Love Lab

My biggest pet peeve with comedy anime, which is especially prevalent in moe comedy anime it seems, is when emotional tension is undermined by poorly placed gags or jokes. Sure, I'm watching the show because it's funny, but if a show was ONLY funny and nothing else it wouldn't be interesting. This is something that love lab does extremely well. It's not the funniest show I've ever seen, though it did make me laugh a decent amount. What I love about this show is the combination of comedy and drama, which synthesize together to create the ultimate wholeome and heartwarming anime. I was positively surprised by the amount (which is not a lot) of romance in this show as well. While it is titled "love lab," that mostly pertains to the activities (fantasizing and experimenting with romance) of the student council of an all-girls school, whose 5 members are the main cast of the show. I didn't watch this for the romance aspect, and I advise you to not expect too much romance either. The "romance" (if you can call it that) that is in this anime is extremely minimal but pretty wholesome. There's no relationships or anything of the sort, but the boys that are included I don't dislike. One big part of this show that impressed me was the animation. Honestly, in some episodes, this anime felt more like a Kyoto animation production than a random anime studio. That's not to say that the animation is as good as Kyoto's, because it's not, but the fluidity with which characters move is rather impressive. I've actually noticed that with other anime by this studio (doga kobo) as well, such as plastic memories, sleepy princess, and especially (the exceptionally well done and highly recommended) My Senpai is Annoying, which is very wholesome and has exceptional animation. Other very good shows from this studio, (I love and would recommend all of them) include New Game, Yuru Yuri, Gabriel Dropout, Himouto! Umaru-chan, and Asteroid in love. This is not everything famous by them, but these are the shows I love the most. (Doga kobo rant over) Overall, This show is criminally underrated, and I would strongly urge you to give it a try.

Anime like this easily produces a smile on my face, it takes quite a bit more to actually make me laugh. This show made me chuckle at a regular rate. I'm usually not a big fan of anime that tries to go for a laugh so directly; more often than not it misses the mark and ends up just being annoying. But this show is quite self-aware; it knows it's packed with the usual stereo-typical characters and plays around with them; it acknowledges it uses the classical setup of absurdity/stupidity with straight-man retorting. (An honourable mention to the character of treasurer Sayori here, who, with here snide comments and merciless demeanour added something extra to the high-energy antics of the others.) Everything is played out with such abandon and laid on so thickly it becomes funny, but never feeling obtrusive. It also has a few emotional moments, but those are executed in a manner true to the spirit of the rest of show; it remains a comedy. (Avoiding the mistake, countless other comedies have made, of (unsuccessfully) forcing sensitive moments in.) At its heart it's a slice-of-life show, but it's covered with a generous layer of absurdity. So if you're looking for some honest silliness, give this one a go.

Natsuo Maki is the president of the student council at the prestigious Fujisaki Girls Academy; she is looked up to by the other girls because she is intelligent, hardworking and above all very proper. One day tomboy Riko Kurahashi enters the council room without knocking and catches Maki embracing a 'hugging pillow' with a boy drawn on it! Riko soon finds herself conscripted to the Council where she is asked to teach Maki how to appeal to boys. The two of them begin their 'Love Lab' but are soon discovered by former council members who plot to destroy Maki. Luckily things don't go too badly and they all end up friends… but it does lead to the council getting requests for romantic advice; something which could lead to trouble as the girls are banned from having boyfriends. This leads to plenty of amusing incidents; especially when they actually encounter some boys! This is a fun slice of life anime; with plenty of laughs throughout. The characters are fun without being too silly. While the events may be a little unlikely there it feels believable on an emotional level as the two protagonists each wish to protect a secret: Maki doesn't want the school to know she wants romance in her life and Riko doesn't want Maki to know she is just as inexperienced in love as she is. The supporting cast provide some good laughs too; in particular Council Treasurer Sayori Mizushima and Nagi and Yan; two boys attended the local cram school with Riko. The animation and character designs are pretty good too. If you are worried that the 'Love Lab' will involve excessive fan service you can be assured that there is none nor are there any 'goings-on' between the girls. These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.