Sort-of liking Love* Com the Movie

I saw the Love*Com movie recently, a couple of weeks after finishing the manga series.  It was . . . hmmm.  Well, I had some issues with it, but it was quirky, colorful, and somewhat enjoyable.

CASTING CHOICES

Ema Fujisawa--who played Risa Koizumi--pouted/sulked with appropriately fun, weird faces.  Even though she was about 24 (and playing a 16-18-year-old, she easily looked her character's age. 

Which is why it was so odd that Teppei Koike, who was 20, looked way too old for 16-18.  I'm slightly bitter that they couldn't find an actor who was actually as short as Otani was supposed to be.  I mean, come on, Japan is not famous for its ridiculously tall men.  You can't tell me there wasn't someone short enough with that kind of baby face in all of Japan. 

All that said, I found myself believing Otani more.  (This could have been because of the cute little story Love*Com's author put in the back of the last volume of the main story about Teppei Koike's life in the entertainment industry.  I'm not sure.)

Um, "Mighty" was pretty much just perfect.  So, so perfect.


PLOT/SCRIPT CHOICES  1-7

I think that this movie could have stood on its own quite well if it had been plotted a bit differently.  I would have enjoyed a streamlined story arc that covered volumes 1-7 with lots more short scenes.  I would have been willing to sacrifice Mighty for that.  Probably.  And Risa's "Older Sister," definitely.

I was sincerely baffled by a lot of the choices the movie creators made. 

The manga starts out with a fight and a dare, and Risa and Otani race to find significant others and end up uniting the objects of their respective affections (Chiharu and Suzuki) into a really cute couple with the help of their friends Nobuko and Nakao.  Great set-up and quick get-to-know the main cast. 

The movie beginning shows Risa and Otani confessing to their respective intendeds and getting rejected because of their heights.  Later, we're in a classroom, and there are two inexplicable couples (Chiharu & Suzuki and Nobuko & Nakao) that get some cute bits throughout the movie that make no sense if you don't know who they are or why they're there.

Another random change with no rhyme or reason was taking Nakao off the basketball team.  Why?  Like it would have mattered if there had been two decent high school basketball players against Mighty and his NBA goons?  Some things they kept for reasons obscured to me, and other things they changed for similarly obscure reasons.

Anyway, I got a kick out of watching it.  It could have been better, but it wasn't actively horrible.  And the Umibozu extras were pretty hilarious.

Check out some details and a decent review at the IMDB if you're curious.

Have you read the manga or seen this movie?  Your thoughts?