Customer Reviews

Tale of the Waning Moon, Vol. 1

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Tale of the Waning Moon is the first book in an ongoing series. As the story goes, in a certain small village there is a hill called "The Wishing Hill". If you stand on the hill at a certain time and speak your wish out loud it will be granted. Everyone has long since forgotten about the superstition but, as luck would have it, our hero Ryuka wanders up the hill one night. He's drunk and upset because he just lost his girlfriend to another man. So he makes a wish for someone to love that will love him back. What he gets is Ixto, the bespectacled spirit of the waning moon. After Ryuka rejects all the men on the "cards of fate" that are offered to him, Ixto decides to keep him for himself. After a night of (forced) love, Ryuka finds that his body has been cursed to chase after Ixto, whether his head wants to or not. So begins his rather unusual quest. Along the way Ryuka gathers a group of companions: Coon, a cat boy servant of Ixto (who ends every sentence with "nyan"); Aldin, a millionaire's son who is looking for his own true love; and Jii, Aldin's faithful butler.
First off, yes, the book starts off with a rape. On the very first page no less. It's right there after the nice full color illustration inside the front of the book. But it's not terribly graphic, one or two glowing body parts and about a page later it's all over. It also doesn't seem like it was that horrible of a rape to begin with. Ixto is otherwise quite gentlemanly and suave, maybe even a little too restrained since he doesn't get much time in the book. Hardcore yaoi fans will be disappointed no doubt since after the initial scene, the "action" is pretty much over for the rest of the book. The most you'll get is a few scenes of kissing and a few near misses with Ixto (and others).
But along goes Ryuka on his involuntary quest. He's not really the sharpest crayon in the box, I'll admit, but he's strangely endearing, as is Ixto. Even Coon grew on me, despite his tendency to end everything with "nyan" (he's a cat boy afterall. I guess it makes sense for him to meow). The plot is entertaining but I found it slightly lacking. Ryuka and Coon bounce from one strange plot setup to the next. I wish more time was spent on storytelling and character development. Sometimes I feel like pages are missing from the book. I also wish Ixto had gotten a little more page time. Because of the "rules" Ixto can only come to Ryuka during the waning moon or when Ryuka calls for him specifically, which does happen despite Ryuka's assertion that he hates Ixto. I would have liked to see a little of what Ixto was doing while he was waiting on Ryuka's call. Oh well. Maybe next book, when it eventually comes. Otherwise the book was cute and funny. There's just something amusing about the whole situation. And I really did like the scenes between Ryuka and Ixto a lot, especially the little extra at the end of the book. It was funny, surprisingly sweet, and (gasp) almost realistic.
By the way, there are a few instances of little floating boxes popping up in the panels, not unlike in a computer game. Pick an option. That sort of thing. Ryuka also "levels up" at one point. It was a little odd but it worked. Unfortunately the habit kind of fell off about halfway through the book.
Hyouta Fujiyama's art is interesting, not always the prettiest, but still pleasant. It's a nice change from all the super bishounen I've seen in BL manga though some of the characters were hard to tell apart. Luckily most of them weren't around long enough to get me confused and the main characters are all unique enough to tell apart without any trouble.
For the wrap up, Tale of the Waning Moon was a pretty decent book though I'll warn that a) it is a rather unusual mix of a fantasy/rpg type story, b) there's only one pretty character (tho Ryuka is referred to as being quite attractive, I didn't totally see it), and c) the man on man action is pretty limited. If that's your basis for buying a book you're going to be very disappointed here. But despite its shortcomings I'll keep my eyes peeled for Waning Moon book 2. If nothing else it's a pleasant change from all the high school boys and such.

Tale of the Waning Moon is an amusing, sexy, beautifully illustrated fantasy BL manga. The lead character, Ryuka, gets drawn into the powerful (and handsome!) Ixto's crazy plot by making a not very well thought-out wish one night! It's a very fun read, filled with interesting characters, though sometimes one wishes the author would spend a little more time on the secondary characters (perhaps they'll play larger parts in the future volumes). This book is full of sexy, mischievous beings of power, cat boys, shape-shifting and a not really willing at the start main character. I just wish I knew when the next volume was going to be released.

This is one of the most recent works by Hyouta Fujiyama (published in Japan in 2008), quite a famous manga-ka and creator of Lover's Flat (Yaoi), Pure Heart Volume 1 (Yaoi) (Yaoi Manga) (v. 1), Ordinary Crush Volume 1 (Yaoi) (v. 1), Spell (Yaoi), Sunflower (Yaoi) (v. 1) and many other light and sexy yaoi works. Her art in this recent work is even more refined than ever.

"Tale of the Waning Moon" is somewhat different plot-wise from the rest of the manga-ka's works published in the US. This is even more of a comedy than Ordinary Crush, for instance, and has an enjoyable light fantasy plot. Ryuka (uke) meets a bit sinister moon spirit Iksuto (a tall, dark-haired seme with spectacles), the latter puts a spell on him, and now Ryuka is on the quest to find his "master", Iksuto. Honestly, the exact goal (if there's such) of that quest is somewhat unclear to me (Iksuto keeps on popping up and "doing it" with Ryuka all the time anyway, so why to "search" for him? Maybe, to meet Iksuto in his physical form? The moon spirit is a bit inconvenienced in his arrivals to the Earth plane, as it seems there are some special conditions which he has to meet in order to be able to "get together" with Ryuka). This is just volume 1, so it will probably become clearer in later volumes.

The major point of course is Ryuka's quest itself (regardless of its purpose :)), as during his travel, Ryuka meets a variety of funny and sexy characters (i.e., we have a charming and pushy Arab prince, who really cares about his horse... oh wait, is it really a horse?? after all, it's a magic land, where everything is possible). One of the cutest things to some readers might be that Ryuka doesn't travel alone, as Itsuka gave him a travel companion, one of his two cat spirits, who look like teenage boys with cat ears and tail. The cat-boys can transform themselves in adult males from time to time, and, as you can imagine, this transformation is done with a certain purpose...I imagine that some other readers might find the exact same thing somewhat disturbing though, as ignoring the transformation part, cat-boys behave and look quite young.

It's a very light and relaxing yaoi comedy, with fantasy / spirits world setting. Not explicit, only hints of frontal nudity (for example, look at p.4 of the book...). Nonetheless, it does have a sexy, flirty feel, with a number of sex scenes (though not "everything" is shown).

Yen Press, as always, did a very good with this edition: a color insert; firm, white pages with careful inking, and adequate translation / editing.

I've read my fair share of yaoi and BL mangas. This one stands out with how fun and lighthearted the whole plotline is. Sure there is a non-con scene from the get-go like many other plots, but the depiction isn't taken too seriously nor was it drawn out too explicitly. In fact, it was over in two panels.

I say this particular storyboard stands out because the main characters get the sex over with first before moving on to the whole falling in love plotline that is basically a wooing/quest theme. Sure, there isn't much interaction to begin with between the main characters, but it does leave you wanting more since Ixto's behavior grows on you and Ryuka's bratty behavior also becomes endearing. These two are getting to know each other with each development. The supporting characters are fun too.

If you want tons of sex scene, this story isn't for you. If you want genuine romance, this is it. Keep a open mind, this is the first volume in a multi-volume set. The stage is set for a journey of love discovery and adventure.

An excellent beginning of a new and fun series. It's not overly graphic so those of you looking for a cheap thrill will not find it here, that being said, this manga has a lot of very well drawn scenes of 'love' which will get the heart pumping of any die-hard yaoi fan. The story line is progressive but not too fast and it will keep you guessing right up to the conclusion. Can't wait for the second installment.

Lame title, I know. I'm sorry I suck at naming things.

I won't give you a detailed plot description, because obviously that's available all over the reviews and book summary.

I love this manga, it's great to me. It's funny, it's well drawn. Normally yaoi is drawn in a way that doesn't appeal to me at all. The story is amusing, the characters amuse me. I love things like the shota catboy being heartbroken to leave the prostitution district.

One of peoples main complaints is that the second volume hasn't been released yet. You can't really fault something for being incomplete when it's labeled volume 1.

I've recommended this to many people though, and have read my copy a couple times. I don't typically reread manga.

I do like Fujiyama's work but I fell this book has too much going on.There are too many characters introduced.Too many things happening.And it does feel like I am playing a dating video game.
I do like Ryuka's character and the Moon Spirit .However, not much is revealed about those two.I do want to know more about the Mr Moon seme spectacle dude.Hope the writer goes deeper with the first main characters.
The playfulness of the lines between Ryuka and the Moon Spirit, is fun to read.