Love, Election and Chocolate: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Love, Election and Chocolate: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Surprisingly tasty.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 1, 2014

Is the anime world out to make us all forsake our hard earned diets? There seems to be a new subgenre at hand (and/or mouth, as the case may be), with a number of recent outings rather prominently featuring food. Shining Hearts: Complete Collection managed to build up most of its admittedly slight plot around the art of baking bread, and now comes Love, Election and Chocolate, one of those titles that might persuade some viewers to answer, “Well, two out of three ain’t bad”. This particular anime at least isn’t solely concerned with one foodstuff, but food as a generic product is indeed at the forefront of this sweet and, yes, admittedly slight offering that features yet another trope of both anime and Japanese life in general: school clubs that are at least as important to young people’s lives as any education they receive. The Food Research Club may sound like something that would be unbelievably popular—after all, who isn’t interested in food (other than skinny models, that is)? But this club, as inviting as it might seem considering it’s more or less an excuse for its members to get together and eat, is on the school’s chopping block—and not the kind that’s used to prepare diced dishes. Perhaps unexpectedly, Love, Election and Chocolate manages to combine an incipient harem premise with a convoluted tale of electioneering that is kind of like the anime equivalent of All the President's Men or All The King's Men, and against several odds, this particular casserole turns out to be at least passably tasty. While few anime fans would probably vote this show as an all time classic, it provides enough flavor to earn a well deserved nibble or two.

For a series that traffics more in traditional harem, shōnen and even slice of life tropes than anything, Love, Election and Chocolate starts with a positively odd opening, one that seems culled more from old films about counterintelligence work, like The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. We see a young girl who is surreptitiously monitoring something that’s going on in the distance. Is money being exchanged between two shrouded people? Is it information of some kind? Whatever it is, the girl is really excited to have witnessed it, and snaps a slew of pictures to document the situation. She’s still babbling to herself a few seconds later as she walks away, unaware that she’s been watched by someone else in a car. In a somewhat disturbing turn of events, the car runs into the girl, a mysterious figure steps out, retrieves the SD card from the girl’s camera and then snaps it in two between their teeth. So much for evidence.

That intriguing opening is then jettisoned—at least for a while—as the series settles down into what will be its overarching focus, the shenanigans at the so-called Shokken Club, which is translated as The Food Research Club. Yuki Ojima is the putative leader of the club, and (here’s the harem part) the only male (at least at the beginning). He is surrounded by a gaggle of girls, some of whom are quite forward to him, others who can’t even remember what his correct name is (a running gag has one of them calling him Oshima rather than Ojima, something that makes Yuki’s head regularly explode). As the series gets underway, their sponsoring teacher, Hazuki Shinonome, interrupts her usual habit of getting plastered on beer (something that’s evidently available right there at the school) to inform The Food Research Club that budget cuts at the school mean the Club is going to be disbanded.

The group then decides that the only sensible way to confront this tragedy is to have their own representative elected to the Student Council, and of course Yuki is the obvious choice. In the meantime, the existing Student Council is seen to be an almost Machiavellian assortment of shadowy figures intent on world domination, or at least high school domination. It’s here that Love, Election and Chocolate requires a bit of tolerance, for while the basic Club activities will be easily accessible to most anime fans, the scheming aspect of the school’s government seems ported in from some nearby spy thriller or perhaps more appropriately from a high tech dystopian anime like Ghost in the Shell 2.0 and makes for a rather odd accompaniment to the rest of the story.

Perhaps the most suitable analog for Love, Election and Chocolate’s disparate plot points would be some live action outing that included elements from House of Cards: The Complete First Season (the power grabs evinced by the Student Council members are only a little less nefarious than those of Francis Underwood) and Top Chef. Yes, it’s a patently odd combination, but the show actually tends to work most of the time, at least when cut a little slack. Those who want straight up comedic harem hijinks will no doubt prefer the Club aspects of the show, while those who tilt toward the darker side of things will probably like the governmental scheming that goes on.

One of the other interesting things that sets Love, Election and Chocolate apart is Yuki himself. Unlike a lot of harem heroes, he isn’t a hapless, almost asexual, fool. While he has his own issues, and has some unfortunate embarrassments along the way when he’s—ahem, aroused by various girls, he actually has it together much more than the males who typically populate these kinds of series. A lot of the supporting characters are similarly colorful (literally, in some cases—the hair colors in this show are quite fanciful). My personal favorite is a goofball named Reiji Saga, who is nicknamed Garage and walks around with a Beany and Cecil propeller cap on his head. He looks like a child somehow simultaneously fathered by Waldo (of Where’s Waldo fame) and Harry Potter. There are some occasionally bothersome subplots here, including a late kidnapping scheme that has a foregone conclusion even before it’s really underway, but for the most part, Love, Election and Chocolate provides a modicum of flavor if perhaps not much actual nourishment.

Love, Election and Chocolate: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Love, Election and Chocolate is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a bright, very colorful looking anime that pops quite well most of the time in high definition. As mentioned above, such whimsical design elements as characters with various oddly colored hair (green, for example) give the show a distinctive appearance, even when character designs themselves aren't especially innovative. The high tech world of the student government also has some nice design elements, including lots of flat screens and the like which are animated very well and generally feature sharp looking imagery. Contrast is just a bit underwhelming at times here, especially in some flashback scenes which have an intentionally blown out appearance, which tends to give the appearance of softness on occasion. Generally, though, this is a sharp looking Blu-ray set that has no major artifacts to divert attention.

Love, Election and Chocolate: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Love, Election and Chocolate's DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix (in the original Japanese only) suffices quite well for this dialogue driven show, though it's notable that this series has a bit more music than usual, including songs beyond the opening and closing themes, so some may feel that a surround mix could have opened up those elements, at least a little bit. The dialogue is quite well presented here, well prioritized and always easy to hear, and the Japanese voice cast is enjoyable, if a bit on the squeaky side at times.

Love, Election and Chocolate: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Clean Opening Aniimation (1080p; 1:32)


• Clean Closing Animation (1080p; 1:32)

Love, Election and Chocolate: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's just enough weirdness going on in Love, Election and Chocolate to keep even hardnosed anime fans a bit off kilter. The series ultimately doesn't really do anything incredibly new, but it's frankly bizarre mash up of various unconnected elements gives it at least the appearance of being fresh. The characters are quite enjoyable, and the humor is often amusing if not laugh out loud funny. Fan service is actually only minimally exploited here, and never to really overt levels. Anyone who enjoys shōnen fare should get at least a passing kick out of Love, Election and Chocolate, and this release comes Recommended.