I think you're fine just the way you are.(*)
Who was it that translated "I love you" as "Isn't the moon beautiful tonight?"
— Kotaro Azumi
Kotaro Azumi is a senior middle school student who enjoys books and hopes to become a novelist someday. Also attending his school is Akane Mizuno, a shy member of the track and field club. At the beginning of the school year they are put in the same classroom for the first time and begin noticing each other through glances. After they are both put in charge of the sports festival, they will discover they have more in common than they thought. They, and the people around them, will evolve through mutual understandings and feelings. As their final year of middle school progresses, the group will overcome their challenges to mature and become aware of changes in themselves in the process.
Other characters include:
- Takumi Hira: Akane's teammate from track and field, who has a crush on her.
- Chinatsu Nishio: Akane's teammate and friend from track and field. A spirited girl who becomes interested in Kotaro.
- Roman Yamashina: Kotaro's Keet friend and classmate; a perceptive young man who has a crush on their teacher Ryouko.
- Daichi Ogasawara: Kotaro's friend and classmate. A towering, boisterous young man.
- Setsuko Satou: Akane's friend and classmate who hails from a wealthy family. She constantly complains about her relationship with her boyfriend Shou.
- Shou Nagahara: Setsuko's unreliable and slightly sleazy boyfriend.
- Hiroshi, Saori and Ayane Mizuno: Akane's doting parents and sister.
- Ryuunosuke and Junko Azumi: Kotaro's parents, the latter of whom wants Kotaro to focus on improving his grades and worries that fiction writing is distracting him.
- Daisuke Tachibana: Kotaro's personal friend, fellow temple goer and bookstore owner. Acts as a brother of sorts for Kotaro.
- Ryouko Sonoda: Kotaro and Akane's Sensei-chan homeroom teacher and music instructor, adored by all her male students and both envied and admired by the girl students. Roman is in love with her, which puts her in a bit of a bind because she happens to like him too.
- Aoi Takizawa: Akane and Hira's friend and teammate from track and field. A tan, tall girl who acts like a Tomboy while being coveted by the track and field boys.
The series features characters that appear on the series but get further exposure in the after-credits shorts:
- Sakura Tanaka: A nerdy, quiet classmate of Kotaro and Akane who likes to fantasize about her romantic prospects with the boys in class.
- Miu Imazu and Yasuhito Inaba: Classmates of Kotaro and Akane who are in a relationship characterized by her playful henpecking of him.
- Aira Miyamoto and Tsubasa Kaneko: The other Official Couple in Akane and Kotaro's class, which is characterized by his matter-of-fact and no-nonsense attitude; Aira in particular is the only former acquaintance of Akane in their class, having shared classes before, making them quick friends.
Tsuki ga Kirei (月がきれい, as the moon, so beautiful.) is a middle school romance anime produced by studio Feel. It premiered in April 6, 2017, for the spring 2017 anime season: it can be viewed legally with subs on Crunchyroll here
, and dubbed on FUNimation here.
Not to be confused with Tsuki ga Kirei Desu Ne, an ongoing fantasy/romance manga by Hachi Itou.
Tsuki ga Kirei contains examples of:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: In spite of the series' beautiful stylistic design, the use of computer-generated background extras—particularly in establishing shots—stands out quite a bit.
- Age-Appropriate Angst: Rather than having unusual hardships bestowed on them for the sake of drama, the middle-school-aged characters have exactly the kind of anxieties that most Japanese middle schoolers have, which may seem trivial to an adult but which seem like a big deal to them.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: In episode 12, Kotaro fails to catch up with Akane before her train leaves the station. Panting, sweating, and on the verge of tears, he shouts after Akane's train that he loves her.
- Babies Ever After: The show's last image is of a married Akane and Kotaro cradling their first baby in the presence of their families.
- Beam Me Up, Scotty!: Using the phrase "Tsuki Ga Kirei" ("the moon is beautiful") to mean "I love you" comes from famed Japanese author Natsume Soseki. Kotaro, being a huge geek for Osamu Dazai, misattributes the quote to Dazai.
- Be Careful What You Wish For:
- Akane's sister Ayane warns her that she has to ditch her friend Chinatsu because keeping her around is inviting for trouble with Kotaro; meaning, she cannot have the cake and eat it too. Akane tells her that she doesn't want to lose Chinatsu as a friend. She later says this to Chinatsu herself. Chinatsu immediately asks her if she can confess to Kotaro.
- Later, Chinatsu doesn't even get the opportunity to confess because Kotaro chooses Akane without Chinatsu being able to utter a single word. Chinatsu invited him to the amusement park, tried to approach him and even build memories together... but his mind was on Akane the whole time.
- Beta Couple: The anime has several side pairs that are showcased throughout the series, but the most prominent of them is that between Roman and Ryoko Sonoda, because of their Teacher/Student Romance.
- Big Brother Mentor: Daisuke Tachibana for Kotaro. Happy to lend him a hand, when it comes to books or dating.
- Big Eater: Akane follows an athlete's diet, fitting of the activities of track and field. Whenever there is a meet, Akane eats heartily.
- Blatant Lies: Kotaro's parents both assure each other that they haven't been reading Kotaro's manuscripts behind his back, but they have been reading religiously; Dad is a fan... Mom, not quite.
- Bookworm: Kotaro is an avid reader, fan of Osamu Dazai, and wants to become a novelist.
- Brick Joke: One of the after-credits shorts has Akane's friends making fun of their teacher's perfume, then deciding to use it. In a later episode, Akane sprays herself with it right before meeting up with Kotaro.
- Cannot Spit It Out:
- Takumi has been in love with Akane since their first year and still can't tell her that he likes her.
- Kotaro actually averts this. He confesses in the third episode.
- Sakura fantasizes about every boy in class with a possible relationship, but she is too shy and too much of a cynic to act upon her impulses.
- Captain Obvious: Akane tells Kotaro not to mention their embarrassing parent-to-parent rendezvous at the restaurant. Kotaro thinks that this should go without saying.
- Chekhov's Gun: Akane's sandbag plushie provides the initial push for Kotaro and Akane to become close when she loses it and Kotaro finds it for her in a particularly stressful day for her. This makes Akane open up to Kotaro for this kindness. Further down the line, Akane buys one for Kotaro as a gift for a belated birthday, later becoming an item symbolic of their relationship; her unwillingness to leave the plushie behind after she moves in the finale shows that she still carries her love for Kotaro. Years later, as a married couple, they even get one for their son.
- Chekhov's Skill: The lead couple's texting habits are an interesting example. They're extremely awkward and reserved around each other in person, especially when they're still getting to know each other. But they have more success communicating through LINE, so they build most of their relationship that way. This comes in handy when Akane moves away and they attempt a Long-Distance Relationship—a difficult task even for adults. They manage it quite easily, though, since they have plenty of practice staying connected through texts.
- Chick Magnet:
- Roman, Kotaro's friend, is very popular with girls.
- Takumi is also shown to popular with the girls, who think Akane is lucky to be getting his attention.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Akane is a downplayed example. She's uncomfortable when she sees that Kotaro can talk normally with Chinatsu. When she sees Chinatsu talking to Kotaro in the library when they were supposed to meet up, she gets upset with him, thinking that maybe he invited her, although Chinatsu met him there completely by coincidence.
- Comically Inept Healing: Chinatsu patches up Kotaro's scraped hands during the sports festival, but he sighs at the fact she's applied the bandage so clumsily.
- Compassionate Critic: Kotaro is invited for a talk with an editor from a publishing company that offers awards for newcoming writers. The editor tells Kotaro, in the calmest way possible, that he simply lacks talent to become a novelist. Not only that, there is hardly a market for serious literature nowadays, as there are tons of people in their 30s still attempting to become writers. Instead, he advises Kotaro to write something different, like light novels. The editor wasn't being cruel or malicious, at least not intentionally, but his advice offers no solace to Kotaro, who saw writing as an outlet for his shyness and lack of social skills.
- Cool Big Sis: Ayane for Akane, whom she relies on for love advice due to her inexperience; curiously enough, Ayane is the only one that gives Akane reliable advice in the first place, though Akane is not very open towards her.
- Couch Gag: A conversation through the messaging service Line takes place in the closing credits, between Kotaro and Akane. Each episode features a different conversation, referring to events in their future relationship. Also doubles as a Credits Gag
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Kotaro is a downplayed example. He's a bit uncomfortable when he sees how close Akane and Takumi are. However, the trope applies later in the story, when Kotaro finds Takumi and Akane walking together at the amusement part, so he succinctly tells him that she's his girlfriend and that they're in a relationship, walking off with her while taking her hand. This ends up blowing up in Chinatsu (who witnesses the whole exchange) and Takumi's faces, both who were trying to get Kotaro and Akane respectively to look their way.
- Crush Blush: When Akane shows up for their date in a yukata◊ in episode 8, Kotaro blushes and spaces out for a few seconds just looking at her.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Invoked. Akane states that she didn't quite mind dropping the baton during her race because she loves to run regardless. Kotaro praises her attitude, and from her example he gains enough courage to finally let others read his own writings.
- Cuteness Proximity: Akane's parents first meet Ayane's boyfriend when he drives past them, loudly blaring music from his tuned car while giving a ride to Ayane. Her dad is taken aback at the guy's initial appearance and dismisses him as a superficial jerk... until the guy shows through his words that he's a working, studious young man, with the cherry at the top being his gift of a plushie to Ayane's dad. Dad done fell at that.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: As you might expect of contemporary teenagers, Kotaro and Akane are pretty shy about talking to each other at school, but become mutual texting chatterboxes on their phones.
- Did Not Get the Girl: Gender-flipped. Chinatsu was not able to have her affections reciprocated by Kotaro, but it's implied that she remains his friend throughout high school henceforth.
- Didn't See That Coming: Akane certainly didn't expect Chinatsu to tell her that she has a crush on Kotaro. One episode later, Chinatsu surprisingly asks her for permission to confess to Kotaro... that is, after telling Akane that she knew that she and Kotaro are dating.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Turns out Yasuhito is actually this for Miu. Despite his tolerance for her henpecking she says she doesn't consider him her boyfriend, which really bewilders him because he had thought they were going out!
- Double-Meaning Title: Tsuki Ga Kirei is an idiom in Japanese that literally translates to "as the moon, so beautiful" or "the moon is beautiful". It's also a way of saying "I love you", which was coined as a way to convey it without using direct words.
- Drowning My Sorrows: In a short at the end of episode 8 that's Played for Laughs, Ryoko-sensei is depicted drinking wine at home while she gripes about how she'd have to wait until Roman is out of high school before she can date him.
- Dude Magnet:
- Ryouko-sensei is an attractive young woman and all the boys at school fawn over her. The female students can get rather jealous of her sometimes.
- Aoi from track and field is coveted by her male teammates, though she doesn't appreciate it and thinks that having a boyfriend is just a waste of time.
- Education Mama: Most of Kotaro's mother's screentime is spent lecturing him on needing to study more often and improve his grades, and frowning heavily on anything that distracts from his studies.
- Expy: Chinatsu is one of Hazuki Katou from Sound! Euphonium. They are both short-haired bubbly girls with No Sense of Personal Space who are in the circle of friends of the girl protagonists, both athletes at middle school (though Hazuki quit tennis club when she went into high school), and both are pursuing the boys that are interested in the girl protagonist (Kotaro for Chinatsu, Shuichi for Hazuki). They both happen to be turned down by said boys, leaving them in a puddle of tears (though Chinatsu pursued Kotaro even when she knew that he and Akane were already dating; in contrast, Hazuki didn't know that Shuichi likes Kumiko note ) after both awakening their interest by unintentionally bumping into each other. The main difference between them stems from the impression that Chinatsu's approach to Kotaro is not as altruistic as Hazuki's towards Shuichi for the aforementioned reasons, and that Hazuki was actually pushed by her friend Midori into pursuing Shuichi, while Chinatsu proceeded by her own volition regardless of how this would hurt Akane.
- First-Name Basis:
- In episode 7, Chinatsu attempts to make Kotaro call her by her given name, which he reluctantly does until they're interrupted by Akane.
- In episode 8, Kotaro actually has to practice in the mirror to muster the courage to call Akane by her first name. She ends up reciprocating later in the episode.
- First Kiss: Kotaro and Akane have theirs with each other in episode 8, making up for the one that got interrupted in episode 7.
- Fish out of Water: Kotaro wants to be a writer... and has the physique of one, especially compared to the track and field team. He gets jealous that Hira is getting a lot of attention from Akane and tries to run against him during the school athletics festival. Predictably, Hira wipes the floor with him and Kotaro even falls to the ground mid-race.
- Foil: Shou to Kotaro. While Kotaro is very cautious and consistent in his feelings and trying to build a stronger and more serious relationship with Akane, Shou very easily communicates with the girls and leads with them a fleeting relationship that is implicitly based only on sex.
- Foregone Conclusion: From the LINE conversations, it seems like the leads are together in the future. It's just a matter of getting there that's the problem.
- Foreshadowing: Chinatsu and Akane are chilling one afternoon and the former asks Akane for a bite of her popsicle; later, Akane finally reveals to Chinatsu that she's been dating Kotaro, to which Chinatsu answers that she knew and that it was rather obvious, but she's appreciative of Akane letting her know. Finally, Akane tells Chinatsu that she wants them to remain friends even though they like the same guy and reassures her that she's not doing anything wrong; with this opening, Chinatsu asks Akane if she can confess to Kotaro herself, meaning that she will try to reach Kotaro even though she already knows he's with Akane. By doing so, she's metaphorically taking another bite out of Akane's popsicle.
- Genki Girl:
- Chinatsu, Akane's track & field friend, has a cheerful and somewhat pushy demeanor.
- Roman kids around with gleeful enthusiasm.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Daichi, Kotaro's friend, jokes how jealous he is over Roman's popularity.
- High-School Sweethearts: Exaggerated: The main couple start dating not in high school, but in middle school, and they remain together into adulthood and marriage.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The episode names all appear to be related to Kotaro's driving passion, Japanese literature.
- Episode 2 is named A Handful of Sand after a 1910 volume of taka poems by Takuboku Ishikawa.
- Episode 3 is named Howling at the Moon after a 1917 volume of poetry by Hagiwara Sakutaro.
- Episode 5 is named Kokoro after a 1914 novel by Natsume Sōseki.
- Episode 6 is named Run, Melos! after a 1940 short story by Osamu Dazai.
- Episode 8 is named Vita Sexualis after a 1909 erotic novel by Mori Ogai.
- In-Series Nickname: Akane dubs Kotaro "Curly-kun" because he has a serious case of bed head and he always has a hair tuft that stands on its own. Her friends, especially Chinatsu, start calling him that too.
- Innocently Insensitive:
- Played with. It's unclear whether Chinatsu is aware of how her romantic approach to Kotaro is hurting Akane, even though she is made aware that they're dating. Her nonchalant demeanor seems to be the reason why she's reaching where she's not supposed to, rather than actively trying to hurt Akane. In episode 7, however, it ends up blowing up in her face when Kotaro chooses Akane in spite of Chinatsu's efforts to approach him. As elaborated in Surprisingly Realistic Outcome, it's shown that everyone in the series is rather inexperienced with love.
- Kotaro neglects to tell Akane that Chinatsu proposed to him on the basis that he declined, not knowing that this is not enough reason not to tell her. This is so poignant that they both fear that it would lead to them breaking up, but end up realizing that they don't want to give up on each other ever.
- Jail Bait Wait: Ms. Ryouko is shown pining and counting the days until Roman graduates from high school, which is probably at least four years away.
- Long-Distance Relationship: After Akane reveals that she's moving away, the two end up having to make their relationship work like this. It pays off in the end, because they stay together and eventually get married.
- Love Confession:
- In episode 6, Chinatsu, despite knowing that Akane and Kotaro are going out, asks her if she can confess to him anyway, so she can have closure on her feelings. She fails to do so at the amusement park, which makes her cry.
- In episode 10, Hira confesses to Akane but she turns him down.
- In episode 12, Chinatsu confesses to Kotaro and he turns her down.
- Love Dodecahedron: Kotaro and Akane develop feelings for one another. Takumi has been in love with Akane since first year, and Akane's friend, Chinatsu, becomes interested in Kotaro.
- Love Hurts: Chinatsu spends a whole afternoon crying alone at the amusement park when she realizes that Kotaro's mind was always focused on Akane, even when she purposely engineered the invitation to the park in order to try to get close to him. It's even worse especially considering the fact that it was Kotaro who sought Akane at the park despite of Chinatsu's attempts to lure him... dude didn't even look her way.
- Love Makes You Dumb: Akane and Kotaro are able to speak freely with their respective friends; to each other, not so much. This is shown to frustrate them both to no end. They also find great difficulty even following the most basic plans to meet, and have a tendency to jumble their words in each others presence.
- Meet Cute: Though they noticed each other at class, Kotaro and Akane end up running into each other at a family restaurant where they're dining with their respective families... cue their families going all "Oh, our kids are classmates? Why didn't you tell us?" when meeting each other. Understandably, Kotaro and Akane go into proverbial Corners Of Woe at the same time and later swear to each other to never, ever bring this up in class. So much for the first time talking to each other...
- Misery Builds Character: Invoked in a constructive manner. Daisuke advises Kotaro to write using the pain and disappointment he's feeling from having failed to enroll in Akane's high school at Chiba. Kotaro later takes it even further by painstakingly and lovingly writing about his relationship with Akane after their spat caused by Chinatsu's confession, which Chinatsu later finds on a novelist forum and shares with Akane.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Chinatsu insists on pursuing Kotaro even when she already knows that he and Akane are dating; her advances at the amusement park do flare up jealously in Akane, but it's Kotaro who ends up getting mad at Hira for trying to do the same with Akane. It's even worse when it's shown that Kotaro has basically no thoughts to spare on Chinatsu at the time, implying that he didn't even notice that Chinatsu was trying to approach him... Ouch!
- No Social Skills: Kotaro and Akane have trouble expressing themselves and mostly go along with whatever they are told. Even when they're alone together they have trouble talking to each other, though they seem to text each other just fine.
- Not So Above It All:
- Setsuko is always complaining about her boyfriend Shou, who is sleazy, cheap, and kinda dumb. However, when she wants to break up with him, his offer to counter this is to take her to a love hotel again. Funnily enough, she's not so mad about going to the love hotel, meaning that this is actually one of the things that she enjoys about his company, even when he makes her pay for the room again. At least this shows he knows the right buttons to push with her, but she eventually dumps him all the same.
- Setsuko, Miu and Aira are chitchatting about Ms. Ryuko's perfume and criticizing the fact that she's wearing it at school, prompting Akane to tell them that she's only using soap scent like the one she shows them. They all tell her that this is rather childish of Ms. Ryuko... though they cave in to curiosity and immediately tell Akane to give them some to smell.
- Aoi tries twice and fails to prevent Chinatsu and Akane from crying, once after their last track and field competition, and once after they are saying goodbye to Akane, who's moving to Chiba. She tries not to cry with them... but there's only so much else a sole girl can do in that situation.
- Once an Episode: Every episode, there is a LINE conversation between a couple going all over the place in time, from their married years to when they were dating. The last episode shows all of them were Akane and Kotaro's conversations from the time period Akane moved onwards.
- Phoneaholic Teenager:
- Akane's older sister fits the bill. Most of her screen time has her on her phone.
- Akane and Kotaro are constantly texting each other, both because they don't get to talk as much in person and because chatting on LINE makes them feel less shy than talking in person.
- Puppy Love: Fourteen-year-old shy boy and girl develop very tender feelings for one another, which makes them embarrassed and flustered.
- Passionate Sports Girl: Akane belongs to the school's track and field club, and is serious about competing.
- Product Placement: In large part, to LINE. It's always mentioned by name and constantly used in the series, contrast to other social media. Also in Episode 1 during the restaurant scene, several drink brands such as Fanta and Coca Cola are visible on the drinks machine, albeit Coca Cola is spelled "Coco Cola," making this an example of Bland-Name Product instead. Coca Cola Zero is also specifically shown.
- Race for Your Love: In episode 12, Kotaro tries to catch Akane before she boards the train that will take her away. He doesn't make it in time, but his message of love still reaches Akane in the form of the short story he posted online.
- Reality Is Unrealistic: This show has a relatively realistic depiction of first love between two teenagers developing over time. However many viewers faulted this series for having development that was too slow and chaste because of they had grown accustomed to more energetic and comedic romance anime. The ironic thing is that studio feel had itself contributed to this situation through the shows they worked on in the past.
- Relationship Upgrade: Akane and Kotaro agree to start going out at the end of the field trip in episode 4.
- Romantic False Lead:
- Takumi, from track & field, starts trying to pursue Akane at the same time she's becoming interested with Kotaro, though Takumi's own shyness seems to be getting the better of him. Some girls even ask her if she's dating him after they heard the two walking home together the previous day, which she denies.
- Chinatsu is a would-be rival to Akane for Kotaro's feelings, and makes Akane uneasy by being quite forward about liking him. It's clear, however, that she's not the one Kotaro is meant to be with.
- Rule of Cute: There's a great focus on how Akane and Kotaro are just giddy when interacting with each other. They are children, after all.
- Running Gag: Shou's idea of taking Setsuko on a date always turns out to be going to a love hotel, but each time they do he realizes he doesn't have any money and asks her to pay for the room.
- Secret Relationship: Kotaro and Akane both agree not to reveal their relationship to anyone else, due to the teasing they'd get from their friends if they found out the two were dating. This causes other problems since there are others who are also romantically interested in the two, and try to pursue a relationship with them. Finally in episode seven, Kotaro and Roman let it out in the open.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Not the entire story, fortunately, but a couple of episodes are spent on Kotaro's decision to apply to Akane's private high school, so they won't be separated. His parents wanted him to go to a local school, and initially they argue with him but eventually decide to support his choice. Ultimately, the school doesn't accept him, so none of this really mattered. The positive side of the shaggy-dogging, though, is that there was no need for him to go to the same school—they successfully keep their relationship alive in spite of her moving a long distance away.
- Shipper on Deck:
- Most of Akane's friends ship her and Takumi.
- During their school trip, Chinatsu notices that Kotaro is looking at Akane, so she infers that he's interested in her. While apprehensive at first, Kotaro is finally able to contact Akane because Chinatsu read well into the situation.
- Subverted in episode 5, where it's shown that Chinatsu is interested in Kotaro herself; one episode later, she even asks Akane whether she can confess to Kotaro herself.
- In episode 6, Akane's sister jokingly suggests Akane doesn't want their parents going to see her at the latest track meet because she has a boyfriend. Though both parents are surprised, her mother seems to be quite happy about it.
- When Roman finds out about Kotaro and Akane in episode 7, he happily supports the two.
- Daisuke is a huge supporter of Kotaro and Akane and goes out of his way to give them a chance to spend time alone.
- Shrinking Violet: Akane is more shy than Kotaro, and it's shown that she's not as close to her own friends as Kotaro is with his. They're equally shy with one another, though.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man:
- Akane has two very good prospects in the form of Kotaro and Hira, though her friends ship her with Hira (though mostly because they don't personally know Kotaro that well). In episode 7, they're considerably surprised that Akane and Kotaro are an item.
- Miu and Yasuhito are basically together because he's very tolerant of her henpecking.
- Played with in the case of Sakura, who has romantic fantasies involving her boy classmates, but is too shy to act upon them. She is shown to enjoy exaggerating their qualities in the fantasies, though she is quick to come back to reality once it gets too unrealistic.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Akane looks just like her older sister Ayane, only that the latter is slightly taller.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- One of the main themes in the series is to show just how awkward a blooming teenage relationship is and how inexperience is a bigger hurdle for a teenager than what's shown in other similar anime. Whereas in other cases some inconveniences are considered minor, in Tsuki Ga Kirei these are rather significant because the kids simply don't know yet what they're supposed to be doing with their confusing feelings.
- Kotaro studies really hard to apply to Koumei High School, and has his girlfriend and parents supporting him all the way, but even so his best isn't enough and he doesn't get in.
- Teacher/Student Romance: The show hints maybe this might develop between Roman and Ryouko. They even have their own "romantic" line among the short scenes at the end of each episode, where it is told about other couples in the show. The two sides are:
- Roman is in love with Ryouko-sensei, which is reflected in episode 2's scavenger hunt when he draws the task of "show someone who you like", and then takes her by the hand. Granted, almost every one of her male students fawns over her, but Roman is much more serious and determined about his feelings.
- Ryoko actually likes Roman in return but can't do anything about it, lamenting that he's off-limits to her until he graduates.
- Tranquil Fury: Akane never berates Kotaro even when she's mad at him, employing a Talk to the Hand approach, which somehow makes Kotaro feel even worse by not being able to respond to the situation. Still, their mutual affection and drive to be together usually ends up quelling the flames.
- Wham Line: A few are done, usually near the end of an episode:
- In episode 3, Kotaro nonchalantly asks Akane out after an awkward meeting.
- In episode 5, Chinatsu texts Akane that she thinks she's starting to like Kotaro. Said text arrives while she's sitting next to him.
- In episode 6, Chinatsu tells Akane that she wants to confess to Kotaro, even though she already knows that he and Akane are an item.
- In episode 7:
Kotaro (to Hira): She (Akane) is my girlfriend. We are in a relationship.- In episode 12:
Akane (commenting on Kotaro's story): So, what happens next? - What the Hell, Hero?:
- Akane is disappointed at the fact that Kotaro took so long to be able to meet her and talk to her during their class trip (even when it was him who gave her a place and a time to rendezvous), which was further exacerbated by the fact that, while he's considerably shy with her, he has little to no trouble talking with Chinatsu. Still, she tells Kotaro that she wants to be able to talk with him more, and by saying so much, giving him the OK to start dating.
- Providing the main conflict for the finale, Akane admonishes Kotaro for neglecting to tell her that Chinatsu had finally confessed to him, which is especially glaring considering that Chinatsu herself didn't hesitate to tell her almost as soon as it happened. Akane is particularly mad at Kotaro because he himself had previously given her a hard time when Hira confessed to her. Akane breaks down crying at the possibility that her long-distance relationship with Kotaro might not work with such important aspects being overlooked.
