Kenjiro Hata

An odd little romance has a teenage boy derailing his academic life when he instantly falls for a mysterious girl who helps save his life after he's struck by a vehicle. Before passing out, he manages to confess his feelings, and she counters by proposing marriage then promptly disappearing. When she reappears much later, she's holding a marriage registration form, and they suddenly find themselves in a cute, chaste backward romance that gives the warm fuzzies even as it confuses me as to show more the nature of the bride. There's hints she may have a supernatural aspect, but just hints.

I'm getting the next volume to see if that reveals what's going on with her. I see that there are 20 volumes of this released in Japan, so I guess they have to start doing something other than acting all lovey-dovey all the time. show less

Fly Me to the Moon, Volume 1 is a sweet, little romance read with lots of intrigue coming along. Is our mystery woman an alien? Some sort of goddess? So far, there's no real hints that I can find to determine this. We'll just have to read to find out.

This book has a fair bit of slice of life for two random people marrying each other because of a silly promise. It's a goofy yet lovable premise that I really enjoyed. It was light hearted and fun, which is what I wanted out of this read. It's show more just so light and fluffy and cute! Romance lovers will adore it!

Four out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and VIZ for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review. show less

The premise seems interesting enough: a high-achieving student named Nasa Yuzaki has only ever become such a high achiever because he was embarrassed by his name being associated with N.A.S.A., wanting to be more than just a reference to outer space. On the way to an exam (and in the middle of a blizzard), he gets his by a truck when he tries to approach a beautiful girl, and she ends up saving his life. But she walks away... And her walking away makes him determined to find her again, which show more he does... Repeatedly... In the same night. He doesn't want the girl to leave him and says he'd love to date her (note: he basically fell for her at first sight because she was cute - and the story keeps hammering it home that he finds her cute). She says they can only be together if they get married, to which he says yes on the spot, and low and behold, when both are 18 years old, they get married.

There are illusions drawn to the story of Princess Kaguya - the princess of the moon raised by humans who ended up leaving Earth because she was taken away by emissaries of the moon, and not even the emperor of Japan could keep her on Earth; and it's this parallel that Nasa draws on when he tries to justify asking the girl out - because I guess she's just so darn cute, he REALLY did not want her to leave him! It's a neat parallel, but for all intents and purposes: the girl is just presented as a normal, human, and somewhat eccentric girl in volume 1 of this series. So whatever lies ahead? I'm not sure. But volume 1 feels like a lukewarm introduction to what I'm *assuming* is supposed to be a series about marrying an alien princess and enjoying domestic bliss together as young newlyweds?

But yeah. Neat premise, but Nasa is a really boring main character once he meets his wife, with so much shy virgin energy that reading about him nearly having heart attacks when it comes to just holding hands with a girl makes me feel 13 again, and not in the fun way. show less

Whenever I've had a rough day, and I feel like I can't remember the last time I laughed, one of the manga or anime I turn to, in order to lighten my spirits is Hayate the Combat Butler. The blend of oddball comedy and reverentially referential humor, along with a willingness to just chip away at that fourth wall blends together well to make an enjoyable comic, and the fact that the characters are incredibly likable really helps to keep me coming back in a way that TV shows like Family Guy, show more which also relies on referential humor, fails to do.

This volume in particular, with Nagi's attempts to help around the house, and your annual Valentine's Day hijinks are particularly enjoyable. The fact that this volume not only features stories with Isumi, as well as Nagi's cousin Sakuya, and Wataru also helps. The only real point against it is a small sub-plot featuring the ghost of the "priest" from the "Butler's Tiger Pit" storyline, with the premise that the ghost is haunting Hayate and only he can hear and see him, which picks up at the start of the volume and is dropped with very little fanfare partway through.

On the one hand, the end of the plot is somewhat abrupt, and I'm kind of confused over why it was included in the first place. On the other hand, I'm not a fan of the character, and he doesn't particularly work well in the context of his main story, so I'm not particularly upset that he's gone. I just wish his departure had been handled better (like with an exorcism by Isumi or something).

Other than that, this is a great volume, and a good continuation of the series. I look forward to reading volume 8. show less