Moony

Moony

By Miyamoto Kano

Overall: Mediocre
Smex Factor: Modest
Art: Generic
Status: 1 Volume; Complete

Review: Another boys’ school romantic drama! There are only a million of those around. But this one has a guy that goes blind in it! But only at night. He is only blind when the sun goes down. No, it’s not as obviously stupid as I just made it sound; it's not like he turns off the light and immediately thinks, "HOLY SHIT I CANNOT SEE (because it is dark.)" I believe it is supposed to be some kind of night blindness. But since Nyctalopia only occurs in dimly lit areas (as opposed to temporal night, whether or not lights are on) to people born with it, I'm guessing the author didn't really care too much about the factual correctness anyway. So it's still a stupid plot device.

I’d say that Moriya’s (lack of) reaction to this incredulous disease is totally unbelievable, but upon further thought, that’s totally what I’d do. “I just need to hold out for a little longer; this’ll blow over.” (In fact, it’s what I did do. I encourage you not to belittle prospective medical problems; I came very, very close to going blind because I thought that way.)

Anyway, the guy in the room next door (who is, incidentally, the main character) eventually finds him and offers his help. Initially the helpful dude thinks Moriya is a bitchy wiener, but he grows to love him, as we all expect him to. After all, Moriya is a tsundere full of adorable insecurities behind his crunchy exterior.

I suppose the only thing that sets this apart from other manga of its ilk, is that Moriya rejects him. Oh, SNAP. I’m not gonna lie, they get together in the end (and for one initially so resistant, he sure gets right to it when the time comes) but not before Helpful Dude has a torrid affair with the campus gay slut. And he, being the ever-nice-dude can’t even enjoy it. Because he’s really just too nice.

Helpful Dude seems like an in-control kinda guy, but really, he’s a huge pushover. Like really, dude, in an effort to make everyone happy, you’re totally making some bad decisions. Just putting that out there. You can’t appease everyone, bud. At least he’s cute when he’s embarrassed. (For one so experienced, he sure is bashful.)

Suwa, the slut, is a nice divergence from stereotype. Well, sorta. But the important part is that he’s not a bitchy, jealous slut. He’s a regular, nice slut. A triumph! Baby steps, people.

He’s the protagonist of the second story, by the way, which teaches us that just because a person had a sucky childhood does not give him a free pass to be an emotionally abusive asshole.

The next story doesn’t end with a sex scene! Who knew it was possible. It does, however, have several sex scenes within the story. It is only the simple story of a boy coming out to another boy. But it ends on a nice note.

The next story is about a guy and a ghost who may or may not actually be dead and it’s not interesting enough for me to reread and tell you about it. And it’s so short that if you’ve already decided to read this manga or not, nothing I could say about this chapter would change your mind either way.

And finally somebody acknowledges that if a guy falls in love with a guy, he’s gay. (Disclaimer: there are many shades of sexuality, and it’s not fair to categorize them all as either “straight” or “gay”. On the other hand, a large majority of BL characters are referred to as straight even AFTER sleeping with a dude, so seeing some acknowledgement of the other side is always refreshing.)

Also, crows = “GYAAA”?