First Impressions / Tsuki ga Kirei

「走れメロス!」 (Hashire merosu!)
“Run, Melos!”

This week, where do I even start… oh my! There is so much to say and I may have written too much. Apologies in advance! As compensation, I’ve made two wholesome photoshops for this episode.

Top Ten Anime Betrayal Spring 2017

Akane should have known better than to clue Ayane in on her potential relationship because Ayane really milked her dry in front of their parents. Heck, I didn’t know whose reactions I loved the most in this amazing scene, between Akane’s apparent annoyance, Ayane’s gleeful crowing, or Otou-san and Okaa-san’s shock.

The Library Meetup with Kotarou
I thought Akane would get down to the crux of the matter and lay out Chinatsu’s crush to Kotarou. This she did not. But it was considerate for Akane not to bring up the issue so soon in light of Kotarou’s good news.

The way our couple celebrated Kotarou’s success was simple. But in its simplicity, it transgresses what words can describe with the feelings being elicited. Being together and happy for one another is really nice. Their puppy love just makes me go hnnng, especially when they have no business making such a cute pinky promise together!

Confrontation with Chinatsu
Chinatu’s consequent response to Akane confirmed my suspicions from last week – Chinatsu fully well knows what she is doing. She knew that Akane was extremely shy and suffered from severe bouts of anxiety. Yet she still went for the jugular and chose to turn Akane’s world upside down with that text.

Though ultimately I’m conflicted. Chinatsu hasn’t actually done anything wrong. She’s prioritising her personal interest at the expense of making Akane feel very uncomfortable. I want people to understand that receiving closure possesses something of inherent value. Sure, it’s pretty damn selfish of Chinatsu to forge ahead stubbornly like that, but at least she did so honestly and openly without resorting to lies.

I was happy to see Chinatsu and Akane engage in productive communications and quell the potential for misunderstandings to arise, even if Chinatsu seemed to take a fairly underhanded approach both figuratively and literally. I acknowledge things aren’t always so simple but still look forwards to seeing how the situation develops once Chinatsu confesses to Kotarou.

Aspirations and Journeys
Not that I expected Kotarou to have an easy ride in his dreams of becoming an author, but he sure received a harsh reality check that I can’t help feeling sorry. Seriously, the kid receives quite some undeserved chastisement from people around him. His mother is against it and he just took a long journey into the city, only to be told by a publisher that he lacks talent. The sleazebag publisher even tries to harangue Kotarou into becoming a light novel author (*gasp*). Scumbag Kadokawa Kadoyama, I demand you cease and desist!

The Athletic Meetup
As much as I enjoyed the insert song which was excellent as always, I held an inkling of suspicion that it was a calm before the storm. Unfortunately, my intuition was spot on.

My heart started racing before anything began, in dread that something might go horribly wrong. You could see Akane was really nervous and fidgety. Then Hira started shouting, and I knew something was about to go horribly wrong.

Hira and Akane always seem to meet at the cusp of sunset during twilight. Their conversation felt like a knife edge, since his attraction to her presents a threat to Kotarou. But I can’t ignore the fact Hira was being a good person and genuinely helped Akane out with all his kindness. We didn’t get to see Akane cry, but watching her turn away to hide her stifled sobs proved a powerful moment nonetheless.

A Capriccio Played by an Awakening Love
I wanted Akane and Kotarou to figuratively lick each other’s wounds. Let’s not even get started on the idea of literally. And their subsequent meetup showed precisely what I wanted to see from them – depending on each other in times of difficulty and serving as catalysts for each other’s growths. I was worried that they would put the romance on a break to focus on their aspirations, but they communicated effectively and avoided such an outcome, strengthening their relationship in the process.

Akane’s support of Kotarou is even more special, contrasting the lack thereof from Kotarou’s mother and Kadoyama’s publisher. Mark my words, she will become his muse of inspiration when he pays homage to Dazai’s ‘The Schoolgirl’, regardless of whether their relationship comes into fruition by surviving into adulthood. Akane has already left one of the strongest impressions possible upon Kotarou – the impression of first love.

Concluding Thoughts
For an episode that did not pile on excessive amounts of melodrama, I experienced an unusual yet fulfilling emotional rollercoaster. Not many words can put my feelings into perspective, yet I can’t help but slowly find my love for Tsuki ga Kirei truly awaken. You may wonder how it has only taken me until now. Don’t get me wrong, it was a matter of requiring certainty. After developing trust issues watching many lacklustre romances that went on to disappoint, I’m finally allowing myself to hope that Tsuki ga Kirei delivers its romance purely, in a non-contrived manner. Is this too much to ask for? Only time can tell but the future sure looks promising!

 

Omake

 

Sakura’s Fantasies – Considering Kotarou is not in Sakura’s fantasy of boys fighting for her attention, I can breathe a sigh of relief. Sakura’s character design was more detailed than what you would expect for a simple background character, hence my concern of her potential to bring melodrama to the table. Pretty funny seeing the fantasy being crudely dashed, by our Kabedon guy no less.

Miu and Inaba – Probably a tossup between this and the Kabedon couple for my favourite omake mini-series. Poor Inaba, there’s no way he can win! To be fair, he already went further than I expected because I thought he would fail to clear Level 1. Even more hilarious was his exasperation with the selfies, though it is good Inaba seems to like Miu earnestly in spite of all her perceivable flaws. They’re such a cute and likeable pair, so I’ll be rooting for them as well!

Ryouko-sensei and Roman – At this point, I have to admit I’m getting pretty tired of Ryouko and Roman. There is no inherent problem with having them as a pairing but the execution of the gags revolving around them have become stale, leaving much to be desired.

 

28 Comments

    1. If anything, I’ve become extremely confident in and its ability to resolve pressing problems in a short period of time.

      I’d probably chalk Chinatsu’s persistence down towards valuing that closure, and I doubt she means anything malicious by it. This kind of behaviour is rather consistent if you consider that she managed to get close to someone shy like Akane and that she frequently seemed to tag along with Kotarou once her interest started to develop.

      Zaiden
      Reply

  2. Um, you used “in lieu of” wrong… First paragraph in “The Library Meetup with Kotarou”.
    I think you wanted in “in light of”, as “in lieu of” is defined:

    in lieu of, in place of; instead of:
    He gave us an IOU in lieu of cash.

    And on the episode – I think this is my second most enjoyable series this season, and a close second at that to Boku no Hero Academia.

    Anaxim
    Reply

  3. Thanks for the catch Anaxim! You’re completely right, and unfortunately for me I’ve always though that ‘in lieu of’ was a substitute of ‘in light of’. That’s many times I’ve made the mistake with no one to correct me. Guess that’s a new and important thing learned, and I’ll change my post to accurately reflect my sentiments better!

    I’m not even sure what show I enjoy the most this season. There are multiple shows to enjoy and at the moment, Sagrada Reset probably holds the most potential in my eyes. After all, I’m a sucker for mystery premises that manage to capture my attention. While the Tournament Arc in Boku no Hero Academia is utter hype, I’ve already read the manga on top of keeping up with the anime. I’ll probably get crucified for saying this, but I’ve found other shounen tournament arcs to be far more exciting. Not necessarily saying that I’m enjoying Tsuki ga Kirei more, though for me it’s definitely offering something fresh and previously unexplored.

    Zaiden
    Reply

  4. Well who would have thought that Oneesan is both: the evil mastermind & and love expert! and The horror on their fathers face made me almost tear up. His second daughter started dating as well! now he has to keep an eye on both of them and will sure lose his mind over trivial things! (for a moment I thought you did these fake family / wedding photos on the wall behind them haha).
    Alright joking aside…I couldn’t quite understand why you would call and invite a middle school kid and let them go through so much trouble to get there and then just say such (excuse my choice of words here) bullshit!
    I was actually getting quite angry at that guy and I felt it was unfair too but at a second glance he also said that it’s a good thing that Kotarou is still young (and he’s right). So was it advice after all? I can’t really tell. It wasn’t nice and it probably hurt a lot but why would a grown adult do something like this in the first place? At least he must have thought that he does have talent (for light novels? is that a bad thing? sorry I didn’t really get what he meant by that maybe you could enlight me Zaiden).
    btw I really liked the background music in this scene made the scene much more lively.

    As for Akane, I’m interested how serious running will become for her. She said she loves it. Didn’t she love it before? I was a bit disappointed that she couldn’t focus when she needed it the most. If Kotarou had come to watch her wouldn’t that have been even more worse for her because Chinatsu would have been there as well. And they would have talked for sure. The end of the episode shows clearly that Akane can’t rest or calm down at the thought of someone else is confessing their feelings to Kotarou.

    I also felt awful sorry for Akane after Hira tried to understand what exactly happened and why she couldn’t run like always. But she just won’t open up to him and when he said the same words Kotarou said back then… that made me really sad how both of them see her having fun but only Akane has doubts about it.

    At least I’m really happy how the episode focused on so many different things at once and let open so much air for more. The fact that both of them failed at something important to them will let them grow stronger and since they are together there isn’t really much to say except that they still have each other (yes as cheesy as it may sound).

    Kana-chan
    Reply

    1. I like to photoshop, but I don’t think my skills are that insane yet to edit in micro details in the background. Plus I like to make them obvious. But agreed. Ayane is a delightful mixture of cunning and charming. Poor otou-san, and I like how Tsuki ga Kirei plays the overprotective father trope.

      It’s because the publishers actually sees potential and wants to exploit it for financial gain. There’s not a lot of money to be gained from becoming the next classical literature author. The current day and age has a strong demand for light novels, hence he’s trying to funnel Kotarou down that route. The way he acted was pretty unprofessional and inexcusable though.

      The Light Novel author jab was a meta reference. I think? There’s a common perception that because most animes these days being adaptations of light novels, the anime industry has declined in recent years, due to poor quality control and generic run of the mill patterns chock full of cliches. I’m a pretty big fan of light novels despite frequently making fun of them, but would like to see more material like Tsuki ga Kirei being created.

      Saying she loves running was a reaffirmation of her conviction. She was probably doubting herself for the past few episodes after losing twice in a row, and I expect to see her bounce back to form. And we all know Akane struggles from anxiety which Chinatsu exacerbated. If Kotarou had been watching, it’s hard to say. Maybe her nerves would have absolutely imploded. Perhaps he might have given her the strength to overcome her anxiety.

      Akane can’t rest or calm down which is natural. What isn’t so natural, in the sense of human relationships, derives from her lack of experience. Akane doesn’t understand that Chinatsu is rudely intruding upon her private sphere, and that it is okay for her to pull out the stops and shut Chinatsu down. Not to mention she really sucks at expressing herself, hence she has to keep her disapproval tightened up.

      It’s fair enough that she won’t open to Hira. They’re friendly but a shy person like her doesn’t have to open her heart to a person they don’t trust enough. For example, it’s different to hear words of reassurance from my sister (it means a lot more to me), compared to hearing it from an acquaintance I’m on friendly terms with. If you’re seeing the analogy I’m trying to make, then you’ll understand why Akane doesn’t open up to Hira, even though he said the exact same words.

      Failing does become a lot less unbearable when you’ve got the emotional support from someone you deeply trust, especially if that person is the one that you love. Being able to smile and support one another through hard times is what should make a romantic relationship special. I’m also pretty happy at how the episode focused on many different things, drew them together, without causing a pile of mess lacking cohesion. It wasn’t the episode I enjoyed the most, but I’d probably pick this episode as the best one so far in terms of quality, technical production aspects considered.

      Zaiden
      Reply

  5. I don’t think Chinatsu was intentionally trying to do anything bad to Akane, or try to “steal” Koutarou from her. I think it’s just part of her personality to be outgoing to the point where she would just confide in her friend about her crush, and I think she was trying to be fair/respectful towards Akane by not keeping such a secret from her. I don’t think Chinatsu really did want to shake Akane up, but I think it’s precisely because she valued their friendship that she laid it all out in the open (and I think that, in turn, also inspired Akane to be up front about their relationship and talk it out with Chinatsu). Only wholesome, mature intentions here.

    Nitro
    Reply

    1. Hey Nitro. I agree that Chinatsu is less malicious and it’s more that she is being extremely inconsiderate. Not many series benefit from having obscure intentions, because you want to know why a character acts in the way they do. However, it works perfectly in Tsuki ga Kirei’s favour to keep motives shrouded in secrecy, in order to leave us guessing just as much as the main characters are. Their guess is as good as ours at this point.

      From my perspective, I’m not too sure if Chinatsu is being fair or respectful. Although that can be said of her initial actions, considering she laid everything out on the table, she’s still pretty pushy to the extent of grabbing Akane’s hands while making her request in a measure that felt coercive. She’s respectful about not keeping things a secret but after Akane has responded that she is dating Kotarou, why is Chinatsu showing a complete lack of respect for Akane’s personal zone of comfort? I can imagine anyone being pretty annoyed if their own best friend pulled a fast one on them too.

      I will heavily disagree that Chinatsu’s intentions are mature, since it’s fairly juvenile how she can’t reign in her childish tendencies of single-mindedly going after the things she wants. Having some degree of self-control is what I would consider to be ‘mature’ and adult-like, which is a trait Chinatsu is extremely lacking in.

      But this is what makes the show special. Tsuki ga Kirei is set in middle school, which you could describe as the precipice of puberty, and a halfway step into adulthood. The cast still have a lot of room to develop regarding social interactions, and the show is exploring new ground uncommonly seen within anime which makes it all so exciting!

      Zaiden
      Reply

  6. This episode proved to me that Tsuki ga Kirei doesn’t intend on going by anything typical despite its rather down-to-earth setting. Which is good, simply because that’s uncharted territory right there, at least these days. Case in point, Akane and Kotarou will (thankfully) not go that obnoxious route where they have to put their relationship on hold in order to pursue their passions. I was really worried it might happen. That’s a sign that they may actually love each other for who they are. That they didn’t get into this relationship simply for the sake of dating. This was already apparent if you think about it the moment Akane said that she wants them to talk together more, but this episode made it clear, in a beautiful way I might add.

    Then there is also the case of Chinatsu who also follows this atypical method to some extent. Like you Zaiden, I’m conflicted about her. I want to believe she’s a good person because she didn’t do anything wrong so far, and her personality suggests she has good intentions. However, without the strong friendship she and Akane have, I wonder if it would’ve been as easy to trust her. What I’m trying to say is, I guess I just cannot bring myself to trust her enough even given what I know about her because, despite that, I feel like I still don’t know her enough to wrap my mind around her, for lack of a better word, curveballs. Again, that’s just me. Everyone else is free to make up their own minds.

    And then from my POV, Hira also follows this to some extent, for here he is actually the underdog, especially for how sincere he seems to be. Had Hira been the main male character, this would’ve been a different story. But here, this is the time where I begin feeling sorry for him. There’s this girl he’s in love with. He may or may not be aware that she will likely not reciprocate his feelings, and if he is, then at the very least let his kind and caring regards reach her so she may become better thanks to him. So at the very least he can feel some satisfaction. Some closure. But because of Akane’s tendency to lose her calm, he wouldn’t even have that. Poor guy.

    yoloalchemist
    Reply

    1. Chinatsu follows a method atypical in anime common sense, but at the age of 14, all the kids probably pulled at least one or two irrational tricks from their sleeves that would make any grown adult cringe. I most certainly did and as much as I want to forget moments in my dark past, there are definitely some things that make me wonder what was going on in my mind at the time.

      The friendship of trust is precisely what creates the dilemma, and the hypothetical scenario becomes a straw man once you remove it. Without the friendship, we would probably see something like Kotarou and Hira, where neither are really aware of the other existing. Being one of Akane’s closest friends out of the few she has, Chinatsu pretty much has her trust though it doesn’t necessarily mean that Akane feels comfortable about the situation.

      Hira is definitely the underdog at this point, and I’ve seen people mention it quite often, but I really want to distinguish attraction from love. I think Hira is attracted to Akane, and does not necessarily love her. Attraction is a much more facile emotion with the potential to develop into love, which is the true and authentic package. And I really don’t expect to see much something substantial enough to amount to love from middle schoolers.

      If memory serves me correct, this is the first episode I could earnestly start saying that some love is in the air. The way Kotarou and Akane emotionally reach out to support each other while enjoying being in one another’s presence are what set out the personal indicators for me. It’s not quite matured yet, seeing how I’ve described it as an awakening love, but I’m excited to see what will come.

      Zaiden
      Reply

      1. Huh. So Chinatsu can be considered down to earth in her own way. Looks like my high school setting didn’t have it all I guess 😛

        About Hira, I definitely didn’t think about it that way. But it certainly makes as it did happen with me, though my subject of attraction didn’t turn out to be that good of a person. Not like Akane at least.

        yoloalchemist
        Reply

      2. I wouldn’t be so harsh on the subject of your attraction. Surely everyone must have redeeming traits? XD
        And even then, bad people can be gentle and tender with the people that they love.

        Part of love is about accepting the flaws you perceive in someone else, though there’s a limit to how far this should be taken. It gets to a point where you see red flags as just… flags, becoming completely blind to certain issues that should definitely not be ignored.

        Having said that, I actually respect people who can bear the huge burdens of heavy flaws. It takes a lot to be sincere and steadfast in the face of adversity.

        Zaiden
        Reply

      3. I’ll rephrase. Let’s just say she turned out to be not really my type. Which is pretty much my mistake as I apparently didn’t get to know her well enough. I’m pretty sure she’d be someone else’s type, in which case kudos to them. It became nothing more than an attraction for me in the end, and I’ve since then moved on and became more conscious about personality and some other factors. Other than that, of course flaws must be accepted in your significant other no matter how heavy. Nothing comes without both its yin and yang after all.

        yoloalchemist
        Reply

  7. I can understand closure and telling your loved one you like them just to be rejected and move on, but even if she isn’t being malicious that would probably break the friendship in my case. Like, maybe we could still hang out in the same group, but I would probably find that person untruthful. She’s super honest and that’s respectable, but that person doesn’t seem to treasure you enough imo. Like Chinatsu might think it’s her moving on and we know Kotarou’s heart is 100% with Akane and she probably knows it too, but being Akane and insecure as she is, it’s like even if it’ll make your friend miserable (let’s say Kota actually likes that idea) and when you actually have something that can make you move on aka he loves your best friend and is even dating her, you don’t care.

    Like this boy you know for some weeks and which whom you really didn’t make such a deep connection makes you wanna risk breaking your close friendship since forever. I was like okay it’s not the end of the world she told Akane she likes Kota (I want to think it has nothing to do with the race but well) but then it was too much. I don’t know I don’t feel a true friend would do that to you tbh. Unless there was a previous story between Chinatsu and Kota, in any way. I think in real life most people would be pissed off if one of your friends wanted to confess to your gf/bf.

    South
    Reply

    1. This honestly should not break a friendship at all. I can understand certain insecurities make the thought very very uncomfortable, especially when the feeling is real, but Akane should have more faith in Kouta, cause he clearly really likes her.

      I’ve been in many similar situations during this time in my life, on the wrong end of a love triangle, as well as the one on the inside, looking out at the “third wheel”. Middle school, prettiest girl in the class, every boy liked her. I’ve been in that situation. I actually had the luxury of going out with her before she had to move away, but one of my closest friends also had feelings for her and asked for my consent to confess. I gave him that permission, because despite my obvious insecurities, I trusted them both. And having the “girl of your dreams” can boost your ego a bit too, lol. You feel like a better version of yourself. I definitely was.

      Even BEFORE all of that, when she liked someone else and not me, seeing them flirt everyday would kill me slowly inside, especially since I knew what kind of person her crush was, but I didn’t say anything. It came to a point where I unintentionally made her feel bad by pinning my jealousy on her. Not in a hostile way, but more of a depressing, “I can’t be around you” way, considering she was a close friend who was one of the only people who really shared my love for anime in a class that more or less viewed it as weird. Of course apologies were given but moral of the story is to never, ever hold back what you feel, because you never truly know what you’re capable of.

      It’ll work out if you value your relationships more than your insecurities. And hopefully it’s the same for Akane and Chinatsu, because I know she means well, but Akane is clearly bothered a bit by her presence. Chinatsu is that friend that is too bright and ideal to ignore, because their outgoing personality won’t allow you to forget. Chinatsu’s glaring strengths only feed Akane’s insecurities and in her case, that might be frustrating and exhausting.

      Negan
      Reply

      1. The friendship should not be broken, in the sense that Akane and Chinatsu should be able to work through the problem together. Should a friendship not be broken in any kind of circumstance within this context? That is an idea I’m far less inclined towards. Saying Akane should have faith with her kind of anxiety, is like saying someone with trust issues shouldn’t be anxious. See where I’m coming from? It’s a lot more difficult than it seems and I appreciate that Akane is really trying hard.

        We all have different and deeply personal experiences of romance, that cannot be applied to every circumstance on a 1:1 ratio. Factoring in cultural differences, alongside the relatively shy and introverted nature of the relationship between Kotarou and Akane, the dissonance is arguably even greater. Not to mention, I wouldn’t consider dating to necessarily mean a relationship like what we see here between Kotarou and Akane. Dating is what I see as getting to know one another before making that plunge into commitment. Maybe you would be a lot less okay with your close friend asking out someone you were in a serious relationship with, though you also have yet to say how it ended up affecting your friendship. Were your still close friends after or did a distance begin to manifest?

        Different people also react differently to situations, and I’ve seen it happen before where my Friend 1 asked another Friend 2 if it was okay to ask out the girl Friend 2 had a crush on, with Friend 2 giving the go ahead. We were 18 at the time with highschool coming to an end, and it must be noted Friend 2 was not always this nice when it concerned romance. He probably burnt many friendships when he was younger, over the kind of things we saw Chinatsu do to Akane this episode. What I’m trying to say is that he learned from his experiences and grew as a person, and with our cast being 14, they really haven’t had the same kinds of opportunities.

        Still, it was interesting to hear your insight, even if I didn’t particularly agree for the most part. Though I think your assessment of Chinatsu’s strengths feeding Akane’s insecurities is spot on. But contrary views are precisely what drive discussions and I would encourage you to reply so that I can hear your thoughts. I’m quite curious now.

        Zaiden
        Reply

      2. I don’t particularly know of any other outcome, mostly because there hasn’t been a lot of different outcomes for me around this time. I could only speak on my own experience, just as you said. When it comes to Akane, I feel as if I relate to her the most. Throughout my middle school days, I’ve always been a girl shy dummy and towards my crush I was even worse off. Not to mention I was extremely insecure. Didn’t have the best body, viewed as too tall for my grade, being teased didn’t help at all and I really envied others who could talk so freely without a care, especially to her. Hell, I didn’t even start talking to her until I asked one of my only friends at the time to give me her number so I could text her over the summer before 7th grade. Pretty young, I know, lol.

        In my experience, when I say that Akane should trust Kota more, it had more so to do with the fact that when I finally got her to notice my attraction and date her, I could feel all of my insecurities leave me, because in her eyes, everything I thought myself to be was just a lie. When others questioned her decision to date me, she got offended and stepped up with one of the most epic social media rants I’ve seen at the time. Being able to be with the one you really really like, even as a kid, it made me view reality differently, and I felt more confident in myself, albeit it took some time.

        As to how me and my friend’s relationship were affected afterwards, it didn’t change. Honestly speaking, when he asked for advice and consent on the matter, it was one of those times when I really didn’t feel like being a friend and wanted to be possessive and tell him no. A part of me felt like I said “Yes” too much and I knew it, because I was a person who always went with the flow. And as a kid still learning to appreciate myself, a part of me would think about the negative, if she would leave me so easily for him. But then again, I would remember that she never saw me as anything other than the one she came to like a lot and I decided to put that trust in her. My friend and I are still close, talk regularly and meet up when our schedules open up. From 13/14 year old kids to 20 year old adults, looking back as well as I can remember, a part of me thinks that if my consent and trust ended up being betrayed, then I think I would have burned that bridge between us even if it wasn’t his intent. And thinking of that now, I can see how difficult it would be for Akane.

        Hope my response gave you more insight on the matter. I’m well aware that everyone has different views and experiences on the matter, but I only know of my own so I can only speak for me.

        Negan
        Reply

      3. This was definitely the more substantiated response I was looking for, and thanks for bringing it forwards! I especially wanted to hear your experience constructed in a way that could be contextually evaluated against certain aspects of Tsuki ga Kirei, which you managed this time around.

        I agree Akane should trust Kotarou more. Logically, it would lead to the best conclusion, but it’s still a pretty big leap of faith and I can appreciate it might be a tall order for Akane. However, I’m not sure Akane’s insecurities are one of self-esteem, more so that her inexperience and not knowing what to do – the uncertainty is what creates her insecurity. I’m definitely on board with the idea that being with the person you like gives you confidence, so hopefully we’ll see Akane be able to slowly overcome her anxiety issues with Kotarou’s help.

        Sounds like you were attracted to a really kind and gentle person which is pretty lucky in my opinion. Some people get shattered by terrible experiences and take some years to recover. Also, really happy to hear you’re still close friends to this day with your fellow admirer. Continuing to keep this friend close sounds like a fantastic idea, if you were able to weather a challenging storm on a rocky boat together. Pondering on what-ifs, I find it crazy how some what-ifs can lead to crazily different outcomes, but I can see that you are glad and treasure what you have managed to gain!

        Not related to the show, but I think most of us are shy of the opposite gender at some stage in our lives, and worse to the point of imploding around our crushes. Talking more generally and not just specifically about romance, but for me around that age, I always thought that I was pretty confident. Turned out I never realised how much my severe case of acne affected my self-esteem until it was gone. Naturally this affected stuff like romance, and fed into my insecurities as much as I pretended it did not. So even though I spoke freely without care, no one could see that I carried this burden of insecurity within my heartm that did not necessarily vanish simply because I could easily express myself. Many random people just took it as a sign that they could casually make fun of my acne because I seemed cool about it, which in hindsight was not really okay.

        Zaiden
        Reply

    2. Totally agree, South. By virtue of being 14 years old it’s expected the cast act on their emotions, and haven’t really matured enough to understand the possible implications of their actions. I mean to say that Chinatsu does not understand how her actions have the potential to ruin a perfectly good friendship, as if no one has ever told her the mantra ‘Sisters before Misters’. Likewise, I would feel too uncomfortable to hang out with such a person who would do that to me, even if I understood that they needed closure. Because you know, we’re all humans at the end of the day. Even if we can understand a perfectly valid reason exists, it doesn’t mean we have to accept it if we don’t feel comfortable with it.

      Zaiden
      Reply

  8. When seeing the end of Chinatsu and Akane convo… was thinking what else could possibly go wrong lmao. Atleast Chinatsu got the confirmation from Akane that she wants to be friends with her no matter what, but to hear that must of gave Chinatsu the idea to ask Akane if its okay to confess to her boyfriend regardless if its a successful confession or end up in most likely a rejection.. it’s good to see this, because I didn’t expect this outcome at all.

    Hell
    Reply

  9. Hell, couldn’t have put it better myself. It doesn’t happen very often, where my guesses are completely off the mark so frequently. You know something might go wrong, but can’t really predict how.

    It’s amazing how these outcome should be obvious if you apply the scope of human common sense, but usually anime is so far removed from such thoughts. Having geared my brain to suss out that trend, this break away from the trend by Tsuki ga Kirei has now left me second guessing quite often.

    Zaiden
    Reply

  10. The feeling of in-between can make one lost by getting looked upon from each side which where one stand on their center of belief, choosing the path of less effort but to decide so that regrets will not fabricate in reality.

    Aructer
    Reply

  11. Great write, Zaiden. I’m too lazy to write anything because this episode, as you said, has too much to mention. Though I will say, Hira is definitely nailing it in being a club leader. On a girl he likes though he’s not haha. Also:

    “What happens if Kotarou says yes??!!” should be the title for the next episode lol

    Kaineng
    Reply

    1. Thanks Kaineng, and there really was too much. Both Enzo and myself were complaining about having to make cuts having written 1000+ words each. In the end, I opted to cut out some focus on Akane keeping a strong smile despite her pains, as well as the train journey Kotarou took. Oh well, I did manage to adequately convey the majority of my thoughts through my post.

      Tsuki ga Kirei’s episode names are never direct. They’re usually figuratively roundabout in what they are trying to express, so I’m not quite sure that kind of episode name would work, although it sounds pretty fun.

      Zaiden
      Reply

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