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AKA: いつだって僕らの恋は10センチだった。 ; Itsu Datte Bokura no Koi wa 10 Senchi Datta
Genre: Romance
Length: Television series, 6 episodes, 24 minutes each
Distributor: Currently licensed by Aniplex of America, streaming on Crunchyroll.
Content Rating: 15+ (Mild fanservice, mature elements.)
Related Series: N/A
Also Recommended: I've Always Liked You
Notes: The third "original" anime production by Honeyworks, a music video production company.
Rating:

Our Love Has Always Been 10 Centimeters Apart

Synopsis

Missed signals and personal preoccupations are keeping Miou Aida and Haruki Serizawa apart. Will these kids ever get together?


Review

This short series is Honeyworks' third take on basically the same events between the same characters in the same school. The original, I've Always Liked You gave us our cast, and who was (or wanted to be) attached to whom, and whether anything came of their attempts to establish relationships. The Moment You Fall In Love was a side story involving the younger siblings of two of our original cast, Yu Setoguchi and Natsuki Enomoto, which dovetailed into their own story in I've Always Liked You. And the one under review? In my review of I've Always Liked You, I noted that the story of Miou Aida's relationship with Haruki Serizawa received short shrift there- just being presented as still frames, with the story being told by the music. The current show is EXACTLY that same story, told in a more conventional style. (And curiously with less music than the others, though the ending song, sung in counterpoint, is kind of cute.) The conclusion that one gets, seeing this in an expanded form, is that it basically DESERVED getting short shrift.

The whole story here might be boiled down to this: both Haruki and Miou have complexes related to Haruki's dead brother Chiaki. Miou's is guilt-induced, while Haruki's involves an existential struggle (of sorts) with the authenticity of his own career choice. Throughout the show, the latter is manifested in Haruki's inability to finish the film club's movie (the other two guys from I've Always Liked You are also members of the club), and Miou's inability to finish a painting that's her contribution to the film club's effort; she's in the Art Club, which- guess what?- comprises her and the other two girls from I've Always Liked You. The total ambience of this show is, somehow, a lack of fulfillment, which apparently wouldn't have been any better if they HAD stretched it to regular series length (12 episodes or so.)

I do like Miou's character design, as well as her commitment to art, though I did NOT like her unassertiveness, which, combined with Haruki's vacillation, basically provided the padding the show needed to stretch this thing out to six episodes. As for Haruki, he's supposedly so charismatic that he can even call out the principal during school assemblies for being long-winded (kids, do NO try this during your school assemblies!), but when he's in self-pitying mode he's just...insufferable.

The show does provide, at the end, a glimpse of our three couples seven years into the future, which is interesting because (1) this seems to signal that this is the finale for our little sextet from Sakuragaoka High, sparing us from another rehash of the same material, and (2) it shows that the three couples won't progress that much in their relationships even into their mid-twenties, with one possible exception- and I wouldn't dare to spoil THAT!

If this is the end of these shows, it's more a whimper than a bang, a storyline that's as afraid to commit as its protagonists. Given that I didn't like the younger sibs in The Moment You Fall In Love, I would say that if you're interested in the general scenarios here at all, stick with the first one.Allen Moody

Recommended Audience: Mostly very mild fanservice (I think Miou might have a non-explicit shower scene), no real sex. The repercussions of a death hang over part of the story. 15 up should be fine.



Version(s) Viewed: Streaming on Crunchyroll
Review Status: Full (6/6)
Our Love Has Always Been 10 Centimeters Apart © 2017 Lay-Duce
 
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