Tsukigakirei Episode #06 Anime Review

People exist for love and revolution.

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)

And so begins to slope toward inevitable tragedy. At the end end of last week's episode, Akane received a text from Chinatsu about how she was [also] falling for Kotarou. Not knowing how to approach the situation, Akane decides it's best to not even bring it up to him. Of course, it's easy to tell that she just doesn't want her boyfriend to even be remotely aware of other girls and their potential feelings for him. And as possessive as that last sentence may seem, it really isn't when you think about it. When push comes to shove, Akane is scared -- the same way anyone else would be if they were thrust into the same situation. The secret begins to eat away at Akane's psyche, and with the next track meet rapidly approaching, she doesn't have much time to figure things out.

Meanwhile, things aren't all that easy for Kotarou either. Out of nowhere, he receives a call from a publishing company interested in meeting with him. Knowing well that he must jump at this opportunity, he cancels his plan to attend Akane's track meet and heads off to meet with the editor of ABC Publishing instead. The meeting, however, doesn't go as he expected. The editor essentially tells Kotarou to give up on pursuing his literature and work on light novels instead. Throughout the entire meeting, Kotarou isn't even able to speak. I mean, having someone rip your heart out in front of you and offer you a kidney won't do much good. In fact, it wouldn't do any good. That isn't how the body works...But I digress. The parallels between Kotarou and Akane remain just as prevalent as ever. When one of them has a good day, so does the other. But that notion is also reversed. And, in this episode, no one has a good day.

After miserably failing her track meet due to the mass amount of teen drama cycling through her cranium, Akane finally manages to have an actual conversation with Chinatsu about the whole Azumi thing. And while it seems to be going pretty darn well for the first 75% of it, Chinatsu turns things around and declares that she wants to confess to Akane's freakin' boyfriend. This completely shifts the mood of the scene and leaves our female protagonist's jaw nailed to the ground as she becomes incapable of uttering a single word. Here we have her best friend in the entire world, who she just semi-poured her heart out to, straight-up tell her to her face that she's going to profess her love to her boyfriend. And, as always, the episode comes to a close -- but not before leaving yet another lasting impression on us.

Tsukigakirei is oozing with so much sentiment that you would need a graduated cylinder to measure it.

In Summary:

At what is presumably (But not hopefully) its halfway point, Tsukigakirei remains just as precious as ever. Seeing the relationship between Akane and Kotarou flourish is a bit like reliving when it first happened to you. The addition of Chinatsu into the puddle of hormonal goodness definitely stirs things up but makes for several more adorable scenarios in which Akane must race against the clock to ensure that her affection for Kotarou remains unblemished. There's also a beautiful, Shinkai-inspired musical interlude in this episode that manages to flawlessly illustrate the growth of both Akane and Kotarou in the series thus far. It's things like this that are going to make it hard to accept when the series comes to a close.

Grade: A-

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Tsukigakirei Episode #05 Anime Review

There is one thing humans have that other creatures do not: secrets.

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)

Following Akane's vague acceptance of Kotarou's confession at the end of last week's episode, the two are now officially a couple. The only problem now is that they don't know how to break it to their friends. Apart from Chinatsu's innate ability to discern what's going on between these two, no one else really has any clue that they even know each other. Of course, this leads to problems at school considering there is never a window of opportunity for them to meet up. And even though Akane and Kotarou share the same homeroom, they still seem miles apart. This week's episode centers around both parties attempting to close that gap while a new problem begins to loom on the horizon.

We've all had a 'secret' person in our lives at some time or another. Whether it be an unlikely friend from a different clique or a significant other we just don't have the courage to bring up to anyone, the human heart works in mysterious ways. And when you're in middle school, that heart is working overtime. Confused and lovestruck, Kotarou and Akane shamelessly take to the Internet in an effort to find out how dating even works in the first place. In fact, they become so obsessed with one another that they begin to fall behind in both school and their clubs. Eventually, after several failed attempts at meeting up, the couple figures out a way to be alone together -- albeit just for a little while. Considering their first attempt at this was "accidentally" shot down by Chinatsu, Kotarou plans to make the best out of finally being alone with his new girlfriend. And just when things are going perfectly, it all comes crashing down.

Out of nowhere, Chinatsu texts Akane admitting that she has a crush on Kotarou. Now, it's pretty evident that Chinatsu knows there's something going on between these two, so she's either being a great friend and coming clean about it or she's flat out trying to steal Akane's man. Either way, the drama-ship has finally set sail and I can't imagine it turning around anytime soon. Of course, Akane is shocked by this and can't even figure out how to process it -- getting stuck in awkwardly glances from her phone back to her boyfriend, incapable of even speaking. If there's anything we've learned about Tsukigakirei thus far is that it loves its cliffhanger endings. And, of course, the episode comes to a close as soon as this love triangle is formed. The new question is, how long will this crush remain unknown to Kotarou and what will it do to the couple?

In Summary:

I normally love when romance shows take dramatic, upsetting turns, but this is probably the one time I didn't want something like this to happen. The budding, innocent relationship that Kotarou and Akane have been building toward since the start of the series is already facing problems and we're not even at the halfway point. The even more frustrating part of this is that Chinatsu isn't even a bad character -- she's pretty much just as likeable as Akane. She hasn't done anything wrong whatsoever. Tsukigakirei is already making it impossible for us to take sides considering there is no character in the series that is purely evil. They're all just middle school kids trying to make the best of what little time they have left. Watching that fall apart is something my heart won't be able to handle and the week-long gap between episodes is going to hurt twice as much just because of this. 

Grade: B+

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Tsukigakirei Episode #04 Anime Review

Is that your answer?

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)

We've already gotten the school athletics festival early on in Tsukigakirei, so the idea of another landmark event happening so soon after is pretty implausible. Well, at least that's what I thought before going into this week's episode only to find out that it's time for a field trip to Kyoto. Of course, with field trips come chaperones and with chaperones come strict itineraries and rules. And, considering how much we've learned from other field trips in anime, there is only so much free time allotted per outing. The question, now, is how Kotarou and Akane going to spend their respective free time.

Last week's episode ended with the confession. Early on in this week's episode, we learn that Akane had the incredibly roundabout answer of, "I need some time to decide," which is just as painful to hear as 'no' for us most of us viewers. Still hanging on for what Akane's answer may be, Kotarou remains glued to his phone the way he always is -- just, this time, he isn't allowed to be as cell phones are strictly prohibited during the field trip. This turns the tables from episode three when Akane was incapable of answer Kotarou (After her phone died) and gives her a taste of how it feels to not have her texts replied to be the ones she [obviously] yearns for -- despite her roundabout answer to being asked out days prior.

The most difficult part of all of this is that the last text Kotarou was able to send to Akane was a message asking him if she wanted to meet up during free time tomorrow. Of course, Akane gets roped in by her friends and can't stop thinking about Kotarou's request. Eventually, her friends catch wind of her wanting to be somewhere else and essentially force her to split up with them and go be wherever she wants to be. But Kyoto is large and, of course, Kotarou had to choose a colossal department store with many entrances as their meeting place. With neither party knowing where the other is (Or if the other is even coming, for that matter), the two frantically search for each other during a torrential downpour. It isn't until Kotarou runs into Chinatsu that this tension is quelled. Apparently, Chinatsu figured out Kotarou's feelings for Akane somewhere down the line and helps give him the push he needed to meet with her. And, after a painstaking, Shinkai-esque several minutes, the distance between our prospective lovers is closed and Akane gives yet another roundabout answer to Kotarou's confession -- this one being a bit more positive than the last.

In Summary:

Tsukigakirei remains as consistent as it has been the last several weeks in yet another romantically suspenseful and endearing fourth episode. With a few of the side characters having a bit more exposure than normal, the pacing of this episode moves along briskly while still highlighting the physical and emotional distance between Kotarou and Akane. The scenery of Kyoto showcased in this episode bumps of the visuals several steps but does not shy from the relatively minimalist approach Tsukigakirei takes as a whole. All in all, this is another impressive installment to what I would call the most adorable show of Spring 2017.

Grade: A-

Streamed By: Crunchyroll