Hanbu No Tsuki Ga Noboru Sora

C

Capuchin

School Idol
A series about a boy and a girl, who meet in a hospital where they are being treated and start on the rocky road of romance.
What I love about this series is that it's not so easy to pigeonhole the characters into a particular type. They all have their flaws and do seemingly stupid things at times, but also have a lot of warmth. For a drama/comedy that focuses mainly on 4 characters and is mainly confined to a hospital building, it's surprisingly engaging.
I can't recommend it enough as an alternative to invasion angst and bug-eyed humour shows, very good stuff.
 
I also love this show, although I think a lot may rest on how powerful episode six will be. The four main characters are all interesting personalities, with their own problems; I disliked Natsume immensley during episode three, but by the fifth installment he had earned a speck of sympathy from me, while Akiko is at first a comedy nurse, but soon becomes much more, especially in episode five. Good bittersweet romances always grip my heart, and I guess little comes as tragic as the tale of Rika and Yuuichi's seemingly doomed love.
 
I randomly decided to give this try a couple of weeks ago after seeing it mentioned in a couple of places, and was pleasantly surprised to discover how enjoyable it was- in fact now that I've become absorbed in the world and characters, it's hard to believe there's only one episode left to go now. Akiko gets a big thumbs-up for being reminiscent of HiME's Midori, and I actually couldn't help feeling some sympathy for Natsume even during his more dislikable moments.

One thing that did feel a bit jarring was the seduction section, it did seem to abruptly come out of nowhere, perhaps a result of the series' low episode count. Nonetheless I'm looking forward to the final episode, despite being torn between wanting a happy ending or a bittersweet, dramatic one.
 
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One thing that did feel a bit jarring was the seduction section, it did seem to abruptly come out of nowhere, perhaps a result of the series' low episode count. Nonetheless I'm looking forward to the final episode, despite being torn between wanting a happy ending or a bittersweet, dramatic one.
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I felt the same about that segment of the episode; perhaps the manga remedies it somewhat. It seemed the character had only been just introduced the episode before and given a line or two of dialogue, yet then suddently she became so familier with Yuuichi. Despite that, though, I feel it's a minor stratch on a scene so intense.

Edited: Removed dire mistake that changes whole meaning of post
 
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I think that incident cemented why I liked it. Yuuichi was put in a difficult situation and didn't really do the right thing, hence him being a flawed character and not a goody two-shoes who will only dote on Rika, and yet you can still tell he didn't want to hurt anyone and isn't malicious.
Plus I seem to remember getting the feeling that she fancied Yuuichi when they first met in Akiko's car

Also, we see that Natsume isn't all one dimensional, he has his reasons and they may not be a good excuse but his character is not so easy to define as in so many anime series ("he/she's the x one").

I only realised that there were 6 episodes yesterday and that makes me sad.
 
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Capuchin said:
Also, we see that Natsume isn't all one dimensional, he has his reasons and they may not be a good excuse but his character is not so easy to define as in so many anime series ("he/she's the x one").
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My opinion on Natsume truly did move with the series; even at his lowest point, at the end of episode three, the scene with Rika's mother showed that he wasn't completely unsympathetic, and four and five built on that. I still can not bring myself to like him after the episode three scene, but the way both his past and present shape him makes him a developed character with depth.

I'm waiting for episode six like I've waited for no episode for a long time.
 
Its official, I loved this series! I watched episode 6 earlier all in all it was a nice ending, you know Rika is going to eventually die but Yuuichi vows to stay with her until the end :'(
 
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Taken on its own, the final episode wasn't my favourite, but I did like the way the series ended- I'm impressed that it combined both the happy and the bittersweet so I didn't feel disappointed on either count.
 
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I think the series is short enough so that you don't have to take an episode just on its own.
You could fit this on one disc, COULDN'T YOU, PROSPECTIVE DISTRIBUTORS?
*sigh*

I think my favourite series from 2006 so far.
 
I enjoyed the ending too; Yuuichi's leap to Rika's window seemed slightly over-the-top but put a dramatic end to the series, and the parts of me that wanted both a cheery and morbid ending were somewhat sated.

Of this first season's anime, HanTsuki has become my favourite; I just wish english translations of the novels could be located.
 
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