English Title: Our Love Has Always Been 10 Centimeters Apart.
Japanese Title: いつだって僕らの恋は10センチだった。[lit. Always our love 10cm apart was.]
Director(s): Nanba Hitoshi, Tsukada Takurou
Screenwriter(s): Narita Yoshimi, Koyanagi Keigo
Studio: Lay-duce
Released: 2017
Runtime: 6 episodes, ~24m each.
Starring: Suzumura Kenichi, Toyosaki Aki, Kamiya Hiroshi, Tomatsu Haruka, Kaji Yuki, Asumi Kana
My Verdict: Short 6-episode teen romance drama. Relatively simple and predictable but nonetheless satisfying enough for what it is.
● Part of the Confession Executive Committee (告白実行委員会) multi-media franchise, this short anime series tells the story of third-year high school students Serizawa Haruki and Aida Miou. To date, in terms of anime, there are 3 films and one other series.
● Haruki is an aspiring filmmaker and member of the movie club, and Aida is an artist and member of the art club. Haruki is an outgoing and mostly cheerful guy whilst Miou is the stereotypical shy girl with little confidence. Whilst the two characters have very different personalities, both are creative. It’s not quite writers writing about writers but close.
● The two are friends but are obviously attracted to each other.
● The first episode briefly goes through some background exposition of how they met but other than a few strategically placed flashbacks, the series follows the two in the present as they deal with their feelings.
● The premise is simple enough and typical of the genre, including the two being part of a gender-balanced circle of friends, three male and three female including Haruki and Miou. The other two guys are also part of the movie club whilst the two girls are also part of the art club.
● Of course, all six have different personalities and the other two “couples” deal with their feelings as well. There are merely glimpses of that. As already mentioned, the primary focus is on Haruki and Miou.
● Although the premise is realistic enough and the narrative tries not to be too dramatic, there are times when the dialogue is a bit forced; that is, trying to make things more dramatic than it really is.
● There is even the clichéd use of a particular childhood event of Miou’s that is significant to the plot. This is fine in itself but is rather convenient that Miou herself has not found out about certain details until now.
● Like most romantic dramas, there is a problem to overcome. [Spoiler] Unfortunately, it is the common case of one party who makes the unilateral decision to shy away and not talk about it. Whilst it is understandable that one hesitates to talk about it initially, persisting in total or near-total silence is the type of idiocy that is annoying and difficult to sympathize with.
● The voice acting is consistent and solid although Miou’s voice is a bit too girly, even for anime. There is nothing wrong with veteran Toyosaki Aki’s performance, the tone of the voice simply doesn’t have to go that far.
● The animation is not bad. The linework can be a bit ragged and fuzzy at times whilst in some shots, they are very sharp and clean. The colors are solid and although that is nice, it lacks the gradients and highlights that really make objects jump out. On balance, it looks almost too clean.
● At merely 6 episodes, it is short and mostly tight. Any issues are masked by the fact that it is short. It is not long enough to be truly slice-of-life but there are obviously elements of it given the premise and setting.
● The ending is predictable but nonetheless satisfying enough. The characters approach their issues with a certain maturity that is realistic even if their sticking to it is arguably less so. Either way, sufficient time is devoted to providing a proper ending.
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