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I don't fully understand how this series manages to be so enjoyable, but it's amazing. Confession & dating scenes are often my favourite parts of shoujo and school-life anime (school life romcom is my fave genre combination, and there actually aren't that many that stuck out as actually being really good), but they're often few and far between (ie wait 12 episodes before either one actually makes a move). This series is like a god-sent compilation of my favourite scenes types to watch. It's also quite silly and exciting because it switches gears and tones so quickly. I watched the first few episodes drunk with ... a few friends and couldn't stop laughing. I highly recommend it.

This anime is one of the most infuriating, secondhand-embarassment-inducing, annoying shows I ever have or will watch. The main character is completely two-dimensional; her only driving motivation in life is to be close to, and try to win over, her holier-than-thou douche-nozzle of a love interest. There is no character growth at all over the course of the series; she annoys him into settling for her, and then she rides off into the sunset towards a life of utter mediocrity.

Story: 4. Bleh. I went into this exciting for a story that is 'not your typical highschool romance', but what I got? Ew. Put ... it back where it came from plz.

Art: 7. The art itself was fine. It's not exactly memorable, but there's nowhere that it was really lacking, either. It was just kinda "meh, alright, that's fine"

Character: 3. I won't even go into all the things that are wrong and lacking with the characterization. The one thing that I will say, is that Irie (male lead) has absolutely no redeeming qualities from my perspective. And the female character is obviously not only clueless, but completely lacking in self-respect to put up with his shit. It borders on abusive; the image of a dog being repeatedly mistreated and beaten by its owner, and then crawling back oblivious wagging its tail, comes to mind.

Enjoyment: 4. I kept hoping it was going to get better, and when it became clear it wasn't, I thought I owed it to the show to keep on going to the very end. But in reality, I quit a few episodes after that.

Overall: 5. It was just... ew. I know a lot of people like it, and if I squint I can hazard a couple loose guesses as to why, but it still really doesn't make sense to me.

Frankly, this anime wrecked me. Beautiful story, and while it was very short, the characterization, animation, and symbolism were extremely well done. The music wasn't super memorable, but it suited the story nicely. The dynamic between the two main characters, and how it changed over time, is wonderful. I love the complete subversion of Hotaru's expectations for her relationship with Gin and how it would be affected by time (ie due to different lifespans). Even though I saw the end coming, I still wasn't prepared for it when it happened.

I just want to mention the symbolism that occurs at the end; the English ... title of this story is "Forest of the Firefly Light", and fireflies themselves aren't seen until the very end of the film. The word Hotaru means firefly, and is also the name of the lead female character. And in the end, a firefly appears seemingly from Gin's yukata to join other fireflies in the night sky. Since Hotaru shares a name with these creatures, it suggests that they will meet again.