Tsuki to Sandaru art by Yoshinaga Fumi

number of volumes: 2
comic line: Hanaoto
publishing house: Hobunsha
size: B6

Major Characters:

The Story

The story opens with Kobayashi obssessing over his feelings for Ida-sensi, and eventually leds to Kobayashi finding Ida's apartment right when Ida and his boyfriend Hashizume are having a small spat. Hashizume wants to go to Kyoto to work as a cook, but Ida can't/won't. And so, Hashizume says something like, "I'll ask one more time: come with me." Ida still can't, and Hashizume leaves.

Kobayashi comes in, shocking Ida, and has a rather heated conversation with him. This leads to weeks of Kobayashi coming over and cooking Ida food (and how do I know this? ... there are pictures of the moon, changing phases. Took me a while to notice). Then Hashizume shows up, tells Ida he wants to be wherever Ida is, and they make up. Kobayashi is, understandably, upset, and runs away into the night of a full moon, wearing Ida's sandals.

Hence, the title.

The main story takes places at Kobayashi's school, where he is pretty energetic. Rikuko has just made him a bento, which all their classmates are drooling over. She offers to tutor him, but gets in an accident, and arranges for her brother to tutor Kobayashi instead.

And, the whole will-they-won't-they relationship dance begins.

Commentary

Words cannot describe how much I adore this comic. The art is very simple and clean with almost no backgrounds, which makes the comic seem a bit surreal and light. It's terrific. There are panels that focus on the subtle facial changes of one character as that character thinks, and it's fantastic. Considering how one tweak of pen can change the expression of the character by accident, I think it's fantastic, what she did. I'm also very irritated by artists that reuse panels over again, so this really thrills me.

Also, the characters are very easy to like. Ida is so very sweet, I can't help liking him. And Hashizume, while quiet, does things that just say a lot more about him than tons of words.

I like Kobayashi a lot, because he's so straightforward and uncomplicated. He's very easy with his sexuality, and doesn't have any problems with it nor with telling his friends. His confidence is very endearing, and yet I wonder how realistic this is. How many guys, in high school, would be okay with something like that? Maybe things are a lot simpler in Japan. I really don't know.

But, still. Kobayashi is quite cute. He's so ... energetic.

Touyo, on the other hand, is a bit angsty. He comes across as a bit of a cool character, but more likely because he's more than a bit worried about appearances and what his sister thinks. He's the one that questions what he's doing, and what Kobayashi is doing. He has a bit of a past as well, and so this comes up.

Since I know this is what many people wonder, this is not a truly graphic comic at first. However, please note that the second volume is actually a re-release of short stories that were originally published in DJs, and so they don't mesh together. Also, they are a bit more explicit. Not to the extent of say... a BBC title, but more so than the first book. These shorts are terribly cute. They feature life after book 1 for all the characters. One even features characters from another comic she did: "Solfege".