Lovely Complex Episode 2

Rogue's Gallery
Koizumi Risa - the giant half of All Hanshin-Kyojin.
Otani - her shorter partner in crime.
Nobu - Risa's friend and Nakao's better half. She's the one with wavy hair and says "Dahling!"
Nakao - Nobu's quiet boyfriend and Otani's friend from middle school.
Chiharu - Risa's quiet and petite friend. She was the target of Otani's affection in Episode 1, but got together with Suzuki.
Suzuki - the tall boy that Koizumi liked, but got together with Chiharu.

Synopsis
Episode 2 "Love Triangle with the Ex-girlfriend" [1] repeats the rooftop scene where ep 1 ended; Risa and Otani declare a contest to see which one will be the first to get a significant other. The next scene cuts to the next day at school. Otani shows up with spiked hair and Koizumi wears lipstick. Under these cosmetic changes, they remain the All Hanshin-Kyojin comedy team. Koizumi can't help herself from gleefully mussing Otani's carefully gelled Sonic-do.

Otani vs Koizumi

After classes, the six hang out at an arcade and a burger joint. Risa and Otani feel odd as the fifth and sixth wheels. While eating, Nakao announces that he knows someone who has an extra pair of Umibozu tickets. It turns out that Risa and Otani share a passion this tweaked-out hip-hop group. The other four marvel at the pair's mirrored reactions, and Nobu gives voice to their speculation and suggests that All Hanshin-Kyojin pair up. The asymmetric duo reject the notion in stereo.

The lady (and the gentleman) doth protest too much, methinks.

Another day, another class. Risa renews her lament that she cannot find a guy. Nobu suggests Otani again. When Risa sneers at the suggestion, Nobu counters that Otani is quite popular with the ladies and brings Risa to the basketball team's practice as proof. Otani moves fluidly on the court to high quality animation and sinks a two-pointer. His fans go wild. Risa gets jealous of his "cuteness", complete with hairpins, and demands that the sociable Nobu supply her information on group dating.

Otani Flower Power

Risa braves the group date. The slim selection brings to mind an adage that I once heard in tenth grade: "All the guys are Taken, Gay, or Immature." I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine which is which. Koizumi reports to school in defeat and realizes that her standards may be too high. Otani gatecrashes her pity party and announces that the Umibozu concert is on X-mas, which is a lovers' holiday in Japan. The pair pooh-pooh [2] the idea of spending X-mas together and deny Nobu's needling that love may blossom during the winter holiday.

It's looking a whole lot like Christmas.

Santas, snowmen, and wreaths decorate the duo's way home from class. Despite their cat and dog antagonism, they are good friends. Koizumi continues their discussion in class. They agree that love will not be born even during the romantic season. The conversation segues into their SO contest, which leads to their usual barbed exchange. However, the joking is interrupted by the appearance of Otani's ex-girlfriend Kanzaki Mayu.

Chiharu - Kanzaki
I think I'm a clone now
There's always two of me just a-hangin' around

The revelation stuns Koizumi. She gets the dirt from Nobu, who found out about Kanzaki from Nakao. Kanzaki was the basketball team manager in junior high and went out with Otani for 2 years. Risa feels left behind by Otani, who has more than her zero experience.

The next day, Risa digs for details. Otani reveals that Kanzaki left him for Baba the Giant. Though the memory oppresses him, Otani lets Risa know that he took her encouragement to heart. The mood of this scene is deftly plants seriousness after a moment of levity.

Risa is moved by his story. She declares "Be Happy! OK?" to Otani before charging off to be with her own thoughts and feelings. Otani is left confused. This will be far from the last time that Risa acts on her own thoughts without any warning to Otani.

At the end of the school day, Otani finds Kanzaki waiting for him at the school gates. It's obvious that the poor guy still burns a flame for his ex. The ex invites Otani to a Christmas reunion of the junior high basketball team. The implication is that she wants to get back with him.

Koizumi overhears them and releases Otani from his appointment with her at the Umibozu concert. She calls off the bet, and says it's because she's helping him. Dateless for X-mas, Risa asks Nobu and Chiharu to hang out, but the girls want to do couple things and leave her high and dry.

"Such is the friendship between females."

from Yamada Taro Monogatari by Morinaga Ai

Christmas rolls around. Risa waits for the concert alone by the light of the Christmas trees. She imagines the warmth couple-ly things that the others are reveling in; her morbid mind has already paired Otani with Kanzaki. She grows anxious at the thought of Otani being taken away from her, and gets down despite the concert A passerby knocks her down, cutting her leg and tearing her hose. This is nearly the final straw, when Otani comes running towards her.

He explains that he set a date with her first and that's just the way he operates. Risa gets emotional, which makes Otani awkward. He notices her leg and tows her off to get first aid. She comments that his hand is warm. Otani chalks up her tears to her cut. She feels better and they are able to enjoy a high octane concert together.

Ho, ho, ho! Merry X-mas!

The episode looks like it's going to close with the duo walking home cloaked in warm and fuzzy comradery. However, Koizumi gets ambushed at the last minute by a hug from a new character.

Enter New Challenger!

Commentary
This episode carries the pacing from episode 1. Twenty-five minutes of viewing time, which includes opening, ending and preview, brings the story from summer to winter. The rapid pacing matches the rapid fire lines in Osaka-ben. While fast, the anime still manages to keep a clean delivery by stream-lining the events to fit comfortably in the time constraints.

I emphasize comfortably, because the viewer can still digest the scenes in full. On a drawn or written page, this would correspond to the white space that relieve intimidating congestion and messy clutter.

The monthly manga chapter went into the group date in gory detail and featured Nobu in on the action. The anime omitted most of this side quest to emphasize the core story. What is different is the atmosphere and pacing, but the core story was preserved. As with episode 1, I believe that the manga is still worth reading after seeing the anime and vice versa.

The episode managed to advance Risa's feelings for Otani. By the end of the episode, Risa acutely feels Otani's absence on Christmas night. Kanzaki is introduced which sharpens her blues during this scene. Imagine the scene if Otana were just late without Kanzaki. He wouldn't have proven himself as a decent guy by keeping his original appointment with Risa. More importantly, she thought that Kanzaki was going to take him away on a long term basis.

The bet was also important. Koizumi still considered dating and boys as a part of a game. She even talked about RPG-style leveling up at the disastrous group date. After she heard Otani's story, she called off the bet, because it had become something more serious, and in the stories to come Risa finds out that love is anything but a game.

[1] Fansubbed by Bluestorm.

[2] According to the super-relaxed American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 4th ed., which is used by www.dictionary.com, this IS a real regular English verb.