Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki

Every time Yoi Takiguchi so much as lets out a sigh, her female classmates squeal in admiration and awe. She has been dubbed the school's "prince" by virtue of her boyishly attractive appearance and casual disposition. However, she chooses to be indifferent toward the attention she receives and spends her days normally—that is, until the school's other prince, Kohaku Ichimura, waltzes into her life and calls her beautiful.

Kohaku is nothing like a prince—he acts thoughtlessly and does as he pleases. But when he compliments her, Yoi feels flustered, and the way he looks at her gets her all nervous. He is the first boy to acknowledge her as a girl, and her attempts to distance herself prove futile as he seems to have set his sights on her. While Yoi keeps telling herself that it is nothing serious, even she cannot completely ignore the stir Kohaku causes in her heart.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ichimura, Kohaku Main

Suzuki, Ryouta Japanese

Takiguchi, Yoi Main

Ichinomiya, Rei Japanese

Kuwabatake, Shun Supporting

Kumagai, Kentarou Japanese

Takiguchi's Father Supporting

Tsuda, Kenjirou Japanese

Tone, Nobara Supporting

Yamane, Aya Japanese

Yoi's Older Sister Supporting

Koshimizu, Ami Japanese

Ooji, Takuto Supporting

Ono, Kensho Japanese

Akane, Sentarou Supporting

Hayama, Shouta Japanese

Niwa Supporting

Hasegawa, Ikumi Japanese

Hibiya, Kotobuki Supporting

Seto, Momoko Japanese

Tanaka, Junichirou Producer

Matsumoto, Takuya Producer

Aikawa, Shingo Producer

Satou, Naoya Producer

Reviews

Feb 19, 2026

maerkek

Recommended

Preliminary (6/? eps)

Anime is a fascinating medium because it allows gems like "In the Clear Moonlit Dusk" to both have decent production value and also ride in on the backs of shows that sacrifice some quality in order to reach more people. There is nothing inherently wrong with trying to cast a wide net, but it inherently makes it more difficult to really speak to people in a deeper way. This anime goes the other direction and, at least on the surface, it is incredibly narrow, but it speaks volumes of both depth and complexity that merely watching it will not unlock most things for the viewer.

Disclaimer: ... I don't actually think the following section has any direct spoilers, the descriptions I used are pointedly vague, but it dissects a lot of the underlying systems and mechanics which can alter your perspective significantly (which either won't matter if you have seen and liked the show or possibly ends up benefitting you if you didn't like it or were on the fence about watching it).

On the surface, this is a very dreamy, pastel-looking shoujo that asks the viewer to believe that the female mc is seen and treated as a boy by others (even if as a prince and not exactly like some chad). Some people might struggle with this part cause she is very clearly not looking like a boy, but most anime asks the viewer to suspend some disbelief about some gimmick or quirk, and here this is that ask. This is actually much deeper than just some surface-level gimmick and has far-reaching effects on the female mc to the point where it feels real, not because of the art on screen but her reactions.

On the male mc side, the author hits the viewer with some "whiplash storytelling" where the events, both in their frequency and circumstances, really put the viewer in the shoes of the female mc, but not exactly in a good way. This is not a lovey-dovey story about light-hearted misunderstandings or characters that are allowed to struggle endlessly about their own insecurities in an otherwise warm and nurturing environment. There is a fair bit of struggling regardless, as perspectives shift or are forced to shift, which might look slow on screen but is still breakneck for the character. The magic is that it is not toxic, it feels real, with actual stakes and not arbitrary ones. Technically nothing is forcing the characters to interact; boundaries are (mostly) respected once established, but they need to be established; choosing to do or not do something has a real opportunity cost and opportunities pass as they try to make sense of their feelings.

Yes, this show does use a lot of genre tropes in order to get the characters to interact or stop them from interacting at crucial points, but what makes it entirely different is that the interactions are not completely obvious, and the interruptions are not there to pad the runtime. Random encounters are often awkward as the characters get caught off guard while not in the right headspace, say things on impulse without knowing the full context or just present a gut reaction they didn't mean that way. Interruptions allow for some much needed space and time for self-reflection, but often what the characters find is not to their liking, they don't just find out what they need to internalize in order to succeed.

The characters are not just perfect for each other, and their relationship is only blocked by either random/malicious outside factors or pathological levels of denseness. They communicate openly and honestly, but since they are not ready-made for the other person and have their own ideas, they don't always automatically say what the other person wants to hear. They have their doubts both about the other person and themselves; they struggle to trust each other because trust has to be earned first; they might not back down from problematic positions because they mean it. A fair bit of inexperience and naivety also comes in; high school settings often run into the problem that the characters are very clearly adults and a lack of maturity gets sprinkled in where it's convenient for the author, which is also kind of the case here, but it is often used to show how little the characters initially know about each other and how that changes.

It is a duo act, and neither has it easy. Unlike so in many romance anime where completely incompatible characters basically break and accept their fate, and a character that used to be their woe becomes a balm to their woes with zero character development on either side, what you get here are people with problems who have to figure out if the other person is even the solution to their problems or not, while in the meantime growing as a person into someone that solves the others problems almost as a byproduct of that growth.

All of this can come off as very confusing for the audience, as it is also confusing for the characters, but it really makes other shows feel like a bunch of paper-thin cardboard cutouts playing "relationship". The reason why that is not immediately a problem though, is that most shows are not just about relationships, and the real marmite here and why I called it narrow is because this show is just about characters in a relationship. It is just a raw version with everything left in that people like to forget, a bit like unfiltered beer. You are free to not like it.

A healthy relationship means that you don't lose (or sacrifice) your "self" for it but that requires work and maintenance. If you never experienced one (healthy or otherwise), this is a pretty close approximation without it being overly romanticized. Sadly, as most anime is in some way about escapism, a show like this which is the complete opposite of that will struggle a bit, but that is almost by design.

Without artificial light, as twilight turns into dusk and the almost complete lack of sunlight makes sight hard, a full moon can be out, yet it is still the sun that lights the sky. While beautiful, it is no guide, for the solutions lie down here in the dark, but should you brave what is on the inside you might glimpse your true sight in the clear moonlit dusk.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Feb 19, 2026

FurryLilProblem

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (3/? eps)

I've got to be honest, this anime did manage to teach me something in the three episodes I sat through.

It showed me that no matter how beautifully animated, or how insanely bad I want to like a show, I can't force a show to be enjoyable.

Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki brings in a 'prince-like' lead who entices and attracts girls all around for her boyish charm. Never meet your heroes though, because Yoi is one of the stalest, most unlikeable protagonists I've seen this season. Ultimately, I've decided to drop it because I dislike the dynamic of the relationship - largely due to the ... main character.

One of the biggest shames of the winter season for me, because it had all the ingredients to be great and yet... here we are.

Thank you, Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki, for reminding me to value my time.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Feb 9, 2026

alquimistablanco

Not Recommended

Preliminary (6/? eps)

I tried, people, I really tried. 6 episodes in and I am just consistently stunned by how bland Uruwahi no Yoi no Tsuki is. I read a couple of other reviews about how the art is pretty (true) and it's a return to classic Shoujo romance (partly true), but ultimately this series has paper-thin characters, glacial plot advances, and an art style that seems just a little too "ironed out" from what I've seen of the original manga art to be considered compelling on its own.

The premise is that a girl who is always mistaken for a prince-like boy is surprised when another "prince-like" character ... (though dressed in the old shoujo "delinquent" style) finds her attractive and enters an overly formalized agreement to go out with him. Aaaand that's it. Sure, they go out for a couple of dates and she is shy and self-reflective about whether she really likes the guy and he is trying to understand what makes this girl so compelling to him. Both of them are a little awkward as they navigate the new experiences, but their characterization does not advance at all from episode 1 to episode 6. There has been so little exploration of the main characters aside from their core characteristics that are intrinsic to the premise.

As for side characters, not much to speak of: the dad is a supportive anime dad. The male and female leads both have a pair of not-quite-AS-attractive-but-still-attractive friends who accompany them around but those friends have no personality, character, or depth apart from teasing about the proto-relationship. There are occasional allusions or glimpses into a less-than-idyllic family situation, but both the MCs are so chill it has little impact. A second male lead (also a princely character) was introduced so perfunctorily it felt like it was a required addition mandated by an editor or AI writer.

The art is fine (though the manga art is by far more compelling), the voice actors are quality, the music is not offensive. It reminds me most of all of Bokura wa Minna Kawai-sou in terms of the style and the colors and eyes especially, but it lacks the humor and the supporting cast that kept that series afloat among the awkwardness and angst.

To be clear, I am not one of those folks who yells "OMG Where is the PROGRESS?!?!?!?!" from the rooftops at every single romance series. I have read more shoujo romance with 100+ chapters, contract relationships, and/or princely male or female leads than any reasonable human should, and I keep going back for more. At the end of the day, for me to feel like a series is well-written, it really cannot have ALL of: no progress, no deeper exploration of main characters, no fleshing out of side/mob characters, no comedy, no tension, no heartpounding moments, and no feeling that the characters actually know and like each other because we as the audience know (and care) so little about them ourselves. The characters seemingly cannot be vulnerable about their deeper selves because there either are no deeper selves or they are so deep as to be irrelevant.

Unfortunately, the show just ends up being not fun, not interesting, and ultimately not really even romantic.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki Episode 7 Discussion Stark700 - Feb 21	36 replies	by elliexbx »» Today, 6:13 AM
	Why did they adopted the Korean girl's school uniform? Horn_dawg_2019 - Feb 15	2 replies	by KnightmareNEKO »» Feb 25, 6:20 AM
	Poll: Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jan 10	98 replies	by neon00026_op »» Feb 24, 2:00 AM
	Poll: Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki Episode 4 Discussion Stark700 - Jan 31	43 replies	by hxpestar505 »» Feb 23, 7:01 PM
	Poll: Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki Episode 6 Discussion Stark700 - Feb 14	37 replies	by GigiBlanche »» Feb 20, 8:59 AM