First things first: this review has been one of the reasons I've decided to continue blogging after all these years. My wife and I went out for lunch on the occasion of her birthday with her sister, and the discussion turned at one point to anime series getting live-action adaptations; this came to mind (due to a live-action film adaptation I didn't particularly like) and I asked my sister-in-law if she had ever watched it and what her thoughts were, since I had never finished it (I personally am not one to watch things on my own, in general). She said she liked it a lot and urged me to see it all, and so my wife and I watched it from start to finish. It has been on my mind since, from time to time, so here it goes.
Officially titled Love Com, it's one of those works with a following that has no compunctions about the adoration felt for it. It's a piece that somehow manages to balance both fun and drama (rife as it is with both) in a sweet and honest result, thus becoming a hit with the critics as well as consumers — and I should add that it started off as a manga that has since been adapted in a particularly faithful but also good anime series (like I said, the live-action film adaptation didn't work for me).
As the above picture captures, the two main characters of the series are two teens, a girl and a boy; named after their height complex, over how tall she is (the tallest girl at their school and one of the tallest students), and how short he is the shortest boy and one of the shortest students, conversely), and how that height differential affects their daily lives — with the recurring theme of being called “All Hanshin-Kyojin” after a famous comedic duo in Osaka, where the series takes place (hanshin roughly translates as "halfling" and kyojin literally translates as "giant"). There is also the irony that her family name is Koizumi, meaning "small spring," while his is Ōtani, meaning "large valley."
Not going into spoilers is going to be tough, so I will have to split the review halfway through; first will come a very short, spoiler-free paragraph and then I will go all the way to discuss the anime.
The story revolves around the fluid relationship between the female protagonist, Risa, and the male deuteragonist, Atsushi: originally, the two are barely capable of not exploding around each other, as both are rather silly, and their height differential only further stresses their complexes, meaning that they get agitated just by sharing the same room. Being members of the same class is bad enough, but then they have to stay and study at school for summer classes; this backdrop gives rise to an uneasy truce at first, and it is this truce that serves as the original foundation of their relationship.
Good so far? SPOILER ALERT!
What gives rise to this uneasy truce is originally an interest each one has for a different person; Risa gets attracted to a guy who doesn't treat her in an awkward manner or as non-feminine, and Atsushi feels attracted to a friend of Risa's who happens to be very similar to his ex-girlfriend (as we discover soon); the truce is about getting to help each other pair up with their romantic interest. Things do not work the way they'd like to, however, but the end result of this is that they become friends — rather loud and occasionally weird friends, but certainly friendly.
It is at that point that their other friends take notice of the fact that the two are actually quite similar people: they like the same sorts of things, are the "funny guys" in the company of others, and really seem to suit each other. The original responce is, of course, in the negative from both of them, but is that how things really are or should be?
The main aspect of the series remains the dramatic element, driven primarily by the imperfections of the main characters, the perfectly normal tendency to falter and having to understand for yourself the things that make you who you are, where you stand in relation to others and what it is that you want to achieve. It is a very interesting series, primarily because the two characters are not strong cases of stereotypes: Risa, for one thing, is the gamer in this unlikely duo, but has no talent for sports, which is remarked upon in regard to her height; conversely, Atsushi is good at basketball, regardless of his stature; and the two are consistently picked as class representatives, which is anything but typical, as neither is great at school grades or class behaviour.
Stereotypical events do take place, but they are generally spun on their heads: the school festival is an occasion to marvel at how scornful Risa can get over a specific hurt inflicted, but also a beatiful scene with powerful sentiments later on; there are a couple of summer festivals (matsuri), but they have just the sort of twist that makes them completely different from most other series; and there's obviously a couple of Valentine's Day episodes regarding the gifting of chocolates, but, again, they are so spun on their heads that they are really refreshing.
If anything, the series is characterized by a very sincere telling of how such characters might act in a realistic situation: reactions are not perfect, nor fitting like a puzzle; instead, they can be clumsy, but not clumsy in the way a bad script feels, but in the way a teen is bound to mess up now and then. It is a sincere look at how the author imagined these characters would react, and the delivery is powerful. Rarely do I get to see a situation revolving on personal drama that is both so close to real (and thus relatable) and at the same time so captivating.
There is more that I might write about it, but this is it for now; I must make a final note before this initial delivery, however: the series is a definite must-see for the lovers of romantic comedic drama.
