tsuki ga kirei first impressions

One thing I noticed about most romance anime series is how the MCs unrealistically met and fell in love with each other. I've read too many manga and watched too many anime with the following romantic plot:

- Guy discovers girl's biggest secret, asks her to be his GF or else secret will be leaked, falls in love.

- Girl does something unforgivable to the guy, guy makes the girl his slave, falls in love.

- Guy accidentally falls on top of the girl, lips kissed, got interested, falls in love.

- Girl punches or kicks the super hot guy, guy gets interested, follows girl around, falls in love.

- Guy makes a promise to his childhood friend, grows up, finds each other, falls in love.

Yea, yea, it's anime - where the unusual becomes so uncommonly usual. I'm not complaining. In fact, I love those romance anime even with these unrealistic types of plots as long as the story grabs a hold of my maiden heart. 💖

However, out of all the romance anime I've watched, Tsuki ga Kirei has the most believable romance plot - one that's closest to real life. So let me tell you first about its story.

Tsuki ga Kirei is a developing romance between two junior high school students who became classmates for the first time. Akane Mizuno, the Girl MC, noticed a bunch of guys who are happily and loudly talking to each other during their first day of being a third year student in junior high. And among the loud bunch is the timid Guy MC named Kotarou Azumi. There's no special reason but Akane suddenly finds herself absentmindedly staring at Kotarou, which is also the same case for him. Little both MCs know that this is the start of their love story. 😇

Without going the unusual love comedy route, or having too hot guys and super cute girls to take the main roles, Tsuki ga Kirei delivers a strong first episode portraying the awkwardness and uneasiness when you're around with the person you like.

While Akane and Kotarou are not aware of their feelings yet, they are nervous and uneasy when bumping to each other. They don't talk (if it's not needed). They do their own business in school. And they only exchange furtive glances.

The build up of romance in this series is rather slow which somehow reminds me of Makoto Shinkai's Garden of Words. But because of their super slow love development (which is pretty normal in real life), you look forward to watching the next episode.

So if you're up to some anime romance this Spring 2017 season, Tsuki ga Kirei won't disappoint.