MANGA REVIEW | "Fly Me to the Moon" - Volume Twenty-Seven
There are times where backstory is necessary in order to learn about a character’s history. The problem with Tsukasa is that she has more than 1,400 years of that to go through! Mind you, that’s not necessarily a big issue, as lots of stories mean a plethora of unique scenarios and concepts. However, as the twenty-seventh volume of Fly Me to the Moon shows, a little too much backstory will sidetrack the main narrative that’s being told.
We learn quite a lot regarding Tsukasa and her pre-Nasa life, as she’s inexplicably responsible for some of Japan’s great thinkers. Her friendship with a young lad named Mao pushes the guy from college and happiness to an immortality-seeking lonely life in the mountains. His reasons are not selfish, as it’s to aid Tsukasa with her problem. What she didn’t realize is that her problem gave birth to Kukai, one of Japan’s most influential Buddhists. (I highly recommend looking up his story. It’s quite remarkable!)
Alas, this story winds up taking up a lot of time from the main narrative of Fly Me to the Moon. Even though the story itself is interesting and funny, it doesn’t serve much when it comes to the main plot of Kenjiro Hata’s series. Yes, the theme of immortality is a key part of the flashback, but it doesn’t serve a single hint of how Tsukasa can cure it. It has its funny and heartfelt parts, but it could’ve easily been a bonus chapter saved for the end of a manga volume.
Even now, the main story is kind of stuck in limbo. Nasa has to focus on acing the Tokyo University exams, even though he has zero intention of going. Meanwhile, Asimo wants to ace them so he can finally confess his love to Himari, a cliché that I’m starting to see a whole lot of in manga lately! Fortunately, Asimo and Himari are very funny, and have a certain chemistry that is akin to Nasa and Tsukasa’s. Hopefully, when this detour is over, they’ll continue to be a part of the main series.
That’s what the final main chapter of Volume Twenty-Seven kind of hints at. After Tsukasa gives Asimo some of Nasa’s old exams, she and Himari have a face-to-face. It’s here where we see the flashback involving the two of them, and it shows why Himari claims to have seen Tsukasa die in front of her eyes. (For a cutesy rom-com, the scene is pretty brutal!) But will Himari play a role in the story now that she knows Tsukasa’s secret, or is this just fodder for this current story that may not have big implications for the immortal woman’s moon-sized goals?
On one hand, there are a couple of good side stories in this volume of Fly Me to the Moon. However, there are times where I think Kenjiro Hata might be stalling while he’s trying to figure out exactly where to take the main story next. Considering that Nasa and Tsukasa have a chat in this volume about authors needing to take a week or two off for a mental breather, perhaps Hata should do the same. After all, Tsukasa’s got all the time in the world to find her cure; a break wouldn’t be too bad, right?
FINAL GRADE:
Promotional consideration provided by Chantelle Sturt of VIZ Media.
