Okay, so here’s what I think when it comes to school slice-of-life shows, and I’m sorry if some people disagree with me here. The vast majority of them are ones that we like and enjoy, but they don’t really grab us, and what I mean by that is we don’t really fall in love with them. I know that there are some massive exceptions; I mean, I only recently reviewed Hidamari Sketch, and that’s a real highlight show for me, but the difference between Hidamari Sketch and some other school slice-of-life shows is that it is unique in many ways. The studio behind Love Lab, Dogakobo, have brought out a lot of school slice-of-life shows; from Yuru Yuri, to Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, to the more recent Asteroid in Love. All of them have some similarities when it comes to character design, animation style and script. I like how Dogakobo are trying to expand into new territory now with more serious drama-based shows (and even an ecchi fitness show), but anime followers will still know Dogakobo as that studio with the school slice-of-life shows.
So what does Love Lab have that other school slice-of-life shows don’t?
Fans just turn to the same genre/sub-genre of shows because they look for all the same tropes, and Love Lab is definitely something that has the ones we all look for. So what stood out for me here? Maybe it was that I was able to warm to both the main characters immediately, and by immediately, I mean the moment they first appear on-screen. Riko introduces herself as the tomboy at the girls’ school, who has her own nickname of “The Wild One”, giving off a rebellious yet polite attitude. Natsuo, on the other hand, has her own nickname of “Fuji’s Princess”; the Student Council President with top grades and elegant beauty to boot. So it seems almost perfect that these two would make a comedy act.
Predictable you could say perhaps? I don’t necessarily think so, considering how much I like both of them, and not just them…everyone else in the Student Council is lovable in their own little way.
As I said, Love Lab begins by introducing the main comedy duo of Riko and Natsuo; one is the tomboy “Wild One”, while the other is the prim and proper princess of the school. It’s only when Riko is sent on an errant by a teacher when she discovers Natsuo’s big secret: she knows nothing about love, and uses a body pillow (which she names “Huggy”) to practice kissing. Fearing repercussions, Natsuo forces Riko to join the Student Council as an ‘assistant’ in order to keep her secret from spreading around school, but it turns out that there’s more to Natsuo than just an embarrassing body pillow. While she does have top grades and elegant beauty, she lets Riko see her more airhead side, and not just when it comes to knowing about love either; it seems that her definition of common sense is often pretty out there as well.
As I watched the opening episodes where this was all brought into context, I initially thought that this lack of common sense on her part may have just been a result of her living a bit of a ‘sheltered’ life as the top student who is a bit of a workaholic. We later learn that it has been her workaholic behavior that has drawn other people away. The secretary, Suzune, files her reports when Natsuo is out of the room, while both Sayori (the treasurer) and Yuiko (the former president) were either forced out or left of their own accord.
Riko, however, is a bit stuffed, as Natsuo immediately takes her to be some kind of miraculous love doctor who has had many boyfriends and knows how boys think, when the truth is that she is just as naive as Natsuo is. This is a lie that she has to keep up with the others too, especially Suzune, who as the first-year of the group, looks up to Riko in particular and envies her outgoing personality.
These five girls – Riko, Natsuo, Suzune, Yuika and Sayori – all have varying attitudes and behaviors, and while it is something that isn’t that uncommon in other school slice-of-life shows, I really enjoyed watching these five at work while they all try and learn about love…or at least, try and inject some common sense into Natsuo, and change her idea on what love is actually meant to be.
It is the great character design that shines in Love Lab, I think. These are some characters that all works so wonderfully, and with a script that matches too. The five of them aren’t two-dimensional in any way, and that’s what I particularly enjoyed too. I’ve already mentioned Natsuo and Riko, but as we watch, we see that the others are more than what we initially view them as. Suzune, for example, is someone who’s portrayed as the timid and shy first-year, but she also enjoys making slap sticks to use for the group. Yuika is more than just the rich girl; she’s someone who has to rebuild her relationship with Natsuo who forced her out of her Student Council President role when she got sick of Natsuo doing all her work for her. Sayori, however, is more of the mean and ruthless one out of them all; perhaps that’s what being the Student Council treasurer & handler of money does to someone.
Yes, Love Lab is a bit of a predictable school slice-of-life comedy show, but as you watch each episode and get to love the characters more and more, the less that matters to you. Maybe after having watched so many of these kind of shows in my long tenure has just made me a jaded individual. Now I’m not saying that a show like Love Lab is some kind of magic pill or something that’ll change my opinion on these kind of shows straightaway. I said the same sort of thing in my review of Ms. Vampire Who Lives In My Neighborhood (which you can read here), and so I should really know by now that a show that is going to turn my opinion is not something that is going to appear so easily. A show like Hidamari Sketch, for example, stood out due to how unique it was. I still enjoyed Love Lab for many reasons and, even if you agree with me and see it as predictable and like any other school slice-of-life show, by the end of it I didn’t really care so much.
I should really learn not to be such a sourpuss when it comes to these kind of shows, shouldn’t I?
