When Will Ayumu Make His Move? Complete Collection Review

Adapted from the manga series by Soichiro Yamamoto, When Will Ayumu Make His Move? is set in an unnamed Japanese high school where we’re introduced to the two sole members of the school’s shogi club, first year student and shogi newbie Ayumu Tanaka, and second-year student, club president and all-round shogi whiz, Urushi Yaotome. Ayumu has a major crush on Urushi but has resolved to only ask her out when he has beaten her in a game of shogi fair and square. While Urushi is also into Ayumu, she uses his plan to ask him out to tease and cajole him to try to get him to admit that he likes her.

While the series focuses on the school’s shogi club, it’s not really interested in being a competitive drama even though the crux of the plot centres on Ayumu beating Urushi. Instead, this is a charming little romantic comedy that surprises with a cosy feel and strong chemistry between its characters.

Its overall plot may seem low-key, yet it’s surprisingly effective at what it does because it focuses on a couple of key strengths and executes them well.

I really enjoyed its light-hearted approach to its comedy where a lot of the fun stems from seeing Urushi getting all squirmy and embarrassed from the more stoic Ayumu’s attacks and having them play off against each other in a sweet tit-for-tat sort of fashion. While it may remind you of other “teasing” rom-coms, it’s not really in the same ballpark as it comes from a good place of two smitten teenagers just messing around rather than there being anything malicious in play. For example, Episode 1 sees Ayumu telling Urushi she’s cute in an attempt to throw her off her game, while in a later episode Urushi hides in a cardboard box, going all Metal Gear Solid style, before jumping out and giving Ayumu a fright. It’s classic Japanese comedy where the vibes are playful and fun, rooted in a deadpan back-and-forth which genuinely draws out a lot of laughs!

That said, many of the setups for its jokes and specific scenes within the show feel very familiar because of its high school setting, which it can only do so much with. It’s easy to just pass over the haunted house at the school festival, or the chocolate giving for Valentine’s Day and White Day because they are everywhere in this type of show and I think in these situations it could have done more to make them unique. Yet where it really excels is in putting its own spin on such common setups as it slowly develops Ayumu and Urushi’s relationship.

The school trip later in the series is great at this as even though the two are apart, they’re each doing things with the other person in mind. Plus, you get a long-distance game of shogi through a phone call, which comes off as particularly charming.

As you go through the series you’ll definitely pick up on this sort of vibe as a strength, as it pulls you along through its strong chemistry between the characters and how they develop over time. Let’s face it, unless you’re really into the competitive side of the game, watching two people play shogi for 12 episodes would go stale pretty quickly. So, to spice things up we have a couple of major plotlines running through the series, one revolving around building up the club’s membership so it gets officially recognised by the school, and one revolving around Urushi’s family.

The first plotline gradually extends the main cast to six members, as they slowly pull in more people to the club. You’ve got Ayumu’s best friend Takeru and the subject of his affections, Sakurako Mikage, who are both on the library committee; then there’s Urushi’s best friend Maki, a so-called “shadow member” who constantly tries to push Urushi and Ayumu together; and finally Rin Kagawa, who is Ayumu and Takeru’s junior from their middle school kendo club.

I really liked the supporting characters who are all distinctive and have something different to offer. The relationship between Takeru and Sakurako is just as cute as Ayumu and Urushi’s, and Sakurako’s thing of hypnotising Takeru into doing things for her can be pretty funny for, as much as he complains, you know he’d do anything for Sakurako anyway without her asking. Rin comes in as the jealous ex-girlfriend type. Not that they dated, but Rin has a thing for Ayumu and she has to learn to let both that and their former kendo rivalry go. Meanwhile, Maki is the dark horse and acts as a matchmaker, trying to get Ayumu and Urushi together. She ended up being one of my favourites as Kana Hanazawa absolutely nails her character as the mischievous, flirty and manipulative girl who puts people through their paces.

I just wish that some characters, like Maki for example, had got a lot more screen time and development than they ended up with. The focus is clearly on Ayumu and Urushi but the side characters have a bunch of great things going on about them that it just seems a shame for those points to be ignored.

While the supporting characters add a lot of charm to the show, it also gets a lot of emotional depth from Urushi’s relationship to shogi and how she got into it in the first place after being influenced by her family. We see she has a lot of great memories of playing the game, but she blames herself for her father dropping out of the professional game when she was younger, which has put a lot of distance between them.

This to me felt really nostalgic and endearing. Urushi’s desire to both follow in the footsteps of her father and grandfather and lose herself in the game is something I found genuinely relatable, and it’s easy to see how invested she is in the game. Setting this in the restaurant where she used to play as a kid is also an interesting choice, as it gives  you plenty of mysteries and red herrings surrounding the restaurant to keep you interested. Then it goes and chucks Ayumu in the deep end with him throwing himself at her father and demanding a shogi battle. This ends pretty much as you would expect but it’s a sweet moment that helps to boost Ayumu’s relationship with Urushi.

This and other scenes like it reveal the series’ main strength in that it’s an easy, relaxing, occasionally nostalgic watch that aims for more than just laughs, successfully building a connection between you and the characters through its 12-episode run.

Animated by Silver Link, the series doesn’t visually blow your socks off but still works well for this type of show. It has a cute and bright art style that highlights the manga’s original character designs, which are lit up by lively character animation and facial expressions.

The series’ score, composed by Shun Narita (The Dark Gathering, The Girl in Twilight) follows along the same lines, being bright and playful to highlight what’s going on but never becoming too overstated.

I do like the Japanese voice acting and I think each member of the cast is a good fit. As mentioned, Kana Hanazawa does steal the show a bit every time Maki appears, but you’ve got a good mix of fresher and more established talent. Our two leads are voiced by Yohei Azakami (Matsukaze in Dr. Stone, Gyro Zeppeli in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run) and Kanna Nakamura (Narita Top Road in the Umamusume: Pretty Derby franchise) and play off one another well; while there are also good performances from Tsubasa Gouden, who hasn’t had many roles except maybe Teruhiko Yukimura in Classroom of the Elite, and Hina Yomiya, perhaps better known as Ave Mujica’s Tomori from the BanG! Dream franchise.

When Will Ayumu Make His Move? comes to us in the UK via MVM, with this standard Blu-ray release featuring all 12 episodes of the series in Japanese with English subtitles. This is a standard Sentai Filmworks title so there is no English dub or any extras worth mentioning outside of the opening and closing animations, but if all you want is the episodes on a disc this should do you just fine.

Overall, while When Will Ayumu Make His Move? may look and feel familiar with its setting and jokes, it ends up being a cosy and endearing romantic comedy with a bunch of engaging characters, heartfelt character development, and plenty of genuinely funny moments. Put aside your initial expectations and I think this is a series that may surprise you!

Our review copy was provided by MVM.