LogFAQs > #968624527

90. Love Lab
https://myanimelist.net/anime/16353/Love_Lab
Summer 2013 (13 episodes)
My Score: 7/10, MAL Score: 7.32/10
Best Character: Mizushima Sayori

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTgG8P6HeMc

Premise: The esteemed Fujisaki Girls Academy forbids romance, but some girls cant resist the allure. The student council, including the graceful Maki Natsuo and the wild Kurahashi Riko, begin researching romantic situations in secret.

The Good: Love Lab is a cute girls comedy about examining romantic cliches. Riko is viewed as the wild kid at her preppy middle school, but she desires love just as much as any other girl. When she catches the seemingly perfect Maki practicing kissing with a pillow, the two decide to team up to run what they call love labs to prepare for their future relationships. A lot of the humor comes from Maki, usually graceful and elegant, turning into a love-obsessed crazy person behind closed doors. She also lacks in common sense. When practicing the old bump into a cute boy on the street meet-cute trope, for example, she sprints around the corner at full speed because, logically, its a lot more romantic if one of them gets hurt and they need to tend to each other.

Riko is the more level-headed of the two, but she exaggerated her own romantic experiences when they first met and keeps digging herself deeper to keep up with that lie. Its a fun dynamic, and the other three student council members are a welcome part of it too. My favorite was Sayori because she always knew everyones secrets and liked to troll them. For an anime about girls practicing romance, theres also surprisingly not much yuri-baiting or fanservice in this. They all like boys, and their love labs are always innocent rather than lewd. Unlike a lot of cute girls anime where there are literally no boys anywhere, this also actually has a few side characters who are guys, which is nice.

The Bad: I mentioned above that Riko initially lied about her romantic experience, and that subplot is easily the weakest part of the show. She avoids every opportunity to come clean to Maki and the others no matter how many times she thinks that she should. Its given way too much focus, including a few full episodes, for something that really shouldnt be that big of a deal. I also want to mention that theres one short gag involving blackface. As a white Canadian, I didnt personally find it offensive (I actually really liked the joke. Riko opened the door, saw Maki in blackface, and then she closed the door immediately). It wasnt hard to find a bunch of twitter users who were angry about this, though, so I at least wanted to mention it!

Overall: Love Lab is a cute anime about girls practicing romance. All five of the main characters brought something fun to the dynamic, and I appreciated that it wasnt just a bunch of yuri teasing (though I did think a few times that all of their problems would be solved if they just got with each other). It really captured that innocent middle school age where people desire love but have no idea what it means or how to get it, and a lot of the jokes were legitimately hilarious.