One Week Friends - Episode 4

The advent of rain means that Hase and Fujimiya's usual rooftop lunchtime spot has to be foregone in favour of merely sitting on the stairs, but this appears to be the least of the pair's troubles in this week's episode of One Week Friends.

Even though it's Hase who is Fujimiya's close friend, somehow the ever-turning school rumour mill has gotten wind that Kiryu is buddies with her, causing much excitement within the class once Kiryu himself confirms that this is the case in usual straight-talking fashion.  True though it somewhat is, this riles Hase a little - why haven't they noticed that he's Fujimiya's real friend?  These thoughts bubbling under the surface come to a head when Fujimiya spends much of one lunch break talking about Kiryu, and Hase's accusatory tone as he suggests that maybe she has feelings for him and that talking about him is boring is enough for Fujimiya to storm out and leave school early - a chain of events that leads to her both losing her diary and coming down with a cold.

By the time Fujimiya returns to school the following Tuesday, Hase is faced with a terrifying reality - that Fujimiya no longer remembers him, nor indeed does she have any memory of keeping a diary; in fact, the only person she does know in any real sense is Kiryu.  Assuming that she's deliberately wiped him out of her life, Hase assumes the worst, leaving it to his friend to give a more reasoned voice to what has possibly transpired - thoughts which ultimately prove correct, as Fujimiya eventually assembles at least enough of her memories to find Hase frantically searching for her diary.  Disaster is averted, and friendship restored... strengthened perhaps in the aftermath of their first falling out.

Four episodes in, One Week Friends seems to be going from strength to strength - the use of the flaws of its main cast makes for some perfectly placed and decidedly believable drama (who hasn't been an overly-jealous kid at some point?), and although it has to jump through a few hoops to make full use of it the result is a touching tale accentuated by the fact you can't help rather liking the show's earnest characters as they try their best but often get things wrong.  With drama that is never pushed too far or over-egged, the quiet maturity of a story where immaturity often gets in the way of relationships can't be over-stated, and it's turning the series into easily one of my favourites of the spring.