One Week Friends

One Week Friends

Cover of Isshūkan Friends volume 1 by Square Enix
一週間フレンズ。
(Isshūkan Furenzu.)
Genre Drama, Romance, Comedy
Manga
Written by Matcha Hazuki
Published by Square Enix
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine Gangan Joker
Original run January 21, 2012 – January 22, 2015
Volumes 7
Anime television series
Directed by Tarou Iwasaki
Written by Shôtarô Suga
Music by Nobuko Toda
Studio Brain's Base
Licensed by
Network Tokyo MX, MBS, TVA, BS11, AT-X
Original run April 6, 2014 – June 22, 2014
Episodes 12

One Week Friends (Japanese: 一週間フレンズ。 Hepburn: Isshūkan Furenzu.) is a manga series by Matcha Hazuki. It was serialized in Square Enix's Gangan Joker magazine between January 21, 2012 and January 22, 2015. It was first published as a one-shot manga in the magazine's September 2011 issue. The series has since been collected in six tankōbon volumes as of July 2014. An anime television series adaptation by Brain's Base aired between April 6 and June 22, 2014. Sentai Filmworks licensed the rights to the show in North America and by Madman Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand.

Plot

High schooler Yūki Hase notices that his classmate Kaori Fujimiya is always alone and seemingly has no friends. After approaching her and becoming better acquainted, Kaori reveals that every Monday she loses all memory of her friends. Despite learning this, Yūki endeavors to befriend her anew every week.

Characters

Yūki Hase (長谷 祐樹 Hase Yūki)
Voiced by: Yoshitaka Yamaya
Yūki is a second year high school student who develops an interest in an isolated classmate, Kaori Fujimiya. Despite Kaori forgetting about him every week, he never ceases working hard to earn her smile. He's weak in mathematics.
Kaori Fujimiya (藤宮 香織 Fujimiya Kaori)
Voiced by: Sora Amamiya
Kaori is Yūki's classmate who chooses to not make friends as she loses her memories concerning friends at the beginning of every week. She used to be popular in school, but was in a car accident that affected her memory. She decides to keep a diary after Yūki suggests that she record her experiences. This helps her to become more and more familiar with Yūki, to the point of just barely remembering him. She had made a promise to meet up with her childhood friend, Hajime Kujō, but was unable to do so because of the accident. Her mother suggests that to an extent, she may be repressing her own memories. She is quite good in mathematics as compared to Yūki, and often helps him with his studies.
Shōgo Kiryū (桐生 将吾 Kiryū Shōgo)
Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya
Shōgo is Yūki's reliable best friend with good grades. He appears to be a cold person who's straightforward with words, and often sleeps in class while treating everything else as a bother.
Saki Yamagishi (山岸 沙希 Yamagishi Saki)
Voiced by: Rumi Ōkubo
Saki is a clumsy and forgetful girl in their class who used to be Shōgo's primary school classmate. She used to be bullied due to her small stature in primary school, and has since depended on others for all matters.
Hajime Kujō (九条 一 Kujō Hajime)
Voiced by: Shintarō Asanuma
Hajime is a student who transfers in during the second semester and who was Kaori's primary school classmate. He and Kaori promised to meet in the park the day before he transferred to Hokkaido, but Kaori did not show up due to her accident. His family has strict demands on him, to the point where he isn't allowed to buy games.
Maiko Serizawa (芹澤 舞子 Serizawa Maiko)
Voiced by: Asuka Kakumoto
Maiko is Saki's friend who often spoils her.
Ai Nishimura (西村 藍 Nishimura Ai)
Voiced by: Rui Tanabe
Ai is Saki's friend who is a good coordinator.
Shiho Fujimiya (藤宮 志穂 Fujimiya Shiho)
Voiced by: Mai Nakahara
Shiho is Kaori's mother.
Jun Inoue (井上 潤 Inoue Jun)
Voiced by: Junji Majima
Jun is Yūki's homeroom and math teacher.

Media

Manga

One Week Friends began as a one-shot manga by Matcha Hazuki and was first published in Gangan Joker‍‍ '​‍s September 2011 issue. A full serialization later followed in Square Enix's Gangan Joker from January 21, 2012.[1] After spanning three years, the series came to an end in the February 2015 issue of Gangan Joker which was published in Japan on January 22, 2015.[2] Despite the end of the serialization, a special chapter will later be included in the magazine's May 2015 issue when it is published on April 22, 2015.[3] The chapters will be collected into a total of seven tankōbon volumes. The first of which was released on June 22, 2012.[4] The final volume will be released on April 22, 2015.[5][6][7]

Volumes

No.Release date ISBN
1 June 22, 2012[4]ISBN 978-4-757-53633-3
2 November 22, 2012[8]ISBN 978-4-757-53796-5
3 April 27, 2013[9]ISBN 978-4-757-53953-2
4 November 22, 2013[10]ISBN 978-4-757-54137-5
5 March 22, 2014[11]ISBN 978-4-757-54256-3
6 July 22, 2014[12]ISBN 978-4-757-54361-4
7 April 22, 2015[7]ISBN 978-4-757-54434-5

Anime

An anime television series adaptation by Brain's Base began airing on April 6, 2014.[13] The opening theme is "Niji no Kakera" (虹のかけら, lit. "Fragments of a Rainbow"), sung by Natsumi Kon, with lyrics and composition by Ai Kawashima.[14] The ending theme is a cover of Sukima Switch's 2004 single "Kanade" (奏（かなで）, lit. "Symphony") sung by Sora Amamiya, the voice actress of female protagonist, Kaori Fujimiya. The anime has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America.[15]

Reception

Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network published a positive review of the complete anime series.[16] He wrote that the premise can push its dramatic moments a little too far and almost nothing happens throughout the first half of the series. Regardless, Kimlinger praised the plot's character development, saying that it saves the first half with its progression through little events; he added that the dramatic scenes are nicely underplayed to help viewers care for the characters. Kimlinger wrote that Brain's Base and director Tarou Iwasaki provide the series with a style that's perfect, calling the minimalist backgrounds evocative with the right mood and the character animations superb saying "that makes the show what it is: a sleeper delight, plain and simple."[16]

References

  1. ↑ 連載開始 (in Japanese). Square Enix. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  2. ↑ "One Week Friends Manga Slated to End on January 22". Anime News Network. December 20, 2014. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  3. ↑ "One Week Friends Manga Gets Special Chapter in April". Anime News Network. January 21, 2015. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 一週間フレンズ。 1 [One Week Friends 1] (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Final "One Week Friends" Manga Listed for Next Spring". Crunchyroll. July 22, 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  6. ↑ "One Week Friends Manga to end in April 2015". Anime News Network. July 21, 2014. Retrieved September 8, 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "一週間フレンズ。(7) 完 初回限定特装版ラバーストラップ付き(SEコミックスプレミアム)" (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  8. ↑ 一週間フレンズ。(2) (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  9. ↑ 一週間フレンズ。(3) (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  10. ↑ 一週間フレンズ。 (4) (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  11. ↑ 一週間フレンズ。 (5) (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  12. ↑ 一週間フレンズ。 6 [One Week Friends 6] (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Sora Amamiya, Yoshitaka Yamaya Star in Isshūkan Friends Anime". Anime News Network. January 21, 2014. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
  14. ↑ "One Week Friends Anime's 3rd Promo Features Natsumi Kon Theme Song". Anime News Network. March 17, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Sentai Filmworks Adds One Week Friends". Anime News Network. March 27, 2014. Retrieved March 27, 2014.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Kimlinger, Carl (July 23, 2014). "One Week Friends Episodes 1-12 Streaming". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 29, 2015.

External links