Title: Fly Me to the Moon Vol. 26
Author: Kenjiro Hata
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 200
Genre: Slice of Life, Romance, Comedy, Science Fiction
Publication Date: November 12, 2024
The Story
Volume 26 of Fly Me to the Moon continues the love saga between Kosaka and Asimo. It seems as if Asimo isn’t studying as hard as Kosaka would like and when she asks him to repeat what he said to her, he’s completely oblivious. She felt that with the way things were, it was time to take matters into her own hands so she headed to the library and waited there to see if Nasa would show up… which he does! They get to talking and Nasa ends up bringing Kosaka home with him. When Kosaka meets Tsukasa and gets a good look at her, she seems to recognize her from someplace outside of the Tokyo Tower where they first met.
Kosaka recalls something and becomes really suspicious of Tsukasa and Tsukasa picks up on Kosaka’s suspicions. She calls Aurora and has her run a complete background check on Kosaka. When she receives the report, the suddenly realizes how Kosaka feels she looked familiar… it also means that Tsukasa made a huge blunder.
Meanwhile, Asimo wants to begin studying harder so Kosaka invites him over to her place for a study session. She wonders if it’s possible for her to get into Tokyo University but before she wonders that, she puts on the biggest tease act in the history of rom-coms!
We end things with a look back to the past. As mentioned earlier, Tsukasa made a huge blunder but it wasn’t the first time she did so. This look back to the past shows us where she made that mistake before and strangely enough, seven years seemed to be the magic number that shares a commonality with her blunders!
Characters
Kosaka takes the spotlight for development in this volume. We learn about her past outside of her childhood with Nasa. She opens up a little bit to Asimo in a playful way which shows a different layer to her character. It shows how she is able to mask emotions by not being serious about the topic she’s talking about. This part of her struck Asimo oddly but he rolled with it because it also aligned with Kosaka’s brash and tomboyish nature. Even though we did learn a bit more about Kosaka’s past, we don’t know the full details and how it relates to Tsukasa. Plus, Nasa said a line that was a bit odd as well which needs some further investigating, too.
Asimo is pretty dumb for being so smart although I’m glad he figured it out and realized that Kosaka wanted him to repeat his feelings for her. Despite her mild tsundere tendencies, she does crush pretty hard on Asimo and it’s funny to see him react to it all; however, what I liked about it was that Asimo only seemed to be playing the role of the nervous love interest. On the inside, he was trying to play into Kosaka’s teasing in hopes that he could make a move on her… then became disappointed when he went a bit too far and it backfired!
Final Thoughts
This was an interesting volume in the sense that Kenjiro Hata took a side story with two new characters and folded it into the main plotline. The only little complaint that I have is that each time we get something like this, a new character ends up being tied to either Nasa or Tsukasa’s past. It’s almost like Kenjiro Hata is attempting to do world-building 26 volumes deep into the series which, to me, is a little too late because instead of fleshing out the world, it continuously interrupts the main plot from progressing.
Look how long it took Nasa to decode the data that Tokiko left for him… and I don’t believe that we got the full story on that. Each time we got a little piece, something else came along and served as a distraction. I think the problem with that is the whole decoding of the device and learning more about Tsukasa was done in a way where it was TOO interesting so that when something came along and caused a distraction, it ended up being a hindrance rather than an enjoyable side adventure.
We are seeing here again. Now, the whole Asimo and Kosaka story has been great so I don’t want anyone to think I’m not enjoying it but during this volume, the device was specifically shown in a single panel to remind us about it and, yes, there are points to be awarded for keeping the plot fresh in our minds, it just served as a reminder that the story was put on hold for this little romance fling. Skipping around can be beneficial but when your main story is truly interesting and gripping, it becomes detrimental and that’s how I’m viewing these interruptions.
But, on the other hand, I’m torn for saying that because the interruptions themselves are great stories. Nothing bad is being had here. I wish they were arranged differently but that’s my personal preference.
Oh well, next time around we might get the exam battle between Nasa and Asimo… then again… we might not. Who knows if Kosaka drags Asimo back to the bathhouse for more teasing and that takes up half the volume. We’ll see!
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media.
