Love Lab – 02

Riko lost in thought

Watching Love Lab makes Riko happy

spring13-highwAfter a hilarious and cute first episode, Love Lab set a pretty high bar to clear for both the other shows this summer, and itself for the future. So how did it do on its second outing?

 A New Conspirator

Nicely composed shot

I liked the togetherness but separation implied by this shot.

As we saw at the end of the last episode, Maki and Riko were discovered by the mousy first-year Student Council secretary, Tanahashi Suzune. We learn that she’s just too awed by Maki, and thinks Maki and Riko hate her now for spying on and running away on them. After some pretty typical (but still funny) pratfalls and misunderstandings, eventually things are cleared up and Suzu ends up enamored with the Riko that Maki is also enamored with. The big problem is that Riko’s not ‘exactly’ that person, she’s just going along with their expectations, and doesn’t have all the experience they think she does.

Suzu no Dojikko

Suzu’s quite the dojikko

Suzu’s presence really helps out the group dynamics, giving another person to give reactions besides Riko, as well as providing an actual paper fan for Riko’s tsukomi act. But she definitely ramps up the pressure on Riko, especially after the secret group is declared a ‘no-lie zone’. Unable to just come clean that she’s as inexperienced as Maki and Suzu, Riko starts using a lot more weasel-y language, adding quiet “probably” and “I think” and stuff like that to the end of her statements. I think eventually, they’re going to find out, and Riko’s definitely going to have a hard time with it.

Using the fan

The fan was a great addition for this episode

Rival’s Arrivals

The villains

Peeping from the other building

But before they get to that, they’ll have to deal with the other former members of the student council. It seems that President Enomoto and Treasurer Mizushima aren’t too happy about being run out of office (one because she’s lost face and looks like a total 5th wheel, the other because she can’t get her hands on the cash anymore), so they’re looking for ways to get back at Maki and Riko. Well, more like Mizushima’s looking for ways, while Enomoto spies on them from the next building. These two really are fitting into the ‘hopeless villains’ mold at the moment. I’m actually intrigued to see if they turn to Maki and Riko’s friends and join the ‘secret’ part of the club, or if they’re going to continue to play this “terrible villain” role. Their efforts so far are laughable, ‘insulting’ Maki and Riko by saying they’re ‘slim’, openly scheming to get their positions back where others can hear them, and peeping. Will their efforts become more effective? Or will they get coopted by the likeable Maki and Riko instead?

Making themselves look bad

You’re just making yourselves look bad

header-spr13-highway

Love Lab continues to impress with amusing characters, risible villains, and great physical humor. The introduction of an actual paper fan by Suzu was brilliant, and that Riko actually used it was excellent. The low rent bad guy antics of Sayo and Eno were good, and Eno’s breakdown about not being ‘hentai’ was amusing, as well as how well Sayo gets under her skin. I definitely want to see more of this show!

About

Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
Blinklist BlogMarks Delicious Digg Diigo FaceBook Google MySpace Netvibes Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Twitter

10 Responses to “Love Lab – 02”

  1. skylion says:

    yep the continues to be very funny and very endearing. I honestly didn’t expect those two new characters the show up as villains.

    …and a Paper fan is fine too…

  2. HannoX says:

    This was another very funny episode. The addition of three new characters, two as incompetent villains, just adds more grist for the comedy mill. The paper fan and its use was a brilliant touch.

    • Highway says:

      It was brilliant, especially with Riko’s hesitant ‘hehe’ when Suzu showed it to her, but then grabbing it to smack Maki without hesitation when she deserved it.

  3. BlackBriar says:

    Riko should have quit before things escalated this much with her false stories. Now it’s going to be fun watching her dig herself into a hole so deep she can’t get out.

    Maki is without a doubt a ditz but a lovable one and I had to give her some praise for being level headed enough to figure out Mizushima was behind those messages. I’d put some sensors around after Mizushima’s undetected intrusion. Even ninjas make more noise than she did.

  4. AllenAndArth says:

    THE BUCHOU!
    by the way… i loved Suzu’s addition, much more interesting
    DAT FAN!

  5. Liza says:

    Suzu! 😀 I actually really love her. I thought because of how meek she was, she would be a wallflower sort of thing but nope. She is going along with everything!

    Also poor Riko. XD She just keeps digging herself into a deeper and deeper hole.

    • BlackBriar says:

      Riko started a lie so she has no choice but to support it however she can.

  6. Crystal says:

    After going over a handful of the articles on your web page, I seriously
    appreciate your technique of writing a blog.
    I bookmarked it to my bookmark site list and will be checking back in the near future.

    Please check out my web site as well and let me know your opinion.

    • AllenAndArth says:

      yeah…they’re awesome, you should check the last
      episode of the podcast, it’s great…they talked about the new animes and other things

Leave a Reply