Rewind: One Week Friends

One Week Friends, or Isshuukan Friends, is a gentle drama about friendship. The main girl, Fujimiya Kaori, can't remember any of her friends for longer than a week. Her memory resets every Monday. Still, the gently heroic protagonist, Hase Yuuki, is determined to be friends with her. 

For the second Monday in a row, Hase asks Fujimiya to be his friend. (ep 1)

It sounds slow and potentially overdramatic. That selective memory loss premise is borderline ridiculous, right? But I noticed a few people talking about it online, so I gave it a try. 

I watched most of the episodes on my phone, often during lunch breaks at my summer job, or in bed right before sleep. It was the perfect show for breaks: I was interested, but I didn't care quite enough to wish I had a bigger screen.

The plot wasn't thrilling, but I couldn't help but care for the characters. Hase-kun chose to be friends with Fujimiya, even knowing that he would have to introduce himself again the following Monday. Fujimiya was a sweetheart who spent hours in the kitchen to find out exactly how much sugar Hase liked in his eggs (yes, sugar... maybe it's a Japanese thing). And Hase's friend, the aloof Kiryuu, easily won me over. He seemed introverted (which I identified with, of course), but he gave great friendship advice to Hase as needed. 

In One Week Friends, Hase and Fujimiya explore what it means to be friends. It can be a little painful at times—they are, after all, awkward teenagers exploring friendship, and Fujimiya's memory loss complicates matters even more. But it's worth it for them, and it was worth it for me to watch. I'm getting better at this whole friendship thing (thank the Lord for college!). Still... I may or may not take mental notes when I see a good example of friendship, whether it's fictional or real. 

That's pretty much all I have to say. If you watch One Week Friends, take note of the visuals—the edges are always slightly faded out, which adds to the gentle feeling. I gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars: it's a pleasant watch without glaring faults, but not a favorite.