English Dub Review: Tsukigakirei “First Half: The Road So Far”

The flashback episode!

We’re halfway through – welcome to episode 6.5: the recap episode. My immediate opinion is that Tsukigakirei has no need for a recap. Most shows don’t these days, but Tsukigakirei especially. There’s only been six episodes. I remember exactly what happened and why, there aren’t any pieces to put together. But it’s a grand anime tradition that must carry on. With no new developments this week, here’s what I learned.

These initial scenes of the series really were painful, and they’re not fun to relive. It’s not just Kotaro and Akane’s relationship that was a struggle, but the show was too. I really didn’t like this show when it started.

There’s an interesting opportunity presented here for Tsukigakirei. A recap episode would be a nice way to examine what exactly happened in the relationship that brought Kotaro and Akane to where they are now. Flashbacks do exist to help tell a story. But this is just a regular old recap. It’s not edited in a particularly compelling way, so my mind had some time to think. I reevaluated my past feelings on things and decided they were exactly right. This show wasn’t really worth watching until the moment Kotaro finally asked Akane out. After we get to the point where the show got good, I immediately remembered how impactful some of these scenes were in context.

In case you’ve forgotten, here’s where the story stands: Kotaro, a shy squeaky boy, likes Akane, a shy squeaky girl. Now they’re dating and squeaking at each other, with the occasional conversation in between. Hira is a guy on the track team who likes Akane. Chinatsu is Akane’s best friend who likes Kotaro. We, as the audience, are just on the edge of our seats waiting for the drama to show up. It hasn’t happened yet. For now it’s been fun to see the main characters finally start enjoying themselves and developing some basic communication skills. If the second half of the series is just a continuation of that, it still will have been a fun ride.

SCORE
6.5/10