Anime: Isshuukan Friends.

The main concept of this show makes it stand out from any other slice of life. It is also what makes it feel stupid. It plays out like any other of its brood, where teenagers are doing simple everyday things, but adds the catch of selective amnesia. The main girl has a weird mental condition which makes her forget at the end of every week what she did with other friendly people. She still remembers what she learned at school, or what she did with people she doesn’t care about, but if she considers them to be friends, they are wiped from her memory. And that is the whole hook of the show; a tragic case of a girl which can never have friends. Even if she keeps written notes of what she did with the main boy in the story, those are just information and don’t count as actual memories.

So what does the show do with such a premise? How do the characters deal with it? Do they find a cure? Do they work around it? Does a tragedy befall them to end this tale in the worst possible way? The answer is none of the above because there is no plot. Nothing changes throughout the whole thing, besides finding out that her condition is some sort of psychological defense and not brain damage. That in effect makes this whole series to be storyless and pointless because it is not making use of its premise and plays out like any other of its kind. Which is a shame considering it wastes an interesting premise.

A big issue in the show though does not involve the main girl but rather the main boy who wanted to be friends with her at the beginning of the show. You will find him very noble for being willing to befriend her despite her problem. Heck, you even see how he is slowly seeing her in a romantic way. Damn we have something tragic AND steamy going on here! Let’s see how it plays out! Yet after the fuzzy-cutsy-cuddly-emotions pop and your mind starts working again, you realize that this show is… well… stupid. Aside from the disappointment of not having a solid ending, much less any plot or character development, the very character who kick started the whole thing just makes no sense. Why was he so interested in this girl to begin with? Why was he so hell-bent on befriending her while everybody else, her including, didn’t care about that and ignored him? We are given no real motivation other than “Well, lets be friends because I saw you and I instantly wanted to befriend you, no matter what.” Normal people need far more than that to try so hard and put up with the whole amnesia thing. Why is the girl even allowed to go to a normal school if she has such a mental condition? Why is everybody ok with letting such a mentally ill person to go to school? Isn’t her presence alone making everybody feel weird and ruins the harmony of the school or something?

As you see, this show gives you no reason to care or look forward to. The best thing it can do is making you feel fuzzy-cutsy-cuddly, which is something you can get by a hundred moe shows. The amnesia thingy ends up being nothing but a cheap shot at drama and a way to remember the show as “the one with the weekly amnesia.” And of course it is quite silly as a plot device, one which I am not fond of. It excuses the lack of development but doesn’t make the show any smarter or deeper.

I can even add how I don’t like the way the characters are drawn. Almost chibi-like with their eyes constantly half-closed and their hair permanently uncombed, as if they are constantly half-asleep. It adds to the fuzzy feeling but also to how nothing really matters. Well if nothing matters, why would I even care? At least something like the Memento film managed to use amnesia in a creative way and exciting way. Here? You are not given a reason to care. And that is why it will fail to be anything particularly good as a show. Ironically enough, chances are you will forget it the moment you start watching your next moe show. Hot damn, even that is excused by the premise! Well done show; I don’t remember anything about you!