject comedy in them here and there, but it's well-placed. This is not the funniest show I've ever seen, though it did make me laugh a decent amount. What I love about this show ... is the combination of comedy and drama, which synthesize together to create the ultimate wholeome and heartwarming anime.

I was positively surprised by the amount of (or lack of I should say) romance in this show as well. While it is titled "love lab," that mostly pertains to the activities (fantasizing and experimenting with romance) of the student council of an all-girls school, whose 5 members are the main cast of the show. I didn't watch this for the romance aspect, and I advise you to not expect too much romance either. The "romance" (if you can call it that) that is in this anime is extremely minimal but pretty wholesome. There's no relationships or anything of the sort, but the boys that are included I don't dislike.

One big part of this show that impressed me was the animation. Honestly, in some episodes, this anime felt more like a Kyoto animation production than a random anime studio. That's not to say that the animation is as good as Kyoto's, because it's not, but the fluidity with which characters move is rather impressive.

I've actually noticed that with other anime by this studio (doga kobo) as well, such as plastic memories, sleepy princess, and especially (the exceptionally well done and highly recommended) My Senpai is Annoying, which is very wholesome and has exceptional animation. Other very good shows from this studio, (I love and would recommend all of them) include New Game, Yuru Yuri, Gabriel Dropout, Himouto! Umaru-chan, and Asteroid in love. This is not everything famous by them, but these are the shows I love the most. (Doga kobo rant over)

Overall, This show is criminally underrated, and I would strongly urge you to give it a try.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Fishymonster_ (58)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Mar 15, 2022

PixelB

Mixed Feelings

Love Lab is a surprisingly decent comedy that tries to incorporate melodrama when it really doesn't need to. In fact, it only muddies the waters and it makes you wonder what the identity of the show is going for.
Love Lab is built on a comedic premise about girls dreaming about their ideal guy and fantasizing about them in unrealistic scenarios: the childish fantasies fuel the show and characters, and it's what makes the comedy charming. Yet, on the other hand, you have a decent amount of conflict and drama in a comedically themed show.
I never really expected this show to be realistic or anything beyond ... comedic since it's not really what it was aiming for in the first few episodes, and it doesn't fit the theme of the show at all. It makes sense, considering that despite the girls in the show doing research on love, there's no romance at all, and there's just fantasies and imaginary scenarios.
It definitely is strange that there is such an emphasis on drama in this show despite its silly premise. I wonder why there's always shows like these, which can't make up their mind on focusing on a set of genres that don't clash with each other? It's fine if a comedy has some drama, and it sometimes is expected. After all, a show can't always be a pure gag. There's bound to be some story or character development arcs. A good example of this Boku no Tonari. It's a comedy too, but it maybe used a couple episodes of drama at most, with emphasis on comedy. Contrast this to Love Lab, where every single arc after the first in the show has some sort of conflict and drama, with comedy sprinkled in between. There's some intermission scenes with pure comedy, but for the most part, you're going to be seeing some melodrama unfolding.
I'd say that perhaps 30-40% of the show is melodrama, which is a decent chunk of the show, and if I were to judge purely based on that content, then this show would score not nearly as high as I rated it. Comedy carries this show hard, and so I just kind of find it weird that it's not the focus half the time.
If the show wanted to be more serious, it should have taken a more serious direction. Have a show be about research on love and with drama sprinkled in? Why not actually introduce romance or Yuri, so there actually is some sort of drama and conflict that makes sense with the theme of the show? Instead, the show does stupid things like introduce consequences to a light-hearted action like punishing student council members for an unannounced broadcast. Does it really make sense that this would be a problem in a comedy show? Come on. Even the final arc of the show really forces the conflict and is precedented on a terribly predictable misunderstanding that everyone would have figured out. The show could have still resolved the conflict in a reasonable manner if it was framed better, but instead, it drags out the melodrama for no particularly good reason.
Again, and it's like I'm a broken record at this point, but Love Lab would have succeeded a lot more if it decided to go with a theme that it stuck with. If it wanted melodrama, it should have built a cast of characters and introduced relationships and stories that fit it. Otherwise, just focus on the comedy, please.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by PixelB (440)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Animeism (Programming Block)

by MyAnimeList

110 Entries · 175 Restacks

All-Girl TV Shows That Might Interest You

by Jarito

50 Entries · 331 Restacks

Some Female-Led Anime That Will Be A Great Past Time Show

by Theannoy3rd1

50 Entries · 473 Restacks

North American Anime & Manga Releases for August

Here are the North American Anime & Manga releases for August 2014 Week 1: August 5th - 11th Anime Releases Cardcaptor Sakura Vol.1 Standard Edition DVD Cardcapt...read more

Aug 5, 2014 10:43 AM by Snow | Discuss (24 comments)

Q2 2014 Anime Licenses [Update 7/12]

Sentai Filmworks (North America):Haikyuu!! Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou (The Kawai Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel Behavior) Isshuukan Friends. (One Week Friends) Lov...read more

Apr 5, 2014 2:33 PM by Dunois | Discuss (80 comments)

	Poll: Love Lab Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Jul 18, 2013	113 replies	by gnomicCirratum »» Sep 26, 10:16 PM
	Poll: Love Lab Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jul 11, 2013	95 replies	by gnomicCirratum »» Sep 26, 9:58 PM
	Poll: Love Lab Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Jul 4, 2013	229 replies	by gnomicCirratum »» Sep 26, 9:12 PM
	Poll: Love Lab Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Sep 12, 2013	68 replies	by bakakisima »» Sep 11, 10:28 AM
	Poll: Love Lab Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Sep 26, 2013	152 replies	by FarCritical »» Aug 25, 10:11 AM

Funny Anime Moments That Happen In EVERY Anime

When tropes are overdone, they become stale. These 8 funny anime scenes happen way too often -- but they're still hilarious in the hands of the right anime.

by Littoface

107,137 views

Collection