Lovely★Complex

Known as the All Hanshin Kyojin at school, Koizumi Risa and Otani Atsushi are always at each other's throats. When Koizumi falls in love with a new classmate (Suzuki Ryoji) however, Otani proposed an alliance to help her. In return, Otani wants Koizumi's help to get her friend (Tanaka Chiharu) to notice him. But they both failed when Suzuki and Tanaka paid more attention to each other instead. Koizumi and Otani both give up and soon after Suzuki and Tanaka started going out.

Koizumi and Otani then challenged each other to get a boyfriend/girlfriend. But it seems that they enjoy the same things together and so Koizumi starts to wonder. She begins to look at Otani in a different light, but would their differences be so difficult to overlook especially with Otani's personality?

The short Otani Atsushi (left) and the tall Koizumi Risa

Otani and Koizumi initially worked together as allies

Otani is confronted by friends Ishihara Nobuko, Tanaka Chiharu, Nakao Heikichi, and Suzuki Ryoji

The series is both hilarious and frustrating. Not that I have anything against a woman going after a man, but Koizumi seems so desperate at times. I like her for her persistence but I also want to say a few words to her when it seems like she's losing self-respect going after Otani. She still has pride despite that though. She doesn't have insecurities besides her height.

Sometimes I think the author is a bit of a masochist. The time covered three years, which is quite long for someone who's working too hard. The result of Koizumi's efforts for me is unsatisfactory, although she's quite happy with it. I just wish it wasn't too one-sided most of the time. Also, the jealousy factor could have been explored further. Fukagawa Haruka's (Koizumi's childhood friend) role could have also been improved but after his confession to Koizumi, he had no important roles to play.

The series also had the cliche events you'd expect from high school romance. But the lead characters are a bit different from the usual pair. Just look at the height difference. Both are also loud, average, and definitely not the shy types. 

The humor works. I like Koizumi's reactions and facial expressions. She isn't scared to make faces and look ugly. 

It's also the first time I've seen a series where most characters use the Kansai-ben dialect. It was an informative experience for me.

Overall, the series is slightly average. I watched it twice however just so I could imagine how I'd improve some of the scenes. I did enjoy it and the storytelling was effective because it elicited this kind of response from me.

Rating: 7 out of 10