My Love Story!!: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

My Love Story!!: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

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Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 16, 2017

Much like many of the classic Rom-Com Teen flicks -- such as Sixteen Candles -- My Love Story!! captures, with hearty humor and uncanny depth, the angst and drama of falling in love for the first time. The Anime series tells the tale of a diminutive high school girl and a hulking, supersize high school boy, whose biggest muscle is is heart, and the very long and drawn out, but hilarious and touching and very, very realistic, courtship in which the two engage. The characters alternate between adorable and embarrassing moments on the path towards love. Yet even as they're mismatched on paper and their story seems too preposterous to be real, the series' emotional center is as tangible and honest as they come.

Opposites(izes) attract.

Official synopsis: Taeko Goda’s hulking physique and affinity for sports make him popular with other guys, but girls just find him intimidating. Unaware of his gentle nature, the girls that Takeo likes always seem to fall for his handsome best friend, Suna, instead. Takeo is resigned to being Suna’s wingman, with no hard feelings between them, until Takeo rescues Rinko Yamato from a molester on the train. Unfortunately, while Rinko might see past Takeo’s brutish appearance, Takeo’s become so conditioned to girls preferring Suna that he assumes Rinko is the same! Being the good, genuine guy he is, he’s going to do everything he can to help the two of them be happy. Will Takeo let himself believe someone likes him? Love isn’t blind: it’s just a little dense in 'My Love Story!!'

While many Anime programs explore larger and more involved story lines, My Love Story!! keeps things much more intimate by focusing on the life of a single, albeit very unique, teenager and those few people closest to him. It plays similarly to the reaction one might have after reading a diary-style novel in which the reader’s point of view of the world is limited to the thoughts and emotions of the character whose writings offer the only perspective on the evolving narrative.  What keeps the story fresh and appealing -- more than a simple love story, as the title suggests -- is the realism portrayed throughout, a realism that's obvious even as Takeo's size makes him literally larger than life. Takeo is not a supermodel or even a handsome catch. He's shy around girls and often comes across as scary or bumbling due to both his size and his emotional impediments or, when the situation warrants, outbursts. He is also more than a little clueless when it comes to girls and he often relies on Suna to help him navigate the emotions and realities of his first love. These together shape him into an endearing, relatable character that audiences will root and feel for as he fumbles his way through the early stages of falling in love. 

With only two dozen twenty-minute episodes to work with, My Love Story!! does a remarkable job of depicting Takeo’s challenges and struggles as he learns about love. From realizing he is in love to looking for the perfect gifts for special occasions, from fending off the advances of other would-be love interests to just making it through the day-to-day challenges of a new relationship -- even innocent things like holding hands or struggling with calling Rinko by her first name rather than "Miss Yamato" -- Takeo’s story will resonate with anyone who can remember the stresses of those first teenage relationships. The show also does a great job of fleshing out the non-love story components of the protagonist's life -- his job, his schooling, his relationship with his parents -- creating an even more likable, fully realized human being who is more than an oversized prop for romantic comedy.

Contrary to Takeo is his good friend Suna, in most ways Takeo's polar opposite and, despite his more traditional makeup, more of a comic relief figure than the grossly exaggerated Takeo. Suna is good-looking and easily attracts girls, more girls, in fact, than he can handle; that's practically a 180 from most other RomCom "sidekick" characters. His dry humor, calm demeanor, and almost "I'm bored" attitude toward life and all of the drama than unfolds around him makes him a perfect friendly foil and change-of-pace character next to Takeo’s more boisterous nature. Suna, who doesn’t have a girlfriend because he believes girls to be too much work, is nevertheless a fountain of good advice for his friend. Now whether Takeo will take that advice to heart, or whether he's capable of carrying out that advice in a practical manner, is another matter entirely and part of the driving-force humor that makes the show so contagiously fun and infinitely lovable.

Rinko, likewise, is very much Takeo's opposite. But opposites do attract, as they say, even in this extreme. But beyond her size, is she really all that different? Emotionally, maybe not. Like Takeo she struggles with sharing her feelings, putting them into coherent sentences or appropriate early-realtiosnhip gestures. But she's not quite as shy as Takeo. She has a passion for baking and brings him treats, and even as she's a bit on the reserved side, it is she who usually initiates conversation and contact with Takeo, who obviously wants to reciprocate but, for whatever reason, often cannot. It's interesting to see the story unfold more from Takeo's perspective, a welcome change of pace from other like stories where the girl is usually the central character. Yet they're very complimentary and their chemistry -- as awkward as it may so often be -- is a large part of what makes My Love Story!! such an agreeable show that's guaranteed to leave the audience smiling for the duration.

My Love Story!!: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

My Love Story!!: Complete Collection features a 1080p transfer framed at 1.78:1. The image is made of frequently bright, almost blinding whites that practically blow out portions of the screen. Color saturation is otherwise very good. Blues and pinks are amongst the most dominant hues on display, with the former in particular most deeply saturated and enjoyable. Additional support colors that crop up as necessary also deliver healthy depth and vibrancy. Details are crisp and inviting. Clarity of environments and characters impresses, and the image boasts good clean definition at this resolution. Lines are by-and-alrge well defined with only a few errant jagged edges. Mild banding appears, but infrequently. This is a very pleasing image from Sentai.

My Love Story!!: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

My Love Story!!: Complete Collection contains a pair of DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtracks, one in the original Japanese and the other in dubbed English. Both tracks present with impressive clarity and placement. Dialogue pushes naturally and firmly into the center position, imaged from the sides, and offers quality detailing. Width is pleasing, whether considering music or effects. Clarity is a strong point. Music and effects offer plenty of detail and effortless transitional precision between elements. There's a healthy depth even without the subwoofer channel. Ambient sounds feature a pleasing sense of place, whether light winds, background chatter, passing trains, that sort of thing. Note that even if English is selected, the opening theme music plays with Japanese lyrics and English subtitles. Also, languages cannot be changed via the remote's "audio" button; only through the pop-up menu can they be changed during an episode.

My Love Story!!: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

My Love Story!!: Complete Collection contains clean opening and closing sequences and trailers on disc three.

• Clean Opening Animatiosn (1080p, 4:36): The opening sequences without text.
• Clean Closing Animation (1080p, 1:12): The closing sequence without text.
• Also Available from Sentai Filmworks (1080p): Additional Anime titles: The Kawai Complex Guide To Manors & Hostel Behavior, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Too!, Sakura Trick, and Monthly Girls' Nozaki-Kun.

My Love Story!!: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My Love Story!! may be a show of physical contrasts, but it's also a show of purity of heart and the draw of two souls destined to be together. It blends blends humor and heart together in nearly every scene, playing on its characters' contrasts but always finding an underlying and very satisfying advancement in the core story. It may share some core guiding principles with other romantically centered Anime or Teen Rom-Coms, but My Love Story!! is decidedly unique. It's quick to capture the hearts and minds of its audience and bring viewers along on a wild and highly entertaining journey; the only downfall is that it had to end (and don't miss the live action film!). My Love Story!!: Complete Collection features enjoyable video and audio. Supplements are limited to core studio essentials. Very highly recommended!!