One Week Friend (Madaman Entertainment) Review

One Week Friends is an anime series based on the manga of the same name. With an intriguing title comes the expectation of high school drama, conflict, relationships and everything that comes with being a teenager. The anime certainly doesn’t disappoint and follows the story of Yuki Hase, who comes to notice that his classmate, Kaori Fujimiya, is always alone and seemingly does not have friends. Upon approaching her and befriending her, Kaori reveals that she loses all her memories each Monday and therefore does not recall any friends she makes. Despite the challenge, Yuki goes on to befriend Kaori again and again each week in the hopes that she will one day remember him.

This anime is sweet and comes across as a simple and easy going watch, of which viewers need not spend too much time concentrating on. In essence, the anime is a light and easy tale of high school life for two teenage friends.

The plot of the story is well put-together and revealed early on within the series, which leaves little to no room for guessing or wondering. Straight to the point, the anime delves right into Kaori’s condition and Yuki’s determination to remain her friend. With such a lovely story about friendship and the kindness shown to Kaori, this anime really has that feel good aspect that is most welcome.

The story is not at all one that requires complete concentration and can be quite comfortably watched while multi-tasking, or even put on as a background piece while doing other things. While complete focus isn’t there, the gist of the anime and the identification with the characters is still easy to come by.

Though the first half of the series is slow, the little events and happenings that occur shape the narrative and allows for each of the characters to develop. Character development is a factor that is often one of the most important aspects of an anime as it allows viewers to connect and feel a kinship with the characters. One Week Friends does this especially well and builds up each character at a pace which viewers can be comfortable with and allows for them to care about the characters.

Visually, this anime managed to take the minimalistic approach and yet evoke feelings of emotions and wonder. The tone used throughout the film and the simple character animations helped bring ‘life’ to the anime as opposed to relying solely on background visuals. In this way, watching the anime felt relaxing. Not one to usually enjoy simplistic features, I found myself enjoying One Week Friends because of its  peaceful tone, simple yet effective visual features, and it’s soft and delightful characters.

One Week Friends may not be the best anime series, with a gripping plot, fantastic action and stunning visuals, but it is a delightful drama depicting the very real struggles of maintaining friendships when suffering an illness and the joy that comes with being amongst those who support you. Looking for a series to simply chill out to? Then this is the anime for you.

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