Anime Review: Love Lab
Posted on October 8, 2013 by Lena K.
Author: Ruri Miyahara
Genre: Comedy, School Life, Slice of Life
Story 8/10 and Characters 9/10:
Natsuo Maki, a proper, intelligent and polite high school girl who also takes the position of the student council president, is admired and loved by all the students. However she's not always her calm and collected self and exactly in a moment in which she lets her actual self show, she meets Riko, a rather boyish and forward girl, who is mostly referred to as "The Wild One". During this unfortunate meeting, Riko walks in on Maki kissing Huggy (her life-size pillow), trying to hone her kissing skills. The situation quickly escalates, ending with Riko lying about her (nonexistent) former love experiences, which then leads to her being persuaded into becoming Maki's "love teacher". And thus start the hilarious love lessons in the student council room.
When I started watching this anime, I didn't really expect much of it. I just thought that this would be yet another Slice of Life in which cute girls do cute stuff (nothing's wrong with that by the way). However what I finally got was an excellent comedy show that both started out brilliantly and got better with each and every episode.
The first few episodes in which it was just Maki and Riko doing the lessons were already absolutely hilarious and entertaining and when the group got bigger, the fun increased even more and the reason for that is simple;
The characters just match. They go so well with each other that the comedy feels totally natural and not as forced as it does in other shows. It's really the perfect combination of characters, but look for yourself. We have:
Smart yet dorky and totally cute Maki, who is desperate to find the perfect boyfriend
Forward and a little boyish Riko, who just can't come clean about her lie
Totally shy and cute Suzu
Tsundere Eno
Money-grubbing Sayo, who is the only one that suspects Riko's lie
Huggy, Maki's life size pillow, who resembles her ideal boyfriend
Maki Makio, Maki's cross-dressed male side
(from left to right) Riko, maki, Suzu, Eno and Sayo
Now if I had to name my favorite character, it would be Maki because she's just the most adorable thing ever! I would even say that she's the cutest anime character of 2013, at least until now.
Who could possibly resist her? I mean the way she is just so clueless and desperate to get guys to like her, even though she doesn't even have to do anything to make them like her in the first place, is the funniest and cutest thing ever.
Yuri 4/10:
An Anime about girls who try to get more experienced at love while practicing together does sound at least a little promising, doesn't it? But don't be fooled, this is unfortunately no yuri show, but there is subtext at least. I would say this show mostly only teases you without really heading fully into the direction you want it to go to. So Maki and Riko are close, very close even and they have quite a few cute scenes together that really made me smile. However this is as far as it goes…
Midway through, the show even introduces a few boys, which kind of bothered me. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with male characters, but think about it; This is an anime in which girls try to become more appealing to boys, so if there are some boys introduced, it just leads me to the conclusion that they will at some point end up with the girls. And I would hate that to happen, because Maki and Riko are such a cute couple, so no one should intervere… Anyway the few guys that were introduced only had a little screen time and in the end the catastrophe of Riko or Maki getting together with one of them didn't happen. However there might be a second season for that…
Why didn't you kiss?! It was the perfect moment!
Now that's how they should have actually done it. Picture by
DIE___
Art 8/10:
Surprisingly the art in this one is pretty good. I haven't really watched that many Slice of Life anime, but they are usually not all that great when it comes to the quality of the animation. But as always look for yourself:
Love Lab Trailer
http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/0ZzYgg9mYgY&source=uds
Music 7/10:
The opening theme "Love Shitai!" is a real earworm and I love openings that are performed by the whole cast, especially when they all have such lovely voices~
As for the background music I don't really remember, but there is one song in particular that just overshadowed all the others and that would be the "Lingerie Song" written and performed by Maki's father. That was just so hilarious and super catchy on top of that!
Total Enjoyment 10/10:
This show is hilarious even though it doesn't look like it at first. I would even say it's the funniest show I have watched in 2013, even funnier than Yuyushiki and that must really mean something! I really hope that there will be a second season since a comedy anime as great as this one is quite rare.
By めお太
This entry was posted in Anime, Anime Review, Yuri and tagged Love Lab. Bookmark the permalink.
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10 thoughts on "Anime Review: Love Lab"
Well done Kunoichi-chan. A wonderful review. Spread the word of Love Lab's greatness. Spread the word of both Makio and Huggy being separate characters. Spread the word that more Maki X Riko doujins need to be made. Spread that rod that Eno is love. Some of your followers do not know me so it is your duty to capture potential Yuri Nation members who use Twitter and other similar stuff I have no interest in myself.
There are people who think that Makio and Huggy are the same character…?
Have you seen a MakixRiko doujin yet? I unfortunately haven't, I just know some nice fanart, but a cute doujin about these two would be wonderful~
Kangcheng Wang says:
I remember that this anime is actually not Yuri anime, for there's a male role. Quite regrettable.
I think I knew right from the beginning that there was no chance for this one to turn into "real yuri", but it was fun nonetheless 😉
Marcus Bailey says:
In the manga they get together with the boys, so your fears are correct. A second season with likely show this.
Now I at least know that it was a good thing to avoid the manga…
Still I'd watch the second season just because this was an extremely fun anime.
Accurses on you Miyahara-sensei for toying with the delicate & hard minds of Yuri fans everywhere! @_@
I agree on that, how dare she?!
Rexyer says:
I hope they make a season 2 when they get togheter wit the boys =w=
Dimagnus_Gia says:
This could be one of the best yuri show ever but instead we have a waste of characters like Riko…she was all a "ladykiller"