Love Lab

Adapted from the four panel comic manga “恋愛ラボ” by Miyuhara Ruri, so far the “Love Lab” anime has been a lovely comedy with a definite shoujo-ai vibe, truly enjoyable to watch regardless of its stereotype characters and classic gags.

The first three episodes were excellent, with fun comedy and although most characters seem rather run-of the-mill, the chemistry between cool & spicy Riko and perfect girl Maki is terrific, making them an excellent tsukkomi & boke match.

Considering my penchant for yuri, I do adore the shoujo-ai vibe of the anime so am curious to see if it will keep its current atmosphere throughout the entire season or if it will follow the original manga plot.

Apparently in the manga’s later chapters, one or more of the girls do start dating guys, which when looking at the story premise is but normal….yet personally am hoping for the anime adaptation to be a more yuri genre story instead.

Since the anime adaptation is slated at twelve episodes only, doubt it will cover all of the seven manga volumes, plus considering both its popularity and commercial potential would likely be greater if it does opt to be shoujo-ai oriented, there’s a good chance it might turn out to be just that.

Yet there’s a very real risk that amounts to only wishful thinking on my part. Nonetheless, with studio Dogakobo having worked on “Yuru Yuri” and “Koihime Musou”, am keeping my hopes up.

Animation by studio Dogakobo has been decent to excellent. While there a few scenes with less good animation here and there, overall the animation quality is nothing to complain about and lots of attention has been spent on the characters’ facial expression which are always well cared for.

Student council president Maki is voiced by Akasaki Chinatsu, who also voiced Nibutani in “Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai”, Yasuna in “Kill Me Baby”, Yumi in “Senki Zesshou Symphogear” and Shimeji in this season’s “Fantasista Doll”.

Tomboyish Riko is voiced by Numakura Manami, she previously voiced Hibiki in “The IDOLM@STER”, Kohata in “Black★Rock Shooter” and Jou in “Sasami-san@Ganbaranai”.

Tsundere Yuiko aka ‘Eno’ is voiced by Sakura Ayane, who tackled roles like Akane in “Vividred Operation”, Marii in “Joshiraku”, Merry in “Yumekui Merry” and Anzu in “Kokoro Connect”.

Minase Inori who voices shy Suzune and Tachi You who voices bespectacled Sayori do not seem to have many other roles credited to their name yet.

If you’re looking for a nice comedy with good laughs with just enough to feed the appetite of a yuri fan, then definitely recommend you try “Love Lab”.