The Fall 2024 Anime Preview Guide

365 Days to the Wedding

The J.T.C. travel agency is looking for someone to manage its brand-new branch in Anchorage. But for employees Takuya Ōhara and Rika Honjōji, they'd rather just stay home in Tokyo. Thankfully, they've discovered a way out—their manager has narrowed down the recruits to bachelors, so they decide to get married. The problem is they barely know each other at all.

365 Days to the Wedding is based on the manga series by Tamiki Wakaki. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Thursdays.

Something tells me that the two primary characters of 365 Days to the Wedding are going to resonate with a lot of anime viewers. I admit to wincing in recognition at Ohara's slow processing time being mistakenly perceived as incompetence, and Honjoji's habit of looking at people in an unintentionally intimidating way. Most characters I've seen get interpreted as neurodivergent are squeaking moe girls, so it's nice to see a pair of odd adults trying to navigate the workplace, with their differences affecting their relationships with coworkers in a realistic way.

But I'm not sure this one has the juice to keep me interested for the whole run. I like the characters individually! I like the idea! However, Ohara and Honjoji distinctly lack chemistry, which makes the scenes between the two of them fall slightly flat. That could be intentional – after all, the two aren't in love and only pretending to be engaged. Both of them are awkward with other people and have atypical communication styles because, let's be real, both of them are probably autistic. However, that means that the scenes between the two of them tend to drag, while the ones involving their coworkers are much more dynamic and fun. It's hard to see the two of them carrying a full series.

An underwhelming visual presentation actively hampers this. I like the character designs, especially Ohara's – his fluffy sideburns remind me a bit of a grown-up version of early Clamp designs like CLAMP School Detectives. The animation is never noticeably bad, but it certainly didn't blow my socks off either; it's mostly carried by voice acting by Saori Hayami and Kentarō Kumagai, both of whom have experience playing weirdo characters who are commonly interpreted as neurodivergent as well. But the direction and animation are just kind of… there. Perfunctory, literally interpreting the manga without any sense of how to make a big moment or a punchline land. We barely hear Honjoji's supposedly hellish karaoke performance, and there's virtually no tension to the giant Ferris wheel scene where the two put on their wedding rings for the first time.

This kind of sauceless direction can really hold an adaptation back, and I'm sad to see a story like 365 Days to the Wedding suffer from it. I want to love it, but this one might end up shipped to Siberia… er, Anchorage.

Oh, hell yeah. There are a handful of tropes that I am just an absolute sucker for, friends and neighbors, and one of them is the old “We have to pretend to get married for some contrived, comedic reason, but now we're falling in love for real!” shtick. I don't know what to tell you; I just love it when two dorks who don't think they actually care about each other discover that they totally do care about each other—to the point where they might even hold hands, or even smooch!

365 Days to the Wedding gets bonus points for being an anime rom-com about two adults with real, boring-ass adult jobs, with one of them being a quiet guy that is also a doting Cat Mother and the other being a shy gal whose obsessive preoccupation with maps is matched only by her ability to concoct absurdly complicated and overambitious schemes to pretend-marry her co-worker to get out of being transferred to her job's new Alaska branch. Let me tell you, everyone, I was on board with 365 Days more or less from the get-go, but I became doubly invested once Takuya and Rika's plan almost immediately begins to fall apart thanks to a surprise-party being thrown by their loudmouthed and suspicious boss—only for Rika's solution to be doubling down and downing two bottles of champagne so that she can muster up the courage to badly sing cheesy karaoke songs about true love in front of all of the coworkers that she barely knows (including her new fiancé).

Sure, I could maybe do for a little pizzazz in the visual department—because 365 Days could benefit from some livelier visual gags and a touch more personality in its character animation. Still, everything else about this show's writing and performances is so 100% James Beckett's Jam that I'm not about to turn up my nose at some slightly lackluster production values. The final sequence in the Ferris Wheel cinched it for me. I will commit all sorts of crimes and atrocities if it means ensuring that these two dorks get their happy ending. If you are in the mood for a delightful and adorable romantic comedy this fall, then look no further than Takuya and Rika's Adventure's in Fraudulent Matrimony. I feel like this one is a keeper.

There's something so real about this show that it hurts. The idea that an unmarried adult somehow has less to leave behind than a married one, that they have more time on their hands, is one that I know all too well as an unmarried, child-free adult. But could I just pack up and move to another country because my work demanded it of me? Of course not – I have parents and siblings who depend on me…and, of course, six cats. (And a dog.) But the assumption is one that I've certainly encountered, and I wanted to weep for Ohara when he said that he couldn't be sent to Alaska because he has Kama, his cat. That's valid.

In the world of the show (and quite possibly in general, given differing cultural attitudes towards work), it's not, though. Ohara and Honjoji both know that as young, unmarried people, they're much more likely to get the horrible assignment, partly because one of their coworkers mentions that it's happened before; apparently there's guy stuck in Tahiti, where he's been for a decade. The fact that both of them appear to be neurodivergent also makes them vulnerable to exploitation.

Without a formal diagnosis (and sometimes even with one), being just different enough can put a target on your back, and that's something both of them feel keenly. Honjoji is often accused of glaring at people, but she appears to have some trouble remembering faces, while Ohara has difficulty looking people in the face. Both prefer their solitude and doing their own thing, making them appear antisocial and weird to others. Both of them know that they're not like everyone else, and we can see that wearing on them, especially with this new threat.

It's exhausting living up to other people's expectations. Honjoji is perhaps a bit better at it than Ohara, but that they even have to hatch their plan in the first place is more than a little depressing, even as it's being presented as comedic. The contrast between our protagonists and their coworkers, especially perky Komiya and hardnosed Kurokawa, is striking. This may hit a little close to home for some viewers, and not quite enough is done with the visuals or direction to mitigate that – or, to be honest, to drive it home. I almost find myself hoping that in the end, Honjoji and Ohara go through with dissolving the fake marriage because while I'd love for them to become more comfortable with each other and in the world, I want them to be happy just being themselves, even more.