Yoake Mae yori Ruriiro na: Crescent Love

Finally, a romantic comedy done right. Even though I'm a guy, I have seen many romantic animes and this is probably one of the best. This is one of those feel good stories that leaves you with a smile upon your face. There is nothing new here or out of the ordinary but the ending is highly satisfying. So many animes start out strong but in the end they fizzle out. Luckily, this isn't one of them. The comedy is light without going over the top and the music is rather gentle, no pop stuff here. Give it a try, you'll love it. (You can ... also cry if you want to.)

Feena Fam Earthlight

Title: Yoake Mae Yori Ruri Iro Na -- Crescent Love

Game, Manga, Anime: Yoake Mae Yori Ruri Iro Na's first incarnation was an adult visual novel game released for the PC by August on September 25, 2005, and a PS2 adaptation entitled Yoake Mae Yori Ruri Iro Na -- Brighter than Dawning Blue --, released by Aria on December 7th, 2006.

A manga version of the story, illustrated by HoeHoe No-Miso began to be serialized in Dengeki Daioh on September 21, 2005, and is still running.

The anime itself is twelve episodes long, and ran from October 4, 2006 to December 20th, 2006 on TBS Japan. ... It was directed by Masahiko Ohta (who directed the tenth episode of Rozen Maiden), and the animation was done by Studio Doumu (who did the animation for DearS, Please Teacher! and Please Twins!)

Story: Anyways, the basic plot for this series is that, in order to improve relationships between the Earth and the Moon (the moon has been settled at this point in time, obviously, and there's a particularly nasty war in their recent past), the Princess of the Moon (Feena) is going to come for a homestay on Earth. The homestay family chosen is that of our main character, Tatsuya, mainly because his older sister is an assistant to the President (forget her name, at the moment). The rest of the series focuses on Tatsuya and Feena's budding relationship and the challenges they face.

The story is a romantic comedy, hands down. Unfortunately, the screwball comedy is usually achieved by forcing some characters into certain roles, or involves running jokes at their expense. Luckily, it doesn't get too old. And as for the romance part -- you will be rooting for Feena and Tatsuya the whole way through the series (just like every breathing body in the series).

The series itself can be divided into two parts: The first six epsiodes are more of the bonding between Feena and Tatsuya, while the second half is where all the couple's challenges (and most of the good part of the story) kicks in.

This show also focuses on foreign relations, and paralells our own world today a lot, which is something I really appreciate.

The only gripe that I have with the story is that the series waits until the last half to get to the meat of the story, that some characters fall into stereotypes and that genre cliches are used at times. But, for the most part, they're easily made up for by the last half of the series.

Art: This series tends to use richer colors (greens, blues, purples), for the backgrounds and character colors, for the most part. Characters also have at least three different outfits, so there's a good deal of variety. The 2D animation is beautiful, and blends well with the 3D animation, when it's used. I do think that the animators got a little lazy, though, mainly because they made Feena's mom look so much like her daugher.

Music: Not much I can find wrong here. A good deal of the background music is variations on the OP theme (which in and of itself is beautiful), but there's still enough of it that isn't to give variation. If at all possible, I definetly want to find the OST for this. I don't like the ED so much, though, even when it was altered slightly for the last episode.

Seiyuu: Like most series, I can't find find anything wrong with the seiyuu; each character's seiyuu fits them to the letter. One little gem that I found, though, was the Japanese seiyuu for Danglars (Gankutsuou) was the seiyuu for Takano-sensei, one of the major -- and funniest -- side characters.

Length: Perfect. It takes about half the series (twelve episodes long) to get the ball rolling, but when it starts, it more than makes up for it.

Overall: A beautifully animated/composed screwball romantic comedy with a couple you care about that takes a while to get going, but when it does, it rawqs your socks.

Story: 9/10
Art: 8/10
Music: 8/10
Seiyuu: 8/10
Length: 8/10

Overall: 41/50; 82% (B)

Being a romance-anime-moe-comedy-slice of life-etc. etc. genre fan, the first thing I could say on this series is, it has a unique sense of story and plot...
Unlike the other romance anime that I've watched, majority of them have the same story... I don't know if you will agree with me on this point but well others really have the same setting on the story and then you will suddenly have a hunch on what's bound to happen next which is somehow irritating, that's why some people get bored in watching... But once you start to watch this series you'll be fascinated on how every ... character executes his/her role in a precise manner that makes it interesting as the story goes on...
However regarding the plot, it is also somehow unique in it's own way but I couldn't say that it is definitely unique, because there are many anime that have the same plot of people that was born on different worlds that have prejudice against each other, as far as I know there are many kinds of this logic building plot; but just as I said, the flow of the story will be the deciding factor on how the plot would be unique as the story progresses...
That's why I gave it a 10!

Now I'm done with the plot and story, next is the characters, art, and sound...
In a story it is very vital to create a character that will adapt to the environment of the setting of the story, the character must also be different from each other... They must have their own unique traits so that the viewers won't be confused and bored while watching the series. Let's start with the characters that has the major roles in the story...
First is princess Feena, at first glance I thought she has a resemblance to Sabre(Arturia) of Fate Stay/Night, but I'll leave it at that...
Feena emits an aura of openness and diligence which is vital for her part because of the role that she portrays, and is also one of the reason why I could really relate to her... =p
Tatsuya is at first glance, is like another calm and relaxed character but he also has this heartwarming aura to him which makes him ideally perfect to be the partner of Feena, and of course he must be modest, intelligent and courageous...
Mai who is on the support role is just like the ideal younger sister that is a must have for every anime...
Mia the princess' maid have this meticulousness in her because she's a maid period.
You could easily spot the differences on that two, even if their name is closely related...
Next is Sayaka nee-sama, one of the reasons why I love this anime, and Karen too!
Next is the comical characters like Jin, Natsuki, and their dad who owns this restaurant near Tatsuya's house... They make every episode lively, and downright funny and who will forget the dynamic duo of Takano-sensei and his faithful assistant, these 2 are really hilarious, you will laugh at the impossibilities that they could make possible and the amount of their ridiculousness throughout the series...
I think I've said enough for the characters, oh I forgot to mention Chiharu which is Tatsuya's dad, for he is important on the very end of the series...(Spoiler alert!)
The animation is good, well to be frank I've focused on the story that's why I don't mind the animation that much, but it's good...
The sound, hmm... Throughout the series, all I can say is "Otsukaresama mina!"
So the scores are 9 for character, 9 for art, and 10 for sound!

All in all this series even though it has only 12 episodes fully satisfied my soul and mind... It never lacked emotions every episode, you'll get a dose of laughter here, a heartwarming feel there, the sought of romance mood, and last but not the least, the feeling of acceptance and understanding that will occur from the first to the last episode... When I watched this show, it was very interesting as every episodes goes by, and it made me root with characters and cheer in the end for Feena and Tatsuya, which only a few anime could do to me... (Winks~)
Well, in short if you're looking for a Romance themed story, this is a must!
That's why the enjoyment grade is a perfect 10!
=)