Review of Tsukigakirei

Beautiful. Top romance for sure. No ghosts, no characters with dramatic personalities, no cheating or backstabbing, no cliffhanger at the end , no cheesey plot devices.. Beautiful, simple story about two people who fall in love and their struggle making their relationship work. The plot is very simple overall. We are subtly dropped into the lives of two strangers who seem to fall in love at first sight but are too inexperienced to handle it. We get to follow them through their journey and experience the ups and downs with them. I love how this show depicts a relationship and explores the effort people willput in to make a relationship work. This is what sets it apart for me. Nothing is perfect or convenient. Real situations, real struggles, real people working for each other.

Characters were realistic in every way: their personalities, the actions they took, their reactions to conflict, their struggle vs themselves... excellent. I love Akane so much. The way she handles her friends, her sister, and her boyfriend are all perfect. How she's a vulnerable girl who finds strength in herself. If I have a daughter I would love for her to resemble this character. Total sweetheart. Koutoro was a bit of a drag especially early on. So many times I wished he would step up and talk to her and help her out especially early on. But we're talking young kids with no experience in love so he's forgivable.

Visually strong. Artwork is solid, cgi is solid. Some character designs were weak but they were side characters so in a way this aids the story by informing of context. This genre doesn't really ask for much so I feel like the artwork was pretty well done. More effort than some for sure.

I adore this show. I watch a fair amount of romance oriented shows and every time I watch one I'd hoped for exactly this. A straight forward, no gimmicks show about people and what they will do for one another. This show hit me personally. My own story is very similar though the ending was quite different. Will watch again for sure. Love love love.