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)

I've Seen Many Romance Anime's in Life, but I'm sure by far that this one shows the most promise. I truly enjoyed each and every episode. It had it's fair share of sad moments, happy moments and even funny moments. Some out there may disagree with me, but I stand tall when saying this is the most romantic anime I have seen yet and maybe it will be the most romantic anime I ever see. So take some time and watch this Anime if your looking for a few laughs a tiny bit of action and a very Romantic story with a happy ending then ... watch Yoake Mae Yori Ruri Iro Na.

I'll warn in advance, its hard to make a decent review without spoiling something so if you fear i might spoil the anime don't read this. :)

Its hard to compare this anime to others i've seen because this story more so reminds me of a fairytale that doesnt involve adventure or fantasy. Probably the closest to it would be Petite Princess Yucie (Puri Puchi Yucie). Its only similarity being a palace where a commoner falls in love with the prince (only in this story the princess and commoner both fall for each other at the same time). Yoake is a nice story where a princess ... of the moon falls in love with a normal student of an academy, from Earth. Its a nice and happy story based about love and how rivals (two different planets) can come together as one.

There is a lot of humor in this anime which makes each episode pretty enjoyable. The only reason i don't rate the enjoyment a 10 is because i would have liked to see Feena and Tatsuya do more maybe with school life or outside the "princess duties". Maybe to show their relationship develop more. I rate it a 9,

The art is very pretty, expecially Princess Feena and her moon kingdom. I also like how cute some of the other characters look.

I rate the sound a 10. There was nothing wrong with it.

This anime overall deserves a 9. It pretty much has everything you want. Romance, Comedy (and chibi's :D), protagonists, Drama, and some light action. Its too bad most of the 'action' doesnt occur until the last 3 episodes.. but really it makes sense because the princess is visiting the Earth through the majority of the anime so things don't heat up until her return. If your more into full action anime, this anime isn't for you. It has a wondurful ending. I hope you enjoy it as much as i did!

Unless I'm being totally dense: this is NOT a harem in any way, shape, or form. If you happened upon this series because you saw "harem" in the genre description and are expecting a harem anime, stop right here and don't watch it. Personally, I would categorize it as more of a romantic, drama, and sci-fi anime.

If you're still reading and do not care that it isn't harem, you'll be in for a pleasant journey.


Story: 9
Probably the most redeeming quality of this anime; thought-provoking, mystical, and just pretty darn good. You can read more about the story in the details section if ... you're interested.

Art: 7
Overall, it was "meh," but during the scenes when it was necessary to have a good close up or panning shot, the artists really stepped up their game.

Sound: 7
Good voice acting, track, etc

Character: 9
Favorite characters: Takano/Faithful Assistant (I know I misspelled this); camera men charged at documenting the princess's time on earth and going about it in the funniest way possible.
I didn't care too much for our hero, but I thought that the princess's character was much more compelling.

Enjoyment: 7
It does get a little boring in the middle. Not a lot going on and it feels like a bunch of unnecessary episodes stacked on top of each other in a random manner. In my opinion, the last few episodes, as well as the first few, saved this series from being a snoozer.

Overall: 7
I waited for the "harem" aspect of the anime to reveal itself for many episodes and once I finally realized that, "You know, this isn't a harem and I'm totally okay with that," I began to enjoy the entire the series a lot more because I wasn't waiting for something to develop. This is NOT a harem and even harem fans, like me, will find it entertaining.

(MINOR SPOILERS, READ WITH CAUTION)

This anime falls under mediocre to me, but not for the reasons you might think. Where should I begin. Well, for starters I will pull out all the smaller thoughts I have about this anime right now, starting with the negatives. But before I do that even, I feel I have been having a bad habit of getting straight to my opinion without going over the synopsis of the anime from my perception, which is what a review should do.

Yoake Mae yori Ruriiro...too lazy to type the whole title, you got here already so you know what it's called. This anime ... covers what life would be like if Earth actually did make it to the moon and successfully cultivated it. The end result was that a good amount of people went over to the Moon to make sure control remained. And all seemed at peace.

Now, you may be thinking I'm spoiling a lot here, but surprisingly, the anime starts off this way. Not with what I just said, but what I'm about to say. And that's that the people of Earth decided to basically go into World War III with the people of the Moon, with the end result being in travesty as several parts of Earth were blown up and vice versa with the Moon. Following the aftermath, a new peace was formed, but with moderately damaged relations between the two planets. And as such, peace is on but a very thin thread.

After this very intensive plot, well, now things are going to get real mellow for a while. On the Moon, royalty is a thing, apparently. The king entrusts his only daughter to go on a mission to Earth to research her surroundings, the people around it and return with a report to decide if the Earth is still trustworthy basically. I assume the worst-case scenario would be that they would just change up some laws between the two planets if she reported something bad, according to my theory.

And with the princess of the Moon heading to Earth, surely you'd think she has some royal mansion or equivalent of her previous whereabouts present on Earth. Nope, she has to do a homestay instead in the home of the most trustworthy being on Earth. That being the primary secretary to the president of the United Nations of course, but who could have guessed that. Oh, and her little relatives as well, one of which is the protagonist. Oh, you thought it was going to be just the princess? Too bad! They're both the main characters. You can't just have an anime covering both the Earth and the Moon and only have one character from a different planet as the protagonist. You got to have one from each.

Now, normally I just categorize the characters with their own long paragraphs by this point, but there's not much to work with, so I'll make it short and summarize all of them in shorter form, which will also mix in negatives with positives. Firstly, Jin. Not much to say about him. He's specifically designed to be comical relief, but it's a little, well, obviously forced. Any time he makes a snark comment at his sister, Natsuki, she hits him with a paddle that reads whatever it was punishing Jin for in big, expressive Japanese. The end result is that, despite Natsuki being the one to hit Jin through whatever expensive object, Jin instead gets docked his pay at his job. Oh, by the way, both of them work for their dad. And whenever something breaks, even if it is not Jin's fault, Jin is blamed. That is the comedy with Jin and that's it. You will get bored of it after the first time you see it.

Speaking of, Natsuki is your supportive female and childhood friend of the protagonist, Tatsuya. Surprisingly, no, he does not end up with her, even though most romances normally do pair up the childhood male and female friends. Instead, she is simply supportive of him and there's no real indication that she likes Tatsuya either. So, no love triangle that I was aware of. Well on the topic of supportive females, that brings us to the final two.

The first is Sayaka, the aforesaid secretary and head of the home. She is very supportive of Tatsuya, though at one time, it felt like there was some awkward sexual tension between the two. And if you remember, yes, I said "relatives" earlier. Sayaka is actually Tatsuya's cousin, and in most anime, cousins normally do get together. So naturally, I shipped these two at first cause he was just as tall as her as well and I have seen quite a few anime that have done plot twists with relatives before, so I was on edge. Shortly after I saw the two, of course, it became apparent she was simply the supportive cousin of Tatsuya and nothing more. And I figured he would have been more interested in, you know, the princess. And Sayaka refers to herself as his older sister anyway, so it would have been strange if they ended up together. She's still more attractive than the princess, though.

The other one is Mai, Tatsuya's actual sibling and youngest of the household. Or at least, that is what the anime will tell you. In the game, they also mention that Mai is adopted, so she is not related to Tatsuya at all. And so yes, that means he could go all on that little sister fix if he wanted, but zero sexual tension is between these two throughout the entire anime, so obviously she was designed specifically to be cute, adorable and nothing more. Oh, she does play the flute, but that literally only happens a literal couple of times in the anime. I think it might have been more significant in the game, but anime normally do have to cut corners to fill in the episode slots.

I could go on more about characters, but I will feel that would be spoiling too much., though I could just mention a minor character you will not really remember too much. And that would be Midori, your typical spunky girl whom naturally has to have green hair to fit the personality trait. I have seen enough anime to know that the green haired women tend to be the most sporadic and I do not know why this is. In the game, however, she is actually a love interest to Tatsuya. I found this out well reading a bit about her since she played such a minor role in the anime as some comic relief, so that caught me by surprise. However, it's only in the newest prints of the game on consoles, as opposed to the original PC version, where she was even more minor than in the anime.

I thought the anime built a good premise with the whole Moon actually being taken over by Earth, since that has always been a goal of mankind to have it inhabitable. I really believed that was unique, but they did not take too much advantage of it. Nearly the whole anime, excluding the final episodes, takes place on Earth and, as I said earlier, it's mostly Slice of Life stuff cause it gets pretty chill. The whole thing about the princess clears up quickly as she simply tells everyone to address her casually and by her name, Feena.

Wow, I feel like I should have told you the names of these protagonists a while ago, but am just now getting there. But yeah, her name is Feena Fam Earthlight. Two things come to mind after I say this name, I'm sure. "Really? Fam?" No, I am being serious, that's actually in her full name. And yes, her last name has "Earth" in it, so naturally she wants to bring peace among planets. What a surprise. Her last name represents that the Earth has some light in it and that it's not just a dark place filled with bad people that are worse than that of the people on the Moon. Or maybe I am just looking too far into her last name. I would mention more about the protagonists other than their names, but since that might essentially spoil a major portion of the story, I will leave you to that. You will see these two in the anime a lot, Tatsuya and Feena I mean.

Overall, I feel this anime did an adequate job with its plot and setting, but could have done way more. I want to theorize that, as usual, it has everything to do with the amount of episodes it had to work with, being the lowest common denominator of twelve that most anime are subjected to. So, I won't punish them for rushing the story if there really was more to it, and I'm sure they could've done more since, as I mentioned earlier, Midori was originally a love interest for Tatsuya, the minor character in the anime that only provides comedy whenever she appears. I will forgive them for that, but not for jumping the gun on certain episodes. I feel at times, it went from Slice of Life to Drama real fast, even when accounting the short amount of episodes. With better pacing, this anime could have been something I would have given a higher score. But sadly, that is not the case.

If you are looking for something different, but don't mind a chill story that has a bit of intensity to it, look no further. This anime will satisfy that need, but not for long. Then again, that is the sad fate of any anime fan is that the anime you love the most usually fall under the horrible fate of being twelve episodes long. I'm fortunate in that my personal favorite anime is more than that, but not by much. For those that did enjoy this one a lot and are reading reviews simply to see how others felt, well, I don't hold any aggression towards you. Enjoy what you want to enjoy and feel free to recommend this to fellow anime fans, for I feel if they are not regulars, they might get a kick out of Yoake Mae- you know the rest. Since it does offer a few twists if they are still new to anime.

From finding the anime by accident from a picture I had saved on my hard drive for several years to owning the DVD, I've enjoyed the series very much.

Story: It's original, two kids like each other when they were little to finding one another later in life to find one the girl is a princess. I don't want to get to far into the story but it's original.

Art: I got the DVD that had the 'not so good' art on it. For example: A lettuce head appears to be a green ball than a head of lettuce. (Lefty bits are missing.) I assume if ... you get the expensive DVD (Like 2 episodes for like $50.) Everything else from Characters to Scenery, the artworks was fantastic!

Sound: I could hear every person without having to turn up the sound. Music came in crystal clear. I would like a copy of they OST if they made one.

Characters: August has their own unique way of creating characters, all of them were adorable, and even more when they appeared as chibi. All character ideas were original, and very clever.

Enjoyment: It was comical, romantic, and even made me cry. I suggest this to anyone who want's a good laugh.

Overall: I am very pleased with the anime itself and I hope to see a second session from the second game. It would be a little disappointing if they didn't create another show.

On more thing: Subtitles were an issue. There were several spelling mistakes and the long reading bits were not kept on the screen long enough, even though the character was still talking. This is the ONLY thing I hated from the DVD. Watching the videos on YouTube gives you a better understanding of the situation.

Seeing the prologue at the beginning of this anime about the war between the people of the moon and the earth, I can already guess that the story in the anime will not end smoothly.
And it turns out my guess was right, this was proven in episode 8 onwards.

This anime is indeed quite good, if only to look at the comedy and their daily lives, and I quite like the comedy style of old school anime, it's simple but makes you laugh, unlike today's anime where there's a lot of screaming and trashy Tsukomi.
I quite like it when the characters in this anime really live ... a peaceful and enjoyable daily life.
However, as I said at the beginning, this anime will not run smoothly.

This can be seen in episode 8 when the MC has to enter into conflict, to be honest I don't really like this.
It doesn't matter to me if I want to enter a conflict, it's just that what makes me disappointed is the conflict itself, too much drama, stalling for time, and other annoying things.
For example, a yellow-haired character who comes from nowhere, and there is always an inciting voice that is said to be a spirit from a past war, and ordered to ruin the relationship between the MC and the Princess. this is too far-fetched as an MC threat figure.
Apart from that, there are many more dramas and I'm too lazy to explain them.

Lastly, the ending of this anime is too forced, when the MC is dying and it should be a sad scene, but for me it's just normal, and out of nowhere MC's Dad appears and saves MC from death, what the hell? It's really far-fetched and too forced.

A nice romance anime about a commoner on the earth who falls for a princess on the moon. it has a nice comedy slice of life feel to it with a touch of action and scifi. The male Mc isn't wishy washy and has his crap together which is always nice. the anime can be a tad silly sometimes and Asagiri's Dad is totally a parody of Indiana Jones. the princeses's mentor is like a perverted Roshi but is a step up cuz he is a ninja and peeping tom expert. Lol. These wacky funny side characters and over the top silliness(like blowing up a ... room with a bug in it) keeps the anime from being too serious and it makes you laugh.

Ok, here i'll make my 3rd review of anime...
I realize that i always gave a good score for anime (what should i do...cause i think it's really good T-T)

Anyway....here's the review of Yoake Mae Yori Ruri Iro Na
This anime take place in the time when human already advanced and there're some that live in moon. So basically this two place of live make human divided themselves into 2 section... The earthling and the moon people. Someday, way broke up between this two section causing many disastrous attempt and result. And this war ended with no side became the winner, thus some diplomatic relation is ... born. Of course this event crafted some pain in the heart of the human whether it at moon or earth.
A story started by a young man named Tatsuya who aim to go to the moon.
So that he studied cleverly about the moon.
Somedays,...a princess from moon kingdom doing some home stay in the earth.
And the place for the princess home stay was Tatsuya home (this is being set up by the earth president and somehow, the princess and Tatsuya feel like they know each other).
The princess home stay was directed to know how's living in the earth and to maintain a good relation with earth.
This story goes by following how the princess could get moon and earth to walk hand in hand...and how's her relation with Tatsuya.

"After all, the earth was once our hometown
and i love the earth people. We are not alone"

ps : this anime has a good ending song ^^, you should hear that.

I was recommended this by a friend and because I'm a fan of old style (though it was made in 2006, it has a 90s anime feel), I thought I'd give it a go. Five episodes in, and I couldn't take any more. Completely predictable and uncreative, it's a simple generic shojou anime. The concept of the story sounded interesting, but there isn't enough drama to make it sustain anything. It's supposed to be dramatic, but as far as an innovative and fun anime, this is not.

If I was seven, I think I would be mindless enough to not be bothered with characters or ... plot, but if Sailor Moon or Cardcaptors Sakura can even attempt to engage you into a whirlwind storyline with 3D characters, there isn't any excuse for Yoake Mae.

I have been trying to find a good light anime to watch and this is it.
It has some comedy and a good amount of romance.

Unlike all the other romance, the main character is not a retard but actually acts/becomes a man as the series goes to an end.

The first few eps just shows what happens and everything is pretty light until the last 4 eps where things turn serious and Tatsuya develops into a man.

There isn't really a story in the anime but just eps of tatsuya and Feena growing closer together.
The art is pretty good and for a good 12 ep series, ... this was really enjoyable.

A bit about the anime

The main character met the princess at an early age but he doesn't know it was the Princess. The princess goes to the Earth for a "homestay" (which is where the princess lives in a house at Earth) and of course the homestay is at Tatsuya's house. His older sister is the president assistant so that's why I'm guessing. The princess notices that Tatsuya was the child she met a long time ago but Tatsuya doesn't realize.
After this, the story goes from there and they start becoming closer.

First and foremost I want to let you know that this is my first review.

Story: 8
The story of "Yokae Mae Yori Iro Na" (or YMYIN as I will refer to it from here) does not really come in until the later part of the series. At first it seems cliched - A princess from another nation/ world spending time with someone from another nation/world. But later on it focuses on the drama and intrigue that should have been there since the beginning. There is some drama but it is the type you can actually take in, not like CLANNAD or its second season. It is ... a very lighthearted romance comedy.

Art: 9
The art was good but not really that great. It got the job done without looking atrocious.

Sound: 10
The sound is amazing in this series. I really liked how the directors didn't use a j-pop song or artist but had a piano part used in place of the usual pop music found in anime openings.

Character: 9
The characters are cliched in the beginning but they improve throughout. Now some of the minor ones, that didn't have much screen time, did not change as much but that much is expected.

Enjoyment: 10
I really liked this series, even in the first half, because I was looking for a good romance comedy without too much drama.

Overall I would suggest this to anyone. Final Score: 9


Reviewer info (This shows my POV)
Gender: Male
Age (at time of viewing): 15
Favorite Genres: Romance, comedy (shounen only), slice of life.

I was bored, so I decided to watch this anime. This anime is actually famous for it's Cabbage Scene, the meme where the cabbage wasn't detailed enough and everyone got angry over it. So, I thought I would give this one a watch. It has a pretty solid concept, but its execution was rather poor. This is a romantic comedy that leans more towards the romance side, the first 7 episodes are basically a slice of life anime, in terms of comedy, it wasn't very funny. A lot of overreactions, especially by the female characters, an example is that there is an older brother character ... who says insensitive things, his sister constantly beats him with a paddle and breaks things, and the brother is the one who gets the blame! His Dad constantly docks his pay, so he is essentially using child labor and should go to prison. I do not find the physical abuse to be funny, yet they use it comedically. The romance aspect is actually solid, I like the relationship between the protagonist and heroine, respect to the protagonist because he realizes his feelings sooner than your average protagonist. The characters are fairly one dimensional, no real substance behind most of them, and all obstacles are overcome with immense ease. If you are looking for an anime to watch in the background while playing video games or doing something else, this one is perfect, but I wouldn't watch this expecting a good plot with in depth characters.

If you absolutely love romantic comedies then watch this. It is a very fun watch, you will laugh a lot and maybe cry. I highly recommend it.

Story (8/ 10) -

Although I did find the story lacking in explanations to things like "What caused the earth and moon kingdoms to have a war?", I wasn't really bothered too much by it because I felt it did not take away from the relationship of the two protagonists (Feena and Tatsuya). That is the main focus of this anime, and I found it did a marvelous job in that regard. Other things like the fact that some ... events that occur seem way too convenient and flow too well with the story kinda had me questioning it but in the end it is just about Tatsuya and Feena.

Art (9 / 10) -

All of the characters are drawn very well, especially Feena (she looks gorgeous). The background art (buildings and nature, etc) also looked very good.

Sound (10/10) -

The voice actors did a marvelous job, especially Feena and Tatsuya and his whole family. Didn't run into any annoying voices or anything. Also I found the OP appealing, emotionally. I find it very uplifting, and it skillfully grasps the relationship between the two protagonists perfectly.

Character (9 / 10) -

What can I say? All the main characters felt like family to me, there was this sense of familiarity conveyed through interactions with the main character, Tatsuya, which just sat well with me. Each individual character felt like their own, no one was too generic or anything. It felt just right.

Enjoyment (9/10) -

I am a huge lover of romantic comedies which is most likely why I enjoyed this show so much and it is well worth your time if you have it.

Overall (8/10) -

I loved the relationship between the two protagonists, and the familiarity I felt from the other characters was another plus. But, there were small things like the fact that some occurrences seemed way too convenient and other unexplained things/plot holes. However, those faults are not bad enough to ruin this adorable romance of an anime by a long shot.

Send me feedback, based off my review :) (Whether you disagree or agree with something, I am open for conversation)

Well, short version, this show is a Romeo&Juliet-esque type of show and it has a solid ending (that is a big plus imo). What made this show enjoyable are the characters and the relationship between them. Romance and comedy are strong in this one.

Overall, a romantic comedy with some drama and a bit of sci-fi, it has a closed ending, a nice pace and likeable characters. It was better than I expected and it really filled my need of some romantic stuff. Besides, it's just 12 episodes, you won't lose much trying it.

A bit more details, all the character have funny moments, serious moments and ... even mean moments. This made it very enjoyable for me.

The MC has a personality and a dream (thing that is pretty uncommon in this type of shows where generally the MC gets pulled by the heroines while never being proactive).

The waifu is cute and it has personality, even though it isn't the most unique one. But like I said, having so many differents moments made the characters very likeable a deeper than most romcoms, so it works pretty well and I enjoyed it.

The supporting cast it's also present and it adds quite a bit of enjoyment, they get their fair share of screen time.

The romance is solid and it has a conclusion, so it's going to fill that need to see some of that bittersweet thing called love. The couple has a pretty nice dynamic.

The Art, it's kinda generic but it isn't bad. It works. Animation is OK too, it's good enough for the story but it doesn't add much enjoyment.

It has it's fair share of comedy and even some random stuff (and parodies) in a couple of episodes. But when the drama starts to appear the comedy starts to disappear.

The ending, despite being over the top and kinda corny in some aspects, it worked and it really is an END. Another thing that helped is the pace, I loved the pace of this show.

The anime starts off as the usual slice of life whereby Feena the princess develops her relationship with Tatsuya with school life. So basically that's it. After that, here comes the main villian, Jurgen, who plans to destroy the world by using the weapons that the royalty use. Feena is a nice person even though she is princess-like.

The art is all right. The sound is ok. Nothing spectacular.

There are 2 favorite characters:

#1 : Karen Clavius
She was brave, smart, and a brilliant tactician who saved the day by defeating Jurgen who framed her for her defiance of authority.

#2: Wreathlit Noel:
A mysterious girl who possesses ... a calm and collected spirit. She was not all right with the relationship between Feena & Tatsuya. But slowly she realise deep inside them that they have feelings for each other.

I believe that if Feena or Tatsuya saved the day and defeat Jurgen, that would have been better. However, these 2 characters really brought up the enjoyment for me.

It is really sad to say that the 2nd half of the anime is better than the 1st half in terms of action and awesomeness. And Feena & Tatsuya live happily ever after. After all it is a job well done. It was fun to watch while it lasted.

I give this anime a 7/10.

'Brighter Than the Dawning Blue' is an anime that I was genuinely ready to give a full score to. It has a story that draws you in, the characters have just enough depth and the pacing is absolutely outstanding. That was the case for nearly the entirety of this anime. Then, the ending happened. The ending has completely ruined everything this anime was trying to convey up until episode 12 and I will discuss that later (I promise I won't spoil it for you.)

First the story. In this series humans are divided into two blocks, Earth and the Moon. Both sides are trigger-itchy and the ... tensions are so high you could cut the air (or in this case the vacuum) with a knife. It is in this world of desperation that we find the two main protagonists - Feena, the princess of the moon and Tatsuya, a mere earthling trying to prevent the people of these two celestial bodies from ripping each other apart. At the same time they're struggling to realize their feelings for each other and as if that wasn't enough - they also need to overcome the social obstacles that would arise from a relationship of a noble and a commoner. In other words, a sci-fi drama with a romance sub-plot that eventually blows out of proportion. However, the perfect pacing justifies that as it won't happen in a matter of 2-3 episodes. No, everything in this anime happens gradually, giving you time for the emotions and information to properly sink in (I usually need a lot of time for that).

Another outstanding quality is that the supporting characters in this anime have depth too, that's not all - they're actually plot relevant! Which is something you don't see very often in a romcom. So you can see that you have here a combination of an interesting story and setting with decent characters - normally a recipe for a masterpiece, right? Yes and indeed it was, two-thirds of my way through this anime I thought I made my mind up and I was going to give it a 10 and praise it for being near-flawless in all departments. I got ahead of myself because episode 12 was an unpleasant smack in the face and we shall now discuss that in detail (as promised, no spoilers).

Now, with the theme of a dramatic romance in the shadow of a looming interplanetary disaster, you'd think this series would go for a knock-out and give you a dramatic, intellectual ending. Something your brain could chew on for days or even weeks to come - in other words, the moral of the story. Sure enough the series seemed to be moving towards that path but the complete opposite happened. The finale (as in episode 12) started out perfectly and half-way through the episode everything this series worked for was thrown into the trash bin. It was not only anti-climactic but you're left with no moral and you feel as if every orifice in your body was just shafted by a thousand small penises. In the few closing seconds the series laughs at your gullibility and your expectations and all you're left with is rage and regret.

Now, to clear the ambiguity of my previous paragraph I will say this : the moral of this story should have been that the world can be saved, but at a price and nothing will be the same ever again. But it wasn't. There was no moral and so it makes the whole series look very shallow.

That said, everything else is near-perfect. Art, sound, the characters. Episode after an episode you're drawn in deeper into the story and the art & sound make the experience complete.

All in all, 'Deeper than the Dawning Blue' is still a very good anime series and the casual anime watcher will definitively enjoy it. However beware of the ending as it will leave you crying in anger. Just don't smash your monitor with the keyboard.

Well, it's certainly enjoyable, I'll say that. However, it feels a bit off for some parts - the overall experience is good, but a couple of things hold it back.

The artwork is, for the most part, fairly good. There are however a few scenes that feel very rushed, with only the minimum required animation to discern what is actually happening. The comedic scenes with chibi characters are funny sometimes, but it can also add to that slightly "cheap" feeling.

The characters themselves are fairly standard for a romantic anime, one that was based off of a visual novel - you have the graceful-yet-somewhat-naive Princess, the spunky ... childhood friend, the comic-relief male supporting character, there's a good few characters that could be given a different face and name and suddenly they're part of another series. The characters don't develop too much, either. The main characters are progressing towards love, but not much else is going on; all of the other characters end up practically identical to how they started. That said, the characters are certainly fun to watch when one madman drags the more mature cast into their haphazard ways.

The story, as a whole, is also very enjoyable, even if technically a little bland. It generally knows when to build up tension and when to keep it low, when to bring in the laughs and when to turn more serious - particularly (seeing as it's a romance anime) it knows when to make your heart beat. It's a very good, simple story that sets a good pace. The only reason I call it "mediocre" is because of one moment right at the end, where a horrifically cheap move seems to say "oh, no worries, it's all good" and leaves it at that. All of that tension, all of the emotion - all of it is swept away with one small scene. I mean, yes, it allows for a happy ending, but it's still quite a jarring moment, and it took quite a lot out of the experience for me.

Overall, Crescent Love is certainly worth a watch. Enjoy it while it lasts, endure, block out or just outright skip the cringe-inducing moment during the finale and hopefully you'll come out feeling kind of good about yourself.