A high school girl is being pushed by the multitude exiting a train when a stranger with bright violet eyes stands up and takes her to safety. Yoi Takiguchi has a slender frame, a boyish face, and a serious, no-nonsense personality, and will always come to the aid of someone in need. It is no wonder that such a kind, athletic, courageous student is popular among the girls. The only problem is…that Yoi Takigushi is a girl! She spends her days avoiding female classmates who call her “Prince” in admiration or male classmates who do the same in jest. Though Yoi tries to put on a stoic face, the truth is that these incidents bother her a lot. So when Kohaku Ichimura, a male upperclassman who shares the nickname “Prince,” jumps from a roof in front of her and, as she falls to the ground, touches her face, tells her she’s beautiful, and straight up asks her if she’s a dude, Yoi is beyond furious. And when he sees her in class and says hello through a window, the girls are in disarray. The idols of the school cannot get together. Fat chance, thinks Yoi. But perhaps she has spoken too soon…

This episode has some notable strengths, as well as some undeniable weaknesses. Among the second, there is the somewhat stilted animation, particularly when many characters share the frame—the students going to school reminded me of the lines of peasants in PC strategy games of old—and the characteristic sudden advances of many shoujo male leads. My law practice is outside Japan, but I can tell you with confidence that if you decide to take a girl you barely know in your arms, touch her cheeks, or grab her tie and make her approach you without asking, you may end up explaining yourself in a police station. Hopefully, as the relationship progresses and the characters become closer, things like this will become part of a mutual understanding and stop bothering my legal instincts. With that out of the way, there is a lot to love here. The episode shines in the still frames, the quiet looks, the subtle portrayal of Yoi’s anguish and despair. You feel her hurt feelings, her unspoken desires, her efforts to quench hope. You anticipate the joy of the encounter. At last, another person has seen her Yoi’s core, and he is willing to put in the effort to court her, to make her feel seen, to get to know her. I think Yoi is a great character and I’d love to see her happy, so I’ll probably keep watching.

In the Clear Moonlit Dusk can be streamed at Crunchyroll.