Also Known As: Love Com, ラブ★コン, LoveCom, Rabu Com
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Running time: 100 minutes
Genres: Comedy, Romance, School Life, Live-Action
Directed by: Kitaji Ishikawa
Written by: Aya Nakahara (story by), Osamu Suzuki (screenplay)
Starring: Koike Teppei(as Atsushi Otani), Ema Fujisawa(as Risa Koizumi), Hiro Mizushima(as Ryoji Suzuki), Nami Tamaki(as Nobuko Ishihara), Risa Kudou(as Chiharu Tanaka), Shosuke Tanihara(as Kuniumi Maitake)
Release Date: 2006

Opening Theme: Speedrive by misono

Lovely Complex is Pretty Touching and totally halirious! It made me laugh and cry so much at the same time. I think the actor and actress are cute. I know the live action movie is odd but that’s one of the reasons I love it.

Plot Synopsis:

Adapted from the anime/manga by Aya Nakahara Lovely Complex live-action movie is a high-school romantic comedy centering on two students.

The girl, Risa Koizumi, is 172 cm (5′7″) tall - much taller than the average Japanese girl. The boy, Atsushi Otani, is 156 cm (5′1 and a half”) - way below the height of the average Japanese boy. They act similarly and love the same music, and their friendship is full of laughing, shouting at each other, and of course, lots of jokes about one another’s height. Their constant bickering and comical love-hate relationship is well-known throughout the school. Because of this, they are called the “All Hanshin Kyojin” after a popular comedy duo that has a similar height difference.

Risa gets rejected by a boy because she is taller than him. Otani gets rejected by a girl because he is shorter than her. And the two gradually become attracted to each other while coping with their respective height complexes. Together, they became the laughing stock of their whole school, always caught bickering back and forth. Although everyone claims that they’re a “perfect couple”, both deny it with rage. Fed up, Koizumi set out on a mission to find a fitting boyfriend, but who knows, maybe everyone was right.

During summer school, a very tall transfer student shows up and Risa immediately falls for him, as she has had bad luck with boys in the past because she is tall. There is a girl Chiharu that Otani likes as well, so Risa and Otani decide to put aside their differences and help each other get their love interests. But as they get to know each other better, Risa’s feelings for Otani begin to blossom. When Koizumi does realize she feels more for him than friendship, comedy and even a bit of angst ensues while she decides what to do about it. But Otani is too conscious of his height, and he acted like an idiot in so many occasions, breaking Risa’s heart time to time.

Lovely Complex teaches that you wouldn’t give up just from one or two rejections or failures. You must try your best! Heights and a person’s physical attributes aren’t everything and what matters - is the person’s qualities deep inside :)

One notable fact about Lovely Complex is that instead of speaking standard Japanese, almost all characters speak in Kansai-ben (the story takes place in Osaka). While having one or two characters speaking Kansai-ben is common in many anime shows, having all characters doing so is unusual.

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