Review of Tsukigakirei

Tsuki ga Kirei was an anime that I overlooked back in 2017, and I regret doing that. The show is unique and does the opposite of what most romance anime currently airing do. Most current romance anime consist of large drama and romantic rivals that create a complex love web that the main character has to fight in to declare his love. They normally have these difficult situations the characters have to band together to get over. Sure there were some situations for the characters to get over, but they were all very real and there weren’t as many. The show uses simpler techniques to getan emotion out of you. They use changes in the characters' way of speaking with each other, changes in voice acting, amazing background music, and the lack of music in scenes create a mood to make you understand and get attached to the characters and story.

The story of Tsuki ga Kirei is a simple one. It follows both protagonists, Azumi and Akane, and their journey to do what they love while holding up a relationship and falling in love. They both struggle with maintaining both and having a clear mindset. Their mindsets are also shown with quotes from “Osamu Dazai,” a legendary novelist from the early to mid-1900s. There is no big drama or other things to really distract you from the romance plot. This further highlights the amazingly presented story and lets the show have 12 episodes while making you extremely invested in the characters.

The pacing was really good. As stated earlier, this is mainly due to the straightforward storytelling and lack of drama from outside of the relationship. It felt like 12 episodes were all they needed and they used them effectively. Back to Dazai’s quotes, they also use this to show where they are in their relationship. I may be jumping now, but during the ed, you see a moon that slowly becomes a full moon, representing the growth of their relationship.

The show focuses on Azumi and Akane. Azumi is someone who wants to be a writer. It’s his dream, and you see him constantly reading works and practicing often to try to improve. He is shown to grow throughout the story and mature at the pace he’s supposed to. He’s going into high school and is trying to get a new grasp on the world. They present this amazingly, by not including extra unnecessary information about his character, so you can grow attached and understand the principle of his character.

Akane is a smart and athletic girl who is running on the track team. She is someone that has to deal with constantly moving around due to her dad’s job, so she can’t fully build relationships with people. She also struggles with constant failures on the track, even though you see her put so much time and effort into improving her time and having success when not in an actual competition. She deals with anxiety and has this potato plush that she squishes whenever she gets nervous.

Both of these characters feel very much like actual children and enhance each other as they grow together. These realistic characters allow you to enjoy the 12 episodes you spend with them. You won’t get annoyed at them since they are young, real children that were created to be efficient and not have much outside of what’s necessary.
The side characters were also really good. They helped provide some substance for the small situations, and even some for the larger (not really that large) ones. The parents were some of the more important of the supporting characters, which is rare. They supported or went against the main characters’ wishes. They acted like their kids were what they wanted, but also supported them, just like what a real parent should and could be.

The art style in Tsuki ga Kirei was beautiful. It had white outlines for the character, with great colour palettes. It was simple yet beautiful. The animation on the other hand suffered a bit. It was kinda eh. There were a lot of CGI crowds and other things that took you out of the moment.

The sound design in Tsuki ga Kirei was immaculate. The voice acting was extremely believable. The characters sounded young and their age. They portrayed so much emotion in their lines and it really brought out their characters. In each episode, the characters’ speech changed a little bit when they talked to each other. From the start with their awkwardness around each other to the end where you can hear the cries in their voices.

The OST was also amazing. It contained extremely well-composed music, with an occasional vocal insert every now and then. They really had some emotional music that complemented the scenes extremely well, which makes the OST very memorable for me.

The op was pretty emotional, especially as you go on throughout the show. You feel the beat-drop more and more as the episodes pass.

The ed was better than the op in my opinion. It was beautifully presented, showing the relationship between Akane and Azumi grow throughout the story, and I can never forget that last episode.

Overall, this show provides you with a simple story and characters, built with depth, as realistic and efficient as possible. It provided immaculate sound design, soundtracks, voice acting, and emotional moments. The only flaw is a small budget that couldn’t provide the animation needed to heighten the emotion.