pklein - 2014-05-01 10:09:25

Have you ever been in a hospital for a certain period of time? I haven’t. I would imagine a hospital being a somewhat orderly establishment—a place where the sick patients can relax (unless we’re talking about a psychiatric ward… which we aren’t). A hospital would most likely be quiet, monotone, and serious, with a somewhat melancholic vibe for obvious reasons.

What does this have to do with Hantsuki? Well, this anime mostly takes place in what seems to be a small, local hospital. By the way, this hospital breaks every single rule that can be broken. Even factoring in that this hospital is small (meaning that it’s bound to be a little weird) and that this is a six episode long anime (meaning that it’s bound to be a little weird), the things that happen are somewhat over the top. Occasionally, it’s funny; other times, the occurrences end up more than a little weird for reasons that I will go over later. For now, let’s just say that the latter take themselves seriously and expect us to take them seriously. The reason why this fails is because there’s a thin line between knowing it would never happen but not minding and knowing that it would never happen so deeply that you find yourself distracted by that fact while watching the anime. There’s a difference between your eyes glittering with an otaku’s delight (ahem, harem, ahem) and finding a frown on your face that resembles the expression of painful constipation. I don’t think Hantsuki is that bad, though, and I’m speaking from experience. Do not fret—the only thing related to my personal life that we’ll be talking about today is this anime that I spent my time on.

The last three words of the previous statement tie into what Hantsuki is all about. It’s about time—savoring it, using it wisely, cherishing what you had—and even our main character Yuuichi is bound by this philosophy. He is an active teenager who believes more in using his time wisely; even if he is ill, having contracted hepatitis A, he resists recovering quietly in the hospital and treats his boredom by sneaking out. First of all, he does so with ease by just hiding a bit and walking slowly, which isn’t something that I can comprehend. In a hospital, the patients absolutely would not be allowed to wander around the hospital without supervision, and there’s no way that the security would be so light that anyone would sneak out that easily, even with the rebel nurse in charge. Yuuichi does this repeatedly, even taking out another sick patient, Rika, and is never punished except by the nurse, who gives him a bit of a beating that can be chalked up to comic relief. Everything is viewed with such a nonchalant attitude, devoid of reality or logic, until obviously written and somewhat cheap twists come in, and we’re forced to think, “Oh, they meant for this to be important? I see.”

In six episodes, we all know that Hantsuki won’t be able to tell what something like Clannad might, but at the same time, the story is simple and shouldn’t have been complicated. It’s about a boy named Yuuichi, who meets an enigmatic girl named Rika. She has a disease but they care about one another, meaning conflict. Twists are expected and even welcomed to spice up the story, but in this amount of time, such an anime should not try so hard at something it won’t be able to achieve. They cram melodrama, love, patient abuse, two people to complicate things, grief, and yearning into six episodes; a melancholic, deep atmosphere is attempted and a cheesy, dramatic, immature one is created. Why? The anime can’t keep up with itself. One episode, something that it seems was meant to be serious happens, but by the beginning of the next scene, that atmosphere is gone or just not well handled, leaving a particularly sour taste because of poor writing.

The reason why the twists weren’t well handled of Hantsuki is somewhat attributed to the sound and animation, as, while the art or music in itself isn’t bad, the way that it’s used isn’t all that amazing. There are times when errors can be seen in the art, sure, but the largest downside is the animation in itself. A character does something like, for example, punching a wall in frustration and thanks to the angle, the jarring impact that could have been achieved comes across as dull. This isn’t helped by the voice acting, which I think occasionally came across as emotionless when the emotion was supposed to be at the highest point. Even the expressions are simple. Sometimes the music, which is good by itself, doesn’t fit the scene or an obvious sound is placed in to emphasize that something happened, making the atmosphere fall flat. This is not helped by the cast.

Every character has his or her place, every character seems to have a story, and every character moves along the plot, but that’s it. The supporting characters are much more intriguing than the main characters, though they unfortunately get little meaningful screen time or development. The mains, Yuuichi and Rika, have no “in between”—no underlying development. Rika is a brat one second and is sweet the next, as though permanently on PMS. Yuuichi ranges from pushover to “brave” in his stupidity, as though testosterone is being experienced for the first time. He was tolerable until one of his worst moments, where he had absolutely no backbone simply because of depression (and was over it by the next day). The relationship between these two is just there, as though they mutually agreed one day that they loved each other, and we’re forced to think, “Oh? Looks like they like each other. Huh.”

It is the sad truth that I found Hantsuki overwhelmingly disappointing. It didn’t fit. It didn’t piece together. I can see why people would like Hantsuki, but the best anime calms the part of my personality that scrutinizes deeply while I am watching. If you enjoy somewhat cheesy, melodramatic love stories, you might just have an opinion that greatly differs from mine. On the other hand, I think too much to enjoy something that is so obviously trying to make conflict and, like a slap in the face, does it in cheap, unimaginative ways.

If I could tell Hantsuki one thing, I’d say, “Your audience is not dumb.”

ohoeger - 2013-05-18 10:39:36

A short romance/drama OVA series, "Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora" is an anime has its moments, but is guilty of trying too hard to create drama. It's supposed to be set in a hospital, but patients are allowed to wander around at their leisure... or even go off on the occasional mountain climbing trip if they feel like it. If they're well enough to do that, why the hell are they taking up space in the hospital? Not only that, everyone seem to be able to do whatever they want without any consequences. Locking ill patient outside in the cold? No problem! Abusive Doctors? That's okay too. It takes a hell of a lot just to get anyone to raise an eyebrow in this "loving and caring" hospital.Other inexplicable elements include the random actions of the nurse's friend, who seem to have a touch of madness in her, and the random appearance of this Zebra mask character... but, if you can manage to sweep all these unrealistic elements into a dusty corner of your mind and ignore it, the rest of the drama elements aren't too bad, as there are some rather touching moments. Despite the show's tendency to resort to the usage of cheap plot devices in order to conjure up melodrama, it's during the quiet periods of melancholy when not much is happening that the anime is at its best. Thinking back on it, I think I actually enjoyed "Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora" more than I should, considering all the contrived plot "twists", but what can I say, I guess I'm just a sucker for those melancholic moments.