Ignoring my better judgement not to
judge a book by its cover, I picked up Love★Com because it
looked really animated. And as the cover
suggested, the movie was essentially anime in real life!
“Annoyingly
animated, yet ridiculously fun.”
The Rundown
Behind
the name: ラブ★コン Full
name—Lovely Complex based on a Manga
Country: Japan, 2006
Genre: Teen
Comedy
Distributed
by: Schochicku Fuji Company
Director: Kitaji Ishikawa
Cast: Ema Fujisawa (as Risa Koizumi), Teppei Koike (as Atsushi Ōtani), Nami Tamaki ( as Ishihara Nobuko), Heikichi
Nakao (as Yusuke Yamazaki)
Compare
to: Sailor Moon, Romeo x
Juliet, Cardcaptor Sakura
Hate
it or Love it? Luv it J
Synopsis in a Sentence: Rika likes Otani,
buts she’s taller than your average girl and he’s shorter than your average guy,
so they try to make things work, but together they make an off-beat, quirky
high school couple.
Love★Com is your typical shōjo
manga* story transposed into film. Directly transposed. So as you can guess,
its all anime, anime, anime and the film is no different. It’s quite
interesting to see film pop-out at you like video out of a book, but if you’re
not in the mood, you’d only be annoyed by it. Still, there’s no doubt that the
story itself is popular, as the story has survived transmission from manga to
TV, to anime, to video game and finally, to film!
*(A shōjo
manga is a comic/print cartoon directed toward female audiences between 10-18)
On Writing: The Plot
In film form, the writing quite honestly falls flat. There’s
really nothing to it, but ridiculous comedy which kind-of works, but lacks any
real base. Regardless, you’ll be too distracted by the overly active production
techniques in the film to care. Its pop-up, out-in-your face, anime, anime,
anime!!!… in the form of film.
But the plot addresses real issues: prejudice and
double standards, and as the title entails, the “lovely” social complex faced
by short-man, tall-woman couples, especially in societies like Japan.
(3.5/5)
On Acting: The Cast
Like the production, the cast is overly active. Think bizarre
gestures, outrageous clothes (pink
caps, green shorts and blue vests for boys, red, white and pink polka-dotted
dresses for girls) and ridiculous
film techniques (pop-out
characters, game characters coming to life). It’s really not bad but it might grate on you, then
again, you don’t see many films like this so why not just enjoy it?
 |
| Ema Fujisawa |
Although Lead actress Ema Fujisawa
plays a character much younger than her real age, she certainly doesn’t look it
but her unnecessarily animated gestures tell us that it’s been a long time since
she was in high school. A talented actress, regardless. She single-handedly
keeps us into the film.
 |
| Teppei Koike |
Teppei Koike who
takes the role of lead actor suffers similar symptoms, but mostly in the
wardrobe department—who says playing dress-up on a man will make him a boy? His
acting skills don’t suffer though, although he is betrayed by the wrinkles by the
side of his eyes.
(3.5/5)
On Production: The
Creativity
As though it hasn’t been said enough, this film is
all-around anime, as put by another review; it’s essentially transposed anime.
And it really is, but It’s actually fun. Think Lizzie McGuire, pop-up cartoon
movie. While this is done sparingly, in a more sophisticated, comedic fashion,
it’s done tastefully, and it is, in a ridiculous manner, honestly, quite fun!
One more thing—there’s a slight goof in production, but
I’ll let you figure that out yourself. Somewhere mid-film.
(4/5)
On Resolution: The
Conclusion
This film is made for younger viewers, but a good film
should translate into any age range, and as the target age range is up to 18
years old, its no excuse that the film does not tend to the greater movie
viewing audience. When it comes down to it, it’s essentially a love story, and
regardless, the ending was good, actually.
(3/5)
The Verdict: See it when
you’re on sugar (or anime) overload J
Overall Score = 14/20
Are you an ani-maniac?
Experience
anime in real-life, see
Love★Com
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