Anime ATM 102 Tsuki ga Kirei

Well, we can thank the corona virus for one thing. Since we're in social distancing/quarantine/self-isolation/shelter in place or whatever you want to call it, I've had a lot of free time this spring break. Of course since we're not going back to physical university and I've moved back home indefinitely, truly I've had a lot of time to contemplate whether or not I should keep posting on this blog. Because I schedule these to come out every week, actually I haven't been writing blog posts for somewhere over 3-ish months? That's a little scary isn't it? And actually I've been finishing some manga and webtoons that I've been following, but I never really wrote a blog post about them just because I felt like I had nothing really interesting or valuable to add to the conversation. However, I remembered recently that the reason I started this blog was more so for me to document what I watched and what my feelings were for myself. And so, I probably won't update this blog weekly, but rather just whenever I finish a series and I want to talk about it? Or we'll have to see. Maybe because of the corona virus I'll be really bored and just watch lots of stuff I want to blog about. Also, I'm grateful that we've come so far that most people have forgotten about this cringy blog. Phew.

Anyways, here we go with another Anime ATM! 

{Spoilers, but it's just really fluffy romance so you know what'll happen approximately}

Okay so recollect your feelings and sentiments from middle school. You're awkward. You don't know what you're going to do with your future. You have big aspirations but don't know what to do with them. You're not quite mature enough to be considered a full-fledged teenager or young adult, but you're also not a baby. 

Now, transport your middle school self to Japanese middle school with the same sentiments and you're in the middle of 2 love triangles. And that's Tsuki ga Kirei: The Synopsis. You're welcome.

Just kidding, in all seriousness I think it encapsulates what it means to grow up as an adolescent and not really know what you're doing. It's a really sweet romance between two unlikely middle school classmates and their awkward and mellow relationship. And then there's 2 love triangles with an unrequited love for each of them. Yikes. 

So there's Akane who's this really shy and anxious middle schooler. She's on the track and field team because she really enjoys running. On the track she seems really cool and graceful, but off the track she's super anxious and easily embarrassed. 

And then there's Kotarou. He's a soft-spoken, gentle kind of guy that's lost in his head a lot. He thinks in quotes from serious classical literature authors and sticks by what those teach him about life and love. He aspires to be like these authors and also writes serious literature for writing contests, although the results are often disappointing. 

The two fall in love despite not having a whole lot in common. Or rather, Kotarou confesses to Akane out of the blue after exchanging a few words and having a few interactions. And then Akane agrees, but I can't remember if she ever said she liked him back. She just said that she wanted to talk to him more...which is close enough? 

And their whole relationship highlights some of the troubles you have when you're in middle school and you don't want anyone to know you're dating so you keep it a secret, but also you can't really meet each other because you normally wouldn't have anything to do with one another but love is a funny thing. Also you're both middle school students so you can't go on legitimate dates because neither of you have money. 

But despite all of this, the show is really endearing. I think it's pretty true to the realities that middle school romance has to come to terms with and it's overall really sweet. 

The one thing I didn't really like was Akane's track friend Chinatsu. This girl was so pushy and insistent on confessing to Kotarou for closure even though she could tell it made Akane uncomfortable. And just the whole thing whenever she would interact with the two of them like in the amusement park episode, that was really bad. But also, I think if you were in a similar situation, you might have a different opinion and be able to empathize with Chinatsu. But even this was pretty realistic because if your friend does fall in love with the same guy, it's not always pretty. Thank goodness Akane was mature about it and didn't turn the whole show into a soap opera. 

One kind of random thing I enjoyed about the show was all of the little short clips at the end of some of the episodes. They played after the ED and showed other characters and their little side stories which I found to be endearing. 

I chose this anime as the first one to watch after a long time because it had a pretty high MAL rating. i will say that the scenery B-roll shots were beautiful and I enjoyed how they told a full story going from middle school romance and then at the very end showing through their LINE messages how they stayed together and ended up getting married, but I'm confused on how it got such a high score. I would say it's really cute and pretty realistic (idk though I'm no love expert so :) ) but I'm not sure I would recommend it just because I feel like there's more engaging romance stories out there? But I mean romance doesn't always have to be engaging, exciting, or a whirlwind romance. Some people prefer when it's more of a slow-burn which I totally get. In that case, I think that you would really enjoy it. 

One other thing, if you do end up watching the anime, please keep an eye on Akane's drawstring knapsack. I swear in every episode it's a different size. But maybe I'm just crazy. 

Okay, bye! Until next time~