Title: Lovely Complex
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rating: 8.6/10

Summary: Risa Koizumi, taller than the average girl, and Atsushi Ootani, shorter than the average guy – their constant bickering and comical love-hate relationship is well-known throughout the school. They act similarly and love the same music, and their friendship is full of laughing, shouting at each other, and of course, lots of jokes about one another’s height. But when Risa notices her feelings for Ootani growing, she’s worried. She doesn’t know if he can ever see her as more than a friend. With her friends rooting for her, she struggles to make him see how she feels about him, and that a romantic relationship between a tall girl and a short guy can work. Oblivious Ootani doesn’t make things easy for her, but she stubbornly perseveres in her own unconventional way, determined for her feelings to get through to him, and finally be returned. If only she could do it without driving herself and everyone else crazy in the process.

Review: Lovely Complex was one of those more realistic romance comedies in comparison to the hundreds of others out there. It didn’t involve some crazy plot about a girl in an all guys school or extremely rich, popular girls getting with the geekiest guy in school. It took a very real problem of height difference and moved on from there. Now some may watch this anime and think, “That’s not even a real problem, so what if the girl is quite a bit taller than the guy?” Surprisingly quite a few guys (and girls) find it unacceptable for the girl to be significantly taller. I for one tend to think that way as well, so that may have played a role in giving Lovely Complex a high rating. Let’s move on to the actual romance and comedy. Comedy was pretty typical. The bittersweet, love/hate, relationship the two had at the beginning felt natural. It brought some good laughs here and there, and didn’t quit for a while. The bond between Risa and Ootani couldn’t have been done better. Starting off as friends and progressively becoming closer through hanging out and have mutual friends seems to be the way most relationships start in reality. They did bring in a bit more romance with special Christmas scenes straight out of your typical romance movie so you wont miss that too much. The biggest plus I can give this anime is every episode being significant. Many romance comedies will have filler episodes (particularly ones that involve swim suits or boring support character plots). However, the story progression had a bit of a stall period because Ootani was extremely dense. I got a little frustrated from time to time but who doesn’t with these types of anime? Eventually that passed (thankfully), and things start to pick up again. The art was my least favorite part of the anime. That’s complete personal preference so I docked it very minor for that. The soundtrack was pretty good. It kept away from the lovey-dovey opening/ending song, and replaced it with an upbeat one. Though the lyrics say otherwise I still praise them for keeping it listenable.

Final statements: A solid romance comedy that is a high priority watch for anyone looking for a realistic story between lovers. There is drama but it doesn’t become clouded in tears like some others. Definitely put this one on your list if your are a fan of a good romance like me.

Title: Toaru Majutsu no Index
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Rating: 7.3/10

Summary: In a world where science clarifies supernatural powers. In a huge college that has power development in its curriculum. To a resident high school student, Kamijou Touma, a pure white sister appears. She calls herself “Index” and says that sorcerers are chasing her. Thus, Kamijou Touma enters the world of the occult.

Review: Finally getting around to actually reviewing Toaru Majutsu no Index after watching its spinoff Toaru Kagaku no Railgun. Glad to say that you don’t NEED to watch this one first in order to enjoy the spinoff. So my score for the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun still stands. It makes sense that the two anime received roughly the same score considering the format was the same. Art style and soundtrack were well done, and I found the powers (or lack there of) interesting. This is also one of the first anime I have seen that ties fantasy (magic) and science fiction (technology) so well. In fact, it is a big part of the anime as a whole! Another thing that gave Toaru Majutsu no Index an edge were the number of characters introduced. For having so many characters they did a good job keeping them all interesting, and giving each a fairly well thought-out background. I already mentioned that I enjoyed the art and soundtrack, but where I find the bulk of an anime’s points (the story) this one kind of fell short. It had multiple arcs that felt loosely tide together. I suppose it helped keep my interest by having so many different stories but it didn’t flow the way I hoped it would. When it came to drama and action the storylines did very well. Toaru Majutsu no Index had a dark side that bettered the anime overall. Though this did come with a price. Any comedy that I saw felt too forced and I didn’t laugh all too often when I was supposed to. The repetitive “I’m hungry” line kind of got more annoying than of cuter.

Final statements: The story could have used a little more work, and the ending I’m assuming isn’t completed. Though I haven’t heard any announcements for a season two (correct me if I’m wrong) I will assume it is in the making since they made a spinoff not too long ago. I hope there is more to come because it is a preferred watch with quite a bit of room for improvement.