Isshuukan Friends.

(My english is HORRIBLE, so I'm really sorry if reading my review will give you a cancer. Really.) Maybe as so much people, I watched Isshuukan Friends because everybody said that's a really really REALLY good anime. But... NONONONONONONONONONONONONONO, no, please, NO. I wasted my time and I hope you'll not make the same mistake. The chara-design is HORRIBLE (all in this anime is horrible, in fact) and I think I don't need to explain why : the faces are the same and not really developed (any details), the mouth is small, the nose... Jesus, but just : where's the nose? e-e About the story itself, I don't knowwhat to say because there's NOT story. You can watch the first episode and just after, watch the last without screaming to spoil yourself. It's literally boring. In fact, the 80 % from the anime is around (is it right to say that?) a romance, but the romance... No. I can't. It's too simple-minded (I'm not sure it's the good word, sry) : the characters are about 17yo and they worry about who much grams of sugar they need to get in their omelets. Seriously? And OF COURSE, the relationship doesn't progress. So I can't understand why so much peoples seems loooove this anime (ah and if you asked yourself if the end is at least sad, etc., no. I'm girl and I'm on periods and I don't feel any sadness. Don't waste your time.)

While there are some people who prefer solitude and independence, most people are social by nature, and they desire friends to laugh and struggle with in both the good times and the bad. Good company is invaluable, and thus it is important to distinguish who your true friends are. Genuine friendship should not rely on a relationship that is give and take, but rather a relationship based on mutual respect, trust in one another, and unconditional support. A good friendship takes time to mature and develop into an unbreakable bond, and oftentimes requires that friendship to undergo trials and tribulations. One Week Friends explores thisconcept and follows the growing relationship between Hase Yuuki and Fujimiya Kaori and the struggles they encounter as they begin to understand the meaning of true friendship. Set in an ordinary high school, One Week Friends tells the story of Fujimiya Kaori, a girl who mysteriously loses her memories at the end of every week. What makes this situation even more complex is the fact that she only loses those memories that involve people she befriends. For this reason, she distances herself from everyone else and appears to have a cold demeanor. Hase Yuuki, a boy in her class, notices that she is always alone and resolves to become friends with her and summons the courage to talk to her. For a typical high school boy meets girl slice of life show, the story is nothing special; in fact, the whole memory loss of only friends concept is quite farfetched and unrealistic, even for an anime show. However, looking past that fact, the show is quite adorable and heartwarming. From watching Hase slowly help Fujimiya overcome her condition to laughing as Shougo scolds a hopeless Hase, One Week Friends does a good job of making you smile and induces a rather wide range of emotions. It is slow paced and mellow, but that adds to its charm and the relaxed environment of the show. The small amounts of drama are handled well without getting out of hand or being needless. Disregarding the unrealistic aspect of the show, the characters themselves are quite realistic and are characters that are relatable and likable. Hase represents our typical awkward high school boy. While slightly airheaded and bad at studying, he does have a kind heart and has the patience and persistance needed to befriend someone like Fujimiya. However, he is human, and this is made apparent when he struggles with the problems that arise due to the complexity of Fujimiya's situation. He is quite selfish, becomes easily jealous, and can be immature at times, yet gives it his all and has a genuine desire to befriend Fujimiya and wishes for her happiness. Hase is appealing as a male MC for this reason; his personality is realistic and basic. Fujimiya is our innocent and earnest girl whose biggest dreams include doing fun things with her friends. It is hard to imagine how incredibly lonely and depressed it would be having to purposefully ignore everyone while in reality you want nothing more to befriend them. She decides to shoulder her problem by herself, and doesn't want anyone else to get hurt because of her illness. While she appears mean and unfriendly, she's actually a cheery girl who has an affinity for math and cooking. Hase helps her slowly open up and become more confident in herself, and to not be afraid to make more friends. Surprisingly, the supporting characters are fairly well developed and come into their own as the show progresses. Shougo is Hase's voice of reason and a guy who never seems to care much for anything. Extremely blunt and logical, he isn't afraid to speak his mind. He's constantly helping and advising Hase, and while he treats it as a bothersome task, he always seems to come through with solid counsel. For someone that seems unmovable and aloof, he is unusually helpful as he also helps Yamagishi Saki, an old elementary school classmate of his. A forgetful girl who is clumsy and often teased because of it, she sees Shougo as a reliable person who could take care of her, and her relationship with Shougo is unconventional but interesting and adorable to watch as they deal with their feelings for one another. While there are hints of it, romance is not the central theme of the show. It can be easily seen that Hase doesn't consider Fujimiya as a simple friend, but the show doesn't emphasize it. Shougo and Saki's relationship is also clearly not just being casual friends, and while you get the feeling that there is something more between the two, the show is quite subtle and indirect about it. I'm sure that many people want to see Hase and Fujimiya together, or Shougo and Saki together, but dating and romantical relationships is a much more minor aspect of the show. Whether you don't mind or consider it frustrating, there are still many more enjoyable aspects of the show. The show, being an adaptation of a 4-panel manga, has a quaint and delicate art style. Everything seems relaxed and the art reflects that feeling. The character designs are simple and fit their personalities quite well. The opening and ending theme songs are vibrant and mellow, and are nice to listen to. Being a typical slice of life set at a high school, the music and art both follow the standard conventions of the genre. No complaints about either art or sound, but nothing that deserves a commendation. One Week Friends takes a delicate subject and an unusual setting and turns it into a nice slice of life high school story that may just make you laugh and smile. While the premise of the show is a bit too convenient and unrealistic, the charm of the show lies in its character development and tender moments. The show addresses a basic yet essential aspect of life that is present in most of us and presents it in a nice and heartwarming way.

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.

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