Review - Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora
“Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora” (which means “looking up at the half-moon”) is, for the most part, a drama and romance anime with the regular dash of comedy. The plotline revolves around a boy who resides in a hospital with a illness that isn’t life threatening. However, a new patient (a girl) is brought into the hospital into to the section of the hospital where those with serious conditions are sent. Eventually, they get to know each other and become close, but reading this synopsis probably will give you an idea of where the story will lead to, and what sort of climax it will have. The plotline lends itself to a tragedy or simply a very depressing show. However, the series itself, which is six episodes long, has its share of sunny moments as well. And if you are upset by watching overtly depressing shows, then you may still enjoy this series because it doesn’t go near “Saikano” levels and the ending is, in some way, positive.
The review on animediet.net covers most of what I feel about the series. It is an enjoyable series, with a nice, quiet atmosphere and a good ending. But it feels a bit fragmented in mood, and the general environment seems a bit unrealistic. Usually I can forgive that if the story is well-done, but it stretches reality a bit too much. As the author at animediet.net said, the main character is a hospital patient, but for the most part, he could just be an assistant nurse because the series makes him seem almost as if he’s renting an apartment there with how freely he can move around.
Furthermore, there are instances where the nurse or even the doctor physically hurt him, which just seems very strange as he is a hospital patient. At its core, the series could have been a very heartfelt and pure romance but the way they kept pushing comedy in at strange moments felt odd. Especially the last episode, where there is a sudden influx of slapstick moments before the big emotional climax.
Still, the series feels very sincere and I think fans of this genre of anime would probably enjoy it. It doesn’t reach Honey and Clover levels (yes, I must compare every anime to Honey and Clover) , but it isn’t a bad series by any means. There are far worse anime that you could spend a few days watching.
September 10th, 2008 at 7:24 am
It was one of the launch titles for BOST:
http://www.bosttv.com/series/hantsuki/
So I’m wondering, how long were the episodes? Their flagship show of the time, Keitai Shoujo, on had 6-minute episodes. Without OP and ED, the 6 of those come up to one normal 24-minute episode.
September 14th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I believe they were just regular length episodes.