In a futuristic society, Japan has implemented a complex system referred to as "The Red Threads of Science" to encourage successful marriages and combat increasingly low birthrates. Based on a compatibility calculation, young people at the age of 16 are assigned marriage partners by the government, with severe repercussions awaiting those who disobey the arrangement. For Yukari Nejima, a teen that considers himself average in every way, this system might be his best shot at living a fulfilling life.
However, spurred by his infatuation for his classmate and long-time crush, Misaki Takasaki, Yukari defies the system and confesses his love. After some initial reluctance, Misaki reciprocates his feelings in a moment of passion. Unfortunately, before the two can further their relationship, Yukari receives his marriage notice. He is then thrown into a confusing web of love and lies when his less-than-thrilled assigned partner, Ririna Sanada, becomes fascinated with his illicit romance.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Captain220
Love and Lies is a 12 episode anime where love takes the form of lies and each of the characters are like walking chalkboards, constantly scratching upon each other. Japan for some reason deemed it fit to pass on the torch of its current social crisis to the biggest intellectual heavyweight of a medium out there. By presenting a theoretical scenario in which society as a whole is shaped a certain way in order to entertain the idea of Japan's birth rates not being in the gutter, we are hence introduced to another run-of-the-mill-overdramatized-romance-love-triangle-rectangle-harem-cocktease. And impressively enough, its' atrocious and unexplained setup remarkably gives somethinglike Eromanga a whole new level of credibility. While its' innovativity didn't didn't speak for much in the minds of the masses, at least it had the audacity to try and push forward a healthy agenda. "It might be grasping at straws, but she's still fertile". Meanwhile on the other end of the spectrum, we have an anime that is centered around this very same nuanced topic, yet fails to provide any substantial worth at all to the table in regards to social commentary, or much of anything, really. About midway through it crumbles down under the weight of its nonexistent ruleset and unexplored concept, but impale me with a cactus if these redundant melodramatic pieces need consistency within anything but MUH FEELS.
While some thought that resides strictly within the compounds of the show does delve into questioning the validity of a clearly-corrupt system via the characters, I find it extremely difficult to believe the writer herself put any while actually writing this story. In anything but an ideal world, the idea of these arranged marriages would be doomed from the get-go. And in an ideal world, there'd be no need for them in the first place. So in the end, all we're left with is a hypothetical scenario that is not and can not be founded in reality by any stretch of the imagination, ever. Thus the series is forced to revolve around this lofty joke of a scenario, and revolve around it, it does. Not only would it be a shitty situation on an emotional and mental basis for most young people, but for some reason it is able to reach the back ends of society as well. If you decide against being being a mindless drone (which is somehow a rare occurance, seeing as teenagers love losing their freedom of choice, being enslaved, etc), it is for some reason able to influence your academic standing for the worse, with no apparent reason anywhere in sight.
Imagine being on the short end of an abusive relationship. The person you're paired with treats you like dirt, and you might be in love with someone else. So what happens when you try turning your life around for the obvious better? You get shunned by society, your future put at risk and ironically enough get deemed a lesser human being than your peers. How or why rejecting an arranged marriage is the end all be all of a person's highschool life is beyond me. May as well write "SEX OFFENDER" on the entrance exam sheet in big, bald letters just so everyone is aware what a menace to society these rebellious teens really are. Case and point - Marriages are apparently all sunhshine and rainbows where nothing bad can ever occur, and likewise all people are inherently bound to accept the iron fist of free will.
Despite there being enough conveniences and unexplored scenarios relating to the story to where'd I'd call plotholes, the worst detractor evidently might just be how poorly the author invisioned this artifical caricurature of a modern society of hers to function. If anything, this red string of science would eventually end up bringing the country's mortality rate to new peaks entirely, as suicide is already enough of an epidemic currently as is. Therefore, not only does it serve as a weak ass plot, but it also contradicts the very nature of the idea that is combating low birth rate for which it initially set out to do. The only counter-argument ever provided against any of this is that it works cuz.. science, 'n stuff. Because we all damn well know scientists ought to seize and take notice of all of our behavoural patterns, personality traits and preferrable positions in bed. If we've come this far, Koi to Uso's neo-Japan should be an island paradise, barely short of eden. Technology, banzai.
Neji is either the biggest excuse for a human being I've had the displeasure of setting my eyes upon or the typical Japanese beta male, I really don't know anymore. This man trembles in fear and is required to turn the other cheek as the thought of looking another person into the eyes instills such immense dread into the very fiber of his being, especially when one such person happens to be a moderately cute girl who he ends up accidentally wooing by giving a slight demonstration of his immeasurable bravery. Neji knows no fear, ladies and gentlemen, as he only takes 3 full hours to hand over a chopped up piece of his eraser to this desperate damsel in distress. Upon recieving the rougher edge of said eraser, cute girl is suddenly transformed into the love of his life the moment she thanks him for being such an indecisive, although considerate, loser. This is what the main characters' infatuation for one another stems from, sadly enough. I can only assume that it is because of this, I, in recent memory oftentimes encounter myself subconsciously wandering off into the deepest and darkest recesses of my mind, only to spend endless hours upon hours wondering if our species was doomed from the very beginning. Cue the oversatured Nietzsche quote, please.
"𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘺𝘴𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘺𝘴𝘴 𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶.".. That's the one. Despite what the aformentioned may make you believe, make no mistake. Neji is quite the player. No, he is THE player. The aftermath of being such an immense pussy his entire life inevitably resulted in his very body transforming itself into a pussy magnet. But his savagery doesn't stop there. The pure sight of Neji's huge pussy makes him irresistable to guys as well, although that's another story entirely. I'm sure that by now most of HanaKana's characters would be able to compete in some sort of national women's marathon for constantly running away from their male counterparts in these drama series so much. What seperates her from Orange's Naho is the old saying about the shy ones being the kinkiest out the bunch, which surely ought to hold some truth this time around. Forest sex, anyone?
With this in mind, Erasergal is probably to be considered the story's main heroine. It's been an entire year since I rose above and beyond the wish-washy poetry of my collegues by writing an intellectual diatribe for last summer season's Orange, yet it remains as fresh as ever in my mind. As such, there are some paralells to be drawn between the two heroines from the overall feel of the shows to even matching haircuts. Evidently so, what makes Erasergal stand out as the superior/updated version of Naho is the fact that she actually gets shit done on her own accord. No Kakeru-kun is needed here, when she wants some good ol' forest sex, good ol' forest sex will be had. With every tool at her desposal and virtually very little competition, she takes Nejima by the balls and French-kisses him until they run dry. Quite commendably so, really. Apart from her subpar taste in men, HanaKana does this girl justice. She has no problem cucking her friend out of the relationship with her fiance and rocks some cute bangs while doing it. #HanaKanaPleaseGetSomeDiversityYourEntireCastingCatalogueIsBangs
Regardless of the heaps of praise I could give to her character in comparison, she is overall extremely willy-nilly in what she wants. It's like she's got severe bipolar disorder and gets caught up in the moment so heavily one episode, only for next week to flush it down the unkempt toilet like it's all bygones and make-believe, cus it'd make harem member #2 sad. Regardless of harem member #2 consciously going out of her way to get them to shag in front of her very eyes. Whatever, logic isn't this show's forte and it slowly devolves into an endurance test of how many mental flops Erasergal can do per 20 minutes, before breaking out into wishful tears full of regret and getting comforted by Nejima who is at this point having a mental breakdown over the overwhelming guilt and being an overall pansy who shouldn't be loved by anyone other than his own mother.
Ririna is the second most prominent member of the Nejima Fan Brigade. Despite of her shortcomings and lack of comprehension for her own feelings, she is cute. However, the shortcoming that serves to seperate her from the other members is the overwhelming fact that she is, in fact, a cuck. And I do not use this term lightly or as a form of internet slang in hopes of coming off as hip. Ririna is full-fledged Resident Cuckold in the flesh. The real thing. This girl literally goes out of her way to force her future husband into a make-out sesh with some girl she's known for a day's time. Her backstory is that of loneliness and sorrow, as she's never had any real friends to speak of. Yet when she does acquire the faintest signs of friendships, she successfully serves as a gap closer which would in turn make her the ultimate third wheel, essentially sending her back to square one. Because she admires their unadulterated romance. The irony is that the romance in this show is BAD. Anywhom, Nisaka does well to point this out before going on some completely idiotic tantrum about how the after-effects of cucking can harm Nejima's academic performance. But good on him for trying. #TeamCuck
Last and dead least in the race for Neji's heart, there is the sole male companion of the gang. Nisaka is sharp, easily embarrassed and full of angst. Why is he full of angst? Either because he's gay, or he's gay and his taste in men is subpar. While to some extent I want to applaud the writer for going this extra mile, is this really anything beyond a fan ship from a fujoshi's hidden locker? Surely, no one in their right mind thought this ship was ever setting sail. Perhaps after years of discrimination in Japan, being gay is the new blockbuster recipe after Yuri on Ice. His voice is good to the ears, but as a non-13 year old girl I sure was not hoping for any.. unforseen unpleasantries to occur between the two boys. #NejiDroppedTheSoap
Finally; Shuu Igarashi, being the only female cast member able to contain her overarching lust over Nejima's shallow manhood personally comes as a huge disappointment. While equipped with a design that reeks of Eromanga's Sagiri that suddenly started hanging out with the wrong crowd and recently got out of rehab with a whole new jaded outlook on life, she is also appointed as being the granddaughter of Lady Democracy from whom the red string of science originated AND Misaki's bff. Due to the extreme position she holds in the story you'd think she'd be able able to grant some clearance as to either of the afromentioned, but no. It's a blank state of mind in which this moody little snowflake operates, being the single biggest cocktease in existence. She is revealed a laughable 2 episodes before the finale and in that short time nothing but her backstory is provided. Oh, and that she orchestrated the entire fall of Nejima. I honestly wouldn't have known she was anything beyond Misaki's over-obsessive stalker had her MAL profile not been indicitive of something else. Thanks, MAL Re-Write!!!
SuMmArY
Boring series filled with plot and character inconsistency buzzword, buzzword, buzzword - IT SUCKS. Taking place in a twisted reality in which emotion and freedom of choice are exchanged with a lofty system that doesn't even work, and the goverment's tax money is spent to gather 16 year olds to mass porn sessions where they can beat off in unison. Devoid of logic, full of corny scenes and dialogue that does get a bit experimental and even overboard for the standard "By Fujoshi, For Fujoshi" formula. Which will sadly be all but lost on the vivid fandom consisting of 13-year old girls and a few other unfortunate souls. I would ironically request some alluring Nisaka fanart, but this anime will be long forgotten by the time its' fanbase learns to draw art more impressive than doodles of their cute elementary-school boy crushes.
Pipe
"This show was like a bad roller coaster. You love the first turn, the second turn isn't that amazing, and after more turns, you just want to get down and forget the experience." The story was interesting at the beginning but then transformed into a mess to the point that it was unexplained and inconceivable possible that happens. The partners and couples are selected by "Japan's officials" at the age of 16, so you will need to marry with them because the law demands it. The writers created a weird love square and combined with a failed character progression titled it "Koi to Uso." I can'tlie that the story is average from the perspective of the characters. The main character Yuraki Nejima failed to express his feelings. He loved Misaki Takasaki since the middle school. When the government selected his partner, he couldn't fight for his hidden love even when she said to him that she loved him. Also, it is incomprehensible why Ririna tried several times to be the backer of Nejima and Takasaki's relationship under the wrong argument that she doesn't know the meaning of LOVE. Ironically, she ended loving Nejima. Well, that was expected so I am not spoiling anything. The other character Yuusuke Nisaka is Nejima's best friend and loves him in silence (love square design). In other words, you can see this as a harem where all the main characters love Nejima, and this one is just so silly that doesn't decide about his life and his feelings. One day he loves Takasaki and after some hours is worried why the other girl didn't send him a message. Maybe he just loves all them.
About the characters, they lack a creative background. The love started with an eraser, literally. A failed progression and a failed character background in progress. Characters that are a pool of mixed feelings and don't take any coherent decision. For example, I love you but will love another person in 3, 2, 1. You will say that these actions are because are young but not. It is because the script created shallow characters and not insecure ones so we could mistake insecurity sometimes with silliness.
The art. it is weird. From some angles it is good, but then you look another angle, and that big puppies eyes aren't that cute as we believed.
The sound was normal, but it didn't help. Both the OP and ED weren't that bad.
The ending was average, and it didn't conclude the story. The lace of the destiny is hooked to ... ALL them. We didn't get an appropriate conclusion to this story. We got an ending that will add a message like "for more information, please buy the manga."
Finally, the story isn't great and needs lots of work to keep us entertained. It is unconcluded and is the reflection that this show was very average.
makotohadou
Spoiller free section: If you like Romance and Drama, ignore the reviews and scores for this show and watch it. It's good. SPOILLERS BELLOW Anyway, about the show: The characters are interesting. They actually have a personality. The plot moves forward in most events.The soundtrack is very good, with a very good OP and ED.
Hanazawa Kana and Shinnosuke did a very good job on the acting side, as one would expect from them. The other actors were also not bad.
The art is good.
The premise is interesting and forms a good setting.
That's it.
Bellow I will talk about most things I read in previous reviews:
"The writting (dialogue) is bad"
Mate, I watched this in Japanese (with english subtitles and later with portuguese subtitles), and there is nothing wrong with the writing on this show. I understand quite a bit of Japanese as well btw. Nothing felt contrived or forced.
"The premise (matchmaking based on machine learning) is unexplored/ The premisse is dumb"
Again, my topic of research is Machine Learning, and with enough data, this is not impossible. Then again, this is fiction. There are several impossible em ridiculous things in Steins Gate, for example, but no one would give that good show a low rating because of that.
Some people brought up that "People would kill themselves", "People would riot". How many fucking times the show need to shovel into your goddamed face that the system works. We see a billion happy couples in the fucking screen.
And honestly, for a ROMANCE/DRAMA this show explored too much of how things work. This is not Scifi.
"Neji is weak/cuck/beta / Neji is a copypaste from every other harem show"
If you use the words "cuck and "beta" inironically you can honestly go fuck yourself. But to the anyone who are tired of seeing "weak" protagonists that can't make a decision or get nervous/anxious: Why are you watching a fucking drama? Shouldn't you be outside being a socially successful extrovert? Neji honestly felt very real.
"Characters can't make decisions/ characters are poorly written"
Have you ever loved someone who is in a relationship? Have you ever loved your best friend? Have you ever loved your bestfriend's spouse? Relationships are complicated. Specially when you are young. I see adults who I think are pretty smart making bad decisions or even not making decisions at all. All the fucking time. Do you wanna see some random normal weak ass dudes punching each other on your action shows? Then why do you want Romance and Drama to not use exageration? That's how the Genre works you fucking moron.
"This is a harem show"
Dude, do you think harem is every show where more than one person likes the protagonist? That's a ridiculous and shallow definition. What defines a Harem is SEVERAL characters loving the protagonist FOR NO REASON and also a SHALLOW DEVELOPMENT of most of the love interests. Is Onegai Twins a harem? Vampire Knight? Yeah...
"The show consists almost entirely of misunderstandings and coincidences"
Everyone hates Gokai(misunderstanding) driven plot. It's annoying and it's why I gave up on Gamers. This show is not like that. Again, people with no/shallow experience with the genre thinking Drama = Gokai.
"The art is kinda weird/The eyes annoy me"
Yet the same people rate Clannad higher than most shows. I liked it. But this is a matter of preference. When you are judging the art of an anime you are supposed to judge detail level, pallet choice, animation... stuff like that. That's why even though Clannad has aliens as characters the score is still high.
FINALLY
This is not a great show. It's a good show at best.But it really pisses me off. I really take this site seriously and I almost skipped a perfectly enjoyable show because people are mediocre.
Stark700
Drama series with love as a central theme tends to draw a variety of audiences. When I seek one of these shows, relationship dynamics is something I trust for the series to capitalize. Koi to Uso (Love and Lies) is one of those series that define love more than just holding hands, dating, or kissing. It’s an anime that dances around the idea of love and drawing the audience into a world of drama. Getting into this show was actually quite easy. The premise is simple to understand and as a manga reader, I went into this show with tolerable expectations. The first few episodes easilyestablishes the principle character cast – Nejima, Nisaka, Ririna, and Misaki. These four characters have distinctive personalities that makes them different from one and other. The story interconnects their lives as the setting takes place in the future. Government created the Yukari Law in which young people after 16-years old would be assigned marriage partners. So you’re probably asking thinking “hmm, a show that builds relationship through a system. Where’s the love in that?” On the surface, that logic would makes sense but it’s obvious that certain characters have real feelings for each other. For instance, Nejima has a strong attraction towards Misaki. However, his actual marriage partner is a girl named Ririna who is also interested in the idea of love. The three art part of love triangle that explores human emotions, growth, and emotional relationships.
Honestly, I can’t really say this show does an adequate job at developing its story. At its core, it puts emphasis on the theme of love. The show invites questions that makes us wonder what love actually is. What is romance? How do couples build on a love relationship? Why do we feel attracted to certain people and vice versa? For starters, the first few episodes makes it clear that romantic feelings is based on attraction. However, it does get into the emotional elements soon as we learn more about the characters. Human emotions are exposed such as happiness, jealousy, fear, hate, sadness, anger, pain, and pleasure. Yet at the same time, it often feels like this series tries to do too many things at once. Every episode dedicates a variety of human emotions at once that sometimes feel too much to take in. For instance, the first two episodes explores emotions of happiness, pleasure, but also fear. Koi to Uso translates to Love and Lies and that by itself draws the attention of romance. It’s a very complex subject that even to today, there’s no right answer.
By no shadow of a doubt, relationships is a very important focus in the show. The central focus is the love triangle between Nejima, Misaki, and Ririna. If we look at these characters individually, they are rather different. Nejima is the nice guy that tries this best to appeal others but sometimes makes himself look like a fool. He is what I’d label as the “Average Joe”. On the other hand, Misaki is portrayed as the ‘next door girl’ type that many guys dreams to date. However, she also has her own insecurities and often shows emotional moments when she is with Nejima. Finally, Ririna has the personality of an ice queen. She rarely opens herself to others but at the same time is fascinated by the idea of love. As Nejima’s marriage partner, it’s obvious that she also feels an attraction towards him. Yet, Ririna seems to support Nejima and Misaki’s relationship. However, I think the main problem falls onto the shoulder of main male protagonist Nejima. I’ll be honest here…he is a very uninteresting character. He’s not just average but also lacks any dominate traits as a male. He is like a beta male that always struggles to keep up with the alpha pack. Although some people may argue that he carries a lot of responsibilities (as a guy that chosen by the Yukari system), Nejima still stands out as a weak character. The guy spends way too much thinking rather than acting on his instincts. Although he takes a more initiative in later episodes, it doesn’t change the fact that his character as a whole makes him underwhelming. Misaki and Ririna stands out better as characters on their own although the lack of characterization on them holds them back. Honestly, I wish the show capitalize more on their characters individually. Surprisingly, Ririna stands out as the most interesting character in the show for me. She may be a tsundere but it’s entertaining to see how she reacts to certain situations. Remember, this show explores the theme of love and Ririna is fascinated by it. That fascination leads her to get involved in many situations in this story.
Outside these three characters, we also have Nisaka, the mysterious bishounen that other girls seems to adore. His relationship with Misaki is a big question mark and it even provokes feelings of jealousy from Nejima. While I can’t really say this show has mystery, it does invite theories and questions about who he really is. Beyond that, it doesn’t seem like the show capitalizes on his character much and feels like he’s just there. That’s actually a big problem I have with the show. Every episode seems to build a bit more and more to connect the characters together but in reality, nothing really happens. It feels like a loop and nothing really is achieved in the end. We don’t really get a clear answer on who Nisaka really wants to marry in the end and to that, I can’t help but hit my head on a desk.
Despite Koi to Uso being a drama heavy show, it still finds room to add comedy. Unfortunately, I can’t really praise it as it’s pretty dry and feels the same almost every episode. Misunderstandings, sexual fantasies, lewd jokes, and awkward character interactions are what’ll often see. To be honest, I think this show can be enjoyable if you feel attached to certain characters. Luckily for me, I occasionally find Yukari and Ririna’s relationship to be memorable because of their conflicting personalities and the fact that they can connect more on a personal level. Beyond that, this show feels like reading some romance novel where the author isn’t even sure on who root for.
I have to admit, this show’s animation style is strange. It’s neither good nor bad but peculiar in the sense that it doesn’t look very realistic. Character eyes look abnormally big, fan service seems to happen randomly at times, and expressions seems forced. The character designs are acceptable enough with Misaki and Ririna standing out as the pretty girls at school. Nisaka also has the pretty boy look that makes him look irresistible to the ladies. Unfortunately, Nejima’s character design makes him feel out of place compared to these three. As a show with drama and romance, you can also expect kissing. Tons of it actually. By the time I finished this anime, I lost the count of times Nejima has kissed the main girls. Oh and of course, the show adds saliva and fan service during make out scenes to make them more “realistic”.
Soundtrack makes me wonder if the show knows what it’s doing. It’s pretty light-toned and make scenes more melancholic than they should be. The OP and ED theme songs has some noticeable lyrics and symbolism, in particular the red strings of fate. However, what does really stand out is the character voice acting. From all the characters, Misaki probably stands out the most as her character displays the most emotions in her voice. At times, Ririna also stands out especially during tense moments between her and Nejima. Still, the other character voice mannerisms aren’t anything to write home about. Shu sounds like an emotionless doll while Nejima’s voice is just as average as his character.
Koi to Uso is a watchable drama show at best and an trashy romance at worst. The show tries to get the audience invested into the characters but it doesn’t succeed with all its goals. It exposes the weakness of the story when it puts way too much emphasis into the love triangle of the main characters. Hardly anything actually happens! Not to mention, the main male protagonist doesn’t step it up to deliver a strong performance. Nejima holds the show back and is really feels disappointing after watching his role throughout every episode. Up to a certain point, I think this series’ drama is really aimed at specific audience. It's still a fine anime in general but far from perfection. By the time I finished the anime, it feels like a show that couldn’t connect its dots.
Shingster
Please note this review assumed that you have already watching Koi to Uso and while care has been taken to minimize story related spoilers there may be some spoilers in character analysis. Based off the popular manga of the same name Koi to Uso which translates literally into love and lies makes use of a theme that’s not often seen in animes which is marriage. The premise of this story is that in this world that the anime is set in Lies are forbidden and Love is doubly forbidden which sets the stage for the story. In this world as a result of populationdecline the government in an effort to control this crisis comes up with a complicated plan that it hopes will solve this problem.
In this plan when you turn sixteen you are assigned a marriage partner by the government thus eliminating all the work involved for a marriage as this will be taken care off. Thus, the premise here is that of a governmental marriage that is arranged by them that matches a boy and girl that reaches the age of 16 that is paired according to the compatibility of their genes.
The overall plot follows the life of 15-year-old Yukari Nejima as he faces this requirement of society as he comes to age and faces the choice of whether to confess his love to his childhood crush and establish a relationship with her and break the law or agree to his arranged marriage and marry a stranger that was chosen for him.
Yukari
Yukari Nejima portrayed by veteran voice actor Ryota Osaka of Tales of Zestiria the x fame is one of the main characters of the series and serves as the main protagonist of the show. A 16-year-old high school boy that is just entering the age where he knows and understands what love is this is also the age where he dreads the most due to the law. Personality wise Yukari was a calm, kind and honest person that was shown to be very loyal to his friends. In the beginning of the series Yukari was also on the bit of a quiet side and had a tendency of becoming nervous when he is talking with people. Like most teenagers of his age Yukari views love with something akin to disdain and like most people dreads the fact that he will be assigned a random partner to him that he will eventually be married too. Though Yukari understands the necessity of the law and the background behind It Yukari is someone that should have the choice of choosing the person that they will spend the rest of their lives with and as a result he doesn’t hide his disdain about the law.
In the beginning of the series Yukari was someone that got nervous and scared rather easily and did not like being put into situations where he will be forced to make a heavy decision that will have long lasting impacts. Indeed, when Yukari does get nervous in this early stage of his personality Yukari falls back into one of his hobbies which is making elaborate objects like funeral mounds that for some reason he has a deep interest in. These objects that he creates I feel were quite interesting to see as they are very detailed which from the level of a high school student is impressive. A peculiar trait of Yukari’s that I find interesting is that when he’s in production mode Yukari also goes into explanation mode as well and the long winded but detailed explanations that he gives on the most random of subjects was pretty interesting and funny. As the series goes on however Yukari notably gets braver as a result of not just confronting his feelings for Misaki but also develop feelings for his assigned partner Ririna as well. He also become more responsible and less of a scatterbrain and willing to shoulder the many responsibilities that he has until now been trying to escape from. This is a result of the friendships and bonds that he has been able to forge with his friends and also his assigned partner Ririna. As a character, I was impressed by Yukari’s growth and development and I was quite surprised that the weak willed and indecisive Yukari that we see in the beginning would later develop into someone that was willing to confront his feelings and be much braver than he was before. I felt that his voice actor Ryota Osaka really did a great job portraying the character of Yukari.
Misaki
Misaki voiced by veteran seiyuu singer Kana Hanazawa of the irregular at magic high school and Psycho pass fame is one of the main characters of the series and acts as one of the two heroines of the show. A high school student that is similar in age to Yukari and is also in the same class as him Misaki is considered to be the class idol as she is both pretty and kind that only serves to enhance her position within the class. A childhood friend of Yukari Misaki is a kind, honest and caring person that as a result makes it easy for her to make friends and bond with people. Apart from her base traits Misaki has also been shown to be rather perceptive and understanding of other people’s feelings especially the main character of Yukari. This I feel is a result of her being a childhood friend of Yukari’s. In the beginning of the series it is shown that Misaki while trying to remain distant is well aware of the fact that Yukari has feelings for her something that she too also has but is reluctant to commit due to the law that acts as the centerpiece of this anime. When it became apparent that their love for each other will not be able to work due to the law however Misaki’s personality starts to gradually change. Initially Misaki opted to squash the feelings of love and desire that she had for Yukari due to the friendship that she establishes with Yukari’s partner Ririna and also because she was reluctant to break the law as well content with just looking at Yukari and being with him when they are in class. However, as the series progresses however and as Yukari and Ririna’s marriage plan gets ever closer Misaki’s feelings and actions soon begin to change as she starts to resent Ririna and starts taking actions that run contrary to her earlier personality.
A surprising relationship that Misaki managed to establish in the series was the friendship and bond that she managed to establish with Ririna Yukari’s assigned wife. In the beginning of the series after they met each other for the first time Misaki was shown to be friendly to Ririna but not completely hating her for being Yukari’s assigned wife instead of her. Indeed, the two of them were able to hit it off pretty well in their first meeting and gradually become good friends trading secrets and gossip whenever possible. As the series goes on this changes as Misaki’s bottled up feelings soon turn to resentment which causes her to start to take actions that will please her but trample on the relationship that she has with Ririna. This however is conflicted with Misaki’s desire to maintain the friendship between the three of them thus causing a struggle inside Misaki. The character of Misaki I felt was an interesting one mainly because Misaki herself isn’t a simple one-sided character and instead has different sides to her character that depend heavily on the kinds of feelings that she is feeling. The development of her character and the emergence of the many sides to her character I felt was done pretty well as you can never tell what she will be doing next thus adding unpredictability to her character. Kana Hanazawa I felt did an excellent job portraying the many different sides of her Misaki.
Ririna
Ririna Sanada played by veteran seiyuu Yui Makino of Sakurada reset fame is one of the main characters of the series and is one of the main heroines of the series. A 15-year-old high school girl of a rather rich household Ririna is the girl that was assigned as Yukari’s assigned wife as part of the selections that the red string of fate law determined. A modest, kind and intelligent young girl that as benefit of someone from a rich household also radiates a sense of elegance and nobility. Ririna is someone that can be best described as a true maiden as like Yukari she has no experience of love at all. However unlike Yukari she also doesn’t even have a crush that she longed for in the past either. In the beginning of the series Ririna like Yukari didn’t have a high opinion on the law that will bind her and Yukari together as husband and wife and indeed didn’t actually have a high opinion of Yukari either. However, as the series progresses Ririna’s impression of Yukari gradually changes as a result of seeing Yukari become braver and more willing to challenge the law that governs them and indeed by the end of the series it has become apparent that she indeed has fallen for him as well.
Though Ririna’s initial personality was quiet and composed and had the elements that you will normally see in a rich girl it’s interesting to note that she has none of the usual traits of one as she is neither arrogant or haughty but is rather kind and understanding to others and always willing to listen to them. In the beginning while quiet and composed Ririna was considered by many to be hard to approach and did not really laugh much and the fact that she had a habit of speaking her mind despite the situation only served to reinforce this. As a result of meeting not just Yukari but also Misaki as well however Ririna’s personality begins to change and she gradually becomes more cheerful, happy and positive which also allows her to break out of the nickname that her school friends gave her and allow her to make her first friend. The reaction that Ririna made as she made her first friend which was Misaki I felt was actually pretty funny but also heartwarming to see. Within her personality Ririna has a number of prominent traits that serve to enhance her personality and character. One of the first prominent traits that Ririna has is the fact that despite not knowing what will happen in the future Ririna is someone that when set on a path that she is determined to follow she will follow it to the very end demonstrating how brave and determined she is. Ririna has also been shown to be a very dutiful person and willing to take responsibility for actions that she has caused something that I think is admirable for someone her age. Of Ririna’s character naturally the most prominent thing about her is the manner of how she sees Yukari and Misaki’s relationship that stems from her interest in romance novels and media. It was actually quite funny in seeing Ririna learn about what love is by trying to cause the two of them to match up. As a character, I thought that Ririna was an interesting character whose development I thought was done pretty well. Her views on love itself while unusual I felt matched pretty well with the theme of this show. I felt that her seiyuu Yui Makino really did a great job in portraying her.
Arts and animation
The arts and animation for the series I felt was pretty good and I especially loved the settings of the school and the various areas that the cast go to in the series. The school during the culture festival for the school I felt was done pretty well. with regards to the culture festival I felt that the costumes that Nisaka and Misaki wore during their little play was designed pretty well and were actually pretty nice. The designs for the characters I felt were pretty good though in this regard I felt that Misaki and Ririna were the only ones that were done well. Animation wise I felt that it was pretty smooth and clear with a good balance of colors for the outfits that the characters wore.
Music
The music for the series I felt was pretty good with regards to both the scene music and the opening and ending themes. The opening theme for the series which was Kanashii Ureshii by Fredrick and Can’t you say I felt was especially well done and matched well with the series.
Voice acting
The voice acting for the series I felt was actually pretty strong and easily one of the series best points. Kana Hanazawa who voiced the character of Misaki and Yui Makino who voiced the character of Ririna I felt deserve particular praise as I felt that they did an excellent job of portraying their characters. The character of Misaki I felt was a complex character that was easy to portray but I felt that Kana really did a great job in her portrayal of her.
Overall conclusion
In overall Koi to Uso was an anime that I really enjoyed watching and I felt that its main strong points that made it so was its interesting premise, story, excellent voice acting and character development and its ability to provoke questions for the audience. The premise for the show naturally is the complex system that the government in the anime created and implemented. While the law itself is fictional the problem that it seeks to address with it which is population decline is not and is rather a serious problem that several countries in the real-world face including Japan. The usage of a real-world problem into an anime that was solved by a fictional law itself was an interesting premise and one that I applaud. In addition to addressing the problem of a declining population this premise also created an interesting theme of whether marriage should be happiness for only yourself or should your happiness be also to benefit the country that you live in as well. Very few animes are able to provoke such deep questions which is another thing that I like about this anime as it provokes the audience to think and look beyond the story.
The overall story for the series I felt was done pretty well and I felt it was anything but simple as it was full of revelations and unexpected events. Key to this is the struggles that the characters of Yukari, Misaki and Ririna experience for the love that the three have. In particular the complex character and ever-changing attitudes of Misaki only served to make the story more and more interesting as it kept the audience engaged in trying to guess what will happen next. The friendship and bonds that Yukari establishes with Misaki and Ririna I felt was also one of the strong points of the story and seeing it evolve over the series was interesting. The central concept of the series is love and lies and in this I felt that it was done rather well though in this regard the character that best displayed it was Misaki. The ending itself I felt was interesting and served well to show the results of the culmination of the bonds that Yukari managed to establish with both Ririna and Misaki and helped highlight the fact that love itself is not as simple as people think it is. Sometimes a lie is necessary if you want to remain happy.
However, while I really enjoyed the anime and the story for it there are some things that I felt could have been done better. The character of Nisaka who is the main characters best friend within the series though a main character in his own right wasn’t given much development and indeed his relationship with Misaki and their mutual hatred for each other wasn’t explained really well. But despite such blemishes Koi to Uso was one anime that I really enjoyed thanks to the excellent premise, story and top-notch voice acting from Kana Hanazawa and Yui Makino so I would say that my final score will be a 9/10.
chevybow
** Minor Spoilers throughout** Koi to Uso is the worst show I have ever watched. It is a romance anime without the romance. It is worse than shitcom. Worse than any other 5 minute "WTF" show. It was physically and mentally painful to get through this show, and I continued watching only because I am a masochist. However I would urge others to watch this show so they can have a solid basis concerning what a "Bad" anime is- the worst of the worst- an absolutely shit show. The first episode introduces us to the absolute worst MC of any show, let alone anime, inexistence. It is almost as if the show is self-aware because the MC openly admits how shitty he is. However instead of normal shows where the MC is being hard on himself for little to no actual reasons- he is fully deserving of the "Worst Main Character" award. He has no personality. He has no interests. The only times we see him on screen is when he is interacting with other characters. He has a gimmick interest to make him "quirky" but in reality he is 1 dimensional, boring, and totally undeserving of having very character fall in love with him. Do you want a drinking game for this show? Every time the MC makes a stupid face and gets nervous take a shot. You will die 5 minutes into any given episode (including the OP). It is the most annoying thing I have ever experienced. "Oh no my assigned wife is in a bathing suit let me blush and make a wacky face and say *Japanese um* a lot". "Oh no I see my crush let me act like a little bitch and make a weird face". "Oh no my crush is wearing a new shirt let me make a stupid face and laugh like an idiot". "Oh no my crush is 50 feet away from me let me start shaking and having an internal meltdown". UGH
Speaking about love, you should know prior to watching this show that the main romance in this show has blossomed and was kept secret because one time the MC gave his eraser to this girl because she forgot hers at home. I shit you not. This girl tells the MC that she has loved him for the past 5 years or so because of that moment. It is not as if they really interacted prior to their feelings being known. This concept is totally ridiculous. The show (poorly) sets up a setting where people are assigned who they are supposed to marry. Instead of having some intimate romance and in-depth internal struggles related to societal pressure and consequences in this made-up world: They decide to pick some cheesy interaction to make two young teens fall in love and then create a melodramatic show out of it.
The setting is barely utilized and is used as a gimmick premise to create a generic harem love triangle/rectangle "romance". For instance, there is one character in the show who is either gay or bi. Instead of looking at what happens to gay people in this society or their internal struggles (since society would seemingly pair them with a member of the opposite sex to increase the birth rate)- they are just used as an addition to the harem cause ooh you weren't expecting a gay person to enter the situation did you. Another instance is in the first episode there is a message sent to a cell-phone that contradicts the married "match" that the MC receives. Instead of maybe using this as an opportunity to explore internal politics within this marriage assignment system they just use it to force conflict and more melodrama. Instead of exploring how society actually functions with these assigned marriages they just leave it at "its good" and don't actually show how this society operates or the major issues within it (apart from the OP and his little harem).
This only briefly highlights a major writing error in this show: Tell don't show. See usually when you write a piece like an essay or script for a show- you want to show ideas and concepts through actions rather than just telling about it. This show feels like it was written by a middle schooler while daydreaming and the result is the characters sounding like robots. They always have monologues that assume the audience is stupid. Instead of showing a character is mad at you through them avoiding you or through failed actions to get their attention they will have the MC talking to himself saying stuff like "Girl #2 has not spoken to me in a week. This makes me very upset because I want to talk to Girl #2. I wonder if she is mad at me. I hope I can fix this".
Apart from the writing, the directing is like its from a hentai. There will be lots of kissing in this show. And it is very cringy. Apart from the massive cringe you will experience due to the MC not having a personality and not knowing how to interact with anyone (though they still fall in love with him because... well the writers wanted a romance ok), the kissing scenes are just... extra. They make it a purpose to show the tongues moving on each other, and they add these "realistic" sound effects, and they try and show the spit that hangs from the lips when they break away. Its like some form of weird form of softcore porn... but anime version.
I can go on and on about all the faults in the show, but to prevent myself from writing a book on this show I will outline them here:
- Generic MC to the point of being unlikable and not possessing a personality. He makes watching the show really difficult and I have never disliked a character in any book/movie/show as much as I hate him
- Generic side-characters used for the purpose of having cute designs so that people can "choose" which character they want to win
- Terrible Plot Development and uninspiring story given the premise
- Unrealistic character motivations and actions- people falling in love with each other for no reason at all, at least none that we can see on screen. If anything, the show gives us reasons to hate the MC not love him.
- Overly cringe-worthy scenes, directing, writing.
- Boring melodrama with the plot making little progress towards the end of the show
- No real conclusion at the end of the final episode
- Setting and premise are not utilized to any form of their potential, instead being used as gimmicks.
- No intelligent social commentary on a show that can relate to modern Japan with their birth rate crisis
- Subjective opinion, but I thought the art style was... bad
- Concepts are brought in to produce conflict and then forgotten about
- Even without the cringe this show produces, it is just boring and meant to be watched in the background while doing something more meaningful with your time.
LittleKitty24
Since everyone is hating on Koi to Uso because of the ending I thought I would write a review to show that it's really not that bad. First off, I found the story very interesting I have read a book series before with a similar plot of government arranged marriages so I was excited to see that played out again in a different setting. This story is all about Nejima Yukari and how he deals with his feelings for his 5 year long love and his new assigned future wife who everyone says he now has to love. If you are a fan of romance anddrama then you should definitely give Koi to Uso a try.
I thought their love story was pretty different in the good way. I mean growing up in a society where loving whoever you want is forbidden and you are told to marry someone you have never even seen before? It's like arranged marriage backed by the science they use on online dating sites. The science part saying "Don't worry you will fall in love with this person because all the data says you are perfect for each other!" We live in a society where being able to love who you want is a big deal so this story shows you what it's like if that wasn't the case. Would you prefer to love whoever you want or fall in love with the person assigned to you?
I don't understand why so many people are disappointed in the ending. Yes, it has an open ending with nothing totally figured out but this story is coming from an on-going manga so of course the story isn't going to end there. But does that make the show bad? No. It was still interesting. And in my opinion a good anime should make you want to read the source material to know more and this ending was a good way to make that happen.
So all in all give it a try! It's an interesting take on what love really is.
gondola2357
Koi To Uso is one of the most painfull to watch romance anime I've ever seen. Nothing encapsulated the horrible parts of teenage drama shows more than this one. It truly is perfection, in a perverted way. So let's talk about all the horrible things this show has to offer. (Oh, and there will also be light spoilers) -,,Just don't think about it" If you don't think about anything. You'll understand everything. But if you think about it too much, you'll realize everything is nothing and life is pointless. I mean, you'll realize just how amazing this show is. I mean, it fucking sucks. The show isfilled with so many stupid plotholes, that I genuinely could not have gotten past the first episode if I didn't write down all the dumb stuff that happened, for satisfaction. So, just 'cause, I guess I'll post what I've written along with this review. You can read it if you want, but it's not necessary to understand my other points(especially since I cut certain portions out to not repeat myself). Also, these will not make any sense if you haven't already seen the show.
Episode 1:
- Apparently, the children born after this new law had higher average intelligence, which doesn't make sense biologically. Did they kill off dumb people? Did everyone take an IQ test, where, if the score was too low, you wouldn't be allowed to have a partner? I guess ,,Red string of science sounds cool" is good enough. We do get a little information related to this later, but not nearly enough to justify it.
- Why was Misaki 4 hours late? The show's excuse is that she didn't plan to come, which is the most retarded thing in the history of anything ever (especially once we get more info about her MAD LOVE for Yukari).
Episode 2:
- Why didn't Yukari, Ririna and their families meet up in a weekend, instead of having to skip school?
- Couldn't Yukari just call Misaki?
- Ririna's personality is incredibly inconsistent. At the meeting, she was straightforward and friendly with Yukari (despite not knowing anything about him, not to mention the importance of that meeting) and continued to act like that through the entire episode (e.g. her interactions with Misaki), but she's apparently an outcast in her class and socially awkward? Bullshit. So far, she hasn't show any signs of being shy. Not to mention her tsundere attitude directly contradicts her ,,shyness". This inconsistency continues in later episodes.
- WcDonalds.
- Didn't Yukari tell Ririna about all that happened between him and Misaki? There was absolutely no sign that he skipped over a part of his story to Ririna. So how didn't he mention he kissed Misaki?
Episode 4:
- They don't take physical preference into account. Complete and utter bullshit. There will always be teenagers who only care about how their ,,love" looks. In that case, they'll hate it if the person they're assigned with is ugly (something that apparently the government can't control), resulting in a toxic marriage. It's a pandering way of appealing to unfit or ugly people by saying ,,It doesn't matter how you look, you could still get the girl you want" so that they can project themselves more onto the show. You could say that if their egotistical personalities match, than they will both look good, but no. The show completely rejects that idea by stating people ,,don't fall in love with outward appearances". Some people DO fall in love because of outward appearances and it's foolish to deny that.
- How does a government official *forget* someone's address?
Episode 5:
- Isn't being carried in someone's arms more embarassing/sluttier than being piggybacked, especially in a swimsuit?
- It was stated in episode 1 that ,,romance with anyone besides their assigned partner is forbidden", but now, according to Yusuke's dialogue, you can change your partner. So, romance with someone besides your assigned partner isn't forbidden? Quite hypocritical.
- If you could just change your marriage partner, why did Misaki and Yukari act like it was the end of the world at the end of episode 1? Could it be because that wasn't the original concept? The information we get in this episode completely contradicts the show's concept.
- Why the fuck do you have to pay such a harsh penalty if you reject your assigned partner? Isn't it the government's fault if they don't provide you with a suitable partner? If they would've actually given you a perfect match (like the government promotes these assignments), then you wouldn't have even thought of rejecting it. This is stupid and completely illogical. A fee would indeed make sense (as in the money spent searching for a new partner), but rejection of education and employment? What the fuck? Why? How does the government benefit from this?
Episode 6:
- Suddently Ririna started having a crush for Yukari, which feels incredibly rushed. Up until now she showed no signs of interest or love for Yukari (being embarassed in an awkward situation and doing tsundere shit doesn't count). The dream she had would not have happened if she didn't already have some affection for him. You could say it's because of what happened last episode, but, she didn't seem to abandon the idea of Yukari and Misaki becoming a couple (this is later confirmed).
- Why is the governement shoving sex down everyone's throats when these kids are barely 16? All of these couples are still in highschool. Wouldn't it be extremely bad for their education if they got pregnant before finishing their studies? They don't even mention anything about the dangers of unprotected sex. Not to mention this event will be really awkward for a large number of these couples(e.g. Ririna and Yukari) since they've only know each other for a couple of months (usually not nearly enough to develop a strong relationship). It would make much more sense for them to be taught this when they're 18 or 20 (the age at which you are no longer considered a minor in Japan) or at least have this special class be optional.
Episode 7:
- Why is Yusuke forced to participate in the play? There's absolutely no way a normal school would allow such blackmailing from the teachers (,,I'll knock 30% off your attendance"), especially since it was said in public. Yes, we know that Yusuke didn't go to school for some time, but there's been no indications that some of his absences haven't been written. In fact, the quote ,,and it's questionable as is" implies that all of his absences have been written.
- Why is Yukari asking Silver_hair_guy for advice? Why not his parents or close friends? Silver_hair_guy seems like the last guy he'd want to talk to, considering all that happened.
Episode 8:
- If Misaki had such a large crush for Yukari, why did she have no reaction to his confession in episode 1? How could neither of them have noticed the other was constantly paying so much attention to them?
Episode 10:
- Yukari and Ririna could not give less of a shit about Misaki being Yukari's assigned wife (even though they went crazy at the beginning of the episode). First, they *forget* to ask Misaki about Shuu and then they don't even bother to call her, better not waste her precious time. Later, after Yukari finally gets Shuu's number, he writes her a message as if she forgot to give him his pen back or some shit and this is the first time he's talking to her (not to mention he's worried that he might sound SERIOUS).
- Everyone doesn't talk to Ririna because she's not smiling enough. Yeah that makes perfect sense.
-The Concept
I've actually seen a lot of people praise Koi To Uso for it's concept (in a positive way), which I think is undeserved. The idea of government officials controlling relationships and love, by itself, could be really interesting. However, when the show tries to delve deeper into this concept and explain how it works, everything falls apart.
First, they make the setting in modern day Japan, stating that all of this happened in less than 100 years, which kills any ,,because future" excuse they might've had otherwise (and yes, the synopsis IS lying about the setting being futuristic). Then, they imply that the government completely understands your personality by analysing your genes (which gives them 50% of your personality somehow) and then discovers the rest through tests. WHAT? That's so stupid. You can't understand someone's personality through fucking tests. It's impossible for someone to be self-aware enough to the point that they can answer every question regarding themselves perfectly. They're teenagers for fuck sake. Have you ever heard of narcissism or special snowflakes? What if someone lies and writes something different on the tests intentionally in the hopes of a better partner? It's literally impossible for them to discover if they're lying or not. ,,Oh no, you see, everyone will take the tests seriously because it has such a large effect on their lives". That's exactly why some might lie, in the hopes of having an amazing life, not to mention they're goddamn teenagers. What if someone was gay (just like in the show) or asexual or a mexican? What do you do then? How does the government even know who is compatible with who? Trial and error could never work in this situation because of the infinite amount of possibilities. There are no 2 human minds identical, similar yes, but never identical. I could go on and on about how this doesn't make any sense, but it's pointless. Oh, and they also change like half the rules by episode 5 and completely abandon it by episode 12, truly story-telling at it's best.
-The Characters
I feel like this is how naive extroverts, that never met any shy people, think of shy people. They think of them as charismatic, straightforward, but occasionally embarrassed people. Do you see where I'm getting at? Good, then let's talk about each main character respectively and why they're so horrible.
Misaki Takasaki
-I'll say it now, Misaki is not a character. She's a plot device. Or, I guess you could say, a 'pander device'. She's just there to be ,,the girl the MC loves that turns out to also love the MC". The only reason we're given for why she loves him so much is because he seemed like a nice guy and he gave her half a razor. What the fuck? If someone gave me half a razor, I'd think ,,Oh, thanks, I'll pay you back later" not ,,Oh my god, he's so kind, I wanna suck his dick". Now, It makes sense that a child would act this way. Kids be kids, you know? But a fucking teenager?! She should've realized how stupid all of this is when she was 13. Here's the thing, if the show was actually smart, they could've made her into a naive or easily manipulated character. This would make sense based on how quickly she fell in love with Yukari. Or maybe have a twist where it turns out she never actually loved Yukari and this was all part of some government plan. You know? Break the mold a little. But no, because that would mean she'd no longer be a plot device and the show needs her to be one. She's there just to introduce Shuu and to be filler to complete the love triangle drama bullshit (which is quite ironic, since Ririna has the same role too). Also, the fact that she's 4 hours late to her meeting with Yukari (who she apparently had such a large crush on) is like the cherry on the top of the plot device cake.
Ririna Sanada
-This is one of the most inconsistent characters I've ever seen. One minute, she's a full on tsundere that bitches about everything. Then, she gets all shy and flustered and doesn't want to talk to anyone. This character, just like Misaki, doesn't feel like a human being. She instead feels like a template to pander to otaku. A waifu, if you will. "the girl of your dreams that is so shy and needs someone to save her because she has no friends, even though she's so nice and blah blah blah". Her romance with Yukari is rushed beyond belief. The fact that she's a loner and nobody talks to her makes no fucking sense. And most of all, even as a cliche tsundere, she's boring as hell. I never found myself interested in anything that had to do with her. Then again, that was kind of my permanent state the entire run time of the show, but... come on! You're a tsundere! Do something interesting!
Yusuke Nisaka
-This is the best character in the entire show, which isn't saying much. I actually found his love for Yukari intriguing, but the show doesn't do anything with it. Instead, the show puts him in the ,,popular friend of the MC, that just so happened to become friends with the MC, even though the MC has no friends" box. Apparently, he's also shy and doesn't want to be in the center of attention, which is bullshit, if you pay any attention to what he does.
Yukari Nejima
-Finally, the elephant in the room. Well, a tiny elephant, but an elephant nonetheless. I've seen a lot of people simply describe him as a ,,generic harem protagonist". Which is somewhat true, but because of how amazingly bad Koi To Uso is, I think there's a couple of things that make him stand out. First, he's a LOT more childish. And by childish, I mean dumb and naive. There were moments in the show were I simply thought ,,How can you be so dense?" (I suspect the PG-13 rating to be the cause of this). His hobby for burial mounds is brought up to 11 and eventually becomes very annoying. You like burial mounds. I get it. Now can we move on and have some actual character development?. He's probably the only actually shy character in the entire show. But it's harem-shy, you know? The kind of shyness where if you walk next to him he gets a seizure.
I could talk about the supporting cast, but I'd just be repeating myself, you can already tell how boring they are just by looking at them (except for Shuu I guess).
-The Art and Animation
This is probably the worst thing about the show. It's not good enough to where I can admire it, but it''s not bad enough to where I can laugh at it. So it's just in a middle section of blandness.
The art is average. The animation is average. The color pallet is average. None of the characters stand out and could easily fit in any background. The background is average (if you consider how boring the setting is). Everything is average.
The only good thing I can say about it, is that it fits the light-hearted romance vibe the show is going for.
-The Romance
Oh boy, this is what I've been wanting to talk about this entire time. Quite ironically though, this is almost my last point and this is definitely a more sensitive topic, but I'll do my best anyway.
In my opinion, the show doesn't understand what true love is. Think about it. The only love that actually makes any sense is Nisaki's love for Yukari, because he actually knows something about him). Misaki and Ririna don't know jack shit about Yukari, besides ,,he's nice". Heck, not even Yukari knows jack shit about Misaki and Ririna, besides ,,I'd stick my dick in them". True love should be caused by relating to a person and said person's problems and by wishing to help that person and to be next to that person for the rest of your life (At least that's what I think). It's kind of hard to explain true love, but this doesn't feel like true love. This feels fake love.
The show constantly mentions ,,Do you want to kiss him?" as a confirmation to whether you love him or not. In my opinion, this confirms what I've said above. Just because you want to kiss someone, that doesn't mean you love him. You can love someone without originally wanting to kiss them. In fact, if you love someone *just* because you want to kiss them, then you probably don't actually love that person.
I also think it's not right to love 2 people at once ( in this case, Yukari's ,,love" for Ririna and Misaki). That's called cheating. And don't give me some bullshit like ,,Oh they don't mind that he's cheating", it's still wrong. A true partner should be just that. A single person that you love from the bottom of your heart. You usually try to devote all your time to being with your true love, especially if you're a teenager. You can't do that if you ,,love" 2 people. You have to commit to a single person, not do this harem bullshit. I mean, if this was an actual stupid harem show, I wouldn't mind, but when it's taken seriously, that's where you lost me.
Then there's sex. Which they tackled horribly. Since they're PG-13, they can't actually go all out like any other show with sexual themes (i.e. Scum's Wish), so they just have the characters kiss a little and then Yukari pussies out, out of getting some pussy. They never explore any of the themes of sexuality, like intimacy or lust, so what's the point? Why introduce sexuality if you're not gonna do anything with it? I'm gonna tell you why, so that they can appear smart and mature in front off dumb teenagers. Fuck this, literally.
-The Sound Design
Ok, we're wrapping this up, but I might as well talk about the sound a little. It's below average.
I think the OP and ED are fine. I can't really criticize them, since I'm not an expert in that category, but I thought they they were mediocre and usually skipped them (although that might've been caused by how much I hated the show).
I think the phrase ,,Show, don't tell" applies to sound as well. Every single scene, even if it's not that dramatic, has this loud drama music in the background and, in my opinion, most of these scenes would've been much more powerfull if they weren't drown out with music. So, in a nutshell, fuck the OST.
-Conclusion
I'm finally done with this horrible show. I could've talked more about the finale and all that Friendship Is Magic bullshit, but I just want to be done with this.
So, in conclusion, Koi To Uso is a horrible show with a dumb plot and bad characters. Unless you want to watch it intentionally to make fun of it (and there aren't a lot of things to make fun of, mostly just cringy and boring stuff), you should skip it. There are much better drama shows out there and Koi To Uso isn't one of them. You might as well look at paint dry and get a better experience than this.
Nika_09
Koi to uso is a love drama that touches the heart, right in the first minutes of the first episode you can see where this story goes, every episode is a rollercoaster. It's the 1st anime I've seen, which shows what it is true love, passion and all the physical contacts you want to have with the person you love, not in an exaggerated way but being very faithful to reality. I can identify with the main character because I'm a little shy, but at the same time I can have friends and be happy with them and have a good relationship with the family.I'm rooting for every second that everything works out for the main character. This anime isn't about crying as there's no room for it, and instead it leaves you with a really tight grip on your heart wishing we'd switch places with the main character. This anime is among my favorites, and it's a wonder how Koi to Uso manages to represent reality so well through drawings. That's why I want to pursue design, having the dream of one day creating a story and drawings that touch someone's heart. I evaluate 10/10, here is my experience and my opinion.
If you took the time to read this I would like to thank you and wish you a good day full of luck, with a lot of love Nika.
sunflowerseeds15
Only two words to describe this anime. Absolutely horrible. The characters are all idiots. The main character is on my nerves because he chooses the wrong girl. The plot has holes in it and it moves way too fast. Neji (the main character) is seriously the worst kind of character ever made. He is just too stupid and I don't like him at all. The animation is weird. The eyes are way too big. I didn't enjoy it at all. Also, the last episode has the worst kind of ending. Like nobody wants that. I also continued in the manga just to see if thestory turns around and IT DOES NOT. Conclusion: don't waste your time on this crap.
84DaysWithout
There is absolutely nothing more frustrating in romance anime than an obstacle standing in the way of two people that love each other. Even worse in the case of Koi to Uso this obstacle is a nonsensical, bullshit love mandate that threatens sanctions if broken leading to characters betraying their feelings over and over again. Watching characters do that to themselves is suffering and I don't like to suffer so this anime is crap. An annoying narrative can at times be salvaged by great characterization of which Koi to Uso has none of. MC is a beta male wimp with aspirations of not being a betamale wimp someday you can find him in literally every anime ever. His love interest is cute but she never says what she actually feels and doesn't have the resolve to fight against the system that opposes her love so who gives a damn. His fake love interest is the best character in the show bar none and she's a tsundere who, to no one's surprise, also struggles to communicate her feelings and say what she actually feels.
Lets get one thing straight: This is not Kuzu No Honkai. Not even a little bit. For it to be the #1 recommended show is insanity. That anime was a thorough analysis on the psychology of sex through the lens of naive teenagers under the delusion of equating sex with self worth. Koi to Uso has no such depth to it. It's just a generic love story with a complicated narrative due to a bullshit government mandate. Characters in Kuzu No Honkai did whatever the fuck they wanted, whoever the fuck they wanted, when the fuck they wanted. There were no restrictions to their feelings. Furthermore, the art in Kuzu No Honkai was stunning. The cinematography and character designs were some of the best I've ever seen from the genre, Koi to Uso on the other hand doesn't stand out at all. For the love of god stop comparing the two.
MAYBE all of this could be salvaged if the narrative wrapped up in a conclusive way that settled it's conflicts and brought a resolution to character arcs but of course it doesn't! It's literally nothing more an advertisement for the manga and screams to buy the source material rather than stand on it's own as a work.
I cannot in any good faith recommend this to anyone who wants to feel any sense of satisfaction when watching love stories. Koi to Uso doesn't give you hope or joy, nor does it speak to any broader themes in an intelligent way, it just makes you upset. Not the experience I'd want for myself and hopefully not you too.
Moonspeak
In order to find out wether Koi to Uso is a good romance or not, perhaps it would be useful to define what a good romance is. First let me ask you : what is love to you ? Do you consider it something that is constructed, that has to be built over time ? Does it require some kind of effort to be able to grow ? Is it about gradually liking a person the more you learn about him/her ? Would you say your loved one has to be a partner in life, sharing the best moments like the worst ? Maybe you see it asa long tranquil river, flowing quietly without getting out of its bed, until finally it calmly disappears with both of your lives in the sea.
This is the love of reason, the one that is compatible with duty, honor and other values, and exists in a harmony between mariage, family and society. You can find many love stories of this kind in novels, this is what is traditionnaly called romance in english speaking countries. Pride and Prejudice is a good example, but there are many others present in popular literature. These romances usually end well, the protagonists needing only to better understand each other to become a couple, and presumably living happy ever after.
Koi to Uso is not one of this romances.
It couldn't be, because what it is is romantic.
What is romanticism ?
Romanticism is choosing roman, the vulgar language of the people, over latin, the one of the scholars.
It's about making the choice of emotions and feelings such as love, over reason.
Have you ever read Romeo and Juliet ? It's pretty violent. More than that, if you try to make sense of the characters choices, they don't seem to have any. They appear to be irrational, and to a strict logical viewpoint they are.
But when you try to understand the emotions they are going through, it shines a new light on their actions. Being driven by intense feelings often makes you change your perspective of what trully matters. In both Shakespeare's play and this anime, the characters have the choice to pursue an honorable mariage, that's approved by their entourage and constitutes the obviously safer bet. Why don't they follow this path and opt for the choice that seems more logical ?
It's because it doesn't feel right. They function by a different kind of logic now, and their family duties ring hollow compared to the delight of spending a few moments with the object of their ardor. This love isn't a calm river, but a wild torrent sweeping everything in its path. When they're with eachother it takes hold of their entire body, whether they want it or not. It's a sweet madness, the kind that convices you you're the only one sane, and in these tales it might well be true.
Be it a mortal feud between two families or a government that arranges mariages, sometimes it's the reasonable society that looks insane, and your passion the single thing that makes sense. It's become something worth fighting for, and here lies, in my sense, the statement of Koi to Uso.
The show defends the idea that passion should be fully lived, however short it might be, the way fireflies are attracted to each other until their very last breath, shining all the more brightly, like a candle about to die out. It suggests us that going against societal norm might well be the right thing to do, which is a kind of subversion you don't often see in anime and especially risqué given the penchant for harmony and conformity in Japanese tradition.
There you have it, why in my opinion people enjoyed this anime or didn't : a romanticism that defies reason.
If you like stories about finding beauty in a doomed idyll, then go ahead and give Koi to Uso a try.
ProxyProx
To sum it Up This Anime is a perfect example of what happens when you make an anime adaptation of a Manga and don't even have enough source Material to begin with. Due to the Manga still being at seemingly the 1/2 way point of its production/storyline this was to be expected. The anime changes quite a few key factors that the Manga had in an effort to try to shape its own ending but unfortunately they do this terribly too late at like the last 3 episodes which leaves the entirely Made up anime conclusion feeling extremely empty and unsatisfying. The Whole premise ofthis anime/manga was him having to choose his true love and essentially go against his fate to pursue his original true love which is shown in 3/4 of the anime. However towards the end it essentially betrays that entire plot by (SPOILER BE WARNED) having the MC end the last episode by basically choosing both girls and going the Harem Route. The main problem with this isn't necessarily that he chooses both but rather that it seems so forced because they made the ending up on the spot with almost no foreshadowing of this being his end goal/choice so it comes off as unfulfilling to the viewer. In conclusion this anime had a ton of promise early on and a great synopsis but ultimately falls short due to the lack of Original source material resulting in a half-hearted ending. All in All i give this anime a 6/10 with potentially a higher score if they ever make a S2(unlikely) to flush out the actual storyline.
IAintAllBad
Do you ever have a voice in your head that tells you when you decide to start doing something (Hey, this is bad. Don't do it). But you convince yourself that you're a rational and logical human that follows Descartes' doubt ideology and you shut the voice up. You start seeing signs that it really is bad, the voice screams (Stop already!) but you keep on going. When you're finished, the voice goes (Ha! I told you so). This is the experience that I had with Koi To Uso. I have seen The Signs : -an MC who has the brain and way of thinking ofa three years old child.
-he can't even look a person in the eye for 0,03 seconds without blushing.
-he is portrayed as the good, nice guy but is actually a f***boy who kissed two girls in the same day without shame.
-we never know why he is loved so much since he is bland in every sense of the word.
-the two main girls are well aware of his indecisiveness and his playing with both of them, and guess what? They're bffs! They even cheer each other on!
The anime started with what seemed like a very interesting concept/idea: the government decides who your future husband/wife is, but it failed miserably to explore it.
We never knew how the calculations are made. How did the millions of citizens accept this new law happily like it was so natural? Why aren't there no rebel groups/organizations?
In the anime, we find out there is a character (who joins the MC harem) who is gay, and if we leave bad assumptions aside (for example that he's there just to serve as a drama factor or for a certain type of audience), we can say that it roses a very important question: What happens to citizens that don't identify themselves as straight?
Well, the anime doesn't really take itself seriously or cares about any topic aforementioned, as it's basically just a journey of the MC running and screaming (Girl 1 or Girl 2?).
As Schopenhauer stated: "The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom". Boredom is what made me watch Koi to Uso, and Mr.Arthur didn't lie. This anime really took away a percentage of my happiness (as well as my brain cells).
mocha_bean
The only thing sadder than this show's mediocre writing is how much potential the premise had. From episode to episode, there is remarkably little plot progression. And where the plot does progress, it does so without much sense of advancing the story's themes. It's just a whole lot of dancing around the relationship drama, with the mostly unfounded expectation that viewers are actually invested in it. Yet, the premise! Who comes up with this premise and just turns it into a generic trope-following romance? Koi to Uso could have explored the interactions with the government, and how that builds on the themes of logic vs. intuition,and obedience vs. rebellion. Yet it hardly did, opting instead to spin its wheels in typical harem nonsense with a one-dimensional protagonist.
But, hey, at least the music's really good.
DarthInvader
TL;DR: Japan establishes futuristic e-Harmony & forces 16 year olds to marry who they are assigned. 4 people find themselves entangled in a four way love rhombus. Will Arrange Marriage or Love Marriage win? Find out next time in KTU. [Story: 5/10 , Characters: 3/10, Art: 6/10, Sound: 8/10, Enjoyment: 5/10] What do you get when you want to deal with a serious issue like Japan's decline in child birth & marriage but still want to attract people from various age groups to explore Love? You get Love and Lies. A show where you end up lying to others telling them how much you loveit when in reality you don't.
The premise of the show is futuristic Japan adopts the arrange marriage policy labelling it "The Red Thread of Science". Where the government chooses your partner, based on "hard-core algorithm." The public has no clue how the math works but at age 16, you are paired up with your "one calculated love" and you meet up and starting sexing it up right away. They even have sexual concentration camp to facilitate the process. If you don't follow it you are punished with unimaginable torture. However, enter MC, Nejima, an idiot infatuated with his school crush, Misaki, who gets paired of with a tsun chick, Ririna, and thus begins the game of Love and Lies. Will the boy end up with the girl he loves or the girl he got assigned?
The way the show started, it had an interesting premise. They want to explore what love really is and can one really calculate it. Even today, no one really knows the concrete answer to that despite all the online matchmaking websites with their take on different algorithms. With the central theme being love and relationships, people are easily hooked on to the show. So in the beginning the plot was interesting. They introduced the dilemma pretty early and each episode they explore different emotions associated with love, like Happiness, Confusion, Jealousy, Sadness and so on. However mid-way the show takes a huge nose dive. They introduced another character, Nisaka (a boy) who has a crush on the MC, Nejima. Now you had a 4 way love rhombus with a hint of Harem mixed in. It was really unnecessary. If they just kept the dilemma to the love triangle and explored the caveats of love it would've been better imo. As the show goes on, the characters try to unearth the science behind the algorithm while figuring out who to choose in the end. Each episode ends with a bit of twist so viewers still remain motivated to watch the next episode.
If the story didn't have enough bumps and cracks, the characters with their lack of personality and substance definitely did. The MC, Nejima, makes you viciously angry. He is too nice and too dumb who just panics at every trivial matter that makes it hard for viewers to really connect with. Then you have Mikasa & Ririna, a sappy confused girl who just loves to tease vs a tsun confused girl who just loves to be teased. Then you have Nisaka, the token closeted homosexual, to cover the void in "Japan's Hard-core Algorithm" that didn't account for same gender love. Overall, the characters are just too flat and hard to sympathize, with their daily struggle in finding whatever love they desire.
Despite the failure in story and characters, the OP and ED songs are one of the best in this season. The background score is wonderful to listen to on its own. Although the animation at first will throw you off. I mean, we all know anime characters have big eyes, but this show takes big eyes to the next level. They almost look like aliens but I think the show creator did this to emphasize how much emotion people can show through their eyes. Regardless, the show is animated well with great CGI blending and the blue filter effect is maintained throughout the anime. The show had great cinematography and intense kissing animations that almost made it borderline hentai. Altogether, It fit the anime and gave it a soul that the story and characters lacked.
Overall, despite its wonderful premise, the anime just didn't fully tackle what's better, arrange marriage or love marriage. It was sort of fun to watch each week and mid way through I wanted to drop it but glad I didn't because near the end it picked up once again. The characters are a bit bland and the love rhombus was sort of intriguing. However, maybe sticking to the core of the anime and exploring the emotions behind love in a more in-depth manner would've done justice to this anime. Anyways, give it a watch and let me know later how you like it. Also, tell me, do you believe in love marriage or arranged marriage?
P.S. Thank you for reading. I hope you found this short and supaishi review helpful!
Somebodyudk9603
What is love? a question that changes depending on who you are. SPOILERS Story 7/10 The anime is placed in a world where the government assigned you with your "destined partner" and basically eliminating all the work involved for a marriage. The story follows the life of a 15-year-old boy named Yukari Nejima as he is going through a really difficult time to pick with waifu does he prefer more. From episode to episode there were no plot progress the story only adds more conflict and drama so the audience would sit and watch to see if they solve the revolving issue that justcontinues to grow and grow as the more and more episodes go by...
spoilers: they don't
Art 5/10
The character design and school uniforms were really cute but the eyes were just sometimes a little too big and distracting until they just kinda look dead inside? the cinematics was decent but nothing spectacular happened.
Sound 8/10
Probably the best thing about this anime is the soundtrack. It was very fitted with the different scenarios throughout the entire series. The voice acting was also very good and suited the characters well.
Characters 6/10
Most of the characters in the anime were enjoyable but had zero development and very little backstory towards them. The only character that showed change was Ririna who in the end became happier and caring towards her friends/.
Enjoyment 5/10
There were moments in the show that made me wanna watch the next episode and there were times I got teary-eyed and related to the characters emotions and choices in life but in the end, the anime gave me mixed feelings and I'm not even sure if I enjoyed the anime.
Overall 6/10
There was no problem resolved in this anime and that's what makes the audience to this show not satisfied but I understand the intention to show that love is a mess and is very complicated. I really hope to see a season 2 of this anime so that we can at least get a conclusion.
Rubuscaeruleus
Koi to Uso deserves this rating of 3 because of the only three points that make it bearable - 1 point for the fact that its drama level was enough to keep me watching despite the vapid plot, 1 point for Ririna who is a very good character in a very poor anime, and 1 point for a truly fantastic OP which is the sole reason I started watching the show (this system is not actually the way I rate shows, but it seemed too fitting that the rating matched the scant number of redeeming points). Besides these saving graces, Koi to Uso was nothing shortof a waste of time. From the very beginning, the show relies heavily on cliched tropes which makes everything a else feel a bit tasteless. From this unoriginal start, the series devolves into blatant wish-fulfillment surrounding a main character, Nejima, who is completely worthless. He has no traits that make him stand out, and this mediocrity is even pointed out several times by other characters.
Sadly the disaster doesn't end there. The ending is inconclusive and is doubtlessly the worst cop-out I have ever seen in anime. It absolutely tarnished anything the show might have had going for it up to that point.
Visually, the art was not bad, just pretty average; however I was put off by the design of the characters' eyes. Even for anime eyes, they were a bit too large and had a buggy feel. Also the kissing scenes were atrocious (i.e. way too much tongue).
As I mentioned earlier Ririna, unlike our hapless protagonist, is a quality character who really grew on me. She is adorable and made everything else tolerable. And the OP ("Kanashii Ureshii" by Frederic) is wonderful and deserves a better show to back it up. Unfortunately, neither of these good points can save this train wreck, and you would do best to look up the song on YouTube and spend your time watching a better anime.
Whoahoho
Koi to uso, love and lies, this was one unique anime where it doesn't involve a lotta harem member, rather i was more like a "Ménage à trois" so how do I rate this????? Story, Fair 6. The story itself was more like pattered after Romeo and Juliet, where guy and his childhood friend love each other but they can't because of some law that was created in which the gov't get's to decide who will marry who, and somehow has made no exception about those who were already in love with someone, now, to me the plot was good but somehow it was a bit shallowfor such a scenario in which such situation, where the guy was seemly allowed to have some form of consensual cheating, on his assigned wife, the assigned wife seemly tolerates it and the childhood friend looks like she likes it. Also there were a lotta inconsistencies that were associated with the childhood friend who keeps saying that she wants to protect the guy. I mean, what and to whom is she protecting the guy from? Next there were alotta elements that shouldn't even be in the anime like the guy's guy friend who is gay and somehow wants to be part of the harem???????Now don't get me wrong, I like this anime story line but, it kinda looks like that this certain Musawo , who created this thing kinda takes a more complicated route, that one wouldn't understand as to the reasoning of the characters.
Art, Fair 6.
Fanservice, is only limited to Ririna where she was seen with her striped panty in the clinic and in a hot bikini , but in her school uniform?????Not Cool, Misaki on the other hand has the curve and the boobs and is in a hot school uniform, but in a bikini?????Not good.
Sound, Mediocre 5.
I just have nothing to say in this category.
Character, Poor 3,
And the score is for Yukari Nejima, for being this indecisive fool, who doesn't have the balls to say "no" to the notice, instead he played along with the notice, until he met Ririna Sanada, now Ririna, I like her strong personality, she has guts and at the same time she has consideration for both Yukari and Misaki, but she is also as indecisive as Yuakri, where she is having a hard time of weather or not to be with Yuakri who is her assigned husband whom she knows likes Misaki and her being a single for life kind of girl, since she isn't the type of being liked,,,, at first that is. Now on to Misaki Takasaki, she loves Yukari, but she keeps coming up with such reasoning that one wouldn't understand, I mean she has such complication, that can't be comprehend. Now Nisaka Yusuke...he's gay, good thing, he's limited to the sides.
Enjoyment, Good 7.
Frankly I was the hoping that Yukari would have the balls to be decisive as to whom he will choose, that kept me glued to follow up this thing up to the last episode, but..............
Overall, Poor 3.
It ended in an open ending, where it looks like the guy can have both , be with his assigned wife and have a concubine at the same time. SHIT. IMAO, this anime's title "Koi to Uso" is a misled, cu'z there is love, but the lie was more of a conflict that has affected that three of them.............Well, nothing more to say..............
Pres. Thrump OUT!!!!!!!
