Love*Com The Movie (Lovely Complex)

Lovely Complex is another romantic comedy based on a Shojo Beat manga series. The story basically revolves around Risa Koizumi, who is 172 cm (5′ 7″) tall—much taller than the average Japanese girl and Atsushi Otani, who is 156 cm (5′1 and a half”) —way below the height of the average Japanese boy.

A lot of bad reviews from the follower of the manga saying that the manga is a lot more funnier than the movie and also, that it is not as good as the anime. Although fans may recognize some scenes from the movie, it still differs quite a lot from the manga/anime. They also say that the movie doesn’t do the manga/anime much justice.

Teppei Koike as Atsushi Otani & Ema Fujisawa as Risa Koizumi

I on the other hand have never read the manga or watched the anime, thus I really enjoyed the movie! Any movie that makes me laugh – I LIKE! Ya, sure it does throw in some slapstick jokes that may get lost in translation, but I loved it anyway. I thought that the girl who played Risa threw in great facial expression and Otani is just so kawaii!!

The movie starts with an English narration (with a very distinctive Japanese accent – I like!) : “You fall in love with someone. As a result, you come to hate yourself. If this is the case, this someone is not meant for you. This someone is not your destiny. For destiny is….” then you have to watch the movie for the ending.

What sucked me in to this movie was the fact that Risa and Otani are two people who hates each other’s guts and always seemed to be bickering and having vocal wars with each other. But in fact, they have so much in common when it comes to character and interest wise. That’s the fun part for me, to watch the “bakaness” of them fighting in class and yet completing each other’s sentences, saying the same thing at the same time and ordering the same weird food in unison voice. Their friends thinks that they are perfect for each other, and to this both retorted back “No, we’re not!” – in perfect synch! and then the arguement between them continues with blaming one another for copying and throwing each other with more names. I find these all very cute!

Risa and Otani excited over Omibozu

One of the best part for me as well was when during a karaoke session, Risa and Otani was fighting for the microphone to sing over one particular song that none of their friends have ever heard of. They finally end-up dancing and singing to it wholeheartedly, and again, in unison. Their friends just stood back, taken aback by Risa and Otani’s shared enthusiasm in Omibozu. This part sent me laughing! The song itself was weird, yet catchy. It was funny to see them dance the step, but at the same time, it’s altogether cute seeing them in perfect synchronization! Even watching them exchanging mobile numbers via infra-red after the karaoke session was super kawaii!

The scene then jumps to 10th Grade Winter, whereby Risa and Otoni are still classmates and are still seating next to each other. By now, the bickering have stopped and they are already the best of buddies. Otani have gotten two tickets to Omibozu concert for Christmas and obviously, asked Risa to go with him. Well, in fact, he asked Risa to ask him to bring her to the concert! *Giggles*. (Another kawaii moment for me!). What happened next was Otani’s ex-girlfriend wanted to meet up with him on the same day to probably patch things up with him. So after over softdrinks with Risa and friends, and since he is not entirely over his with ex-girlfriend yet, Otani decides to meet-up with his ex-gf on Christmas day and Risa decides to go to the concert with other people.

Yusuke Yamazaki as Heikichi Nakao / Nami Tamaki as Nobuko Ishihara / Risa Kudo as Chiharu Tanaka / Hiro Mizushima as Ryoji Suzuki

Comes Christmas, Risa ended-up going to the concert alone and too early. So she took some walks to while the time away and started thinking about her other friends with their gf and bf. One thing leads to another, she started feeling lonely for having to spend Christmas time all by herself. She even fell and grazed her knee and she was even in tears while taking photos of two funny couple. And then lo, she heard a familliar voice from afar, calling her name (so cliche huh?). You guessed it right, it was Otani. He heard from Nobu (their close friend) that Risa was going to the concert alone, so he decides to watch the concert with Risa after all. “What about your ex-gf?” Risa asked. “I didn’t go”. “Why?” and Otani simply answered: “Because I made this promise with you first” (how sweet!). Otani then noticed the tears drying from Risa’s face, asked her if she have been crying, Risa avoided answering and Otani noticed her scrapped knee and took hold of Risa’s hand to bring her to the drug store. This is when Risa realized her feelings building for Otani (another cliche moment – yet sweet!).

All I can say is that Otani is too dense to realise Risa’s feelings for him. And when he finally do realize his feelings for her, Risa have already decided that it’s better to keep things as it was between them – bestfriends who goofes around with each other. Aarrghh! This was frustrating to me. Another guy comes into the picture, a sensei in fact who seemed to win Risa’s attention. What’s gonna happen next? No more spoilers from me from here onwards. You will have to watch the movie yourself.

Since there are so many not-so-good critiques over the movie compared to the manga and anime, all I can guess is that perhaps the movie wasn’t enough to encompass all the fun and humor, the love and romance, the friendship, the development and progress of each characters, escpecially on Risa and Otani. But what can you expect from a 100 minute movie? It’s a good-chic flick, fun, cute and lovable despite its’ plot holes and illogical events. It’s a feel good movie for me that one shouldn’t take too seriously and over analyzed it for it’s flaw.

Maybe it could have been better if they made it episode by episode and not just into one movie. (if only…)

Teppei Koike as Atsushi Otani

My final verdict? I enjoyed the movie and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to any Japanese movie goers out there. For its’ silly humor and lovely language, I’d give it a 6/10 rating. And Teppei Koike of the duo WaT is something to watch for anyway *giggles*

 

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