An Anime Review of 'I've Always Liked You'

I’ve Always Liked You is one of two anime that was produced by Qualia Animation, and both anime are related to the same source. The second is the film The Moment You Fell in Love, both of which were released in 2016. There is a side story that was released in the form of a six episode series produced by Lay-Duce, the same studio behind Magi: Adventure of Sinbad. I’ve Always Liked You is an hour long and revolves around seven friends who all have feelings for each other. Some have mutual feelings, some are unrequited, and some are simply willing to take a chance.

The narrative is quite simple. It is simply about the respective guy or girl asking out the person that they like, and finding the courage to do so throughout. This is a story that relies on the strength of the characters more than the strength of the story itself, and it does a very good job most of the time. I say, most of the time because there is an instance where a character does something that is out of nowhere that feels rushed and inorganic. So much so that it felt incredibly forced for the sake of conflict. What makes it feel even more forced than it is the fact that the next time the issue is addressed it is almost immediately resolved, and ignored simultaneously as the instigating character resolved the issue with one of the two characters while the other ignored it completely. There was potential towards developing a deeper conflict, but it was actively avoided, which, in turn, is lost potential. This is considering that most of the conflict so far has been through the internal conflict that each of the characters go through and their individual growth.

Each character's conflict is unique to them, and their personalities are developed in a very organic manner, that is just as visual as it is through dialogue. The best example of this is Mochizuki, however there are instances where he performs an action that is very clear, and they have a tertiary character explain why he did the action that he did. It was as if the writers were worried that his actions would be too subtle for the audience to notice and in turn over compensated by making it as obvious as they could, and this is a real shame. In fact, out of all the characters that we follow, the two that I was least interested in were the two leads, Enomoto and Setoguchi. The others all have far more satisfying arcs, and contain a lot more personality to them compared to these two, almost like they are in a completely different anime compared to the rest of the cast.

The visuals are quite impressive. The backgrounds are quite detailed, and the character models stand out quite distinctively. I do find that there are some subtle quirks that elevate it higher than a regular anime, and that is the attention to detail when characters' feelings for others are portrayed visually. Once again the best instance of this is based around Mochizuki. Throughout this film I am left thinking why he was not the lead as opposed to the two that we got. Seeing the story through his eyes would have been so much more interesting. As far as movement is involved, it is quite basic, with a lack of dynamic movement, however there are instances where the quality surges and we get something that is actually quite impressive.

The music was quite fun. The soundtrack was performed by Chico with Honeyworks and they were a group that I was already listening to, so hearing them on the soundtrack was a bonus.

Would I recommend this film? Yes and no. Yes, if you are in the mood for something quite wholesome that is only an hour long. Should you go out of your way to watch this? No, you are not missing out on anything, and the things that are covered here have been covered elsewhere, and better.