When Will Ayumu Make His Move?

Have you ever decided that you weren't going to accomplish a goal until you accomplished another one first? Like, you might have decided that you weren't going to ask someone out until you had done something else that might impress them. For example, beating them at chess....or really, Japanese chess, also known as shogi. Look, I'm no expert at shogi or chess - the one time I can recall playing chess, I tried to play it with the checkers ruleset - but I have seen my fair share of romantic comedy anime. As of the time of me writing this review, the well-liked "Teasing Master Takagi-san" may not be among them, but a certain other anime from the same manga artist as Takagi-san is. No, it's not "In The Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki".

Now, dear readers, I must ask, "When Will Ayumu Make His Move?"

When Will Ayumu Make His Move, known in Japanese as "Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru", follows a certain shogi club at a certain high school. Its two members, club president Urushi Yaotome and first-year Ayumu Tanaka, play shogi together at pretty much every club meeting, with the former usually beating the latter. Ayumu never gives up on trying to beat Urushi, though, his main motivation being his crush on her; he has decided that he won't confess his feelings for her until he has beaten her fair and square at a shogi game. Meanwhile, Urushi suspects that Ayumu likes her and, although she's not aware of it, begins to develop her own feelings for him. From there, we get to see the rom-com and shogi shenanigans that these two get up to.

As I said at the beginning of this review, I'm no expert at shogi, and as such, I'm not sure if the moves that are made in the shogi games played in this anime are good moves or not. It might be better to ask someone who is actually good at shogi about things like that. However, it is the game of shogi that connects these two and allows us to see how cute they are as a couple. Their interactions can be a little frustrating as much as they are cute, however. Ayumu has a tendency to tease Urushi in a way that is obviously flirty, and Urushi's reactions make it clear that she feels the same way that he does, even if she doesn't realize it until the end. On multiple occasions, I have thought, "Come on, Ayumu! You might as well just confess now!" I guess I do have to respect him for sticking to his guns when it comes to when he's going to confess, though.

Surrounding Ayumu and Urushi is a cast of likable supporting characters. My favorite is probably Maki, Urushi's best friend; not only are her teasing antics quite fun to watch, but the way she's so supportive of her friend is very wholesome to see. Rin is another character that sticks out in my mind; although she doesn't appear until later in the series, she adds to the group dynamic of the shogi club in a fun way. The supporting characters I especially want to highlight, however, are Takeru and Sakurako, Ayumu's childhood friends and the anime's resident side couple. My feelings for their relationship are pretty much the same as my feelings for Ayumu and Urushi's relationship, as in I think they're cute and fun together and I really felt like they might as well just confess to each other already.

The animation studio behind When Will Ayumu Make His Move is Silver Link, who has had an extensive track record prior to when they released this anime in 2022. Unfortunately, I can't exactly say it's their best work; while the character and color designs were solid, the animation was a bit on the limited side, and even when there was movement, it sometimes felt a little stiff. Maybe "stiff" isn't the right word to describe it, but it just felt like the animation wasn't flowing as well as it could have been. At the very least, though, the voice acting and music make up for the limited animation. The voice acting is all very good with every character being well-cast, especially with Kana Hanazawa voicing Maki. Speaking of Kana Hanazawa, she sings the opening theme, "Kakehiki wa Poker Face", which is a cute song that fits the anime well. The same thing can be said about "50 cm", the ending theme that is sung by Urushi's voice actress, Kanna Nakamura. Even the background music is very cute!

Overall, When Will Ayumu Make His Move is a cute romantic comedy anime. If you want an anime that has at least a bit of a focus on shogi or want more from the manga artist behind Takagi-san, go ahead and give this a try. It will get you wondering exactly when Ayumu will make his move, too!