Tsuki to Mizu no Yoru

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A tender and feel-good story of friendship (and jealousy). A boy stumbles across two watersprites living in the river near his grandma's house in the countryside. They can only live near unpolluted water, and normally live alone; as they tend to be very territorial. And they become fast friends.

There's nothing complicated to the story. No long explanations about the origins of sprites, politics of the spirit world, and boring stuff like that. The artwork is gentle and simple, but beautiful, giving the story a pure, fresh feel. Since it seems people only discover the sprites when they are children, ... there's a nostalgic connection to childhood innocence. The sprites themselves have very innocent and child-like personalities. And there's the fact that they can only live in pure water. When water is dirtied, they must go away. And the pollution is encroaching on the rivers. So there's also a slightly sad, growing-up and going-away feel too.

This manga could be interpreted as mildly shounen ai. To me it seemed more about friendship though. The friendships between sprites that normally would never happen, and two schoolboys who meet and become friends with them. And there's jealousy when friendships seem to weaken.

I completely enjoyed this sweet and refreshing story. There are only two volumes, and I wish there were more! But like a children's fairytale, it's short and over all too soon.