Love Com, also known as Lovely Complex, is a romantic comedyshōjo manga by Aya Nakahara. It was published by Shueisha in Bessatsu Margaret from 2001 to 2006 and collected in 17 tankōbon volumes. The series is about the romance between a tall girl and a short boy who are treated as a comedy duo by their classmates. In 2004, it received the 49th Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo. The story has been adapted as a live-action movie released in 2006, a 24-episode animetelevision series broadcast in 2007, and an adventure game released for PlayStation 2 released in 2006. Two drama CDs have also been produced. The manga and the live-action movie are licensed in North America by Viz. A sequel series called Love Com D began serialization in the May 2009 issue of the bimonthly shōjo manga magazine Deluxe Margaret, focusing on Risa's younger brother.
Plot
Love Com is a love story between a boy and a girl in Sakai, Osaka. The girl, Risa Koizumi, is tall—much taller than the average Japanese girl. The boy, Atsushi Ōtani, is —way below the height of the average Japanese boy. Because of this, the pair are called the "All Hanshin Kyojin" after a popular comedy duo that has a similar height difference. The difference in their heights is extremely exaggerated During summer school, a very tall student named Ryouji Suzuki shows up and Risa immediately falls for him because he is tall. There is a girl that Atsushi likes as well, so Risa and Atsushi decide to put aside their differences and help each other get their love interests. Their efforts fail spectacularly as Suzuki and the girl whom Ōtani had a crush on - Chiharu Tanaka - end up becoming a couple. All is not lost though, since Risa and Ōtani become close friends. As they get to know each other better, Risa's feelings for Atsushi begin to blossom, and her love life gets complicated from there on. One notable fact about Love Com is that instead of speaking standard Japanese, almost all characters speak in Kansai-ben. Many native Osakan voice actors are employed in the anime. While having one or two characters speaking Kansai-ben is common in many anime shows, having all characters doing so is unusual in media produced for a nationwide audience.
Love Com was adapted as a live-action movie directed by Kitaji Ishikawa with screenplay by Osamu Suzuki. It starred Ema Fujisawa as Risa Koizumi and Teppei Koike as Atsushi Ōtani. It was released in theaters on 2006-07-15, and on DVD on 2007-01-01. An English-subtitled DVD was released in North America by Viz Media on 2008-02-19.
Anime
The anime television series was produced by Toei Animation and directed by Konosuke Uda, with music by Hironosuke Sato and character designs by Hideaki Maniwa. The opening theme songs were "Kimi + Boku = Love?" by Tegomass and "Hey! Say!" by Hey! Say! 7 ; the ending themes were "Kiss ~ Kaerimichi no Love Song~" by Tegomass and "Bon Bon" by Hey! Say! 7. It was broadcast on TBS, CBC, and MBS from 7 April 2007 to 29 September 2007. The Italian distributor Dynit licensed the anime for a DVD release. In Italy was broadcast on 24 October 2010 on Rai 4 and ended on 17 April 2011. In April 2012, Discotek Media announced that they will distribute the Love Com anime on DVD in North America in one subtitled boxset.
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Reception
Love Com received the 2004 Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo manga. The English edition of Love Com has been favorably reviewed, with praise especially for Nakahara's comedic timing, sympathetic characters, and deft depictions of emotions. A reviewer at Anime News Network praised it as "the standard by which all other modern romantic comedies should be measured" for its handling of the range of its characters' emotions. The first volume was named by the Young Adult Library Services Association as among the best graphic novels for teens for 2007. The live-action movie of Love Com was named by Young Adult Library Services Association as one of 16 movies that are 2009 Fabulous Films for Young Adults on the theme of coming of agearound the world.
