Archive for the Kuzushiro Category


Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 12 (雨夜の月)

October 8th, 2026

During a rainy night a tall girl with long, black hair wearing a baseball jacket in in red with white sleeves, meets a shorter girl with orange-brown collar-length hair, wear red sweat pants and jacket with white stripes on the arm and leg, under an umbrella.I just happened to notice the Amazon JP ratings when I was setting Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 12 (雨夜の月) up on the Yuricon Store and with several hundred ratings, it has 97% 5-star ratings.

It is really that good. 

This story has been about growth from the very beginning. Kanon was cocooned in a world of her own making, to protect herself from the outside world that did not care to understand her.  She let herself use her inability to hear to avoid things she did not want to deal with, and things she knew would hurt. Saki did not break those walls down, we learned from earlier volumes. Saki helped her want to break the walls on her own. Once she started to interact with people, and the people around her reached back for her, she stopped hiding in that world. Which meant, she faced feelings she had never had to feel before. 

Saki was hiding something from herself, as well.  She’s becoming more aware of her interest in other girls, but while an older gay women is able to see her right away, she’s still only taking tentative steps to acceptance. 

In many ways, adolescence is a kind of glass closet. Adults can see the people they may become, but it’s almost impossible to see it one’s self. In the case of Amayo no Tsuki, the closet is a one way mirror and both Saki and Kanon have not been able to see outside.

In Volume 12 all these things are about to change.

Saki will admit to herself who she is, and Kanon, will see herself from the outside for the first time and both will  come to the same conclusion.

And it it so, so good.

As an extra bonus, the trailer for the Amayo no Tsuki anime is live on Youtube! (I have a unsubstantiated theory that the trailer was being held until Volume 12 came out…for reasons. ^_^)

Ratings: 

Art -9
Characters – 10
Story – 10
Service -0
Yuri/queer – 10/10

Overall – 10

Volumes 1-8 of The Moon on A Rainy Night are available in English from Kodansha. Volume 9 will be hitting shelves in January 2027.





Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 11 ( 雨夜の月)

February 5th, 2026

Cover of The Moon on a Rainy Night, Volume 8. In a classroom, a young woman in a school uniform with collar-length blonde hair plays a piano while another girl with long, dark hair, leans on the piano and watches her.The sports festival has passed, the school festival is in the books. As the noise and activity dies down, Kanon and Saki are picking up their relationship, once again not entirely sure how to proceed in Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 11 ( 雨夜の月)

Photographer Hamaoka has a new idea – instead of thinking about costumes and scenery, she wants to capture Saki and Kanon at school, in their day-to-day activities. She watches them in the classroom, sitting behind the gym and, finally, in the music room. Kanon asks Saki to play her exhibition piece, while Kanon watches and feels the piano vibrations. The picture Hamaoka captures is magnificent and terrifying, as Kanon plainly sees her own emotions for the first time.

Kanon turns to Ayano for advice.who makes some extremely salient, and for Kanon, brutal points. Saki also has a run-in with a student from her former school, which makes her realize she’s been misinterpreting things for a long while, about herself and the people around her.

As the volume closes, they meet up once again. Will they find the bravery and honesty they need to speak to each other? Volume 12 won’t be out until spring, so we’ll just have to wait for that and the upcoming anime!

Ratings: 

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Service – 1
Yuri/queer – 6/5

Overall – 9 

The story is very much on the edge of Saki embracing (or rejecting) her identity as a woman who loves women, and Kanon as becoming open to romance at all.It’s an awkward moment, but so interesting and critical. This book continues to be one of my favorite reads. Every volume  is excellent. 

Volumes 1-8 of The Moon on A Rainy Night are available in English from Yen Press.





The Moon On A Rainy Night, Volume 7

October 26th, 2025

Two young women in brown maid costumes with pink aprons and wearing cat ears walk arm in arm down a school hallway during a culture festival, smiling and laughing as they talk. Please allow me a moment of self-indulgence as I note that when I reviewed this volume in Japanese I re-read this volume 3 times, (and cried every time.) I  called this volume “absolute perfection” in my review. Now that I have read this volume once so far in English, I stand by my words.  The Moon On A Rainy Night, Volume 7 is absolute perfection. 

Every theme that this story has been building upon, every plot, every conversation, every moment leads us to a climactic school festival in which Kanon is about to face all of her fears all at once and find that with the help of the people around her, failure and success all have meaning. 

But first, we spend some time withKanon’s younger sister Rinne, whose new friend asks her what she wants to do. It takes a while before Rinne will admit she has some genuine desires, she’s so used to putting Kanon first. One of the repeated themes in this manga is how friendship works. Chiyama and Rinne are going to be good for one another, as each is there to help the other break out of their self-imposed boxes.

Then it’s time for Kanon to face her own limitations and fears. First, she fails and in failure learns a bit about her own pride. She’s reunited with Ayano, and now unexpectedly has yet another ally (and let’s spend a moment thinking how completely amazing that the old, broken relationship that festers for ages tropes is just…not. Good riddens to that!) Fortified by the support of the people around them, Kanon and Saki lead their class in the chorus competition. I want to address the choice of song here for a moment. It is true that Ebony and Ivory is a saccharine piece of music, but it was McCartney’s first-ever duet and the intention was, quite obviously to be a piece about racial equality. While this may seem simplistic, the South African apartheid government banned it, so even that simplistic a message terrified them.

When we consider that a high school class is meant to be singing this, we can understand that while we might not respect the music ourselves, it is an excellent choice for the story as a metaphor for diversity. And for this story, the song does it’s job. Kanon and Saki lead their class in a successful performance.

Kanon,  having achieved something so significant for herself with Saki’s help, for the first time realizes how little she knows about her friend. Not to beat up on a closet metaphor (because I don’t doubt we’ll be doing that with Saki soon,) but even Kanon understands that she’s able to step out of her little world into a bigger one now.

Ratings: 

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service – Maid costumes with cat ears? Someone’s gonna be happy about that. 
Yuri – Holding at a muted 4, but it’s not not there.

Overall – 10

This series just keeps getting better and better. Every volume is fantastic. Volumes 1-10 of Amayo no Tsuki are out in Japan and I am just waiting with baited breath for Volume 11.





Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 10 (雨夜の月)

September 25th, 2025

Two girls in a classroom. One, in a dark school uniform, the other wearing a satin jacket over hers. Neither speaks, the air hangs heavy between them.Saki’s recital was a grand success and, although Kanon’s essay did not win an award, she is motivated to continue writing.

But, watching Kanon enjoying herself, Saki is reminded of Ayano’s warning about getting too caught up in Kanon’s life. When Kanon’s mother, Saki’s music teacher, suggests music college…and not living with Kanon, Saki begins to question her own motivations. 

Kanon, likewise, is not sure what she will do in the future, nor does she know what Saki and she are to one another. Although they are only just heading into the end of their first year of high school, the future hangs over them heavily, in Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 10 (雨夜の月).

In the meantime, Kanon is not disposed to modeling for a photo, so she asks the photographer to be real with her…and she is! Kanon sees another perspective. As the volume ends, we’re going to have yet another eventful day in the lives of these two young women, when they become models.

This manga is realer than just about anything else I read. These girls feel like people, dealing with problems and emotions that they have never before felt. I’ve always said that “maturity” just means you lived through shit and this is some of the stuff they are living through.

Ratings: 

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – bubbling just under the surface at a simmer

Overall – 9

I know I say this every time, but I truly love this manga.

The Moon On A Rainy Night is out now in English from Kodansha!

 





Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 9 (雨夜の月)

June 6th, 2025

Two girls in white t-shirts and red school shorts run a three-legged race smiling happily, while their class cheers them on.In Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 9 (雨夜の月) it is once again is sports day and this year, as Kanon reflects on all the things she has done in the last year, she is motivated to participate fully in this event. Sh.e has friends and she wants to be a part of the activities they enjoy

That motivation cause her even more self-reflection. What has been the difference this last year to all the years before it, since her hearing was impaired and she pulled away from the world? Saki. It all comes down to Saki. Over and over her thoughts return to Saki. But it is not for Saki that she wants to participate in the three-legged race…it is with Saki that she wants to do so.

Saki has both been busy and is trying to give Kanon some freedom, and therefore is putting a little distance between them. Kanon asks to talk and they discuss the race…and come up with a plan. To keep themselves in pace, they”ll run to a well-known children’s song. The race is a huge turning point for them both. I won’t spoil it for you. ^_^

And added bonus was Tomita joining in as well. Their class is a role model of disability inclusion and equality. I hope people reading this book come up with ideas for their own groups and classes.  

The end comes with a plot complication in the form of a new person – the nosy photo club stereotype! What will this person bring to the story? The title of the series for one thing….We’ll have to  wait for Volume 10 to find out what she means.

Ratings: 

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – Not really
Yuri – 6 and climbing

Overall – 9

Every single volume of this story has been re-read worthy. I’m still amazed and pleased that we have Volume 1-6 out in English as The Moon On A Rainy Night. The absolutely outstanding Volume 7 is on the way in October!