Title: Fly Me to the Moon Vol. 8
Author: Kenjiro Hata
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 200
Genre: Slice of Life, Romance, Comedy
Publication Date: November 9, 2021
The Story
Fly Me to the Moon Vol. 8 turns the steamy factor up to 11… because ¾ of the manga was all about taking baths and hot spring stuff. Nasa and Tsukasa wrap up their vacation by wondering if they should take a bath together. Meanwhile, Nasa runs into an old woman who needs help. Turns out this woman is named Tokiko and she was the one who signed their marriage certificate! She used to be Tsukasa’s caretaker as well. She offers them relationship advice and ends up calling out Tsukasa for not being able to express her feelings. It’s quite evident that Tsukasa doesn’t really care for Tokiko!
After we wrap up, the dog days of summer plague Japan so they need to buy an air conditioner since their flat doesn’t have one. After Mr. Reliable installs it himself, they can’t decide what temperature to set it at during the night. However, before installation, Nasa needs to borrow tools and goes to see Oda Nakiri, a friend from middle school who owns a repair shop. Shocked at his sudden marriage, she lends them the tools for free.
We end the volume with Tsukasa helping out Kaname by watching the front desk to the spa when a girl walks in and just starts having a conversation with her about someone named Shiba. Throughout the entire ordeal, she never says what her name is but Tsukasa ends up debating her anyway! We are left on the mini cliffhanger of who this new girl is.
Characters
If you’re expecting me to say that Nasa and Tsukasa developed their cuteness factor… then you would be right. Nasa finally got Tsukasa to open up and say the L word to him! That’s a pretty good step… for a married couple and all that…
It still amazes me that even though they are married, they are so reserved around each other. You’d think the two of them would have seen each other naked a million times by now but something as simple as a bath with your wife was nerve-wracking to the both of them. That innocence factor is cute but, I have to be honest… after eight volumes of it, it’s getting a little bit old. It’s getting to the point where I want them to open up just a little more. They don’t have to kill the whole cute thing they’ve got going on but they could stand to stop being so wishy-washy whenever normal couples stuff comes up every single volume. That would be the true development for these characters!
Tokiko is a new character and while I have no idea if she will be back or not, she did offer up some good advice for our newlyweds. Nasa seemed more open to listening to her than Tsukasa was; however, after some prodding, Nasa did get Tsukasa to open up just a little. Again, I thought that this would be the beginning of a nice advancement in their characters but, alas, we’re still waiting. Tokiko herself, though… she’s a firecracker. She seems as if she has no shame, she resulted to trickery to get Nasa’s attention and has zero qualms about admitting how filthy rich she is. I like her!
Nakiri is an old friend of Nasa’s (much like almost every other character we’ve run into so far) from middle school and seems like a tomboy. She runs her own repair shop, lends out tools, and doesn’t seem interested in relationships whatsoever… that is… until she sees that Nasa got married. Then she pulls the old swerve and wonders if she should get a wife of her own, too. There’s your diversity character, folks!
Then we have Mysterious Girl X. Even though we don’t know her name, she’s a bit of a firecracker, too. She just seems to ignore the small stuff and is just content with yacking away with Tsukasa about things. Hopefully, we’ll know more about this tanned spitfire next volume.
Final Thoughts
If you were expecting another volume full of cuteness… well… you got it. Although I do think the whole vacation at the hot springs arc went a little too long, the rest of the volume made up for it. The small stint with the air conditioner great and Kenjiro Hata once again added some 4th wall-breaking commentary throughout this chapter which brought out even more laughs.
Three new characters in one volume is a bit much for this series but, at this point, it’s needed as things were getting kind of stale. Plus, even though we have a Chitose sighting in this volume, her absence has been hurting a bit. Plus, there’s only so much you can do with a character like Kaname to keep things fresh. With the additions of Tokiko, Nakiri, and Girl X, things are hopefully going to get a bit less mundane.
Outside of that, another cute volume as you would expect from this series!
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
