Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora

I had high expectations towards Hantsuki. Story seemed interesting and short length of the show promised fast pace.

First episode was indeed really good. There isn't many animes where characters illness get main focus and episode ended with touching moment in the hill above the town. After that it calmed down little, mainly showing comedy and characters's past. There was one weak episode, but other than that i don't have much to complain.

Animation keeped up it's quality through all episodes. Though it isn't most important thing with these kind of shows, but always good thing. Music served it's purpose without being particularly awesome.

My emotions were kind of rollercoaster. Rika was selfish and sometimes arrogant, but her struggle against illness and living of last moments was well done. I would probably do same thing in that situation. Yuichi irritated me little, reading porn magazines in front of her and later almost cheated Rika with another woman. Fortunately he did at least something worthwhile in the last episode.

End was really suprising. After all trouble setting up story i expected that either Yuichi or Rika die. Any anime that manage to suprise me with end deserve lot of bonus points, good endings are very rare.

If you like romance or drama you can't disappoint with this one. Such little number of episodes there isn't much to lose either.

Animation and character design: 9+
Music and voice actors: 8+
Story: 9-
Enjoyment: 8,5
Ending: 9,5
Overall: 9-