LOVE and LIES

Love and Lies, known in Japan as Koi to Uso, is a 2017 anime adaptation of the manga series by Musawo. Produced by LIDENFILMS, the series was released during a period of high interest in romantic dramas that explore the intersection of government-mandated relationships and individual agency. The narrative is set in a near-future Japan where the state assigns marriage partners at the age of sixteen, a premise intended to address declining birth rates, while the characters struggle with their pre-existing personal affections.

The character designs and visual direction were crafted to emphasize the tension between clinical societal regulation and raw human emotion. LIDENFILMS aimed for a soft, emotive aesthetic that captured the melancholy and indecision inherent in the protagonist's dilemma. Upon its release, the series received attention for its provocative premise, though critics often noted that the pacing and the open-ended nature of the conclusion reflected the ongoing status of the source material at the time of production.