Tsuki ga Kirei (As the Moon, So Beautiful) Series Review

<p>Anime is something truly special&period; Within the medium&comma; there stand multiple shows that are one season long without any action&comma; fights&comma; or overly dramatic scenes with beautiful animation to accompany it&period; <em>Tsuki ga Kirei<&sol;em> and <em>Your Lie in April<&sol;em> are two excellent examples of shows that tell a down to earth story beautifully without taking it to one extreme or the other&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Tsuki ga Kirei<&sol;em> perfectly encapsulates being a teenager in love&period; Akane Mizuno and Kotorou Azumi are two awkward middle schoolers who meet each other on the first day of class&period; When they see each other&comma; they both get nervous&period; Through a series of circumstances&comma; they begin to message each other on their phones&period; The process to which they start to talk to each other is so organic&semi; they&&num;8217&semi;re awkward at first in person&comma; but as they connect on the LINE messaging app on their phones&comma; they begin to get more comfortable meeting each other in person&period; The rumor mongering of the classroom about who&&num;8217&semi;s going out with whom also brings back memories of middle school life&period; What works really well in <em>Tsuki ga Kirei<&sol;em> is the distance that is created between Akane&comma; her friends&comma; and Azumi&semi; without spoiling too much&comma; this aspect is effective within the plot and feels heartbreakingly natural&period; One fault that could be brought up is that the side characters aren&&num;8217&semi;t as fleshed out as they should be&period; Most of Akane and Kotorou&&num;8217&semi;s friends are really generic and don&&num;8217&semi;t add to the story&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;127290" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-127290" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"wp-image-127290" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;07&sol;10003607&sol;19801015&lowbar;1322918204493551&lowbar;794811272720958804&lowbar;o&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-127290" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Tsuki ga Kirei &lpar;As the Moon&comma; So Beautiful&rpar;&comma; feel&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>What also works is how Akane and Kotorou progress as characters and how it shows how much they care for each other&period; Without spoiling too much&comma; Kotorou goes to great lengths for Akane&period; The series ends in a satisfying conclusion due to the wonderfully crafted progression of their relationship&period; Another aspect to bring up is that I appreciated how much of the culture was shown in this anime with the Kawagoe Festival &lpar;<a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;kawagoematsuri&period;jp&sol;English&sol;index&period;html">which is actually a real event<&sol;a>&rpar; and the town&&num;8217&semi;s locales&semi; it made me want to go to Japan even more&period; There are a few points that linger too much in the narrative&comma; when situations have already been solved&period; But perhaps that uncertainty of a middle school relationship is ever more present because of this&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The characters have a cutesy art style that works with the premise of the story&comma; and the environments are simply to the standard but beautiful&period; Character expressions are beautifully illustrated within <em>Tsuki ga Kirei<&sol;em> as Akane&comma; Kotorou&period; The rest of the cast awkwardly talk to each other and express how they feel &lpar;in sometimes desperate ways&rpar;&period; There are some memorable scenes due to its art direction as well&comma; and the festivals are drawn in a vibrant manner&period; However&comma; they start each episode with a really awkward scene with horribly made CG characters going to school&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s really off-putting&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Every voice actor nails their characters&period; Their performances are believable and they time their lines perfectly&period; You can hear how hurt or elated each character is from their deliveries as well&period; The soundtrack contains wonderful melodies that compliment the sweet and sad scenes in <em>Tsuki ga Kirei<&sol;em>&semi; they may be repeated a little too often within the 12 episode series&comma; but the themes work well with the melancholic nature of the anime&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Tsuki ga Kirei &lpar;As the Moon&comma; So Beautiful&rpar;<&sol;em> is a down to earth story that successfully hits all the melodrama of a middle school relationship and how it affects those around&period; The animation greatly illustrates the awkwardness of being a teenager&comma; which is complimented by good vocal talent&comma; and the anime has a natural progression with its storytelling&comma; which crescendos in a satisfying fashion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;