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Review: I’ve Always Liked You ~Confess Your Love Committee~

October 24, 2016

Zutto Mae Kara Suki Deshita: Kokuhaku Jikkou Iinkai (I’ve Always Liked You: Confess Your Love Committee) is a little over an hour long animated movie that tells the story of a group of high school friends and their struggles with love confessions. The story is based on a light novel and music project by HoneyWorks, previously know for their vocaloid work. I came to know them through their joint song with Chico that was the opening for the Blue Spring Ride anime, Sekai wa Koi ni Ochiteiru.

The use of Honeyworks music is what caught my interest in the film, but the story told by the movie was beyond my simple expectations. The film follows high school students Natsuki Enomoto and her childhood friend Yu Setoguchi. Natsuki hopes to confess her love to Yu but is unable to admit to her true feelings, and ends up telling Yu that she is simply practicing how to confess her love to somebody else. While Natsuki hides her true feelings for Yu, she is asked by her classmate Koyuki Ayase for a date. The romantic encounters of two of Natsuki’s friends and their confessions are also shown in the film as well.

The movie appeals to my love of teen romance and the quirky characters make it even more enjoyable to watch. The tension built between Natsuki and Yu as well as the other boys and girls, helps keep viewers invested in the outcome of all of these confessions. Add in the visuals and music and it’s a pleasure for all the senses.

You could say that I’ve Always Liked You: Confess Your Love Committee is one really long music video, as the movie highlights several songs by Honeyworks and is named after their fourth album. The movie even gets meta at one point when the characters attend a Honiwa (Honeyworks) concert.

The songs featured in the movie include Kokuhaku Yokou Renshuu (Confession Rehearsal), Hatsukoi no Ehon (The Picture Book of the First Love), and Yakimochi no Kotae (The Answer to Jealousy). I rather liked the songs, but you can’t get it all in one watch through. Trying to read song lyrics and the dialogue from the movie at the same time is rather difficult. It helps to go back and listen to the music after reading the dialogue in the scene.

The production on this movie must have been money well spent, as the visuals for the film are highly attractive and the character designs are very cute. Maki Fujii was the character designer and chief animation director for I’ve Always Liked You. The designs are a perfect fit for the content, and really appeal to a shoujo fan base.

Also announced recently is the second movie, Suki ni Naru Sono Shunkan o: Kokuhaku Jikkou Iinkai, due to premier in Japan in December. The first movie did so well that fans demanded more. The information on the movie can be found on the japanese site. I am definitely looking forward to the sequel and hope Aniplex makes a deal to stream it as well.

If you haven’t seen this yet, then I highly recommend you hustle over to Crunchyroll and take it in while it’s still available. It is open to free subscribers as of October 11, 2016.