One Week Friends Review

Regularly Scheduled Amnesia

One Week Friends (Isshuukan Friends. / 一週間フレンズ。) is a cute comedy anime. But, is it a romantic comedy anime? No. And, that took me a while to figure out. I was convinced that this was a rom-com pretty much until the end.

It’s almost there. But, it doesn’t quite have the amount of romance required. I’ll go into more detail about that later on in this review, though. For now, let’s take a look at the defining feature of this series: Fujimiya’s oddly specific amnesia.

Kaori Fujimiya is one of the two main characters of the series. And, at the start of the series, she has no friends. She doesn’t attempt to socialize with anyone in her class and they all think she’s cold. But, she has a good reason for acting this way. Every Monday, her memories reset.

I thought that her memory would only last for a week. But, that’s not how it works. She only loses her memories Sunday night into Monday morning. When she wakes up on Mondays, her memories are gone. So, that’s pretty weird, right? Why would her amnesia be on a schedule?

But, it gets weirder. The schedule isn’t the only thing strange about Fujimiya’s memory loss. It only applies to memories of her friends. She can remember her family members and people who aren’t her friends. However, if she becomes friends with someone, she’ll forget about them every Monday.

At first, I didn’t like how Fujimiya’s amnesia worked. It seemed too unrealistic and broke my immersion. But, as the series progresses, it makes more sense. It’s still dumb, but we learn more about how there’s physically nothing wrong with her. Her memory loss is due to mental and emotional trauma, which is more interesting.

Fujimiya and Friends

As I mentioned, Kaori Fujimiya is the female lead. As a high school student, she’s known as a studious loner. But, that wasn’t the case back in elementary school. Before her accident, Fujimiya had a lot of friends and was very outgoing.

Yuuki Hase is the male lead of the series. He has a crush on Fujimiya, which is why he decided to talk to her and try to be her friend. But, Hase is a bit annoying because Fujimiya is pretty much all he cares about. He’d throw away his other friendships if it meant being with her.

Shougo Kiryuu is Hase’s best (male) friend. His defining characteristics are that he never smiles and seems scary. Of these initial three characters, Kiryuu is easily my least favorite. He’s not an interesting character. He doesn’t have much going on and doesn’t contribute much, either.

Saki Yamagishi is the final of the four main friends. And, she’s somehow even worse than Kiryuu. Now, to be fair, she has more going on than Kiryuu does. But, she’s very annoying. Yamagishi’s even more forgetful than Fujimiya (who has amnesia). And, she talks extremely slowly.

Hajime Kujou is the last character I want to mention. He shows up pretty late in the series, so isn’t a member of the core friend group. But, he’s also Fujimiya’s best friend from elementary school — not that she remembers him. So, do you think I like Kujou?

If your answer was “No,” you’re correct. However, my issue with Kujou isn’t that he’s a bad character. It’s that he’s less of a character and more of a plot device. He only comes into the series toward the end to throw a wrench into Fujimiya and Hase’s relationship. It’s an overdone trope.

Friends ’til the End

Alright, it’s time to go back to the whole “not a rom-com anime” thing. Hase wants to be in a romantic relationship with Fujimiya. This is never in question. He tells Fujimiya he wants to be her friend. But, we know he has a crush on her.

Fujimiya also likely has a crush on Hase. But, I wouldn’t say that’s for certain. Still, she makes him lunch every day, wants to spend time with him, and writes about him the most in her diary. Even if she doesn’t recognize her feelings, they’re likely there.

Now, as I mentioned, I thought this series was going to involve more romance than it did. And, I’ll admit that I came out of the series disappointed. By the end, Hase and Fujimiya are still very good friends, not in a relationship. That’s boring.

I get it. Not every male-female relationship has to be romantic. But, it’s so obvious that both of these characters want it to be romantic. So, by not having them take any sort of next step, it feels like the series didn’t accomplish anything. I’m still here waiting for them to become a couple.

Okay, but what about similar series? Teasing Master Takagi-san is a comparable anime. The two main characters have crushes on each other but aren’t in a relationship. However, in that series, there’s still a very clear path the characters are going down. They’re still technically not dating even three seasons in, but they effectively are.

So, what I’m trying to say is that One Week Friends takes the “friends” part of the title too literally. Is anyone watching this series and content with the relationship staying the way it is? Like, it’s fine. But, it would be better if we got anything more.

Final Thoughts

One Week Friends is a 6/10. It could have been a 7 with some minor changes. And, that’s what I had it rated for the start of the series. But, in the end, I can’t justify rating it that highly. It’s still cute, though.

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