Lovely★Complex Two

Edit

If you like Love Com, you should read this.

Lovely Complex 2 is a series of side-stories to Lov Com, that happen in the following year after the main story ends. It doesn't advance the main story at all, but it is a very refreshing and funny look at some of the less prominent side characters:

- Two chapters about an otaku girl who falls for Risa's little brother (one from her perspective, one from his)
- A chapter about Mimi's attempt to jump from modeling to acting
- A chapter about Risa's restaurant manager and her best friend
- An unrelated one-shot about a HS guy and his ... overweight girlfriend.

As you can easily imagine, the basic themes of Love Com are continued. (That is work hard to follow your dreams and to be with the ones you love; physical appearance and social standing aren't important when it comes to love).

Story (8): Not a ton of story here; Love Com's basically a slice-of-life manga, and that trend is continued here. Still, the first two chapters about Risa's little brother, and the story about Mimi both offer some solid character development, and all of them feel satisfying.

Art (7): The art is the same as in Love Com, which is to say a well-done version of standard shoujo. I'm not a huge fan of the shoujo style, but I appreciate that this is a cut above average for it.

Character (8): Love Com always does the "likable jerk" characters, and that's the basic style here as well. Still, I've never seen so many likable jerks gathered in one place, and they are all subtly different in interesting ways. Also, the otaku girl from the first chapter is just awesome; I could have read an entire manga about her.

Enjoyment (9): It's like super-concentrated Love Com, but funnier and less melodramatic. I admit that I do have some mixed feelings about the final one-shot: I loved how it ended, but it started in such a jarring and abrupt place that I almost didn't bother to finish it.

Overall (8): A fun follow-up to Love Com, that all fans of the original should read.