Check-in Station Catchup Comedy Special pt1: Love Lab ep3 & 4

The combination of taking a weekend off, and a massive and high quality Summer lineup has left me continually behind on my anime. So drastic measures have to be taken. This time around I’m going to try to cover two comedy anime at once. It seems unfair, especially to me because both shows are just so good. Love Lab continues to defy my narrow-minded expectations, and is just showing itself to be a good, FUNNY, and surprisingly clever anime. Servant X Service is the ‘adult” anime I’ve craved for awhile. No it’s not violent, sexual or deep. It just speaks to an adult experience. An experience that is all at the same time stressful, scary, daunting and hugely satisfying and enriching. To be an adult is to in a way be an island. All responsibility for your life is in your hands, and maybe the hands of others. it’s the peak of your existence. And as Servant X Service shows, it also means you work with a variety of weird personalities that lead to humor true and all their own.

Love Lab

Episode 3

With war declared between – wait! What?! The girls don’t know who has actually declared war? Oh this should be funny. I was expecting a string of underhanded deeds, but I think this is just going to lead to a string of hilarious fail!

Fun episode. I’m really stunned at how much fun this show is to watch. Here we have Natsuo out of commision from overwork, and Riko has to step in to make up for it. And it forces her into the tightest of spots.

This episode was a tease and tug-of-war when it came to whether Riko would be able to negotiate some sort of truce with Sayori and Yuiko. And in the end, the three of them came together to save everyone when Yuiko’s attempt to embarrass her rivals triple backfired on her! Sayori jumping in for the final save was an unexpected and nice moment. And in the end, we a have a complete and quirky student council that now includes Natsuo as President, Yuiko as Vice-President, Sayori as Treasurer, and Riko and Suzune as the two assistants. It looks like there will be plenty of time for love research after all!

This series continues to defy expectations and prejudices. I expected snippy, b*tchy feuding, but the best camaraderie has come of this.

Episode 4

Holy crap, this episode was hilarious!

Let’s see, there was the whole “Lingerie Time” segment, where Natsuo’s dad made this super embarrassing advertisement about his body was made of lingerie.  Also, the further embarrassing bit of information  where everyone found out the new line of young girl’s bras that debuted three years ago were made for Natsuo.

“How did it feel to put Makin on?”

HA!

Then there’s the bombshell that a sharp, cynical b*tch like Sayuri has a boyfriend, albeit a pitiful distant one.  I feel sorry for any guy trying to get attention from her.  The fact that her main cares are money and material good is a clear sign that you’re the sparest of spare tires in her life.

And of course when Yuiko, who’d been clinging to that “Handkerchief falling out of pocket” strategy for the longest time, finally dropped it, and her and Natsuo broke out into a musical stage play.  I had to pause the video!

An episode about the the student council coming together for the first time to solve a young student’s love, it was incredibly successful and funny.  And the girls all end up being a good balance for each other, too.  The weirdest thing about that balance is that a naive fool like Suzune is the perfect counterbalance for Sayuri.  The crying, and trusting nature of Suzune just crushes Sayuri every time!

Hilarity aside, I do wonder how long Riko can keep up her farce?  She’s gotten indefinite immunity from Sayuri thanks to Suzune.  But the deeper they dig into this love research business, the harder it’s going to be for her to keep this up.  So far it’s all held together by duct tape, hope and luck.  Then again, it’s her strength that’s even made this club possible.  And the show is just so fun and fluffy, that I don’t doubt that she’ll be fine whenever she gets around to telling the truth.  I have no problem with a little white lie in this case, she’s making people happy.  Now they just have to solve the little problem of getting the results of their love research to the girl who requested their help.  And it looks like the Wild One has a wild idea to see it through!

I love Love Lab!  And that love grows with each episode!

Further Reading:

• Episode 2