NOTE: Slight spoilers are in the section headlined ' spoiler section '. You have been warned.

Like my title may suggest, this movie is centred on friendship rather than romance. And I very much like it as it is. Too many Japanese romcom movies are centred on the 2 main protagonists ending in a definite romance and that's the movie wrapped up in a nice little bow.

But this movie moves away from that. It focuses on friendship rather than romance. Althought I admit that there are definitely romantic sub-tones from the description and movie poste that you can't help acknowledging. But at the end of the day, the male lead wants to be friends with the female lead. It's a nice change of pace and explores how guys and girls can pursue friendship without an obvious attraction either way. ( For a time anyway...)

First, the cast. I love this cast. Yamazaki Kento, a.k.a the Rom-Com prince, as Yuuki Hase was great in this movie as a bubbly, cheerful male lead who has good intentions even if he's a bit clumsy and awkward. Very believable. Great acting. And I gotta say, the puffy, curly hair helped somehow as well. Kawaguchi Haruna playing Kaori was also enjoyable to watch. I'm not familiar with her work but after watching this movie, I am a fan. Both illed their roles impeccably and their social dynamic was generally entertaining to watch unfold. The supporting roles within this movie were also done very well. Their interactions with the main characters felt genuine and were acted out well.

The music. This is a bit of a minor consideration, but the songs in this movie were touching and flowed well when they started playing with their respective scenes. Seamless transitions and they sounded beautiful.

The plot itself was what caught my attention in the first place. I was intrigued enough to give it a watch after reading it. I'm not sure if it is completely original but it was a fresh breath of air and was engaging enough.

The movie's ending and climax were executed nicely and was about to convey it's emotional impact. However, the movie had faults as well. The major flaw was the movie's pacing. Past the beginning and in the middle portion of the movie, I felt as if the movie was quickened it's pacing and was rushing towards it's end. The minor flaw I had was with the male lead breaking character (you'll see what I mean in the movie) and it was ever so slightly annoying to see this character cave and make his ' noble sacrifice ' even though I like Yamazaki kento. The second male lead was also very irritating and couldn't really bring myself to like him.

Overall, this movie is a good watch for anyone who likes themselves a Japanese drama. At times, it is genuinely heartwarming and emotional while staying down-to-earth and real. A good job all around.

SPOILER/RANT SECTION:

Ok, I'll assume you've watched the movie. So, the confession by Fumi, the childhood friend, (RIP childhood friends; you never get chosen) was a loose end that I don't feel the movie did anything to explore. The scene where Fumi and Kaori are working on a stall and Fumi goes " What do you think of Yuuki?" and then she says " If you ever hurt him, I don't know if I can ever forgive you. " So, that is a clear indicator of her feelings towards him. This clearly pointed to a love triangle. But it was swept under the rug in favor of a lacklustre, almost throwaway confession scene for the sake of it being out of the way. Now, I can understand if a love triangle would be offputting but I feel like she wasn't really given a chance to express her feelings properly, leading to the messy confession where Yuuki and Fumi are about to set out in the rain with umbrellas. It was a situation that is fairly common I think where she ahd to finally say it because/even though she knew had no chance of him liking her back. I wished that had been addressed further and she put herself out there to let him know she was interested and she wasn't going to cave in. She should've had a chance, even if it was more and more explicit that Yuuki had developed feelings for Kaori but was keeping it under wraps.