"Friends of the Week", which was serialized in the summer of 2011 in the monthly magazine "GANGANJOKER" in the form of a short story and has been officially serialized since 2012, has sold more than 1 million copies so far, and was made into a TV anime from April ~ June 2014. The somewhat sad stories and the characters that are so pure that they are intoxicating have resonated with many people.

The heroine, Kaori, is a girl who loses memories of her friends every other week. In order not to feel pain, she did not keep in touch with anyone in the class until her classmate Yuki offered to "Please be my friend!" Since then, the story between the two has gradually unfolded. The work has also been adapted into a stage play recently. In this regard, some Japanese media have made a special report, commenting on the charm of the stage version of "Friends of the Week".

Kei Horie, who is in charge of the performance, said of the casting, "Our requirements for actors are naturally very similar to the characters. But this time, we especially value the 'purity' of Yuki and Kaori. That's innately 'pure'. And to be well educated. Because this is the character of a teenage student, it is impossible to achieve such an effect without this characteristic and just relying on character building. This time, I am very confident that the four protagonists are all very good candidates. ”

At the meeting, the four people gave us the impression that sometimes we were not very open. When asked why the work was suitable for a stage play, they said: "It's a dialogue play. When it comes to 'becoming friends,' we perform as if it were a philosophical discussion. Therefore, the biggest scene is just the 'classroom' and the 'roof', and we focus on the 'dialogue between the two'. This is the most important place. But on the flip side, it's very clean and pure, and it's fun from an acting point of view! ”

We asked about the highlights of the play, and we got this answer: "To be friends is to share a feeling with someone other than yourself." There are many people who are unable to do something very normal when faced with this kind of object. Yuki and Kaori are in a special situation, which makes people feel heartbroken, and even ordinary people will feel very embarrassed to face this situation. We want the audience to see this kind of place, which is ordinary, but not ordinary. ”

In our daily lives, we suddenly think of some ordinary things and words, but these can make people feel good or make us laugh out loud. And this subtle emotion is exactly what this work brings us to perceive.

If you look at it by category, it's actually very simple. Fragments of classrooms, fragments of roofs, and fragments of corridors. The story of the stage play is the same as the animation. Kaori Fujimiya is alone in the classroom, while Yuki Hasei realizes this. Yuki who says, "Please be friends with me", and Kaori, who shows a confused expression...... And so the story began.

Kaori only kept her memories with her friends for a week, so she avoided communicating with others. And this tangled atmosphere is also expressed by Tomoki Okayama and Shinya Okano in equal proportions. Their hazy sense of familiarity is very much in line with the characters, and the atmosphere shown in the animation is also sublimated in the more realistic stage play. This kind of on-site experience brings you a better understanding.

When the actors change appearances, the scene uses the form of "X month X day X day X " to show the passage of time. The hero's friend, Shogo Kiryu, is a person who doesn't talk much, and some straightforward ways of saying it and an impatient lazy atmosphere instead reflect his gentleness. And Toya, who plays this role, uses guò's eyes and movements, further enriching the image of this character. There is no need for excessive expression, just a kind of "quiet" performance. Sometimes the sound effects of the scene suddenly stop, which also makes the moment even quieter.

In the face of Kaori, who will forget Jì's experience of exchanging experiences with Yuki within a week, the actor can still say the phrase "Please be friends with me". Even if he was forgotten several times, he still said it persistently, and such an expression made the audience's hearts tremble. Although their lives are no different from ordinary people, except for "will forget", the characters on the stage have also slowly changed. This subtle process of change also resonated with the audience.

At this time, Saki Yamagishi said to Kaori, "Be friends with me." When the two of them went to eat crepes together, they smiled. Yuki was watching from a distance, while Shogo was standing farther away. Looking at his appearance, people can't help but laugh out loud. Saki Yamagishi is a girl who has been bullied before. But even so, she still didn't lose herself. This is very consistent with actor Kawakami. And Shogo kept an eye on her. The merit of this work is that it perfectly balances the four people, and this feature is even more pronounced when it is moved to the stage.

It's a wonderful performance. In the original work, the small talk of the classmates took place in a high school scene, but on the stage, such a scene was shown to us more closely. And the teacher also has a sense of being everywhere.

Some characters who are not very good at living a good life and are not very bright. They bring a clumsy story to everyone. And in the future, the hero and heroine will repeat the dialogue of "please be friends with me" and "okay" over and over again. You can't live on your own, but it's not easy to build relationships. Whoever you are, you will be misunderstood and led astray.

"It's hard to be friends. Shahi said, "Happy things will be divided in half." We can look at these topics with a very relaxed mind. And "Friends of the Week" doesn't need a gorgeous performance and eye-catching characters. They can appear in any corner of the day, so it is also a realistic version of a "fantasy" story. This production is scheduled to be performed in Shibuya, a busy street where people are busy. And this arrangement also makes people realize the intentions of the party. I believe that with this work, even if we are busy, we will stop and take a look, right?

In addition, after the performance, the producer arranged for the audience to shoot on stage (the actors did not participate), which was also a superb "2.5-dimensional project". You can cosplay into the appearance of a character on it to further experience the feeling brought by "Friends of the Week". If you are interested, you may wish to give it a try.