Katakoi no Tsuki

I think this is one of the best mangas made by this mangaka. Now I was hesitant to read it for a multitude of reasons. One of which was I'm not too fond of her drawings for the male characters at times. This male lead was a bit, unimpressive (to look at)....to me. Yes, it's a bit superficial of me, but that's whatever, I sucked it up. However, I do know from reading about 3 of other works and reviewing them that her stories are very good, and I mean, overall, well thought out and rich. So I knew when reading I would not be disappointed.

Well it so happens I wasn't. The story is rather familiar to many who read shoujo mangas. 4 friends, two boys and two girls....already the vast array of mangas are running through your head as you read that make up. We all know the ultimate drama and angst that we could expect from this story. There is limited angst, well it's angst with a very fortunate ending and it's angst that doesn't last too long. They are school kids and this would be classed as a shoujo, slice of life, school life---type of story.


Characters are:

Kurumi (Nakamura): Lead girl, has a baby face and body of sorts (very naive) (she's very petite so she seems childlike). She has a cruh on Sout-kun who happens to be the first person to make friends with her when she moved to the new school and also the one to introduce her to the others and happens to be the boy she's in love with. Moderate household income (this is important because it relates to the other two friends).

Souta-kun: Lead male. He's not so cute for me, but he's a Bishie in the manga for the other girls. Well all except one, called Miyako. She happens to be one of his childhood friends and the only female friend he had before Kurumi came along. He's also secretly in love with her. Moderat household income--same explanation as above.

Chiaki: He's the second lead male, very attractive, now I find him to be a Bishie. He comes from a wealthy family, very mysterious because it's hard to figure where he's coming from. You'll get my meaning when you read the manga because he plays a vital role in how Souta-kun and Kurumi end up together. He's both helpful and a direct obstacle to the development of their relationship. I liked him best and found him smart and sexy and thought he was the ideal pair for Kurumi.

Miyako: Out of all the characters I found her the most unimpressive. You do get depth for her though, although not too deeply. You find out about her family life which is from a wealthy family, who happens to have extremely high expectations of her and of course she's burdened by those expectations, especially when she unfortunately doesn't meet them. She ends up in a rather horrible relationship which mended by the bond she shares with the other three.

Overall the story is well thought out with very little loopholes. It's basically detailing the bonds that ties and also could break relationships. It depicts how in youth you think all is well or most things are superficial and nothing can take you from those you love. When in reality you realize the fragility of things you hold dear. It's a poignant look into school life although it's a very naive outlook. It details a bit of sex and rather forbidden relationships but it doesn't go too deeply into the dark side so much.


I found the story utterly enjoyabe and loved the characters. The drawing is okay, I mean the mangaka has a weird style of drawing which I'm getting used to her. I don't find her books to have bishies but the stories are so good that it doesn't matter. Surprisingly, no religious references here.

I give the art a 7, since it's good, but not great. I loved the story but gave it a great and my enjoyment was far more than botht the story and art. The characterization could have been better in relation to Chiaki and Miyako---but it's short so it's understandable and did a great deal for them for such a good read I wholly recommend this for reading.

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Really cute. I'm very impressed with this author for producing a successful sorry in only one volume. I've read dear! and kiss/hug, both i thought were pretty good but I'm totally going to stalk her work now.

This story is about four friends, three of which grew up together from childhood. They all get along great and have fun interacting with each other as friends. Of course feelings begin to develop and relationships begin to change. They go through life learning how to differentiate between feelings of love and friendship while learning to be honest with themselves.

The story's not new but its done in a way that's pretty entertaining.The author did a really nice job introducing and getting you to feel for the characters. Nothing feels rushed, the story produces genuinely.

The relationship between the girls is close yet distant at the same time. They trust and care about each other as good friends but they work as individuals. It's depicted nicely and i found it very relatable. As a group all the characters fit together well. They all have different relationships with each other and have unique understandings of the way a certain person feels.The character development was nice, very good considering it was done in five chapters.

I was staring to give up on the genre. I read parts of other manga on my list and wasn't feeling it, I'm glad i came across this one.
There are some good ones left after all.

Story: 7 [I mean ehh, its been done many times]
Art: 8 [very good]
Character: 8 [very good]
Enjoyment: 8 [very good]
Overall: 8 [very good]

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