Title: Fly Me to the Moon Vol. 14
Author: Kenjiro Hata
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 197
Genre: Slice of Life, Romance, Comedy
Publication Date: November 8, 2022
The Story
Volume 14 of Fly Me to the Moon opens up at the mansion where they are filming their movie… except nobody realizes that they are filming. It’s just some back-and-forth scare moments that don’t really phase Tsukasa at all. In fact, she takes on the headless ghost of Masakado in mortal combat! Realizing that things aren’t going too well, Kaguya retreats and brings out an animatronic centipede! Meanwhile, Aya easily solves the puzzle to get a mystical arrow that will end the battle but the centipede goes out of control and Kaguya can’t handle it anymore. All in all, everything gets settled and we move on but that was a wild and hilarious ride!
The second half of the volume deals with Tsukasa mustering up the courage to tell Nasa that she loves him. It’s super evident to everyone around her that Nasa is the only one saying those three magical words. Meanwhile, Tsukasa is a straight-up ice queen who never tells Nasa how she really feels. Of course, Kaname would be the one to try and give her advice but the main advice is that if Tsukasa can’t say it, then she needs to show it. She offers her some coupons for some ice cream to help set the mood and off the go! Will Tsukasa finally get the words out of her mouth?
Characters
With so much attention being put on Kaguya last time, I thought for sure that they would do something more but instead, this volume resorted to hijinks and aside from a one-on-one battle where she loses her mask, there really wasn’t much that was added onto last volume’s mystery. Although, Tsukasa seemed to recognize her but we never really got confirmation. Even in the second half when they reference the filming at the mansion, there aren’t any second thoughts on Tsukasa’s part over Kaguya’s identity and why she seemed so familiar to her. Maybe this will just be some slow-burn development?
The rest of the volume just focused on Tsukasa trying to return her feelings for Nasa. After being made aware of how emotionless and cold she can be, she realizes that she needs to show Nasa some affection. As she musters up the courage to say those three magical words, she goes through a series of trial and errors to try and circumvent having to do that. It makes for some really sweet, really cute, but really hilarious panels! It’s nice to see Tsukasa trying her hardest to fix one of her flaws!
Final Thoughts
Usually, these volumes are all pure sugar and while the second half was, the first half at the mansion brought a much-needed change in direction (albeit temporarily). You can only be overly cute for so long before it gets stale and the whole mansion arc was that breath of fresh air that we needed. They still haven’t moved into their new apartment yet but it seems as if we are getting close. By my guess, we’ll see that happen in the next volume as they mentioned it’s almost time to start packing.
The mystery behind Kaguya still persists and even though we only got a nibble here, it was still more interesting than anything else that was going on. Even with all of the cute stuff in the back half, I was still invested in finding out what the deal is between Kaguya and Tsukasa. Maybe it’s because it did break up the diabetic-inducing sweetness that we’re always given but it just felt great to have an interesting side story for once.
Of course, the sweetness in the second half reminded us why this series is just so wholesome and good but after the mansion arc, I think the series should being to tone down the cuteness factor just a bit. After fourteen volumes, we get it. Nasa and Tsukasa are a super cute couple that will do super cute things and spew super cute words. That’s been established so I think we need some more arcs that break that up. I’m not saying get rid of it completely because being cute is the backbone that this series was built on but Kaguya indirectly exposed a major flaw with the series which is a lack of super-interesting storylines. Keep the cuteness in moderation and work it in along with some more interesting stuff. That would be my ideal direction for this series but, then again, I’m not Kenjiro Hata. I’m just a reader.
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media.
