Tuesday 14 November 2006

Pic of the day: The beautiful Princess of the Moon.

"Crescent Love" anime

This is a family-friendly love story about a boy and a girl. The girl is the princess and heir to the empire of the Moon. She is beautiful, talented in just about any way, courageous and considerate. The boy is just some guy who goes in high school

The premise, briefly explained in the first chapter, is that the moon was colonized by intrepid humans who built a a thriving colony there. Eventually it declared independence from Earth, which at the time was consolidated under the rule of the United Nations. A war erupted, which weakened both sides but did not give a clear victor. (It is implied that the Moon kingdom, while smaller, is slightly more technologically advanced.) After the war, mutual distrust is entrenched on both sides. The late Queen of the Moon tried to bridge this gap through diplomacy, but died young. Her daughter is dedicated to the same cause, but she has another reason as well.

The boy has an avid interest in astronomy and the moon in particular, due to an event in his childhood. He is however taken by surprise when the princess of the Moon moves in with him and his two sisters. (She also brings with her a maid, but no security guards or anything such.) The boy's older sister is an assistant to the President of the UN and as such an important person in her own right. A friendly paparazzi from the moon and his assistant also show up from time to time.

It is obvious almost from the start that the Princess and the Random Boy are the couple that give name to the series, "Crescent Love". It is an unabashed love story, but obviously it cannot be a straight and simple courtship. Complications are thrown in, starting with the trivial but gradually increasing to global and inter-global proportions.

This love story should appeal to girls as well, despite the boy being the obvious beneficiary here. There is no real "harem" theme, the way there often (usually?) is in high school anime, and there is barely any fanservice (panties or bath scenes that exist only to please the male viewers). There is enough to assure us that there exists physical attraction as well as the purely romantic, but not enough to upset any but the most Republican of viewers. As I say, I think parents and children can watch this one together, but I am not sure about grandparents.

The anime is currently available as fansub (subtitled by fans for fans) only. Technically, downloading fansub could be illegal in your country, so you may wish to wait for it to be bought and translated by a western entertainment company, if breaking pointless laws bothers you. It is not as if watching the fansub will hurt the Japanese publishers, since you presumably don't understand Japanese and thus would not have watched it anyway.

Warmly recommended if you have the time and quiet to watch a slow romance. There will be more drama later into the series, and there is also some humor to tide you over, but it is not a comedy or action anime. It aims straight for the heart.