Review of Tsukigakirei
(Minor Spoilers Ahead) Tsuki Ga Kirei is a heartwarming tale of how far a pure first love romance can go. Starting it in middle school with protagonists that are so young and pure it’s hard not to smile with childlike glee when you see them do things for the first time. In fact it’s ironic that these 2 middle schoolers manage to do more than an entire decade of To Love Ru has accomplished. Plot/Character Development 9/10 None, and I mean none of this what was that I can’t hear you nonsense with a confession, no endless circles or beating around the bush, it’s straight and to thepoint and I like that. Nowadays romance animes seem to try and milk as much screentime as possible out of the show, (mainly due to the majority of them being Light Novel adaptations after all), it’s refreshing to see the pace of how this show was planned out. The main events happen early on to kick start the relationship off yet it manages to not feel forced or rushed at all. It actually seems genuinely believable how this relationship started. You see how they start it off as being awkward to each other and nervous to even talk to another since it’s their first time to becoming more and more accustomed to one another as time goes on in a natural progression that you can actually see happening in a real life situation. Sufficient character development is made with the main characters and they even manage to fit side character development in the span of 12 episodes as well. You can see the tension and anxiety they experience from making choices that could potentially be irreversible and destroy friendships with ones they hold dear with.
Music 10/10
Excellent and I mean damn excellent. The Opening and Ending themes deserve standing ovations on their own but the music in between episodes is absolutely outstanding as well. The music picks are absolutely perfect and actually add a layer of depth to the scene being watched unlike many shows nowadays who add music to a scene to fill the awkward silence or to hide the awkwardness of how some of the lines sound.
Animation 7/10
This is where it gets a bit murky, and you can tell they were definitely trying to cut costs with this one. The art on the main characters and side characters themselves are great, the style itself reminds me of a beautiful rendition of a water coloring drawing and is fantastic on the eyes, at least in my opinion. But dear God the usage of CGI was apparent and often, I’d say on the level of Berserk 2016 bad. You’ll notice within the first 2 minutes of watching the show these stick figures walking they attempted to mold into a human being right next to actual animated characters and that contrast completely breaks immersion while watching the show. If the usage wasn’t that often, I wouldn’t have minded or docked off that much but it is painfully apparent the scope of what they were trying to portray would not fit into the budget they wanted and tried to make due with CGI which was a bad decision in my opinion. The background characters made by CGI look like Kokeshi dolls and I’m not pulling your leg.
Wrap Up
Tsuki Ga Kirei is an excellent short foray into the romance genre that gets where it needs to be in the span of 12 episodes. There are no loose ends, and you feel fulfilled by the end when you’ve finished it (at least I did binging the thing till 6 AM). Character development is done well despite the episode limits you have unlike certain other romance shows *cough cough Nisekoi*. The Music is an award winner in my book and the art can hold it’s own for the most part if you don’t count the awful large usage of CGI. Is it worth a watch? Yes, every minute of your time spent watching this won’t feel wasted and you’ll end coming out of it feeling truly content with everything wrapped up nicely with a bow tie.
Final Score 9/10