Lovely Complex

A manga series created by Aya Nakahara, this review would be about the movie adaptation of the manga by the same name, written in katakana, ラブ★コン (Rabu Kon). When I stumbled upon this I never realised the manga (which I have not finished reading since the english translation lag behind) has a movie adaptation.

Synopsis: Risa Koizumi is 170cm tall which is relatively taller than the average Japanese high-school girl whilst Atsushi Otani is 156cm tall which is relatively shorter than the average high-school boy. These two is known around their school as the comedic duo because of their height difference (and apparently because there is a TV comedic duo with similar height difference, which I did not know until I check with Wiki). They both have trouble finding a boyfriend and a girlfriend, respectively because of their heights and one day they made a bet on who will find their partner first. But over time Risa grew to like Atsushi (or in the movie Otani because Japanese usually call others by their last name) while Otani (switch mode) never knew about Risa's feelings. So this story revolves around their relationship and the highs and lows of high-school love life.

Casts: Koike Teppei as Atsushi Otani, Fujisawa Ema as Risa Koizumi

Review: I have to say it does reflect a lot on the manga especially on the characterisation. The casting is definitely very well done in bringing the anime characters into real life, as in the movie characters do surprisingly look like the characters in the manga. Of course sometimes it does trouble you during the most funny moments in the manga cannot be reflected perfectly on the movie but overall it wasn't a bad attempt at an adaptation. The movie did a rather good editing in terms of shortening the manga into a 2-hour movie, which sometimes other adaptations don't do well at. I must say even if you haven't read the manga you would enjoy this movie nonetheless, I cannot say it's the best but the movie finally holds together during the second half. It has unbelievably funny and lovely moments, it's comical without dramatic exaggerations with a tinge of drama in between. I must say though I regret watching this without finishing the manga first because I think it would spoil the last few bits of the manga for me for knowing the ending already.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Post Script: Koike Teppei is rather cute in this movie as well as Fujisawa Ema. They're both unbelievably likeable with great on-screen chemistry.