About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

The manga version of Love*Com is a fun and loveable teen romantic comedy about a girl who's too tall and a boy who’s too short. However, in the movie version, the charm and wit of Aya Nakahara's original story got drenched with a garish coat of slapstick, gimmicky filmmaking and silly supporting characters.

It's nice to see cameos by the real All Hanshin Kyojin manzai comedy duo that Risa and Koizumi are always compared to, but much of their humor is lost in translation.


Love*Com is a bizarre funhouse mirror of a movie that distorts and distracts from the heart and humor of the original manga.

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Pros

• Bold and wacky filmmaking that tries to capture the energy of the original Love*Com manga
• Fun cameos by manzai comedy duo All Hanshin Kyojin
• Several scenes are lifted straight from the manga, but interpreted in a new way
• Teppei Koike is a happy-go-lucky guy who plays a decently dense Otani

Cons

• Much of the Japanese manzai-style humor is lost in translation and falls flat
• Extra, unnecessary adult characters distract from the teen characters
• Acting is over-exaggerated and extremely silly
• Ema Fujisawa is too cute, passive and short to be a convincing Risa Koizumi
• Risa's sassy friend Nobuko and shy Chiharu are relegated to being generic extras

Description

• Original Title:Rabu Con (Japan)
• Based on the original Japanese manga, Love*Com by Aya Nakahara
  
• Starring:
  • Ema Fujisawa as Risa Koizumi
  • Teppei Koike as Atsushi Otani
  • Shosuke Tanihara as Kunimi "Mr. Mighty" Maitake

• Director: Kitaji Ishikawa
  Distributor (US/Canada):VIZ Pictures
• Theatrical Release Dates:
  • July 13, 2006 (Japanese Theatrical Release)
  • February 19, 2008 (U.S./Canada DVD Release)
• Movie Genres:
  • Romantic Comedy
  • Teen / High School Romance
• Movie length: 100 minutes
  Format: Japanese, with English subtitles
• DVD Extras:
  • Full-length featurette: After School Christmas
  • Umibozu interview, music video
  • Original Japanese trailers

Guide Review - Love*Com The Movie (2006)

Risa's taller than the average girl. Atsuki is shorter than most boys. They bicker but everyone knows that they're perfect for each other. That's the set-up for Aya Nakahara's Love*Com, one of the funniest shojo manga romantic comedies out today, and Love*Com the movie, starring Ema Fujisawa and Teppei Koike. Love*Com the manga is full of laugh-out-loud moments and teen romantic angst. So how did the movie get so lost in translation?

Humor can be hard to translate. What a German person thinks is hilarious might leave a Chinese person scratching their head. Many jokes can't just be translated word for word – a lot of humor relies on cultural context to set up the laughs. So it's unfortunate that Love*Com's filmmakers decided to slap on a garish coat of slapstick, gimmicky filmmaking and silly supporting characters over Aya Nakahara's witty story. Outside of Japan, these jokes just fall flat.

The manga story is simple, charming, and fun. So I didn't see the point of introducing the teacher with the bad hairpieces, Risa's troll-like older sister and the "dreamy" Maitake-sensei, who acts like a swishy Chairman Kaga from Iron Chef. Worst of all, these goofball adults just aren't funny. It's like inviting Gallagher and Carrot Top to your friend's house party - Pointless, distracting and irritating.

Koike does a decent job as clueless shorty Atsushi. Fujisawa on the other hand, comes across as almost too cute, passive and too short to be believable as the gawky, insecure and easily exasperated Risa. Not many girls who are self-conscious about their height put their hair up in 3" tall bun like Fujisawa does in this flick.

Love*Com fans will recognize many scenes, but for the most part, Love*Com the movie is a bizarre funhouse mirror of the manga that distorts and distracts from the heart and humor of the original story.

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