Hold back nothing when taking love.
What They Say:
It’s the third year of middle school. Kotaro, a bookish boy aspiring to become a novelist, and Akane, a track girl who loves to run, meet in the same class together for the first time. They’re put in charge of the equipment for the sports festival, and slowly grow closer via LINE. How does Kotaro deal with his growing feelings for her? Meanwhile, Takumi has been in love with Akane since first year, and Akane’s friend, Chinatsu, becomes interested in Kotaro. A refreshing story of young love set in Kawagoe.
The Review:
Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review may contain spoilers)
After an unexpected recap episode last week, Tsukigakirei gets back into the swing of things with a spontaneous group trip to the amusement park. Considering Kotarou and Akane's relationship hasn't exactly been made public yet, the trip is a little awkward for both of them. What is even more awkward, however, is that Chinatsu is being overly flirty with Akane's boyfriend literally right in front of her. And in case that wasn't enough of a conflict, Hira starts trying to win over Akane. Why can't everyone just let this adorable couple do their own thing? Oh, that's right. Because neither of them are frickin' brave enough to just tell their friends about it.
Afraid of drifting further away from his girlfriend (Again), Kotarou decides that he needs to step up. Somehow or another, Hira and Akane wind up getting lost somewhere in the park together. After being completely inconspicuous in asking everyone if they have seen Akane, Kotarou is able to track her down and, in an unprecedented moment of heroism, split her apart from Hira and reclaim his woman. Unfortunately, Kotarou shatters two hearts in the process seeing as he straight-up tells Hira to get his hands off of Akane while Chinatsu watches from the background. And even though I'm clearly not rooting for Chinatsu, it was still upsetting seeing her cry when her crush walked away holding her best friend's hand. To be fair, though, what did she expect? She knows these two are dating.
Finally, after a nerve-wracking twelve minutes, our couple is reunited. And, with some help from Roman and Hira, everyone leaves them alone. It is not out in the open that Akane and Kotarou are dating and, hopefully, everyone will leave them alone from now on. Chinatsu finally makes her way back to her friends with her eyes still red from crying. From that point, it doesn't take the rest of the girls very long to figure out why. Sticking together like a pack of wolves, the remaining girls kick into serious-mode and do their best to console a clearly distraught Chinatsu. Then, as everything dies down, the inevitable episode-ending fireworks light up the sky, resulting in an inevitable almost-kiss that is inevitably broken up by a little girl with a mouth too loud for her own good. Of course, Kotarou and Akane burst into laughter and the episode comes to a close with them being one step closer to a happy, healthy relationship. Well, at least until someone else wants to try and ruin everything.
In Summary:
After an abrupt and slightly confusing start due to lack of context, Tsukigakirei winds up regaining its footing in the latter half of this episode. With a bit more sentiment and suspense than normal, the seventh installment of this series stays on track with the rest and puts an end to a few current conflicts. The relationship between our protagonists is finally out in the open and our hearts can finally rest. However, I expect it won't be long until things begin the get dramatic again. After all, this is a middle school romance series. Regardless, several intimate moments in this week's episode preserve the high quality of content we've grown accustomed to leeching from Tsukigakirei. As always, I'm excited to see what the future holds.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
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