For the first time in their third year, Azumi and Mizuno were put in the same class. Initially, they are nothing more than classmates, but continued exposure sees them grow progressively closer. As the year goes on, the pair and their classmates must come to face themselves as they mature and face challenges.
Typically, romance anime doesn’t always do more than dip a toe into maturity, opting to take drive into comedy instead. However, when you get a truly mature romance series like As the Moon, So Beautiful, you need to cherish it, but it also creates a thirst for similar anime recommendations.
Anime Like Tsuki ga Kirei
For Fans of Slow Burn Romance
Kimi ni Todoke
Due to her quiet nature and long black hair, Sawako Kuronuma’s kind deeds are often mistaken as malicious by her classmates. With the nickname of Sadako, like The Ring girl, people avoid her, but she still wants to make friends. When the popular Shouta Kazehaya begins to take notice of her, her fortunes might begin to change.
When it comes to mature, meticulously slow romance shows, Kimi ni Todoke is the king of them. It really captured the slow and steady pace of a real romance and approached feelings pretty thoughtfully, much like the way that Tsuki ga Kirei does. However, the problem that both have at times is that, much like real romance, things can be tediously slow instead of being slow, yet engaging.
One Week Friends
High school student Hase Yuuki finds out the hard way how difficult romance can be after finding out Kaori, the girl he has fallen for, can only remember memories for a week at a time. Because of this, she often shies away from making friends, but can Yuuki’s sheer determination help her come out of her shell for just one week?
Due to its amnesia tactic, One Week Friends almost has no choice but to play things slow. However, this is only mired by the fact that it has two shy protagonists as well not completely unlike Tsuki ga Kirei. Not only do these romances build up slowly, but both shows have unique art styles to set them apart from the romance genre.
My Little Monster
Shizuku Mizutani is highly intelligent, but apathetic to her classmates. However, when she is tasked with bringing homework to a violent delinquent, Haru Yoshida, her entire view of life slowly begins to change. Alongside the energetic Haru, they both learn how to interact with the world a little better.
At a glance, My Little Monster doesn’t seem slow moving since love is confessed rather early. However, much like in the real world, the characters realize it isn’t exactly real love so much as it is some form of infatuation. The rest of the series is about exploring that, but you also have a little character drama as well. While My Little Monster can be a little more ridiculous than Tsuki ga Kirei, they both explore the real foundations of love.
For Fans of Self-Discovery
The Wandering Son
Shuuichi Nitori is an effeminate fifth grader and considered to be the prettiest girl in school, even though she is biologically male. However, Shuuichi is not alone in his feelings with his tomboyish childhood friend Yoshino Takatsuki biologically female though identifying as a boy. Things become even more complicated when they must attend a new school, struggling to make new friends and maintain old ones.
Although the characters in Wandering Son are much younger and the show doesn’t focus on romance, like Tsuki ga Kirei, it focuses largely on self-discovery. The characters in both shows are focuses on finding out who they are and being comfortable in their own skin.
Golden Time
Banri Tada has finally been accepted into a private law academy in Tokyo, but due to an accident, he is without all his memories. During his freshmen orientation, he meets Mitsuo Yanagisawa who is consummately stalked by Kouko Kaga, a girl from his old school. Banri begins to hit it off with both of them. As they spend more time together, their fates seem intertwined, but for better or worse?
Golden Time and Tsuki ga Kirei are both classic examples of how good a mature romance can be when it addresses realistic feelings in a realistic way. Of course, both shows still have room from drama and comedy as well, but they also have a large focus of self discovery even if Golden Time does have the whole amnesia trope going on.
The Pet Girl of Sakura Hall
Unable to resist taking in abandoned kittens, and amassing quite a collection of them, Sorata Kanda is forced to move to Suimei High School’s infamous Sakura Hall. This dorm is used to house all the misfit students that don’t quite fit in the regular housing. There, Sorata meets an array of different oddballs that inspire him to work towards getting back into the regular dorms and away from them. However, when a new transfer student moves in, he meets the incredible artist, Shiina Mashiro. While talented, she is completely incapable of taking care of herself, and so, Sorata brings her into his care and his strange days truly begin.
The biggest similarity between both series is that both of them are about people growing up and trying to figure out who they are and what they want to do. However, that can also take a sideline to the romance in the series. Essentially both are series about self discovery with a sub-plot of romance.
For Fans of the Delicious Innocence of Youth
Orange
On the first day of a new semester, Naho Takimiya oversleeps. On her way out after being late for school, she finds a letter waiting for her that says it is from herself ten years in the future. The letter ardently states her regrets that she has surrounding a new transfer student Kakeru Naruse. Thinking it is a prank at first, Naho ignores it, but when the events described within begin to come true, Naho decides that she will try to help her future self.
Although Orange has some of sci-fi elements and a sometimes complicated story, like Tsuki ga Kirei, both have a big emphasis on growing up and the future. Sometimes we say the right thing, sometimes we make horrible mistakes, but ultimately we live and learn from them.
Momokuri
Yuki Kurihara has finally been granted her wish of dating her crush, Momo. At a glance, she looks like just a cute girl, but Yuki is actually a Momo fanatic. Momo, on the other hand, is just a boy that is inexperienced at love and just wants to make Yuki happy.
While Momokuri is not as mature or slow as Tsuki ga Kirei, what they really have in common is they are both romance series that berate you with those constant warm and fuzzy feelings. While Tsuki ga Kirei takes breaks to focus on growth, Momokuri is that addicting feeling of love almost non-stop.
Scum’s Wish
To the outside world, Mugi and Hanabi look like the perfect couple, but the truth is that they are only dating each other because they can’t be with the people they actually want to be with. For Hanabi, it is her childhood friend-turned-homeroom-teacher and for Mugi it is his older tutor that has been teaching him since middle school. In order to stave off the loneliness, the pair find solace in each other’s arms.
Tsuki ga Kirei focuses on more of the innocent and happy memories of school life while Scum’s Wish takes on more of a dark side. After all, formative years are not always happy, and usually they are, like both shows, filled with drama.
If you have more anime recommendations for Tsuki ga Kirei, let us know in the comments section below.
