Tsukigakirei
月がきれい (Tsuki ga Kirei)
- Romance
- School
- Episodes
- 12
- Duration
- 24 min per ep
- Aired
- Apr 7, 2017 to Jun 30, 2017
- Status
- Finished Airing
Synopsis
A new school year reshuffles the classroom in Tsukigakirei, placing quiet, aspiring writer Kotarou Azumi alongside Akane Mizuno, a dedicated member of the track team, during their final year of junior high. They begin as strangers, but a handful of small, coincidental meetings gradually turns into a tender awareness—glances linger, nerves spark, and first love starts to take shape in ordinary moments.
As their feelings grow, so do the doubts that come with them. Misunderstandings, anxiety, and the pressure of other people’s attention make it hard to know what the other truly thinks, even when being together feels easy. Still, beneath the calm glow of a full moon, Kotarou finds the resolve to ask Akane a question that shifts their quiet connection into something more.
Otaku Consensus
Tsukigakirei earns its reputation as one of 2017’s most respected school romances by trusting Seiji Kishi’s restrained direction, Yuuko Kakihara’s patient series composition, and feel.’s original-production freedom to make awkward pauses and hesitant texting feel dramatically meaningful. Critics and fans consistently praise its grounded pacing and believable emotional growth; the recurring criticisms are that its quietness can read as slow and that some CG/background character work is noticeably less graceful than the intimate scenes.
Why You Should Watch
Watch Tsukigakirei if you want a romance built from nervous silences, phone-screen hesitation, and ordinary school routines rather than melodramatic contrivance. It scratches the same sincerity itch as Kimi ni Todoke, but with a leaner 12-episode structure and a more specifically middle-school sense of embarrassment; it also shares Just Because!’s interest in how graduation pressure changes teenage relationships, without drifting into ensemble sprawl. The appeal is precision: Kotarou’s writing and Akane’s athletics are not decorative hobbies, but parallel languages for effort, discipline, and self-doubt. If you like romance anime where a single reply message can carry more weight than a rooftop speech, this is one of the cleanest examples of the form.
Key Characters
- KKotarou Azumi(VA: Shouya Chiba)
Kotarou stands out because his aspiring-writer identity makes him observant without turning him into the usual hyper-articulate romance lead.
- AAkane Mizuno(VA: Konomi Kohara)
Akane’s track-team discipline gives her a quietly physical characterization, with stress and affection often expressed through habits rather than speeches.
- TTakumi Hira(VA: Atsushi Tamaru)
Takumi is the kind of romantic rival fans remember because his presence pressures the leads without flattening him into a villain.
- CChinatsu Nishio(VA: Rie Murakawa)
Chinatsu brings the show’s social tension into focus, making friendship, admiration, and romantic uncertainty feel tangled in a recognizably adolescent way.
What Makes It Stand Out
- 1
Tsukigakirei is an original TV anime from studio feel., not a manga or light-novel adaptation, which lets its 12-episode structure resolve around television pacing rather than source-volume milestones.
- 2
The production pairs original character designs by loundraw with animation character designs by Kazuaki Morita, giving the cast a soft, restrained look that matches the show’s low-key emotional register.
- 3
Yuuko Kakihara’s series composition favors incremental relationship beats over gag-driven escalation, a choice repeatedly singled out in viewer reviews as the reason the romance feels unusually realistic.
- 4
The show’s tag profile is unusually balanced for a school romance: Writing is a major motif alongside Athletics, making Kotarou and Akane’s inner lives legible through what they practice, not just what they confess.
- 5
AniList’s CGI tag reflects one of the production’s most visible quirks: the series uses computer-generated crowd and background movement in some school scenes, a point often noticed by viewers even when they praise the intimate direction.
Fun Facts & Trivia
- Fun fact 1
- The title Tsuki ga Kirei is tied to the Japanese phrase meaning “the moon is beautiful,” a culturally loaded romantic expression that gives the series its understated emotional signature.
- Fun fact 2
- Seiji Kishi directed the series, with Takashi Ikehata and Mitsuhiro Iwasaki credited as assistant directors, an unusually visible directorial team for such a deliberately quiet romance.
- Fun fact 3
- The main creative staff includes specialized prop designers Yui Fujii and Kenji Fujisaki, a fitting detail for a show where everyday objects like phones and school materials carry emotional weight.
- Fun fact 4
- On AniList, the series holds a 79/100 score and more than 4,400 favorites, showing that its reputation extends beyond its strong MyAnimeList reception.
- Fun fact 5
- The anime aired as a completed spring 2017 television run from April 7 to June 30, giving it a compact seasonal footprint rather than the long-tail release pattern of many romance adaptations.
Studios
- feel.
