When it comes to romance, few things are as painful as unrequited — or unnoticed — love. But making your feelings known can be scary. Who wants to be rejected, especially by someone you feel is The One? No one.

In “The Girl I Like,” Shinya Tamada’s relationship drama based on an essay by comedian Naoki Matayoshi, the main character stoutly maintains his "just friends" status with a woman he clearly longs for. Is he a nice guy, an immature boy who needs to grow up or just a coward? The film, which Tamada also scripted, considers all these possibilities with nuance, humor and, in the end, pathos.

Whenever I’m about to dismiss the protagonist, Kato (Daichi Watanabe), with the contempt he seemingly deserves, he says or does something that makes me reconsider, for the moment.