One Week Friends

“Please be friends with me” – Hase. (every single week) A show about making friends that can be said in 5 simple words. You might think that could turn into a century old trope but Isshuukan Friends (One Week Friends) does something different. It revolutionizes that very simple idea of making friends to bring about a show that is so much more. Based off the manga of the same name written by Matcha Hazuki, making friends is more than just reaching out and extending your hand. Taken for granted, Isshuukan Friends has a very simple premise. It’s about making friends. The title itself is also easyto take notice as translated to “One Week Friends” because main characters Yuuki Hase and Kaori Fujimiya become friends for one week before she loses her memories in the case of amnesia. The show is honest and to the point but at the same time thought provoking. After all, making friends can be simple for some people yet could also be the most challenging task in the world for others. Step in the shoes of Kaori Fujimiya, she could be easily be depicted as the one meeting facing such a challenge. At first glance, there’s a lot of contrasting traits between Hase and Kaori. Hase is cheerful, outgoing, and is easily able to make friends. His strength lies in his ability to make other Hase feels good about what’s around them with his personality. On the other hand, Kaori is shy, repressed, and in general a solitary girl with little friends. Her strength is mathematics in class which is awful at. Taken for granted, the two doesn’t exactly match together as cookie and dough. Yet, there’s a unique connection between them. From minute one they meet, there’s a friendly atmosphere that Yuki brings towards her. His honesty and sincerity is worthy enough to allow Kaori to be open towards him and even others. The catch is the amnesia because she forgets every moment they’ve spent together for that week. It’s a heartwarming story yet with a slight taste of tragedy because of Kaori’s circumstances. As evidenced from flashbacks, Kaori was put into a situation that made her the way she is today. Not exactly the fun way to grow up I’d say. Friendship is a key theme in the show. Almost everything builds off from the friendship that Kaori and Yuki share each episode. They learn more about each other and do simple yet meaningful activities together whether it’s studying, eating bentos, or karaoke. In essence, they craft memories but only Yuki is able to remember them. However, it’s also noticeable that Hase’s effort is not entirely fruitless. Throughout the series, Kaori is able to retain some of those precious memories. Take it as a treasure but every day, every hour, every minute, every second that the duo share is build off of friendship. Despite being the main characters, others does get involved in the story as well such as Hase’s best friend Shogo and his classmate Saki. Both of them have contrasting personalities but plays an engaging role in the story overall with their persona. To further cement their roles, we see how they are able to bring together Hase and Kaori together in the form of an inner circle. But for what’s worth, it also ties back together the main concept of friendship. We get it as a simple idea but there’s a complexity behind it as well. Remember, Kaori forgets her memories every week with the friends she makes. Those precious memories might have once existed in reality but remains a fantasy for her. We see a glimpse of Kaori’s sadness behind her façade as she truly wants the friends she made be close to her. At the same time though, there’s also a charming presence we get from the way she reacts towards sincere moments. She takes friendly gestures, especially from Yuki, for what’s worth. In fact, Kaori even returns Hase’s friendship with her own actions and the two become like peas in a pod. There are also other feelings this show can bring out quite well. For one, there’s honesty coming from Shougo and his words. He never hides anything from his friends and can be described as a sarcastic guy but with a warm heart. One other obvious feeling is the thought of romance involving Yuki. There are big hints but Kaori remains rather oblivious. But unlike usual cliché, there’s no misunderstandings, cheesy, or tsundere responses. Instead, we get innocence and even realistic feeling of relationships connected by friendship. It builds off seamlessly integrated scenarios related to the events of their time together. And regardless of amnesia or not, the time they spent together is real. There’s no taking back that, not now or ever. As innocent and heartwarming the show is, Isshuukan Friends isn’t shy to demonstrate maturity. Characters grow and become like part of a stage play where they each possesses their own unique characteristics. But the biggest skill of the show is to tell a story. It doesn’t need to be linear or arc format to transit thought. Rather, Isshuukan Friends demonstrates slice of life by telling and showing the story of how these characters share friendship. It might sound a bit dry and cheesy. However, the way this show does it is delightful. The comedy doesn’t get in the way and neither is it forced. There’s no asinine sarcasm exploding like or love polygons with people getting hurt over trivial love. The drama only touches the surface of how friends come together and can be relatable. Remember the first time you made friends with someone? There’s that special feeling and this show brings explicitly out that idea to its very best, formulated with its unique gimmicks. The artwork has a charming and colorful background to illustrate its innocence. It’s delicate with bittersweet moments decorated by the natural style of its backgrounds with some resemblance to Usagi Drop. Characters are designed to demonstrate their innocence such as Kaori’s frail stature. Camera angles are focused and sometimes lengthened during more memorable moments to accurately show how much they are worth. It’s more than just the classic ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. Instead, it creates feeling of emotions. The carefully concentrated focus on the eyes shows feelings from the characters and their personalities. It’s how the show lets the viewers know its feelings by showing rather than telling. No fan service or absurd misunderstandings. What we get feels real and is real. Soundtrack is pleasant and lighthearted. That should be the given with everything already shown throughout each episode. The OST has a beautiful rhythm and is gentle that stays in unity with the atmosphere of the show. Character voices too are soft-spoken with characters such as Kaori and Saki. And while the guys’ voices sometimes can feel monotonous, they command honesty and sincerity. The OP & ED songs has a similar way of showing its style to match the overall premise, one that is endearing. Isshuuken Friends is anime that anyone can watch firsthand. It’s charming, innocent, relatable, and beautiful with its aspects. Its drama isn’t forceful and neither does the story go off track with any trite of clichés. Although the story may feel slow at times with its pacing, the reward and patience is worth it. Take it as a gift, similar to how you feel like when you made your first friend. That’s how the show will feel like, one which is rewarding. Because friends are like treasures, this show is one that I definitely cherish.

A heart-warming and satisfying story centering around true friendship and the subjectivity of memories and all the meanwhile it doesn't get too stifling in the process of the story: Isshuukan Friends. Such a marvelous story that people should give a watch. Story: Isshuukan Friends is about a girl named Fuijimiya Kaori who has post traumatic stress disorder, and her memories reset every Monday. One day, she meets a boy named Hase Yuuki who wants to be her friend, and the story starts from there. As Fuijmiya continuously forgets who Hase is, Hase tries to keep their friendship alive, or start their friendship anew, again and againby asking Fuijimiya to be his friend. In this friendship/romance anime, there's no love triangle, violence, or anything crazy like that. It’s about making friends, maintaining friends, and going through problems with friends until the end. Very touching and well-written plot, I thought. A very innocent and pure story. Art: I don't know exactly how to rate art in an anime because I never really dislike art. The art in Isshuukan Friends was really colorful, and to me, it seemed like the character’s artwork reflected the character’s personality. Sound: No special music that really caught my attention, but the opening and ending songs were lovely. Characters: The characters themselves are interesting and really likeable. Fujimiya is a girl who puts up a nonchalent and somewhat cold personality act, even though inside she's innocent, and kind. Hase-kun is a boy who is naive, innocent and persistent. Alongside the main cast, are the side characters that bring realism of friendship into the anime. Kiryuu is Hase-kun’s best friend, who serves as a quiet, bored and wise wing-man friend. I really liked him! Throughout the anime, characters grow. Their relationships bud, with Fujimiya remembering trivial details about friends, Kiyruu showing more of his dear side, and Hase’s determination to repetitively be friends from scratch again with Fujimiya taking ups and downs. We are also introduced to the bad guy later in the anime, although he's not really a character the audience hates, but rather can relate to. I loved all the characters really, their liveliness added to the plot. Enjoyment: I really enjoyed watching Isshuukan friends, despite it not having any really memorable moments, the entire story was just relaxing, touching, and feel-good to watch. Isshuukan Friends is a good anime to watch when you're feeling bored, sad, and tired. It should make you feel better, I think!

**SPOILER FREE REVIEW** Friendship: it’s a concept that has been done to DEATH not only by anime, but also by virtually every other form of entertainment known to man. When you think of cliché themes that TV shows and movies have senselessly bashed into our skulls repeatedly to the point that it becomes sickening, it doesn’t take long to think of “friendship”. However, One Week Friends (“Isshuukan Friends”) is proof that an over-done concept can still be very enjoyable and extremely effective when presented in a fresh and outside-the-box manner. At the risk of sounding much more like a girl than a guy, this animecan really be summed up in one word: cute. Not in the disgustingly moe, in-your-face kind of cute, but in a very pure and genuine kind of cute that lulls you into a state of tranquility. While I am normally someone who doesn’t enjoy slice-of life shows, I don’t need to be in order appreciate the good writing and well-constructed characterization of what is definitely the best anime I watched during the Spring 2014 season (granted I only watched 6, so take that for what it's worth…). Synopsis: A girl named Kaori Fujimiya has a psychosomatic condition that causes her to forget every positive memory she makes with other people outside of her family every week, rendering her unable to make friends. This causes her to become cold and detached from all things social. Hase Yuki, a boy in her class, decides that he will break through her cold exterior and become her friend. Even after he learns the truth, he is still determined to be friends with Fujimiya. The storyline of OWF is amazing to me because it avoids the two things I hate most about slice-of-life anime: shows with no plot what so ever (some people are into that, but not me) and shows that have a plot, but are ridiculously melodramatic. This anime is special because it finds what I consider to be the perfect balance; it has an engaging plot, but very little over-exaggeration. The show has a charming enough tone and good enough characters that it doesn’t need to show people breaking down in tears for some petty reason every episode in order to maintain the interest of the viewer. Not an episode went by in which I wasn’t charmed by the well-written characters and their adorable dialogues. However, like any slice of life, OWF is NOT a plot-driven show and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it starts to drag out a bit towards the end (starting around episode 8 or 9, I believe) and the pacing during the 2nd half could have definitely been better. Overall though, I was very impressed with the plot. The ending especially did a fantastic job of bringing the show’s message full circle in a natural way that never felt contrived. The quality of the storyline may exceed the average slice of life show, but what about the characters? As we all know, if the characters in this sort of show are bad, the show itself is bad. Luckily, OWF delivers with its characters as well, providing strong lead characters in addition to well-written side characters. Fujimiya and Hase, the two protagonists, are surprisingly complex for this kind of anime. Hase can admittedly be annoying and cowardly at times, but his internal struggle of wanting to help Fujimiya yet not knowing quite how to do it was the driving force of the show. He has legitimate and believable emotions that really allow the viewers to get behind him and feel exactly what he is feeling. Also, it’s rare that I come across a male anime character that I would describe as “cute”, but Hase is one of them (then again, basically every character in this show is cute. Like I said, this entire show is just absolutely adorable). Fujimiya is also a well-written character. She doesn’t have as much of a personality as Hase, unfortunately, but her innocence and kind-hearted nature are part of what makes the show work so well. When Fujimiya is hurting, so are the viewers, and that proves how effective her characterization was. I also feel the need to mention the spectacular side characters, including the most adorable anime character I’ve ever seen: Saki Yamagishi. This girl is just INHUMANLY lovable. Every fiber of my being tells me that they laid the “cute” on too thick with her and were simply trying too hard to make her likeable, but those negative thoughts evaporate the second that Saki pops up on screen. And I don’t mean that only her appearance is cute, her personality is the thing that sells it. Coming from someone who is usually immune to “cute”, the writers of this show definitely knew what they were doing. Shogo Kiryu also stands out as a relatively complex and well-written character. Even Fujimiya’s mom makes a good impression in a very small and limited role! So in short, this is a very strong cast of characters and they truly make the experience of watching this anime worthwhile. Something that is also worth mentioning is how instrumental the animation is in creating the amazingly pure and relaxing tone of OWF. The art style often gets compared to watercolors; everything is very soft, but vibrant at the same time. I can’t imagine a more fitting animation style for this show. The OP is also very fitting for the show as is the ED; I got goosebumps several times when that piano from the beginning of the ED came in during the backround of a somewhat dramatic scene. The only thing in terms of aesthetics that fails to stand out is the OST, which isn’t that memorable. The above average voice acting makes up for that slight disappointment though. Overall, One Week Friends is a touching, relaxing and effective entry into the slice of life genre to the extent of which that people who aren’t fans of this type of anime can still enjoy it to the fullest (i.e. me). This show is a master of a writing technique that I consider to be very underrated; tone. OWF’s irrefutable feeling of tranquility and innocence was masterfully achieved through strong characters and a plot that knew exactly what it wanted to be. What else can I say? OWF is just delightful in every way despite its minor flaws. I would recommend this show to all people of all ages; it really is a worthwhile experience. Now excuse me while I go rewatch Black Lagoon and bathe in my own testosterone so I can feel like a man again.

I am unwilling to repeat what others have already said so read if you want a different opinion on this anime. "Everyone hates a Monday, right, it marks the first day of a long week ahead but what'd happen if you feel like you have to start all over every Monday?" A special feature to slice of life is that while some ignore the genre, a certain section enjoys it whole heartedly, the only strong points of slice of life anime are the characters from it, each one with a different personality coming from different backgrounds, It's like getting to meet and discover new people. There'snothing more to the plot of Isshuukan Friends than what could be read in the synopsis on MAL and it actually sounds like one that could be very fitting to an anime centered around fanservice, where the makers could supply the fans with unrestricted fanservice without worrying about any kind of development in the plot, it's characters and their relationships. If you're one of those people who carry a concept with you wherever you go, that anime can not be made without fanservice then turn around walk away and never look back. Isshuukan friends is an anime adaption of a manga originally published as a oneshot comic of the same name by Matcha Hazuki. Isshuukan Friends is Hazuki's debut work. The anime adaptation was done by the infamous Brain's base (though they have done some popular if not great work over the past few years and is working on two of the anime projects of this season,recent noteworthy works are Brother's conflict, Amnesia & Tonari no Kaibutsu~Kun) and has been licensed by the equally famous Sentai Filmworks. It's an ordinary anime, with an ordinary genre of slice of life, and it revolves around ordinary children going to school,with main character's having Seiyuu's we don't even recognize. This anime doesn't wear a facade of grandeur so why the high rating you ask? What is really extraordinary about this anime is that it's ordinary and so simply beautiful, It's different as it's not trying to be anything. The characters are not cliched and actually sound (kudos to the voice acting) talk, look & act their age. Even the deuteragonists have depth, that was just enough and just right to flesh a character out but also gives them nothing more than supporting roles to play (again a good thing)I like the nude palette of colours that is used for the animation. All the songs in the anime have great music, There is a full version to Hase Yuuki's Kanade (the song he sang at the Karaoke) There definitely was background music but I just did not catch it, my bad I don't collect BGMs unless they sound like Beethoven,Bach or Mozart did, but combined with scenes it could create the right atmosphere at the right moments, the timings were perfect so the OST is a HIT. I had some preconceived notions about this show, we all have, we're always pre-pared and ready to give out verdicts and I'm only human so I can never not have a preview of what I might feel and something about this show that worried me the most was it's pacing, each episode seems to cover a week and I thought it would slowly become monotonous but it all rested well in the end. There are slight faults in the storyline that have made me question a few things but the show exhibits the complexity of the human brain with maturity, displaying what a new developing friendship has to go through to grow and bloom, it conveys all those feelings of shyness,love,anger,jealousy,forgetfulness,frustration,felicity, restlessness etc, how every Monday the girls memories got reset it sends the guy a few step backwards too. This anime doesn't provide you with extreme laughter or give you enough tears but it'll make you smile, from ear to ear :) While for several of the anime fans it might have gone unnoticed on the Anichart it has made my list of season favorites very gracefully, even though i've been very lazy at watching anime this season and haven't watched much. Usually, by the time a show hits its end, my prepared perceptions of it are gone and my rating for it is lowered but my enjoyment in watching this show has been consistent, it hasn't gradually grown (it's not a bad thing for me) It's only when I am writing a review is when I fully understand how much I have liked an anime, how much I recall from it conventionally determines it and if it will stay with me I'm not sure if they have tried to but this anime has felt very symbolic, maybe it's not trying to send any message at all but this is how I've regarded it- If you want to live happily everyday, for the rest of your life you must seek joy in the little things in life. Memories are amazing but you can't touch them so what's more important than remembering memories is to keep at making them, keep making new memories.