The premise is a lie and the show knows it from frame one. Maki's secret isn't that she's a kissing-pillow enthusiast, it's that every careful, perfect thing about her is performance, and the moment someone sees through it, the whole controlled person starts cracking open. What Love Lab does that matters is let two girls who've built themselves into opposite corners of the same fake school finally stop performing for an audience that doesn't exist. The comedy lands because it's never mean about the deception, only curious about what happens when you can finally be clumsy and loud and uncertain around one other person. It's a 13-episode conversation between two girls realizing that the version of themselves they're selling is lonelier than being actually weird together.

Natsuo Maki is the student council president of Fujisaki Girls Academy, admired by every classmate for her calm, polite grace. When Riko Kurahashi, popular for her bold and boyish manner, drops by the student council room on an errand, she catches Maki practicing kisses on a pillow. It turns out the perfect president secretly wants more romance in her life. Sworn to keep the secret, Riko ends up helping with Maki's private research into love, dubbed the Love Lab, where they rehearse staged moments like a chance collision or holding hands. Before long the rest of the student council joins in. Based on a 4-koma manga, the result is a comedy about friendship and romance built on silly situations and a lively cast.