Lovely★Complex

Love is unusual for Risa Koizumi and Atsushi Ootani, who are both striving to find their ideal partner in high school—172 cm tall Koizumi is much taller than the average girl, and Ootani is much shorter than the average guy at 156 cm. To add to their plights, their crushes fall in love with each other, leaving Koizumi and Ootani comically flustered and heartbroken. To make matters worse, they're even labeled as a comedy duo by their homeroom teacher due to their personalities and the stark difference in their heights, and their classmates even think of their arguments as sketches.

Lovely★Complex follows Koizumi and Ootani as they encourage each other in finding love and become close friends. Apart from their ridiculous antics, they soon find out an unexpected similarity in their music and fashion tastes. Maybe they possess a chemistry yet unknown, but could love ever bloom between the mismatched pair?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Koizumi, Risa Main

Okamura, Akemi Japanese

Ootani, Atsushi Main

Nagata, Akira Japanese

Ishihara, Nobuko Supporting

Higashi, Saori Japanese

Kotobuki, Seiko Supporting

Takimoto, Fujiko Japanese

Kohori, Kazuki Supporting

Shimowada, Hiroki Japanese

Nakao, Heikichi Supporting

Tokuyama, Yasuhiko Japanese

Umibouzu Supporting

Smokey, Tetsuni Japanese

Kuniumi, Maitake Supporting

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Fukagawa, Haruka Supporting

Onosaka, Masaya Japanese

Yoshioka, Mimi Supporting

Araki, Kae Japanese

Seki, Hiromi Producer

Abe, Junko Producer

Uda, Kounosuke Director, Episode Director

Fukutomi, Hiroshi Episode Director

Reviews

Dec 17, 2024

Insomniac_shonen

Recommended

The story is somehow both unique and not unique at the same time—an impressive balancing act, really. Sure, it’s predictable, but who cares? The characters are the real MVPs here.

The art style? Oh, it’s fantastic… for 2008 standards. It actually fits the story, which is a pleasant surprise. The characters are so well-rounded you’d think they were sculpted by a perfectionist. Risa and Otani totally steal the show, making this anime feel unique—because why not? Even the side characters somehow managed to be interesting (a rare achievement, let’s be honest).

Overall, this anime is a blast. If you love sarcasm and fun, this is right up ... your alley. A solid 9/10—because let’s face it, nothing’s perfect.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Nov 10, 2024

XxKriegxX

Mixed Feelings

This anime is a bit of a slow burn, while I don't think any episode is wasted it's clear which ones will actually move the plot forward and the ones that feel a bit redundant. I think it has a strong start that will hook people that frequent the genre in, however it is the middle stretch of the episodes that feel like an ouroboros of progress. While yes it's joked about in the anime and it seems to be intentional the comedy hardly makes up for it. My other gripe is honestly that the comedy is just kind of okay, I rarely laughed, ... not to say it never hit but if the comedy is repetitive it kind of puts a damper on things. Where I do give the most points and props is the core duo and their love progression, when the show is focused on them are the high points of the show and the fact that there isn't a cliffhanger and everything wraps up kept this from being rated lower. If you want a bit of a slow burn show to put on you will likely enjoy this but if you already don't like romance you likely won't.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Nov 25, 2023

BadGuyBoog

Not Recommended

Funny

This is another shoujo that I heard was pretty good, and even had great reviews on Letterboxd. But looking at it in hindsight it’s kinda… weird. Like in From Me To You, it was a romance between the least popular girl in school, the one everyone bullies, and the most popular guy in school. Ok, that’s something that girls can relate to and desire. Makes sense. Forbidden love, classic. But in this show it’s: “wait, those two people who get along perfectly well to the point that we have a pairing name for them fall in love!??!?!??!??! But, she’s tall and he’s short???? Impossible. Inconceivable. ... I can’t believe those two people who we always saw paired together could possibly be interested in each other romantically. This is the most surprising thing ever. Of all time.” Like, why is this seen as so weird? Why is it such a big deal that they can’t see each other romantically? It’s like “he only sees me as the second half of his comedy act”. Like what the fuck does that mean? Are you goddamn Penn and Teller??? You’re not fucking business partners in stand-up comedy, you’re two friends who play off each other well, who bicker and get into entertaining arguments. That sounds like the perfect couple pairing to me. So why is it so inconceivable that they fall in love? I just don’t get it. Anyways yeah it was pretty good. Besides that glaring flaw the drama was alright, I guess. Still cringe, yada yada. I kinda feel the same way about this one as I do about From Me To You, just with a lot less coherent plot.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Lovely Complex Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 ) icerydragon - Jun 3, 2007	65 replies	by Magicmist »» Yesterday, 6:49 AM
	Poll: Lovely Complex Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Enn - Jun 1, 2007	103 replies	by Magicmist »» Yesterday, 1:51 AM
	Poll: Lovely Complex Episode 7 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Kayrhandros - May 24, 2007	88 replies	by Magicmist »» Feb 1, 5:51 AM
	Poll: Lovely Complex Episode 6 Discussion ( 1 2 ) tainteddonut - May 16, 2007	68 replies	by Magicmist »» Feb 1, 5:04 AM
	Poll: Lovely Complex Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Kayrhandros - May 9, 2007	109 replies	by Magicmist »» Jan 30, 7:29 PM

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