Review of Tsukigakirei

STORY - 10 ART - 8 SOUND - 9 CHARACTER - 9 ENJOYMENT - 8 Every once in a while, a short breather is what we all need in life. Whenever you are ready for a calming anime that takes on the school romance genre, then Tsuki ga Kirei is there ready to take you in for a wonderful story about the innocent side of love. Two young teenagers, both strangers, noticed each other in their classroom. A bit of a push there and a pull here, and their romantic journey set off in the breeze. The story took on a realistic yet simple take to develop the relationship between thesetwo students. As they are still young people, the awkwardness of being in the presence of one another and the uncertainty of how to handle from here on out was refreshing to say the least. In short, there were no forced progression. The character development to learn their blossoming love had a good pacing that's not too fast nor too slow, all the way up to a satisfying ending. Other aspects were also present in the story such as the use of a messaging app (LINE) which reinforces the modern and realistic narrative, and then there were the family and ambition subplot in the mix too. These helped in telling a different perspective on their love life, not only because they shifted the focus to other things that we all experienced in our personal life, they also added drama into the story. Thankfully, no heavy drama were present as it was simply not needed to engage the audience with emotions. A mere natural human feeling can be enough to do the trick and this anime executed it well when the characters expressed their own feelings in handling some of the obstacles they faced. Though there were some characters that were not needed, it wasn't enough to take away from the focus on the main relationship.

Art style nailed in giving the modern look of a Japanese suburb. It wasn't fancy, but the peacefulness gave the story a more pleasant experience. While some scenes did look clumsy animation-wise, particularly in the CGI and running/walking sections, overall, the movements suited the atmosphere the anime had going on. Strong white highlights in the hair conveyed an innocent, almost child-like, desire for a yearning love. It established the learning attitude of young people and this time, it's in the curiosity of a romantic relationship and how one should go about it. The audio part didn't really stand out compared to the story except for the fact that they were soothing. But in the last few episodes, the use of insert songs really did bring out the emotions within me. Basically, they complemented well with the scenes at the end of each episode. I also wanted to bring out that I found the 'Huh's and 'Ah's and 'Uh's of the main couple to be purely adorable to hear, even though it was a recurring thing. They were cute during their interactions with one another, making me smile everytime I see these scenes.

Simpleness might not be a thing for everyone, but a consistent and heartwarming romantic story like Tsuki ga Kirei is enjoyable to watch, even if it's on a one episode every two or so days basis. It's an honest narrative about a developing love between two young teens, a straightforwardly beautiful experience.