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You know the saying, love comes in all different shapes and sizes. This is quite true in the manga turned anime “Lovely Complex” (also known as LoveCom for short) in which the two main protagonists find love despite their major height differences.

image credit: www.crunchyroll.com

It is quite common to see in society today that usually, the male is taller than the female. It is also quite commonly known that girls that are on the short end like guys that are on the other end of the spectrum. (This isn’t always true…I’m 5 ‘3″ and my boyfriend is 5′7″ and I’m actually quite happy with that…I don’t really like extremely tall guys.) People see this as the norm because it’s just how society sees how it should be and has adapted: the guy is taller than the girl. But what about the other way around? You notice no one really gawks at a couple when the girl is short and the guy is tall…but I’ve seen a lot of gawking and sniggering when the couple consists of a short guy and a tall girl. Is this a problem?

In LoveCom, this is the complex that Risa Koizumi and Atsushi Otani face in their trial of love. Risa is tall for a girl (about 5′7″) and has been taller than almost every other girl she’s known. This causes a complex because she isn’t capable of finding many guys that would like to date her due to her height (something Ootani constantly makes fun of). On the other hand, you have Otani, who is shorter than the average guy (he’s about 5′1″) and is very self-conscious about his height because girls do not want to be seen with him due to his height, even though he is very good looking, charming and has a “cool” personality.

The two are constantly made fun of by their class, comparing them to a comedy duo in which one comedian is short and the other tall. Even their teacher believes they’re a couple, when in actuality they aren’t and are quick to deny that statement. The two constantly bicker and argue (think Ron and Hermione from Harry Potter, but add a bit more violence and name calling) but have many of the same common interests. While they initially cannot see each other as a potential dating parter, Risa eventually develops feelings for Otani, which makes her very self-conscious about her height. She sees it as a problem at first, thinking he wouldn’t ever think to date her, especially after seeing the type of girl Otani prefers (she saw his ex-girlfriend from junior high). However, she does confess her feelings to him and all he can say is that he can’t see her as a girlfriend.

Risa is determined to win Otani’s heart, not caring that he’s short anymore when it used to be an issue for her. Despite the fact people would mock them for being an odd looking couple, she continues to work to win Otani’s love, and in the end, Otani does fall for Risa.

Their height issue is their “love complex” that they deal with because it was the reason they couldn’t find love with other people. However, it turns out their complexes they had really were of no importance after all - they found each other. While people laughed at them and gave them odd looks, they continued to persevere through everything together, ignoring the fact that they might look like a weird couple because of their height difference.

LoveCom goes to show that it shouldn’t matter the height difference whether you’re a boy or a girl. If you really like someone, you can overlook the difference. It’s the same as any other aspect in love; if it comes in all shapes and sizes, it certainly comes in different heights, no matter what the gender.

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