, subtitled ''looking up at the half-moon'' and also known as ''Hantsuki'', is a Japanese

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a ''wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

series written by Tsumugu Hashimoto and illustrated by Keiji Yamamoto centering on two hospitalized seventeen year olds and the love they begin to share. The series was originally serialized in MediaWorks' now-defunct light novel magazine '' Dengeki hp'' and spanned eight volumes released between October 2003 and August 2006. An

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series was adapted from the novels and aired in Japan on the WOWOW

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or multichannel video programming distributo ...

between January 12 and February 23, 2006 with six episodes. A

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series by B.Tarō was serialized in MediaWorks'

shōnen manga is an editorial category of Japanese comics targeting an audience of adolescent boys. It is, along with manga (targeting adolescent girls and young women), manga (targeting young adult and adult men), and manga (targeting adult women), ...

magazine ''

Dengeki Comic Gao! , also known as ''Dengeki Gao!'' was a Japanese shōnen manga magazine that primarily contained manga and information about series featuring bishōjo characters. It was published from December 1992 to February 2008 by MediaWorks (publisher), Medi ...

'' between August 2005 and November 2006; two volumes were released. A set of five

drama CDs Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...

were produced between October 2006 and August 2007 by Wayuta. A

live-action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

drama of the series was aired on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

between October and December 2006, and a live-action film premiered in Japanese theaters in April 2010.

Plot

The story of ''Hantsuki'' focuses on the budding relationship between the seventeen year old Yūichi Ezaki and Rika Akiba. They are hospitalized in Yūichi's home town for their conditions. Yūichi has

hepatitis A Hepatitis A is an infectious disease of the liver caused by ''Hepatovirus A'' (HAV); it is a type of viral hepatitis. Many cases have few or no symptoms, especially in the young. The time between infection and symptoms, in those who develop them ...

, while Rika has problems with a weak heart valve. These teens then fall in love while they spend time with one another. The story is based in

Ise Ise may refer to: Places * Ise, Mie, a city in Japan **Ise Grand Shrine, a Shinto shrine located in Ise, Mie * Ise Ekiti, a city in Nigeria *Ise, Norway, a village in Norway *Ise Province, an ancient province of Japan * River Ise, a tributary of th ...

Mie prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

Characters

Hospital patients

; :; ''played by:'' Atsushi Hashimoto (TV Series),

Sosuke Ikematsu (born July 9, 1990) is a Japanese actor, television, and theatre actor best known for his role as Higen, the young nephew of samurai leader Katsumoto, in the 2003 film ''The Last Samurai''. Life and career Born in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefectur ...

(Film) :A seventeen-year-old high school student who is hospitalized for

. He notices a beautiful girl, Rika, in the east wing of the hospital and is later encouraged by the nurse Akiko to befriend her. Within minutes Yūichi enrages Rika by lying about having read her favorite book, but Rika offers to forgive Yūichi if he were to obey her wishes. Eager to gain that forgiveness, he agrees. As they spend time together, Yūichi begins to fall in love with Rika. ; :; ''played by:''

Miku Ishida is a Japanese female singer and used to be a gravure idol, actress and a teen idol, had belonged to the show-business production ''LesPros Entertainment'' from 1999 to 2008. She is from Komaki, Aichi, and graduated from ''Hinode High School' ...

(TV Series),

Shiori Kutsuna is an Australian-born Japanese actress, known for her role as Ran Mori in ''Shinichi Kudo's Written Challenge!'', Minami Maho in ''Beck,'' Haru/Harumi in ''125 Years Memory,'' and Yukio in ''Deadpool 2''. She plays Mitsuki in the Apple TV+ s ...

(Film) :Rika is a seventeen-year-old girl who has been hospitalized for most of her life due to a weak heart valve that also affected her father and ultimately killed him. Due to this prolonged hospitalization, she is without friends and spends her time reading books by her favorite author,

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa , art name , was a Japanese writer active in the Taishō period in Japan. He is regarded as the "father of the Japanese short story", and Japan's premier literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, is named after him. He committed suicide at the age of ...

. She has a close relationship with Dr. Natsume, which is a source of tension in her relationship with Yūichi. ; : :A perverted old man who has an enormous

pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

collection that he amassed during his stay in the hospital. He advises Yūichi to go after Rika if he loves her, because he will later regret it if he does not. Tada then says that he was stupid and lived a life of painful regret because he did not go after the person that he loved. Upon his sudden death, he offers his last will to Akiko, which is to pass his porno collection on to Yūichi.

Hospital staff

; :; ''played by:'' Yoshino Kimika (TV series),

Mari Hamada is a Japanese heavy metal and pop rock singer. Since her debut in 1983, Hamada has been known as the "Heavy Metal Queen" of Japan. Throughout her career, she has released 25 singles and 23 studio albums. Biography Early history Mari Hama ...

(film) :The nurse who tends to Yūichi. She acts much like an elder sister to Yuichi and will not hesitate to hit him or make fun of him when he deserves it, and even beats him up when he is being seduced by her friend Misako. She is highly manipulative and nosey when it comes to Yuichi but has her tender moments and truly cares about her patients. She particularly cares about the relationship between Yūichi and Rika because she understands that Rika might not have much time to live. ; :; ''played by:'' Kohki Okada (TV series),

Yo Oizumi is a Japanese actor, comedian, television personality and voice actor. He is a member of the theatrical and musical unit TEAM NACS, and is represented by Creative Office Cue. His wife Kumiko Nakajima is a drama producer at Fuji TV. In 1995, w ...

(film) :The doctor who is in charge of Rika's care. He used to take care of her at another hospital but was transferred to Ise. Rika then transferred to the same hospital so that he could still be her

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

. He harbors some feelings for Rika and tries to sabotage Rika and Yūichi's relationship. He went to the hospital drunk one day and he assaults Yuichi who said he was jealous. Natsume is doing this because his wife died from a condition similar to that of Rika, and does not want Yūichi to experience the same thing.

Yūichi's friends

; :; ''played by:'' Takuya Nakayama (TV series), Ryosuke Kawamura (film) :He comes to visit him occasionally and helps him with secret missions that will help Yūichi's relationship with Rika. During these missions, he wears a Zebra Mask to hide his identity and give him a sense of strength. ; :; ''played by:''

Shingo Nakagawa is a Japanese stage and screen actor from Tochigi Prefecture. Nakagawa was affiliated with the acting group D-BOYS, produced bWatanabe Entertainment He joined D-BOYS on the group's second open audition in July 2005, receiving the Judge's Choice ...

:He visits Yūichi when he finds out about his inheritance of the porno collection. This ultimately gets Yūichi in trouble with Rika. ; :; ''played by:'' Takayo Kashiwagi (TV Series),

Yurie Midori is a Japanese actress and gravure idol who has appeared in a number of feature films and television series. She is affiliated with Horipro is a large Japanese talent agency. History It was founded in 1960 as Hori Productions (ホリプロ ...

(Film) :She loans a school uniform to Rika and takes her around the school. She asks Rika about her condition numerous times.

Media

Light novels

The series began as a

series written by Tsumugu Takahashi with illustrations by Keiji Yamamoto that was first serialized in the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese light novel magazine '' Dengeki hp''. There were eight volumes released between October 10, 2003, and August 10, 2006. The novels were published by MediaWorks under their ''

Dengeki Bunko is a publishing imprint affiliated with the Japanese publishing company ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks). It was established in June 1993 with the publication of '' Hyōryū Densetsu Crystania'' volume one, and is a light novel imprint a ...

'' light novel label.

Manga

illustrated by B. Tarō based on the novel was serialized in the Japanese

manga magazine Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is used ...

'' between August 27, 2005 and November 27, 2006, published by MediaWorks. Two bound volumes were later released, the first on February 27, 2006, and the second on December 16, 2006. The volumes are published by MediaWorks under their ''

Dengeki Comics is a manga publishing label affiliated with the Japanese publishing company ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks) and is aimed at a male audience. Aside from the main Dengeki Comics label, there is the related Dengeki Comics EX label, which ...

'' label.

Anime

A short

adaptation aired in Japan between January 12 and February 23, 2006; there were six episodes. The anime was produced by the Japanese animation studio

Group TAC was a Japanese animation and computer graphics studio located in Shibuya, Tokyo, and founded in 1968 from former Mushi Pro staff. They worked on movies, videos, TV shows, and commercials, and contributed to all stages of the process, including p ...

and was aired on the WOWOW television network. Three

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

s were originally released, each containing two episodes, between April 19 and June 21, 2006. The premium DVD box set containing the six episodes was released on January 16, 2008. The anime has been licensed by Japanese-based company Bost Digital Entertainment for distribution through their

video streaming Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

website Bost TV. The episodes are available only to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

for the price of

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1.99 per episode. Crimson Star Media licensed the anime for a North American release in September 2013, however, the release was canceled following the prison sentence of Corey Maddox, who was in charge of the company. The series was later re-licensed by Lucky Penny, a division of

Right Stuf Inc. Right Stuf Inc. (formerly known as The Right Stuf International Inc.) is an American video publisher and distributor of video programming that specializes in Asian entertainment (anime and live action films). The company since 2022 is owned by ...

Episodes

Music and audio CDs

The anime's opening theme was "Aoi Kōfuku" and the ending theme was "Kioku no Kakera"; both songs were sung by Nobuko and written and composed by Macado. The

maxi single A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. The first maxi singles Mungo Jerry's first single, "In the Summertime" was the ...

containing the opening and ending themes was released on February 15, 2006. The ''Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora Original Soundtrack'' for the anime version was released on March 15, 2006. The live action drama's opening theme was , sung by Sacra, and the ending theme was "Sunshine Of Your Love" by I-lulu. A set of five

based on the series were released between October 4, 2006 and August 24, 2007, produced by Wayuta.

TV drama

A live-action television drama adaptation ran on

from October 3 to December 26, 2006, containing thirteen episodes. A DVD boxset was later released on February 23, 2007. ''Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora'' was the first novel series under ''

'' to receive a TV drama adaptation.

Film

A live-action film was released on April 3, 2010. Directed by Yoshihiro Fukagawa, the film starred

and

. It was shot on location in places in

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

. The theme song is " 15 no Kotoba" by singer-songwriter

Mao Abe Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...

References

External links

Official website

MediaWorks' official ''Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora'' website

Live action drama official website

''Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora'' at Tokyo MX

''Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora'' at Bost TV
* {{Group TAC 2003 Japanese novels 2005 manga 2006 Japanese television series debuts 2006 Japanese television series endings Anime and manga based on light novels Dengeki Bunko Dengeki Comic Gao! Dengeki Comics Group TAC Japanese drama television series Japanese romance films Kadokawa Dwango franchises Light novels Romance anime and manga Shōnen manga Television shows based on light novels