The show starts off generically enough. Annoying/cute young female character, awkward/clumsy older male character, and fairly familiar supporting character archetypes. The first 13 episodes adhere pretty closely to a story about watching the daily antics of a boy/girl and human/vampire relationship. This is where the show brandishes most of its cuteness and comedy (whether you find any of it funny or cute is another matter). Along the way a plot gradually develops with the climax involving defeating the first major villain. This all develops very slowly mind you, so you should not be watching Moonphase if you are expecting fast paced (or a lot of) vampire action.
Everything about the show is still only slightly interesting and mostly mediocre up to this point. Nothing's unforgivably terrible, but there's also nothing new or noteworthy. If you didn't like the show at the beginning, you wouldn't like it any better yet either. It's somewhere after this though, particularly around episode 17, where things really start to change. Like really change. It doesn't become a completely different show or throw in some crazy plot twist, but the overall atmosphere takes a complete change in course.
The setting changes, for one. The previous situations and conditions you may have grown used to change as well. Even the general tones and styles change. Ending themes get new animation, comedy gags get a little more bizarre and random and characters interact in a more straightforward and developmental way. If you liked the show as it was, this is probably the point in the show where you didn't like it the same anymore. The cuteness theme is toned down and the story gets a little more serious. Or perhaps I should say a lot more serious? Where as the first half of the series was very laid back and casual, the latter arc starts to resemble an actual dedicated plot. New villains are introduced and the regular cast adopt more meaningful roles. The story progresses steadily and is now at the forefront of the show instead of in the background. So the whole look and feel of the last third of the show is significantly different than the rest. By the end it is obvious that there is still more story that could be told but everything that could be wrapped up neatly is, and that's really all one can ask for. I thought the show was actually genuinely funnier and more entertaining, so much that it made me wonder if some new director took over halfway through it.
The funny thing about Moonphase is that I originally watched it because I had very, very low expectations and wanted to bear witness to just how creepy or moe it really was. Although elements of both were present that were a little weird/disturbing, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had been led to believe. So like I said before, it's not really awful, but it is awfully average. It's a shame because I kind of liked what the show had become, so if the whole series began the way it ended Moonphase would've probably been much more well received.
There were some interesting artistic choices, like the whole dollhouse point of view, and the dubbing was good for what they had to work with. The opening/ending themes grow on you, if you can bring yourself to watch more than a few eps. Definitely not for everyone, and I wouldn't recommend to anyone who doesn't really like overly cutesy or silly anime, but there are worse things you could watch...
