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In Spring 2017, I've discovered my favorite romance anime to date.

I have legitimately never ever seen a romance anime presented with such a grounded yet extremely gripping atmosphere throughout its entire runtime.
This is a "first love" story - the most simple of concepts, yet apparently so hard to pull in this medium.

Tsuki ga Kirei shines in highlighting the little things that light up the torch of love in teen years: from the most basic act of making constant eye contact with that cute person in our class, to get the guts to finally say anything to them, fighting the daily struggle of ... not stopping thinking about their smile, punishing ourselves emotionally for not having the initiative to ask them out, finally getting around to do it, realizing how their presence and attention alone can bring inspiration to do what we love the most with the best efficiency possible since we don't want to let them down in any way... All these things have been seen in romance anime before in one way or another, but Tsuki ga Kirei is the only one I've witnessed pulling them (and more) in such a focused manner, without ever being overdramatic and constantly grounded to reality.

This sense of identity the characters have bring about how real they feel, and thus, how their emotions feel all that more relatable, and, if not that, at least very believable.

There are things that make this stand out from the crowd in an even more distinct way, in case the aforementioned points didn't convince you.
Something as simple as exchanging messages with our loved one may bring us the biggest smile in our life; it may give us a burst of energy to start working and harder than ever before; and situations as pure and relatable as writing in a message our true feelings about a bad situation only to then delete the whole thing and instead say something as "alright, sleep well" really hit home and show the characters' feelings in an effortless, natural way.

As a last note, I can say that every single episode had at least one extremely thrilling moment (for better or for worse to my heart) that kept me at the edge of my seat and honestly cheering for a relationship like I'd never done before. Something bad that I can point out about Tsuki ga Kirei? Only one: the background / crowd characters' CGI was terribly distracting in the first half of the show, but it was at least toned down in the second half.

Things that feel like basic romance development elements are nowadays ignored and either replaced by a COMEDY, HAREM or ECCHI tag, but Tsuki ga Kirei grabs all of those seemingly lost / forgotten elements and not only executes them all at once, but does so in such a perfect, realistic, heartfelt and satisfying way.

A first love is something that might change us permanently, and all the seemingly little memories that we make with it will carry on with us to the rest of our lives, regardless of its outcome, as the moon, so beautiful.

(OPTIONAL INTRO)
(So, to be honest, I had a really hard time judging and scoring this show. I can tell you right off the bat that it can be well-deserving of a 1/10, but I wouldn't bat an eye at someone giving it a really good score, like a 7 or an 8/10. This just goes to show how controversial this can become. So I'm about to explain why I scored this a 6: something that was thoroughly enjoyable / easy to watch, despite being so for a myriad of reasons.

I MYSELF go "WTF is this guy thinking, writing a reiview this big?! No one ... gives a shit", but I now understand what's the feeling of having such urge to say so much about something - even if it's about this dumb lil' show)

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START OF THE REVIEW

The main problem presented here is: this anime lacks identity. The first half is entirely what you probably signed up for when you saw the tags "ecchi, comedy, school", read the description and saw three very young little girls on the cover - like the good MAL user you are - and so, that's what you get: a third grader hitting up on a new, 23 year old teacher - Aoki sensei - who has that clueless, dumb and generic look of a typical 2000s school anime character.

The important thing to note here is the attitude of the main girl (Rin) right in the first couple of episodes: she shows her panties to the dude, asks him for kisses, to hold her tightly, etc., and, with that smug face of hers adds a "what if I screamed right now?" to the mix. She's one cunning little bastard, I tell ya. Of course, the dumb man just does not know how to react to this, because he most likely just came out of college without friends, bullied and not knowing what's it like having a girl on his lap - just kidding, there actually is some sort of reasoning behind this, but more on that later.

THIS is where the "fun" really kicks in: episode 6. One could watch this episode by itself, and I can tell you it'd still be a pretty damn good episode. When did this turn into a full-on drama?? The pure shock made me stay glued to the screen...

[Not that I think it matters but SPOILERS AHEAD]

...Rin's cousin, Reiji, lost his parents young, and went to live with his own cousin Aki, Rin's mother. He eventually developed feelings for Aki and they were working very well as a family of 3, but then Aki got cancer, and died - hey, that was pretty sad - right after Reiji settled as an adult capable of sustaining his own family. The words he remembers the most from Aki: "protect Rin for me".

Alright, so, after an entire episode of drama, I had to know where this was going, and the short answer is - it went down a mostly dramatic route. These are the ideas presented here, and the core of the series:

>Rin and her cousin Reiji have a dark past, and to sustain her, he has to work, leaving her alone at home a lot;
>This leads to Rin being in need of affection*;
>Reiji treats her in a quite mature way for her age (this isn't very fleshed out);
>This supposedly leads Rin to have such attitudes with Aoki-sensei;
>Because Aoki-sensei is a sad lil' pussy (who gets called "virgin" by his own 8 years old students) he can't react accordingly, as an adult, around Rin because she acts in a mature way;
>This means he doesn't stop Rin from being on top of him, or from showing him her panties constantly, from kissing him, etc.
>Reiji, due to his obsession with protecting Rin, snaps when he sees she is so affectionate with Aoki-sensei;
>After some conflict, Aoki-sensei learns to act in a more mature way around his students (ambiguous), Rin is not that horny anymore, and Reiji snaps out of his yandere mode.

This is the core "message" of the anime, and I'm gonna tell you: it's not THAT bad. The teacher is a loser, and that's made VERY clear throughout the series: he has a cute as hell, busty teacher always clinging up to him and he doesn't make a single move, cringey as fuck; he is completely dominated by 8 years old girls, letting them mock him and control his actions, you get the picture, so, when it's also made VERY clear that Rin isn't just another lil' kiddo that just wants a smooch from a grown-up to see what it feels like, it's understandable how flustered he gets around her actions.

*This is important, and it's a flaw the anime has, as well as the lack of identity I mentioned earlier: Rin acts as an adult - she goes out shopping with her friends, knows very well what sex is and teases an adult by using transparent nightwear - so, sure, it kinda justifies her teacher's attitude towards her (kinda), but that doesn't mean she'd logically try to kiss him, get so intimate with him, flash her panties and act all girlfriend-ish around him in such extreme ways(the ecchi). For this to be acceptable even for comedic purposes, she'd need to have an even darker past, where she'd be teased by her dad to do lewd things for her as he explored her innocence in a very creepy way, or something like that. Without such criteria, the ecchi/comedy parts of the show turn out to be shallow and lack real purpose other than appealing to lolicons or enjoying it for pure shock value - one could literally skip the first half of the series and come out with a more positive impression of the plot of the series, I'd say.

Kodomo no Jikan goes from a dumb pedo ecchi comedy to a full-on character drama with snippets of - actually kind of appealing - psychological tension, always with a generous dose of cringe to the mix, and that makes for a very weird, "hard to judge how I feel" experience.

Now that the main things have been said, I'll make it very clear - I had a fun time watching this:
The comedy made me go "WTF, NO WAY! THAT DIDN'T JUST HAPPEN!" mixed with uncontrollable laughter EVERY single episode (except for episode 6); its midway point made me actually care a respectable bit for the characters (Rin and Reiji) and it actually had a decent sort of psychological approach that I enjoyed, especially for the fact of not seeing it coming.

Do I recommend this? Yeah. Totally. The amount of reactions this show can pull out from any person is insane - be it despising it with all your heart, making you laugh a whole ton, or getting sexually confused (xD) - and that by itself makes it worth the shot.

First and foremost: what most people don't realize is that Keijo!!!!!!!! is a PARODY, and while at that - a HUGE PARODY. Anyone taking a show that uses terms such as BOOBology, ASStronomy and RACKupressure so seriously is going into this with the wrong mindset.

> So why is Keijo!!!!!!!! a parody?
-It presents more superpowers in 12 episodes than one can even dream of having in a superpower-shounen anime, and to add to the originality that the author needed to accomplish this - it's all driven by BUTTS and BOOBS.
-The thing is: Keijo!!!!!!!! does all of that BUT involving female body parts...clashing... and ... making sword sounds, exploding, serving as a shield or a gattling gun, all while making references to JoJo, Attack on Titan, Fate/Zero, etc. Do you still think this show isn't self-aware? Ok, moving on.

-Many people backfire saying that it presents the most cliché tropes in sports anime, from mid-battle flashbacks to overthinking any situation in the middle of a match.
-The thing is: Keijo!!!!!!!! does all of that BUT with all of the bery bery sad sad backstories being TRAGIC because of events involving... BUTTS AND TITS. Pretty touching and heartwarming, indeed. Moving on.

You are not supposed to cry tears of sadness watching the characters' lame backstories and you are certainly not supposed to feel like the characters' powers make any sort of sense even in any way, shape or form, actually, you'd be better off trying to imagine how bizzare it would be to have any sort of sexual experience with any of the cast of this anime... and I mean it.

It's also worth mentioning that while Keijo!!!!!!!! (yeah you figured I love me them exclamation marks!!!!!!!!) is not listed under the "parody" nor "comedy" genres, it got me (and 99% of the people who watched it) laughing out loud in every. single. episode. Oh, and add quite the healthy cringe to the mix - it happened.

I want more Keijo!!!!!!!!, and I want it fast.

[This review will focus on finding out if this anime is worth a shot for YOU]

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WHAT TO EXPECT:

Basically, The Law of Ueki is nothing like the head-first Shounens out there: the powers included in this one are rather... weird, let's say, but VERY interesting nonetheless!

What if you had the power to transform trash into trees? Or towels into iron? Well, I'm not giving more examples because that would spoil it a bit, but it's pretty easy to see where this is going.

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MAIN PLOT:

The main plot is quite original! High school students get selected by Celestials (people who reside in "Heaven") to represent them in an all-out "tournament" by getting these special and hilarious powers. The one who wins gets to be the new "God" and the student who wins gets to choose ANY "talent" he wants, it could be anything, literally! Basically making a wish.

But don't get fooled! The silly plot doesn't stop this show from having fights in literally 95% of the episodes (or more!), and with many MANY different AND UNIQUE concepts / types of powers getting presented as the show progresses, the excitement on each fight just keeps getting bigger!

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WHY IT ISN'T PERFECT:

The Law of Ueki simply didn't get a 9, or even a 10 from me because it still has all those clichés as tropes from most shounen series, from the power of friendship giving you ridiculous power in the middle of a fight, or standing up even after taking a thousand hits from the strongest villain, but that CERTAINLY doesn't stop ANYONE from enjoying the CONTINUOUS thrill that The Law of Ueki provides!

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FINAL PERSONAL VEREDICT / CHARACTERS:

I'd say that The Law of Ueki is probably one of the most unique Shounen series out there, and DEFINITELY worth a shot for every fight lover! The powers are not brain-dead, yet they are silly and provide some great laughs!

The cast of characters isn't disappointing at all! The group of friends that is formed have all very very apparently weak and even more silly powers than other power-users in general, which makes the way the fights turn around to be very unexpected and interesting, to say the least!

[This review will focus on finding out if this anime is worth a shot for YOU]

{For starters, this is a very very heart-melting anime, so if you're very, say, "sensitive" to very very cute and (sort of) exaggerated lovey-dovey scenes, you'll probably even cringe watching Ore Monogatari!, or at least find it too cheesy.
But honestly, I don't think many people are like this, but in case you are, there are many other Romance anime for you to try. I'd suggest True Tears or Toradora!, but you can look it up yourself.

For me to say the above, I don't mean that Ore Monogatari is ... too cheesy or anything, it is just VERY heart warming.}

Next, I'll explain what you should be expecting from this anime(also considering you like romance):

>A relationship with a constrast between a very cute short girl (Yamato)and a 2 meter tall, very kind hearted guy(Takeo), both first year high-schoolers.

>A very episodic-based series, showing many experiences in the first step into the world of love relationships between these two.
>Many of the stories are honestly real-life relatable, others not a lot, but still very amazing and heart-warming.

>VERY VERY heart-melting reactions (sorry I just can't emphasize this enough) from the characters, that sometimes might even make you think something like: "Oh God, I know this feeling so well! " or even simply "This is actually relatable! " and lol at the situations

>The classic best friend of the guy in the relationship(Suna), who helps him, and even her, see things from an outsider's perspective to help them solve their problems. This character really really stood out for me because, again, this is very relatable to the real world and makes up for so many satisfying episodes.

>Not a definite storyline, just an episodic and pure slice-of-life anime, constantly showing how the couple is always thinking one abut the other, how they tend to hide some things now and then, just like true human beings.

>Takeo's personality will overwhelm you, and Yamato's as well, since neither of them think twice before sacrificing their well-being for the other's happiness


So, if you are prepared for a """cheesy""" anime, with absolutely adorable and relatable situations in the world of high school love, then this anime suits you!
IMPORTANT: when i say """"cheesy"""" i just mean that the anime is just constantly throwing cutesy and lovely scenes to your face, which some people may consider to be cheesy