Review of Love To-LIE-Angle

Tachibanakan Triangle is a Studio Lings, Creators in Pack work based off of a manga by Merryhachi. I really don't know what to expect. I don't know the creator nor do I know the studios. So, let's just dive in. Story: The narrative is simple. Hanabi is starting High School and she moves from Tokyo back to her old home to attend school and stay at the Tachibanakan dormitory. There she meets up with an old friend, Konomi, who she doesn't recognise initially as well as the silver-haired beauty Iori and the other women at the dorm. She quickly becomes the target of both Konomi's& Iori's affections and shenanigans ensue.

The biggest issue with this series is that it's very pervy and a lot of the more perverted scenes focus on these first year High school girls, which is pretty uncomfortable. These girls are round about fourteen. The romance is also a bit awkward. Konomi has basically held onto feelings she's had since she was eight, which is really weird and Iori just sort of falls for Hanabi apropos of nothing. We also have a side pairing with Yuu and Sonoa, two women who have a drunken hook up and then just sort of stay together.

That being said, the comedy can hit that right level of zaniness to work pretty well at times. The series is good at using misunderstandings in such a way that the fallout can be really entertaining. The series is also pretty cutesy in spite of the ecchi elements. It's also worth noting that these episodes are only three and a half minutes long. So, it's very quick to breeze through and those elements being fairly enjoyable is pretty significant given that it goes by very quickly.

Characters:

The characters are pretty shallow. That being said, I have gone on record as saying that comedy doesn't need deep characters and I do think the cast is quirky enough that they work decently enough. Iori and Konomi competing for Hanabi does lead to both funny and cute moments and the supporting cast does get used fairly well. Save for Yuu who's basically that pervy older woman character who acts inappropriately but no one cares.

Art:

The big problem with the art is the fan-service elements. Honestly, I would have a lot less of an issue with them if the main characters were in their first year of University instead of High School since they'd be actual adults. But the fact that they're fourteen just makes it very uncomfortable. I feel like I'm going to be put on some kind of list after watching it. That being said, the character designs are decent. They look distinct and the sisters actually look like they're related. The backgrounds are pretty well put together as well and there are some visual gags that work pretty well.

Sound:

The acting is pretty well done. Nakada Arisa, Sakuragi Amisa, Tsuda Minami and the rest of the cast all deliver their lines capably. The music is okay. Nothing special, but it's fine.

Ho-yay:

We have the love triangle with Hanabi, Komori and Iori. There's also Yuu and Sonoa and Komori's sister, Yoriko, has some homo-erotic moments that usually involve hugging another girl against her ample bosom.

Areas of Improvement:

1. If you're really going to go with heavy ecchi elements, you need grown ass characters and not very young teenagers. And, honestly, them being University students would make more sense. Especially with Konomi holding on to her old feelings for Hanabi. Her feelings from six years ago.

2. The series could stand for less fan-service in general. Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of super fan-servicey stuff. I think the excessive fan-service just distracts and detracts from the story or comedy.

3. The romance could easily be better developed. I understand that the series is more comedic than romantic by design, but the things that lead up to the romances are still pretty weak.

Final Thoughts:

This one is... okay, I guess. The main elements going for it are that it does have some funny moments and it's fairly cute when it isn't focusing on fan-service. And those elements, combined with the short run time, do make it decently entertaining to watch. If you're super into fan-servicey elements you'll probably like it more unless you're also looking for a strong narrative. For me, it's barely a 6/10 and could have very easily been lower. If you have forty two minutes and you want something quick, zany and cute you might enjoy it depending on your tolerance for ecchi.