Reviews

One Week Friends is a cute, slice of life story that pulls at your heartstrings. Yes, this series does center around the repetitive, selective amnesia plot device. I know it's been done before. You know it's been done before. That said, it's worth getting past just that into the story itself. Plot devices are recycled constantly, and One Week Friends did a good job of making me care about the characters and their feelings very quickly. You initial response might be to recoil because of an overused plot device, but you'd be missing out if you let that alone make you avoid this series. It's a plot device, and this series did a really good job of dragging me through the highs and lows with the characters using it.

In a way, you know what you are getting pretty quickly with One Week Friends. The male lead is determined to become “friends” with the female lead, who each week loses the memories of her friends for some unknown reason. Despite repeated setbacks, the two stumble along the path to a closer relationship. I actually enjoy the supporting characters in this series. Compared to most series that have a lot of one dimensional “friend” support characters, the supporting characters have their own feelings, concerns, and interests. Even minor characters just summoned to do their bit parts seem to mesh into the story for their scenes. Everyone ends up likable.

The art style is definitely cutesy and subdued. There is some well done scenery as well. I can see the style being subjective to someone's tastes...and there were times I felt like the characters looked and felt younger than their stated ages because of it, but hey I guess that's just this anime's thing. It's not bad looking though, so just go with it is what I would say. It fits with the pure feelings of the story. If you're looking for fan service you won't find anything though. It's not that kind of anime. The music supports the same mood, generally being light and cheerful during the highs, and tense and anxious during the lows, but always measured and subdued to the point of not overwhelming everything else.

In the end, I'd say One Week Friends accomplished for me what I think it was setting out to do, get at your heartstrings at tug at them. If you're looking for a cute, emotional “love” story then this will definitely get the job done. Nothing revolutionary here, but it works.