Title: Love Lab
Director:
Studio:
Author:
U.S. Publisher: Sentai Filmworks
U.S. Release Date: Aug 5, 2014
Format and Length: Blu-ray /13 Episodes/ 325 Minutes
Genre: Comedy
Industry Age Rating:
Overall Personal Rating: A
Synopsis:
Riko attends an all girl’s school. One day she accidentally walks in on the student council president, Maki, “practicing” romance with a body pillow. In an attempt to keep it a private matter, Riko somehow acknowledges that she had a boyfriend or two. This is exaggerated into a “love master” status by Maki, who really longs to learn how to find a boyfriend of her own. So this is how the love labs start, with Maki deciding what to learn about and Riko being the tutor.
Another extremely shy student council member, Suzu, is so intrigued by the “lessons” that she is able to come out of the shadows and begin interacting with the other girls. However, trouble is brewing when former council members and the newspaper club seek revenge and try to leak information about the love lab to the rest of the school, which has a policy against the students having romantic relationships. This all leads to other students secretly seeking advice from the student council, who either turn to Riko for her expert advice or conduct tests or surveys to find answers. They also must find creative ways to deliver the answers to the other girls.
As the student council and the love labs grow, Riko never corrected the assumptions that she was really knowledgeable about boys and love. When some chance encounters make that lie seem very shaky, her guilt becomes even worse. Feeling that she must confess to spare her friends from humiliation, she is conflicted because she knows telling the truth could also hurt them and maybe their friendship won’t be able to survive.
Commentary:
This was a fun show to watch. In the begging, well, the first episode, I was disappointed to see that this was going to be another middle school girl overly sexual yuri series. Wrong. Although there were some elements which lead me to jump to that conclusion, following through with the next episode really laid out more of the story and comedic content. It became a story of friendship and the common interest in boys and relationships. The girls really find comfort in the group and are able to be who they truly are, quirks and all.
The pacing was good, and keep the story really moving and interesting. We seem to quickly get to know the characters, even though later we will see them more thoroughly, this set up set the comedy up for success. One of the people who saw some of this with me was often laughing out loud. They comedy was played out in both the writing and the animation. However, the animation deserves a majority of the compliments. The emotions and inner thoughts were really illustrated well, sometimes cliched, while others were original.
By the end of this series, it was like visiting friends. We get to see the friendship form from basically nothing to the point where they will gladly sacrifice their own needs for each other. They really fit a lot of content and elements into the 13 episodes.
I was reluctant to give out an A, even though it was a lot of fun and well done, not everything can be the best. But when I looked at it from what I believe the intent of the anime, I really couldn’t see how much at all could be improved. I don’t have any complaints ester, so that why this get my A.
The version I watched was Blu-ray and it is English subtitled only. I think Love Lab can be enjoyed by a wide audience. It has a nice mix of comedy (which is the main focus) with character and friendship development.
Overall Grade: A
