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Our ordinary daily lives are a sparkling treasure.note 

"Tsukiuta." is a project by the original characters on the theme of 12 months.
Please enjoy the story decorated with music and voice!
— Tsukiuta.'s tagline on its official website

Tsukiuta。 is a project under the fictional Tsukino Talent Productions agency, a group of Vocaloid and Niconico producers working together to produce songs for individual characters. Beginning in 2012, it consists of four idol units representing the months of the year.

The groups are as follows:

  • Six Gravity (male) and Fluna (female), for December-May
  • Procellarum (male) and Seleas (female), for June-November

For the most part, the franchise consists of albums and Drama CDs, each explaining the characters and their backgrounds more clearly. An anime about the male groups, Tsukiuta the Animation, aired in the summer of 2016 animated by Studio Pierrot, while a mobile Rhythm Game, Tsukino Paradise, debuted in 2017. A second anime season was announced at Animate Girls Festival 2018, this time focusing on the 2019 era of Tsukiuta and produced by Children's Playground Entertainment. This season would not air until Fall 2020 due to delays. The Tsukitsui Yonkoma manga began around the same time in 2016, and ran on the webcomic host Yuruyon.

There is also an ongoing stage play series that started in 2016, with multiple plays every year since. The "Tsukista Girls' Side" or "Megasta" series started in 2021.

The stage cast also performs separate concerts: Lunatic Live in 2017, Memorial Tour in February and March 2018, and Lunatic Live in Omiya in December 2018 (together with the cast of SQS). In contrast to the drama CDs and anime, the stage plays often feature fantasy AU stories with elaborate costumes. The final performances of each play are filmed for Blu-ray.

The characters play minor roles and sometimes cameo in the other Tsukipro series, including TSUKIPRO The Animation and VAZZROCK The Animation as the senpai groups of all of the main characters in that adaptation.


The franchise provides examples of:

  • Adaptation Expansion: The Taikyoku Denki Drama CD expands on certain relationships and developments that weren't present in the stageplay which preceded it. This is to be a given, considering its full volume was about an hour longer than the stage's story.
    • The battle when Doutaku attacks the town has Arata, Aoi, and Yoru splitting off from the group of their own accord, fending off the small fry while the others head to defend Hajime and Kai. The original play had Arata face off against You, while the CD replaces Arata with Kakeru instead.
    • After Haru and You pull a Heel–Face Turn, the drama CD expands on slightly more issues they have to deal with, including Haru's Jerkass Has a Point attitude to the Jinzoku and Rui experiencing Fantastic Racism.
    • You and Yoru have additional conversations with Arata and Aoi which flesh out their relationship, including You taking an interest in Yoru. Their resulting dynamic leads to the four of them preventing the minions from interfering in the final battle together, which didn't happen in the stageplay.
    • The scene after the final battle originally ended in a dance to the main theme. Instead, the Drama CD incorporates an And the Adventure Continues scene among the juniors. This leads to the bonus track, which in itself was an expansion of what happened in between the final battle and their upgraded contracts, as described in the official pamphlet.
  • Alice Allusion: An Alice in Wonderland retelling happens in one of the Drama CDs, with all the boys acting the part of the characters.
  • All Animals Are Domesticated: Hand-waved? Justified? Averted? The penguin and panda are magical, which is how they can live in a dorm with humans and not need special food or temperatures. As for the palm-sized reindeer, well, he's actually a fairy.
  • All There in the Manual: Part of why it's so hard to get into - there's way more manual than main story. Because the "main story" takes place in real life, it's linear, but by no means is it easy to digest. There are the drama CDs which do detail a significant event or occurrence, but they don't make up the majority of what's been made, either. It's suggested to start off with the anime and then dip one's toes into the dramas, after which the possibilities are nigh-endless.
    • Played even straighter with the official pamphlets released for their various alternate worlds. As detailed below, there are a lot of Alternate Universes, each of them with their own character blurbs, motivations, and characterizations. The individual characters, as a result, can act wildly different from their normal selves. In order to get a feel for how they're characterized, though, one needs to get their hands on said world's pamphlet, which will then flesh out their personalities and the setting they're placed in.
  • Alternate Self: Their otherworldly selves. Different worlds and settings are created for production-wide projects such as AGF (Animate Girls' Festival), which give the characters fitting backstories and outfits to go with.
  • Alternate Universe: There have been many throughout the years. Some are associated with just Tsukiuta., some only had Tsukiuta. at first but grew to encompass the whole agency, while others started with the intention of incorporating everyone.
    • ORIGIN is a universe that is literally the origin of all, a world where all others originate.
    • Rabbits Kingdom features the Black and White Rabbit kingdoms. Those who rule their lands are Fisher Kings.
    • Taikyoku Denki is a world of light and dark, detailing the story of encounters between Jinzoku (humans) and Gokuzoku (jiangshi).
    • Tsukino Empire takes place in space civilizations, where contracts with soul beasts allow the characters to fight off unidentified mysterious invaders.
    • Tsukino Hyakkiyakou, a world very close to the normal universe, where the talents are the youkai themselves. The Black and White Celestial foxes create the world in their slumber.
    • Machine Elements, or Kisosekai, is a world filled with mysterious ruins, with the individual units forming guilds that seek to quench their curiosity by uncovering the ruins' mysteries.
    • Tsukihana Kagura, a beautifully traditional universe that focuses on the beauty of dancing to rule, rather than using the harshness of war.
    • 2P, a world where technology has developed remarkably, and a certain game has led to people's game selves to slip out into the real world, wreaking havoc as their own bodies fell into a coma.
    • Zanshin, a timeline populated by white monsters by the name of Regret. Regret can only be cut down with the power of one's heart, which is represented by a sword.
    • Hyakunen Aoharu and its Darker and Edgier variant, Ura-AOHARU, where the characters use the turnstiles at their stations to slip into a world of turf wars.
  • Animal Motifs: Rabbits, as befitting the lunar theme the project has. The rabbits themselves are owned by President Tsukino, but they're pretty much Free-Range Pets. Six Gravity keeps the large black rabbit, Kuroda, on their floor, while Procellarum keeps the tiny white lop-eared rabbit, Shiroda, on theirs. The series' mascot character, the Tsukiusa.note  is also one.
    • It's canonically agreed upon that of the twelve boys, one member from each seasonal group, four of them are the most catlike: Hajime, Arata, Rui, and Shun.
  • Applied Phlebotinum: The Goddesses never really go into detail about what the Earth's "spiritual energy" really is. They need to harness it to facilitate peaceful relations between the Earth and the Moon, but that's basically all we're told. It's essentially their plot fuel, since it's said that the Moon's activity will grind to a halt if not provided.
  • Audience Participation Song:
    • GRAVITIC-LOVE's chorus features "So Fast!" "So Vast!" and "So High!" "Turn Round!"
    • Little bits of LOLV -Lots of Love- have "Shout!" during its chorus.
    • During the dance portions of the stage plays, during Tsuki no Uta., fans will call out the characters' names at the lines that feature their names in the Singer Namedrop song.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Done pretty often in various mediums. Twitter posts will have them thank "the person behind the screen," or outright reference things by saying they're "dimension-hopping". Tsubaki's introductory CD is rife with this.
  • Break Up Song:
    • For the first season, there was Sakura to Tomo ni, Kimi Dake wo. A 2D idol magazine once had a series of polls for readers' favorite songs on various topics. For "Best Heartbreak Song", three Tsukiuta. songs took the top spots, and number 1 was said song. They've formed an entire squadron regarding this: Arata, the leader, is Red and thus, Heartbreak Red. Since then, Heartbreak Red has popped up in many places around the franchise, and especially in April Fools' programs, since Arata is the April representative.
    • For the second season, there was Koi Wasuregusa, performed by Hajime and Haru. It's a rather straightforward breakup song, with both of them playing one side of the relationship in the song, as signified by the lyrics. Because of this song reaching second place on the poll, Hajime has been dubbed Heartbreak Purple (which he dislikes) and Haru, Heartbreak Green (which he's rather amused by).
    • As for the girls' second season, there is Wakaba's Black Coffee no Yoru, a jazzy song that mourns how the singer has been friendzoned.
  • Call-Back: Many instances touch upon past situations that have happened, connecting it to their present and even their future.
    • The characters can occasionally muse about what they've done previously. Whether it's something that happened years ago, or something that happened just a few days ago, there's usually lots of continuity going on that reminds the reader or listener that they're not living in Comic-Book Time.
    • Early on in their history, it's mentioned that Arata's older sister Yuka often changes her appearance and loves makeovers. It's also brought up that Aoi's older brother Chihiro have a Strong Family Resemblance, so they look remarkably similar to each other, to the point even Gravi unit members would mistake them for each other. Years later, this same plot point is brought back for one of Aoi's dramas.
    • When a sneak-peek of Hajime and Haru's fifth season CD Shuntouka came out, mentioning Hajime's Almighty Mom, Kakeru (who was running the Twitter account during that time), dug through the past tweets to show fans what kind of person the Mutsuki matriarch was.
    • Yumemigusa has Shun proclaim that he and Hajime are Purposely Overpowered, and they can't live in too many worlds unless they want everything to collapse. Some time later, in Kurenai Enishi, Kai recalls this fact as a reason for why Never the Selves Shall Meet, and Shun applauds him for remembering.
    • In Urazanshin, Hajime mentions that he remembers a time when they were Trapped in Another World with Japanese swords. That world had a certain life that lived brilliantly to its last, he notes, looking directly at Arata. In Yumemigusa, which Hajime is referencing in all but name, Arata died after living as resolutely as the Cherry Blossoms he's represented by.
    • Kai's focus episode of Tsukiani 2 is this as a general nod to how things were when they first started. He wanders through his past memories after wondering when he'll get to take a journey, and while he's at it, he realizes how much their relationships have changed.
  • Call-Forward: The Tsukiuta Natsumatsuri event has Aoi mention that he'll be taking part in a drama with Izumi Shu of QUELL later that year. Come Proani, Aoi appears briefly in The Cameo, cornering Shu.
  • Cast Full of Pretty Boys: The main male cast. Who knew that anthropomorphized months looked so good together?
  • Cast of Personifications: The groups consist of idols who each personify a month of the year, with each month being represented by both a boy and a girl. The boys and girls all exemplify certain themes of their month, but their stories and songs are unique to their own.
  • Character Development: Just as we grow over time, the characters have too. The individual dramas associated with each member tend to, but not always, touch upon an idea that illustrates just how much growth they've done as humans, and as people themselves.
  • Childhood Friends: Two pairs per male group: Arata and Aoi, and You and Yoru. There's also Kurisu and Tsubaki of Fluna and Seleas, respectively.
  • Color-Coded Characters: For simplicity's sake, the motif colors of each month's representative are the same. December is gold, January is purple, February is pink, March is green, April is orange, May is sky blue, June is teal, July is blue, August is red, September is yellow, October is brown, and November is white.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience:
    • Six Gravity's image color is black. Their sub-colors are blue and gold.
    • Procellarum's image color is white. Their sub-colors are red and silver.
    • Fluna's image color is pink.
    • Seleas' image color is cyan.
  • Comic-Book Time: Averted. Each year the project goes on means the characters age and grow accordingly, and so do their circumstances. This allows for significant Character Development for all the characters involved.
  • Continuity Nod: The story takes place in a linear timeline. As a result of this, references to previous events or activities are present, though not too many that they would distract from the actual daily life plot.
    • The biggest example of this would be in the Drama CDs. Their stories are particularly noted to have nods to the past CD, and perhaps even the very first drama plot entirely.
      • Kurisu's introductory CD has her bitterly watching her fellow classmates shower praise on their senior, Yuki. Yuki's drama, spoken from her perspective, reveals that Yuki noticed Kurisu's piercing gaze on her.
      • Mizuki's maid dress makes an appearance in not only two, but three dramas. Yuno first puts it on in hers, after it's mistakenly delivered to her room. Mizuki's own CD has her rifle through her closet in order to find good cleaning wear, but she passes up on the maid dress. Months later, in Akane's CD, Mizuki wears the dress for their School Festival.
      • Mizuki's introduction also features her getting hooked on an oddly unrealistic detective book. Reina's CD has her gleefully touring bookstores in order to pick up the sequel, which she notes that Mizuki took a liking to.
      • Hajime's fourth season CD has him and Haru discuss the latter's role as a surgeon in an upcoming medical drama. Several months later, in Arata's, Arata notifies Aoi about a selfie that Haru has taken in order to promote said drama.
      • Also in Hajime's CD, Haru walks into his room without knocking. It miffs the former slightly, so Haru apologizes and promises to knock the next time he comes in. In Haru's CD, he knocks before entering Hajime's room to ask him something.
      • Tsubaki's third season CD features herself and Reina talking about the jobs that their fellow Seleas members got underneath their respective Goddesses. Said jobs aren't mentioned in detailed context aside from those specific dramas focusing on the character. Later on, Tsubaki mentions Ai in a chat with her boss, with the latter noting specifics about Ai's boss that wouldn't have been known unless one had checked out Ai's CD.
    • In a variant, cross-dimensional references to other mediums get made from time to time. When Kai and Haru describe how they get tossed into another world for Urazanshin during rehearsal, they mention that it hasn't been the first time something like this has happened to them while they were practicing: namely, Yumemigusa preceded this situation.
    • Speaking of Urazanshin, Zesseikyou talks about a whole slew of past alternate universes while musing to himself. He doesn't say the names of those worlds specifically, but he lists off a key trait of that world which would immediately tip a fan off about what he's referencing.
    • Certain songs also reference past themes.
      • Kakeru's ending song from Tsukiani 2, Kinpika Complete, incorporates various lyrics and concepts from all of his seasonal solos, whether it's making a nod to the rap in Chikoku no Uta, to the Apollo moon landing in Moonshot!! It represents his growth and continuing to live throughout the little bothers that life throws at him.
      • Haru's ending song of Tsukiani 2, Namae no Nai Monogatari, contains the Leitmotif from his first season song, Uguisu Code.
      • Hajime's ending song from Tsukiani 2, Shichouka, has lyrics directly lifted from his first Tsukiani ending, initium ~Shikoku Hyourin~. Interestingly, the lines are pronounced and sung differently, with a complete overhaul in the rhythm they're sung to.
      • Rui's fourth season song, Tear, is almost completely an Answer Song to his first season song Rainy Moment. The latter has him curse the world, lamenting why it is so bright and beautiful despite his suffering. Tear, performed after he has gone through incredible Character Development and has reconciled with his beloved older brother, represents Rui's attachment to the world which is filled with so many lovely things. Both start with the sound of pouring rain, in a sort of Meaningful Echo.
      • Iku's Tsukiani 2 ending and fourth season song Autumn Note include the same line: "Overcome what I was yesterday." The former uses its direct translation in Japanese, while the latter uses Gratuitous English for it.
      • Kakeru and Koi's fifth season song, Cryptogram, includes a snippet of Inocencia's chorus in the instrumental of its final chorus.
  • Cover Version: The introductory CD sets have all of the idols sing covers of seasonal songs. Some of them can range from traditionally Japanese songs, or being decidedly foreign in origin.
    • Kakeru and Kurisu get Rainen Kara Honki Dasu, which is based off of Jingle Bells and features them complaining about the Christmas songs that blast from the speakers during the holiday season.
    • Hajime and Yuki get Haru no Uminote , a "New Japanese Music" traditional piece.
    • Koi and Ai have Haru yo, Koinote , a traditional Japanese folk song, which also puns with Koi's own name.
    • Haru and Hina have Haru no Ogawanote , a traditional Japanese folk song, which incorporates Haru's name too.
    • Arata and Chisa get Sakusa-Sakura, originating from a traditional Japanese folk song called "Sakura-Sakura".
    • Aoi and Wakaba's is Koinobori, a folk song describing the carp banners that typically fly during Children's Day, a May holiday.
    • Rui and Yuno's song is Ajisainote , which comes from a traditional folk song by the name of Amefuri.
    • Kai's is Sasanoha Letternote , while Mizuki's is Sunset, Reset. Kai's originates from Tanabata-sama, and Mizuki's comes from Ware wa Umi no Ko, both of which are traditional themes.
    • You gets Natsu to Kimi ni Omotenashinote , which comes from Natsu no Omoide. Matsuri's is Digital Summer, coming from Tankou Bushi. The songs they cover are traditionally Japanese.
    • Yoru and Akane's are Yoru no Hikari and Yoake no Hikari respectively, which are based off of the song New World Symphony by Antonín Dvořák.
    • Iku and Reina's songs are based off of the theme Orpheus in the Underworld. Iku's, titled "Are you ready!?" is more sporty and outgoing, as opposed to Reina's more funky and playful version, named "Praying for your smile".
    • Shun's is Maou (KIKUO MIX ver.)note , a German musical poem, and Tsubaki's is Трoйка -white witch mix-, which originates from Troika, a Russian folk song.
  • Cutting Off the Branches: Yumemigusa featured two endings: one with Arata dying in Cherry Blossom, and one with You dying in Moon. It's heavily implied that the former is the canon one, due to Yumemigusa itself being an alternate name for "cherry blossom", and it's all but confirmed later on in Urazanshin, where Hajime makes a Call-Back that he remembers someone who lived with all his life, the best he could. Hajime looks directly at Arata for this.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: A couple of their normal-timeline members suffer from this, but through Character Development, they have become more than their pasts and are content with their lives. Rui, a Lonely Rich Kid, suffered a deconstructed version of Parental Favoritism, leading to him escaping home. Kai lost his childhood friend at a young age, and he gets hung up over it when the time of year rolls around again.
    • For more dramatic backstories, one can check out the backstories of their alternate worlds' versions, too. In Taikyoku Denki, Rui, Aoi, and Yoru are Conveniently an Orphan. Of particular note is Rui, who deals with Fantastic Racism.
    • In Zanshin, Haru comes from the country that created Regret. Upon their outbreak, it's reduced to a Doomed Hometown, and his family gets persecuted for just coming from that land. As a result of this, Haru nurses a Tranquil Fury and keeps his emotions under wraps until he encounters Hajime.
    • One could view the Alternate Selves of Shun, Dia and Zesseikyou to be this way. They both suffer from immortality, and they're reduced to living incomplete lives due to not having a Hajime in their worlds. They lived for thousands of years knowing fully well that they could never be like those they yearned to be.
  • Dark Is Evil: Played straight with certain villains in other worlds.
    • The Big Bad of Taikyoku Denki is Doutaku, a Chinese Vampire who dresses in dark colors and wields the powers of darkness.
    • Tsukino Empire's Big Bad is Nakajo Amon, a backstabbing official who's dressed all in black.
    • The mysterious man in Rabbits Kingdom, who's In the Hood and dangerous to the whole crew, is played up like this, cloaked in black. When the hood comes off and it's revealed he has Mystical White Hair as an Alternate Self of Shun, it becomes both this and Light Is Not Good.
    • Averted hard with the team's Zanshin fits. Yes, they might be wearing all black and slightly more morally questionable compared to the normal timeline, with a few colored accents, but their hearts are all in the right place. After Procellarum gets Brainwashed and Crazy in Urazanshin, though, this trope is played straight.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Six Gravity suits this trope completely. Their image color is black, and their leader is the "Black King" Hajime. Their more recent idol outfits play their dark theme up more strongly, featuring black as a main color. Despite all this, Six Gravity are most definitely heroic, kind, and caring people. This becomes especially telling when they're in fits such as Zanshin, ORIGIN, or Tsukihana Kagura, where they're most definitely good guys while wearing black costumes.
  • Death is Cheap: When characters die in the stages, they rarely do stay dead. This, however, does not apply to the version of Yumemigusa which doesn't have the alternate ending.
  • Distressed Dude: Happens pretty often in order to create tension in the alternate universes' stages. Hajime is typically the most common victim of this, being attacked in Rabbits Kingdom and Taikyoku Denki for his Fisher King status. Although Shun is on the same level, he's either awakened to his powers already, or caused the mess in the first place, so the enemies decide it'd be better to attack the weaker link.
  • The Dreaded: Multiple, though they're all Played for Laughs.
    • Hajime in a bad mood is this to the Tsukiuta. squad in general. It typically happens when Haru, Arata, Koi, Shun, or Kai tick him off by doing something stupid and purposely pushing his Berserk Button.
    • Shun is this as well, though more because of his Weirdness Magnet tendencies. When Rui notifies the squad that Shun's in a "bad boy mood," everyone scatters. When Shun asks Procellarum if they're ready to play, all with a smile on his face, they instinctively take their distance from him.
    • When Mizuki stopped Nebutan's rampage in Reina's introductory CD, she shot him down with a Death Glare so bad that he calmed down, implying this.
  • Dream Intro: Hajime's first Drama CD begins with him performing with Six Gravity as their leader, which then reveals that the scene was a dream he had before being scouted. He wakes up, remarking that the dream was very realistic, but he can't remember it.
    • The beginning of Shun's fourth season Drama CD has Shun in a White Void Room as he dreams.
  • Elite School Means Elite Brain: Hajime and Haru attended an elite high school that was the top in the nation. This school was also attended by Rui's older brother Minaduki Rei, but his situation wasn't seen as positively by those around him.
    • After graduating high school, Hajime, Haru, and Shun all attended and graduated from a certain university. It's only called "T-Uni", but that stands for University of Tokyo, one of the most prestigious and illustrious public universities in Japan.
  • Ensemble Cast: Both groups of boy idols are the main characters in the anime, leaving 12 characters to run around with and give spotlight to. The rest of the series juggles between double that amount.
  • Everyone Meets Everyone: Six Gravity's first drama CD starts with the three pairs first meeting after being scouted. All of the partners knew each other, and went to school together, but they first meet the other pairs upon moving into the dorms.
  • Fairytale Motifs: Their Fairy Tale Collection outfits, made for the Harajuku Shop. Six Gravity's is based off of The Bremen Town Musicians, while Procellarum's is based on Puss in Boots.
    • The stage featuring these outfits, Shiawase Awase, also has Reina and Tsubaki appear as witches. They mention summaries of various fairy tales, such as Cinderella and Snow White, wondering just what that "Happily ever after" meant.
  • Familiar: the shinjuu in Tsukino Empire. The SQ members are all bonded with Suzaku who creates separate incarnations for each of them (Chabo-kun and Reg-kun); likewise with the Alive members and Seiryuu; but the Tsukiuta members all have unique shinjuu. Hajime is bonded with Genbu, and Shun with Byakko — they can handle such powerful creatures alone because of their magic.
  • Fashionable Asymmetry:
    • Present with almost all of their stage outfits. Some are more pronounced than others, such as their first season fits, since they look like two halves of different jackets.
    • It's noted in an explanation of their 2022 designs that Six Gravity's outfits were specificially designed to look asymmetrical, with their red and blue drapes, as opposed to the more symmetrical Procellarum.
    • In Rabbits Kingdom, Arata wears an eyepatch, because he has heterochromia, the eyepatch covering his red eye. Why? Because it's cool, that's all.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Though the normal universe doesn't depict much of this trope, since they don't fight on the battlefield, it's more available in Taikyoku Denki. The Jinzoku and Gokuzoku fight together in order to save their world, and though they have petty grudges and their own idiosyncracies, they're undoubtedly tightly bound together.
  • Fluffy Fashion Feathers:
    • Gravi's 2017 idol costumes all feature feathers. Some have them around their arms or legs, some on shoulders, etc.
    • The Lunatic Party stage play's special costumes are black with feathers, lace, and glitter, and accents of each members' image colors.
  • Four Gods: The first tier familiars in Tsukino Empire are based on these.
  • Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Well, Chinese Vampires, at least. The Gokuzoku are pretty much like this, with Kakeru, Arata, and Shun being the biggest examples, since they make their selling point their friendliness. After Haru and You's Heel–Face Turn, they end up this way, though less so than the other three due to their... respective quirks.
  • Ghostly Glide: How Diablo moves around.
  • Giver of Lame Names: It's been commented multiple times that Haru and Arata have zero naming sense. Haru's comes from his mother, while Arata's seems to come from his Cloudcuckoolander behavior.
  • Gold and White Are Divine: The Angels' costumes in the ORIGIN Alternate Universe.
  • Good-Looking Privates: The Tsukino Empire AU started as an alluded to Show Within a Show that was essentially an excuse to draw them in military uniforms, because it's hot.
  • Good Wears White: Procellarum. It's their main theme color, and they're good people right to their cores. Depending on the alternate world, they also shift into Dark Is Not Evil because of their outfits.
  • Gratuitous Foreign Language:
    • Much of the discography, whether the songs or the lyrics, have lots of Gratuitous English, just as many Japanese idol pop songs do these days.
    • You's single Genau! is peppered with German, due to his voice actor's proficiency with the language (which is actually his first). This lends itself to DA☆KAI, You and Yoru's duet, having bits of "genau!"s in it. That, though, doesn't explain the gratuitous Henry V references in his first anime solo sol~Happy! Phew!~.
    • Kakeru and Koi's first set of duets, Datte Madamada Avant-Title, and Inocencia, include foreign languages. "Avant" is French for before, and means in English, culturally advanced. Inocencia is Spanish for innocence.
    • The dorm pets are called "animals" in Gratuitous English.
    • The Tsukiuta and SQ members each have Latin fanclub names (the boy and girl for each month share theirs). Some of the names are a direct translation of their character (e.g. Kai with mare, Koi and Ai with amor, and Yoru with nox), but there tends to be some variation.
    • Shun apparently speaks about 7 languages including German, French, Chinese, and Spanish. He can drop the occasional "moumantai"note  or "Que será, será"note . He's the most frequent perpetrator of this trope.
      • When Shun becomes a Sentimental Drunk, he mumbles various statements to Iku, who's carrying him. This includes "Estou um pouco bêbado"note  and "Ich liebe euch alle"note . Iku laughs that he doesn't understand what Shun's saying.
      • Hajime and Shun have a conversation about the stormy weather, and the two of them reference the musical poem Erlkönignote , though Shun makes his own twist on the line.
    Hajime: Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?note 
    Shun: Es ist Anfang und ein Ende.note 
  • Hair-Contrast Duo: The two leaders for both male and female teams have this going on. Hajime and Yuki, members of The Clan are Tall, Dark, and Handsome and an Aloof Dark-Haired Girl, while Shun and Tsubaki have Mystical White Hair but are Creepy Good. Fittingly, their groups reflect this image. Six Gravity and Fluna are incredibly loyal to their leaders, while Procellarum and Seleas, although being just as loyal, are equal parts free-spirited and flippant with their behavior.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Haru and You, in Taikyoku Denki. Sure, they weren't exactly on board with the whole "changing the world" deal, but after they find out that Doutaku is a Dirty Coward who wants to put an end to the world entirely, they pull a Screw This, I'm Outta Here and defect to the Jinzoku-Gokuzoku alliance.
  • The Herald: The rabbits Kuroda and Shiroda, who found most of the members and led them to the company to become idols.
  • Holding Hands: Pops up from time to time as the typical expression of affection and love.
    • The end of Iku and Rui's second duet, Sing Together Forever, contains this. Iku holds out his hand, and Rui takes it as they walk together, signaling the end of the song.
    • One of Shun's random daily fortunes invokes this. He decrees that You must hold Yoru's hand in order to prevent the ''bad things'' from approaching Yoru, and the former does so willingly, despite his anger at having to hold a guy's hand.
  • Homoerotic Subtext: This series... or rather, the franchise is rife with this sort of thing, and the pairs tend to seem way more than just friends.
    • When Kakeru praises Koi's ability to get back on track after feeling down for a while, Koi teasingly requests Kakeru to not fall in love with him. Kakeru shuts him down immediately.
      • After Arata brags that he got a nice manicure from his partner Aoi, Koi instantly leaps in to show off his own nails, which are painted gold, and he proudly claims it to be his partner love. Kakeru, ever the Deadpan Snarker, bluntly notes that he just coordinated his nails with his outfit, and it had nothing to do with him.
    • Arata and Aoi are an Odd Couple combined with Opposites Attract. It's been shown that for all Aoi's griping and complaints of Arata, Arata serves as a Living Emotional Crutch to the former. When Arata is slated to die in Yumemigusa's Cherry Blossom chapter, Aoi's Yumemigusa self bitterly keeps the rest of the gang in their Crapsack World if his original world's Arata could live peacefully for just a little while longer.
      • As stated above, Arata once bragged that Aoi painted his nail for him. His fingers are a splendid display of orange and sky blue, their image colors, and Arata calls it his partner love.
      • When Arata checks out Harajuku Shop with Hajime, he comments that he's going on a date with Hajime. Hajime then responds, in the case of Arata and Aoi, that he's the one getting between them.
      • After Arata's brief time in the hospital, he informs Aoi that he'll be getting back to their daily lives soon. Aoi's reaction is giddily whispering the day under his breath multiple times.
    • Hajime and Haru's performance of Koi Wasuregusa skirts the line between this and plain written text. Because they play opposite roles in a Break-Up Song, Haru singing from the position of the one who was heartbroken in the past, and Hajime singing the jilted position in the song proper, their dance reflects this.
      • Haru's near-obsession with Hajime in alternate universes such as Tsukino Empire and Taikyoku Denki could serve as a form of Ship Tease. He pursues Hajime zealously, to the point of being an Abhorrent Admirer.
      • In Hajime's fourth season CD, Haru proposes that they go out because they haven't worked together recently, so he doesn't have enough Hajime in his system.
      • Haru is always full-throttle with his Hajime appreciation, but what about the latter? Well, Hajime admits that being around Haru is comforting, and the times he feels most relaxed is when they have easygoing topics about whatever's going on.
    • It's stated in Iku's profile that, back when they started, Iku was The Hero to Rui, who helped him out of his shell. In order to become a man befitting of said impressiveness, Iku put in hard work so that he wouldn't let Rui down.
      • One of Iku and Rui's second season duets, Sing Together Forever, is a heartwarming ballad about them being together forever. Its lyrics are a comforting and gentle conversation featuring how much they matter to one another.
      • Rui has lacked sleep when working with Iku multiple times before. The reason for that? He was scheduled to work with Iku the next day, and he was so happy that he couldn't fall asleep on time.
      • When Rui and Iku accidentally run into each other at work, it takes a while before Rui recognizes that Iku's actually there. Rui comments that this Iku is actually real, which prompts Iku to ask if Rui sees Hallucinations of him regularly.
      • After an announcement of Rui having a collaboration with a bridal project, Iku comments with a dejected air that Rui got married to someone else, and not him... Only for him to follow up, clarifying that everyone else egged him on to say it.
    • You and Yoru are another pair of Childhood Friends, this time being an Odd Couple with a Solar and Lunar theme. You's own brothers acknowledge that they could treat Yoru as another younger brother to them, considering how the pair grew up extremely close to each other.
      • It's said that despite You's Boke and Tsukkomi Routine going on with the rest of the gang, he's rather weak when it comes to retorting to Yoru, and he can't hold back his childhood friend when the latter is having fun.
      • One of You and Yoru's second season duets, Awai Hana, is filled with this and Cannot Spit It Out. It compares their emotions to being like flowers that fade away in their hearts as they're unable to tell each other the truth.
      • Yoru remarks that You has always been like the sun to him. Because of their Night and Day Duo dynamics, he admires You for being so brave, cool, and capable in comparison to himself, leading to Yoru's Heroic Self-Deprecation. In response to that, You is always there to reassure Yoru of his capabilities.
      • As brought up before, You's tough side can't hold a candle to Yoru. No matter how Tsundere You can be, Yoru is actually quite fond of how he puts on airs. On top of that, You admits against his will (through bean-induced Truth Serums) that he actually likes it when Yoru only treats him crudely and gets excited about lame things.
    • Shun and Kai are easily one of the duos that most commonly lavishes compliments and praise to each other. They will praise the other for being handsome unprompted.
      • When they coincidentally run into each other at work, they recreate their encounter to be akin to a dramatic encounter, hugging each other and yelling out each others' names.
      • In Taikyoku Denki, Shun insists that he would prefer to make a contract with Kai instead of Hajime. Shun very much admires Kai's way of living and how he is so honest to himself, and despite feeling unease for his future, Kai happily accepts, saying that he'd have fun with Shun anyway.
    • Shun has a massive crush on Hajime. He goes on and on about how much he loves him, constantly interrupting important conversations to ask Hajime to pat him on the head. It's even said that Shun joined the agency in the first place because Hajime had joined.
      Shun: Say it with me, everyone! L-O-V-E! HAJIME LOVE!
      • Shun's Stalker with a Crush behavior is played for humor. While preparing for their High School AU, Shun produces a crystal ball from who-knows-where, informing his club member that he'd be using it to sneak a peek of Hajime.
      • Of course, this extends to other worlds. In Tsukihana Kagura, Shun goes gaga over seeing Hajime wearing his casual clothes, gives The Glomp full-force when they first meet, and bluntly states that he'd know where the enemies are... as long as Hajime were to praise him.
    • Yuki and Ai are quite attached to each other, and their relationship is made clear right at the beginning. Ai serves as a comforting presence to Yuki, who is often burdened with many responsibilities, and Yuki appreciates Ai's hardworking, earnest nature to no end.
    • Yuno and Mizuki are extremely close: Mizuki's introductory drama has her admit that she feels just like a princess when Yuno treats her so gallantly, and it makes her skip a beat.
      • When Yuno is getting excited over her work in the Handicrafts Club for Hyakunen Aoharu, Mizuki immediately gets notified by... something or other. Either way, she claims that her "Yuno's being cute" sensor is firing off like crazy, and she wants to photograph her posthaste.
    • Matsuri is heavily dependent on Akane, and Akane appreciates Matsuri's backup dearly. When Matsuri collapses from hunger, she wakes up and believes the Akane cooking in front of her is her own personal angel.
    • In Shiawase Awase, Tsubaki and Reina wander in from the Fairy Tale World in order to find out what happiness is. After some wandering about, figuring their answer along the way, they realize that their happiness is the fact that the other has been with them this whole time, and that they adore each other so much that they wouldn't mind being Together in Death.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The two pet rabbits, Kuroda and Shiroda. Kuroda is unusually large - when Hajime holds him, Kuroda is about the size of Hajime's entire chest. And Shiroda is unusually small, fitting in the palm of Shun's hand.
  • Idol Singer: Twenty-four of them.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: The struggle that kicked off certain character arcs. Hajime, Yuki, and Mizuki are subject to this most often.
  • Image Song: The series consists of more solos and duets than unit songs. Each of the boys has more solos than they do duets. As for all of them, Tsuki no Uta. (both the first and second ones) represent the boys, while the girls have Meguriai.
  • In-Series Nickname: Six Gravity is shortened to "Gravi," while Procellarum is shortened to "Procella".
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: In Rabbits Kingdom. After hitting the big old Reset Button on the world, Hajime and Shun wipe all their companions' memories so that they never existed in the first place. The boys all feel like something is off, but they just can't put their fingers on what's wrong.
  • Light Is Not Good: In Zanshin, the enemies they face off against are called Regret, which are white masses that represent people's lingering grief. Said Regret originate from Zesseikyou, an all-white Alternate Self of Shun who seeks to make his world whole by stealing away Hajime. His line before unleashing hell upon the protagonists is to demand that everything turn white.
  • Living MacGuffin: Hajime and Shun. They're sought after for being the pillars of the world, as offing one of them would cause the world's balance to collapse so badly it implodes on itself.
  • Lunarians: The female units, who live on the Moon, which is essentially located in an Alternate Universe. According to their dramas, they're working hard in order to become Goddesses, who are figures that facilitate the lifestyle of their unstable Moon society by providing a link between it and Earth. They have to undergo training and prove themselves in order to be chosen. The Goddesses live and work on the Moon, but their existence as "Goddesses" is a secret to all but a select few. They're essentially normal humans, but it's implied in Ai's introductory CD that Goddesses in general have some sort of spiritual power that can't be withstood by normal human bodies.
  • Long Hair Is Feminine: Inverted. The girl members do have a couple of idols that have long hair, but in the case of the guys, all of them got their hair cropped as they matured. You is the only exception, but even then his hair length is a lot shorter than it was when he was a teenager.
  • MacGuffin Super-Person: Again, Hajime and Shun. Their existences of being the pillars that support the worlds mean that they're necessary to restart or end a world if need be.
  • Magical Girl:
    • In Procella's "Shunderella" audio drama, where they draw roles from a hat and improv a retelling of Cinderella, Rui's take on the "magician" (fairy godmother) role is along these lines.
    • The 2018 April Fools' Day joke features, of the Tsukiuta. units, Arata and You becoming magical girls. Arata is Pure Cherry, and You is Pure Curry.
  • Magic Realism: There are a ton of supernatural themes associated with the franchise, which tends to surprise those who have started off with just the anime. Their world is set in ours; namely, the boys dorm in Shibuya and routinely show off pictures of their daily lives of going out into town. Their daily lives are infused with the occasional hop into an Alternate Universe, experiencing the unnatural, and accepting the forces that be, even if those forces that be put them into life-threatening danger.
  • Male Sun, Female Moon: This seems to be a slight theme with the second Tsuki no Uta. and Meguriai, the themes that involve all 12 of the boys and all 12 of the girls, respectively. The former brings up the "dawn", while latter hopes that the night can come again so the girls can meet you. That said, it's only slightly touching upon this trope, since Tsuki no Uta. is definitely still based off of the moon.
  • Moe Anthropomorphism: Of the months of the year. Fittingly, they have themes and songs that give off an air of that month, if not outright saying their months' names.
    • Kakeru and Kurisu are December. Kakeru focuses more on the aspect of ending the year, with his part-time worker background and hardworking nature. Kurisu's themed after Christmas and the desire to buy loads of things when the holidays roll around.
    • Hajime and Yuki are members of a prestigious family and are the leaders of their respective units to signify the beginning of the year in January. Aloof, stern, and dignified, they're the characters who are always number one.
    • Koi and Ai are based off of Valentine's Day together, with their birthdays even falling on that date. They enjoy making people happy, bringing people happiness, and generally brightening up everyone's worlds with love, no matter what kind of love it is.
    • Haru and Hina represent March in different ways. The warm, accepting Haru represents March being the first month of spring, a season of change and thaw. Hina, who's based on Hinamatsuri, can also represent the nervousness of heading into a new fiscal year and people's Determinator moods towards doing their best.
    • Arata and Chisa are both April Fools, being wacky Cloudcuckoolanders who can't be held back. Yet still, their theme of Cherry Blossoms note the fleeting Mono no Aware sense of the world that passes on by. Chisa's theme of being sort of klutzy can also be a nod to how the Japanese fiscal year starts off in April, being a source of many changes and mistakes along the way.
    • Aoi and Wakaba have refreshing and gallant personalities, fitting for May, a month that heads into summer. Aoi's a little more relaxed, exemplifying the early summer rain and Mother's Day in his songs Kalmia to Samidare and Reincarnation, as well as Children's Day. Meanwhile, Wakaba is more of a go-getter, in order to beat out the May Blues as described in her third season A-side.
    • Rui and Yuno are the characters who represent June. Rui's quiet oddities and Yuno's princely bravery might seem mismatched with the first month of summer, but considering June is a month of many rain showers, their uniqueness can be summed up by associating them with said weather.
    • Kai and Mizuki are July's representatives, tolerant and hearty, representing the ocean that is a common location to visit during the summer. Their playfully accepting natures are said to be a perfect fit for summer.
    • You and Matsuri are the representatives of August, both being great examples for what's considered one of the hottest months. You, being a Fiery Redhead, and Matsuri, who can flip between two energy moods but causes fires in a different way, also slip festival themes into their songs.
    • Yoru and Akane serve as the September representatives. Their songs and personalities are on the cooler side, giving a good sense of how the world slowly starts getting chillier as autumn sets in.
    • Iku and Reina are October's representatives, and they individually serve as examples to the various themes of October. Iku's is with sports, as sports festivals and the like are commonly held in October, while Reina's is as a Spirit of Halloween, being accompanied by jack-o-lanterns and ghosts and the like.
    • Shun and Tsubaki, serving as November's representatives, are freewheeling, unpredictable, and have Dissonant Serenity towards the weirdness that happens around them. November's weather is just as wacky, while its many examinations and preparation for the upcoming year make it a rather unforgiving month, as Tsubaki lampshades in her CD.
  • Mundane Fantastic: Overlaps with Magic Realism. Particular mention goes to the Goddesses: listeners are given an explanation that the girls' Moon society is, in fact, located on an alternate world. It's ordinary as can be, with the Goddesses' dramas depicting scenes in their daily lives of going to school, going to work, cooking, and generally just doing their best, going about their lives as any human would.
  • Mythology Gag: Kai is often associated with tuna in the more recent years. He fishes up a Demon World tuna in a drama and was said to have provided a tuna for the boys to eat. This most likely originates from his first generation actor, Doi Kazumi, whose schtick was posing like a tuna and yelling out the name for a gag, as Kai wasn't associated with the fish early on.
  • Nice Day, Deadly Night: The basis of their Alternate Universe Taikyoku Denki. The nighttime is when most dangerous monsters and beasts go about prowling for prey, while the daytime is when most of the protagonists can safely train and live without struggling against nature.
  • Ode to Food:
    • You's special single Hee!Hee!Foo!Foo! is about his favorite food, curry. The B-side, Kimi wa Karei naru Laila, along with having a Punny Name that plays on the pronunciation of "curry" (karee), is a sensual song that compares the passion of love to the spices of curry.
    • Seleas' group song B-side, TOTM -Takopa on the Moon-, is a song that compares the roundnessnote  of Earth and the Moon to their completed takoyaki. It's filled with Not So Different Remarks and praise for everyone being amazing just as they are.
  • Our Angels Are Different: ORIGIN has some mythologically accurate terminology based off of the Kabbalah, what with Procellarum having multiple wings, but it also creates a lot of its mythology from scratch. The angels and demons are quite amicable with one another, too, and they get along well.
  • Parrot Pet Position: Bet you've never seen this with a reindeer before.
  • Red String of Fate: It's said that the connection that binds the twelve members together is like this. Fortunately, or unfortunately, they become Weirdness Magnets because they're all so tightly bound to each other and their individual oddities.
    • To use the more general metaphorical version, Kakeru mentions in Kurenai Enishi that the red string of fate that binds them all together is more like a steel wire.
    • Another nod to this is made in the bonus track of Taikyoku Denki's Drama CD. When Kakeru unearths a red wire, claiming that they can obtain the object of their affections using it, Koi shouts that it should instead be a red string.
  • Rotating Protagonist:
    • The episodes of the anime, and the stage plays, feature different leads each time, giving each character some amount of focus. Depending on the stage, which could feature a focus for either a Gravi pair or a Procella pair, this is even more the case.
    • The official Twitter does this quite literally. The boy for each month manages the account, passing it to the next month's representative on the first of the next month.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Diablo. Our Demons Are Different, considering he's always inside a cardboard box and could very well blow the entire world up if it opens. It's subverted, though, since he's not all that malicious, and he's more of The Trickster than anything.
  • Seasonal Baggage: Considering it takes place in the current universe, it's natural that they'd do this. It's a combination of two categories.
    • Seasonal Motifs come into play with the four seasons' groups, represented by their months' characters. December to February (Kakeru, Hajime, and Koi; Kurisu, Yuki, and Ai) are winter. March to May (Haru, Arata, and Aoi; Hina, Chisa, and Wakaba) are spring. June to August (Rui, Kai, and You; Yuno, Mizuki, and Matsuri) are summer. Lastly, September to November (Yoru, Iku, and Shun; Akane, Reina, and Tsubaki) are autumn.
    • Seasonal Montage happens throughout the year, where the seasons and times change just as we do in real life.
    • Kigo forms the whole concept. It's also one of the many areas where the series is surprisingly full of traditional motifs.
  • Second Year Protagonist: Sort of. When the series started, the middle pairs were this, while the senior pairs were third-years, and the junior pairs were first-years. (This is why Hajime, Haru, and Shun are seniors even though they're only a few months older than the middle pairs). The reasons cited on the trope page apply, though - the middle pairs as characters do feel like a balance between the seniors and juniors, which is likely why they're featured as mains for such compelling stories as Yumemigusa and Kurenai Enishi.
  • Shout-Out: There's a lot, since they casually reference things that have an influence on their universe, which is also ours.
    • Their 2018 April Fools' joke, Pure Rabi, is an obvious nod to Pretty Cure. The boys featured in the group come into contact with the Talking Animal Pure Yamada, named by Arata. Pure Yamada explains that he is in search of the MacGuffin moon pieces, which are the source of Applied Phlebotinum that powers the moon world. Arata misunderstands and almost brings up the Sailor Moon "In the Name of the Moon" line before being cut off. They even have a By the Power of Grayskull! line, being "Charm Up ♪"!
    • The 2019 April Fools' joke is a general shout-out to Sentai works, featuring individual members striking their own "Super Sentai" Stance and having associated colors... all of which are red.
    • For the 2020 April Fools' joke, all of the mascots end up transforming into Notzilla in a Godzilla reference.
    • The series has made multiple references to Slam Dunk, all of which have been based on the famous line said from the head coach.
      • When Matsuri is arguing with her robot Nebutan, the latter bungles the quote slightly, leading to Matsuri commenting on how it's a little more life-threatening than she remembers.
      • Reina's boss mentions that the match ends if they give up on changing. Reina, the Otaku, mutters to herself that those words are quite convincing.
      • In Taikyoku Denki, an even more comical example considering that it's a completely alternate world, Kakeru screams that a famous person once mentioned that giving up meant the match would end. Fittingly, in the Drama CD, a sound of a basketball hitting the floor can be heard in the background.
    • When the boys are showing off their various Tsukino Sød designs created for the Harajuku Shop, they exclaim, "It's my (pat)turn!" Amusingly enough, the first one to kick off this train of references was Arata, who's voiced by Yoshimasa Hosoya, someone who voiced a major character in one of the anime series.
    • During one of the 2023 April Fools' jokes, a reference with the comic "UUU no..." is made to another hero who gets help from his "dad" and You, who's dressed in a straw cape. Arata lampshades this, saying he's not that type of hero.
    • Another April Fools' joke has Pure Yamada wistfully retelling the story of him and his lover recreating the scene from Titanic.
  • Side-Story Bonus Art: At various events, particularly Animate Girls' Fest, new Alternate Universe situations are created to sell merchandise. Typically, just a brief outline of the world building is given for the story. However, several of these have since become full stage plays with complex stories, and more detail to the worlds than was present in the original pamphlets.
  • Temporal Theme Naming: The boys' last names are the poetic names of their representative months. Ai, who's Koi's sister, also shares in his theme naming, but the rest of the girls have other themes to them.
  • Tempting Fate: One of their go-to comedy methods. For example, when the boys end up on a ship, they hope that its shaking isn't enough to make anyone seasick... only for Yoru, Aoi, and Rui to fall seasick immediately after.
  • Theme Naming: The boys' family names are all the poetic names of the months they represent.
  • Theme Twin Naming: Koi and Ai, the male and female representatives for February. They have pink hair, and their birthday is Valentine's Day. Individually, their names both mean love, though with different connotations, and putting their names together forms "renai," which also means love.
  • Trapped in Another World: The plot of many dramas and stages. Some are set in the fantasy setting from the beginning, while others specifically involve the boys getting thrown into alternate worlds.
    • For the latter, there is Yumemigusa, which has both a stage and Drama CD; the stage Lunatic Party; stage Kurenai Enishi, which involves the boys getting yeeted into the Youkai universe; stage CYBER DIVE CONNECTION; stage Urazanshin, which only has the seniors as outsiders; and stage Iirenren, which is a return to the Youkai AU, though this time Trapped in the Past and with Koi being the only one trapped in the other world.
  • True Companions: All of the units, with each other. Though they might have all formed from a twist of fate or come together with a magical rabbit guiding them, each and every one of these talents will defend each of their companions to the last.
  • Truth Serums: The beans scattered during the annual Setsubun tweets are like this. Shun summons them, hot off the press from the Demon World, and supplies everyone with their own share. Those who are hit by the beans must say what's prompted of them, almost always against their will.
  • Tsurime Eyes: Over time, all of the boys started to slip into this to show their maturity, with only Kakeru managing to keep his large, round eyes.
  • Universal-Adaptor Cast: The cast is placed in all types of different scenarios from their AUs, from the Tsukino Hyakkiyakou Youkai to Yumemigusa Jidaigeki, and them just being cats to playing roles in their High School AU.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Pretty much everything that happens.
    • Shun's pet demon Diablo, who lives in a Cardboard Box Home, is often found scooting around, attempting to get shipped to unknown places. Knowing the typical craziness that goes on, the usual security guard or dorm superintendent just assume that it's the same old weirdness associated with the boys, handing off said cardboard box to its owner.
    • This is even lampshaded when Shun transforms members in Gravi and Procella into cats. Their subtitle is a dry "This doesn't surprise us anymore."
  • White and Red and Eerie All Over: The "eerie" bit is downplayed and they're more just "strange", but Procellarum's outfits in Tsukihana Kagura evoke this vibe. They, as Geppaku, are the most mysterious and reclusive country, skilled in fortune-telling and are only called in to fight when necessary. Of note is Shun's outfit, which even features a red spider lily, a flower that signifies death.
  • Winged Humanoid: The Angels and Demons in the ORIGIN AU.
  • Yin-Yang Bomb: Shun mentions briefly in Taikyoku Denki that he managed to think up a new skill by combining the Yin techniques of the Gokuzoku and the Yang techniques of the Jinzoku. This skill, which is used to seal away Doutaku, was assumed by doing this.
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are: An overarching theme of many of their stories. This happens rather often with the more clumsy, unskillful characters, who use their mistakes as proof that they're still living to encourage the listener to do their best alongside the idols. Characters like The Ace Hajime or Bunny-Ears Lawyer Shun often support the fan by lightly giving them a push on their back. The general understanding of the franchise is that all of them live in our world, loving and supporting the fans because the fans are loving and supporting them, too.
    • Certain Drama CDs, more often the third, fourth, and fifth season ones, happen with this as the climax after everyone's done a decent amount of Character Development.
      • Yuki's third season CD is a combination of this and Dare to Be Badass, while Ai's third season CD also involves her partner assuring Ai of her necessary presence.
      • When Koi worries about whether it's okay to smile, his partner Kakeru is there to reassure him that, yes, there are people out there who feel energized seeing Koi smile, so he shouldn't put himself down. Several years down the line, in Cryptogram's drama tracks, Koi offers a similar type of encouragement to his partner that despite their height difference, Kakeru's position as their Herald more than makes up for it.
      • Hina feels upset that her indecision makes her so vastly different from others. Kurisu, however, remarks that everyone is different anyway, so no one needs to resemble someone else, and Hina is no different. Kurisu uplifts Hina, encouraging her to believe in herself.
  • You Are Not Alone: Shun's fourth season CD begins and ends with Shun realizing that he's no longer the solitary Demon Lord that kept his distance from everyone else. Kai is there to reassure him of this.

Tropes applying to Tsukiuta the Animation:

  • 20 Minutes into the Past: The first season takes place during the 2014 era of Tsukiuta, while the anime ran in 2016. This would have been averted for the second season, which took place in 2019 and was set to air then too, but delays had the season air one year later.
  • Beach Episode: Episodes 6 and 7 serve as this for the male units, but they're prevented from getting back home because of a burnt bridge. They have to fix their residence house after a storm and try to find a radio signal to contact their peers with.
  • A Day in the Limelight: The female units get an episode to themselves in episode 8, where they all suffer a machine mishap and get Rui's help in order to change back.
  • Eldritch Location: Shun's room. Despite being clearly attached to the Tsukipro residence building, the room seems to change, it has a suspicious aura surrounding it, and no one has seen it clearly. Goes hand in hand with Shun marketing himself as a Demon King.
  • Formula-Breaking Episode: Despite the franchise having tons of magical elements, this series is very low key with such as detailed in Slice of Life below. Episode 8 is the most explicitly fantastic in nature, however, due to focusing on the Goddess Candidates and their shenanigans.
  • Invisible to Normals: The female units turn into walking, talking Tsukiusas after a gadget went awry. Only Rui could see them and interact with them, while everyone else was confused.
  • Lie to the Beholder: When Shun and Hajime go on a date, Shun casts a spell so that they won't be recognized.
  • Ms. Exposition: We meet a fan of Six Gravity in the first episode, who carefully explains who each boy is and their relationships with each other to her uninterested little brother.
  • Product Placement: For the store Animate, in Episode 3. Haru of Six Gravity has to do a "manager for a day" event over there, while the rest of the boys take on various jobs in the facility. After the day is through, they perform a mini concert.
  • Singer Namedrop: Their first season final performance number, "Tsuki no Uta", had them all sing lines that have wordplay corresponding to their names. Either it's the actual name used as a word, or a word that means roughly the same thing as the name. And everyone gets to sing one part of the song, meaning that each namedrop comes back-to-back-to-back after each other.
  • The Something Song: "Tsuki no Uta" (ツキノウタ), the season 1 finale... which they topped in season 2 with "Tsuki no Uta" (月ノ詩。).
  • Stock Footage: The music videos for "Gravitic Love" and "LOLV -Lots of Love-" are used as extra performances whenever they can, or they're featured on digital screens in the story.
  • Slice of Life: While it does focus on their day to day activities as idols, it also goes into their off-time moments a lot in the show. The magical elements outside of the Goddess Candidates' episode are also severely downplayed, to the point where Shun's Demon King shtick comes off as just an act.

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