Gekkou

Gekkoh; a typical straight-forward revenge story, which would have been just that, if it weren't padded out with uninteresting subplots and needless sexual content.

With the seedy, corrupt, underbelly of the Japanese Yakuza as its main focus; Kyoutarou Higawa is a highschool kid who's caught up in the conflict between his family's clan and other clans. Then one day Kumiko Shizuki, a girl he has never met before arrives to disrupt his life even further; by claiming to be his half-sister, who happens to be out for revenge. So Gekkoh immediately establishes itself as some kind of political drama, of the coalition & conflict within the Yakuza. With action & mystery being the main driving force behind Kumiko's quest for vengeance and even a bit of romance slapped in for good measure. However just because the story of Gekkoh has a lot going on, doesn't mean it has a lot going for it. Instead of trying to instil believability to the numerous plotlines, the mangaka takes the lazy approach to issues like prostitution & incestuous relations. And all that remains is a half-assed, convoluted storyline; with laughably bad dialogue, filling up the poorly presented panels.

This also leads to why the characters don't hold up well, in a positive light. Both main characters fail to have some kind of appeal, in my opinion, because they both come with some of my - maybe even your own - pet peeves. Kyoutarou is downright pathetic, from the way he reacts & interacts with members of the opposite sex, to how he always manages to get his assed handed to him. So with that, Kumiko should come as a breath of fresh air. A strong-willed, capable, female lead. The kind that I like... is what I would say, if the idiot mangaka didn't feel the need to degrade her so incessantly. The unfortunate thing is that both Kyoutarou & Kumiko have their good moments, but those moments are far too sporadic, to leave much of an impact. The side characters are generic in both design and motivation and are only there to give Kyoutarou & Kumiko more to do then just fool around. There are actually some side characters who are given interesting back-stories, but they never seem to be fleshed out beyond the basic requisite.

Kind of like the basic scrawls I find on a page that's supposed to represent the artwork of Gekkoh, which simply can be described as horribly inconsistent. Usually artwork that's rough around the edges can be forgiven, when the mangaka tries to express his/her own unique style, but Gekkoh goes from being alright to just a plain bad at a moment's notice. Also I find it a problem not being able to tell exactly what's going on in a panel, due to how poorly the character's gestures & actions are drawn and maybe you will too

In the end Gekkoh is a manga that leads a lot to be desired. It is by no means a horrid piece of literary tripe, which my largely negative review seems to suggest; I just expected more from it and to think this is the kind of manga, Serika Hirumo was able to produce with well over 10 years of experience. Just shows how little he's developed as an artist & as a storyteller.

There are plenty of times I've seen an anime or read a manga with low expectations, only to enjoy the work intensely. On the flip side, there are also works that, despite having an interesting premise, fail to deliver in the end. Gekkoh is one of the later type.

For many people, the Mafia, Yakuza, and any other organized crime group is a very interesting thing. As terrible as it may sound, people who have little to no regard for the law fascinate "us" and, as such, organized crime can be a very useful marketing gimmick for someone in the entertainment industry. When you combine that with another selling point, which is female nudity. Guess what? You got something that is destined to sell.

Gekkoh does just this, it puts it's female protagonist Shizuki Kumiko in all kinds of risqué situations that almost always involve her either topless or nearly being raped. The bright side is that she usually willingly gets into the problems and almost always gets out of it thanks to her big brother Kyotaru.

In any case, the main story details Kyotaru trying to help his newly introduced younger sister, Kumiko, find the person responsible for her parent's deaths. Along the way, the two of them must come terms with their growing sexual attraction to one another and the fact that they are both the children to a Yakuza boss.

Most of the story is told from the point of view of Kyotaru, but regardless Kumiko is definitely the star of the show. Despite that, the idea of him coming to terms with his family being in the Yakuza was at the very least initially interesting, unfortunately nothing really comes of it.

In fact, the entire manga is littered with plot threads that are never followed through in a satisfying way. For example, a certain sub plot involving another young man's rise in the Yakuza just sort of stops after a certain point. Which was disappointing, as it was certainly the most interesting part of the story.

Also, the conclusion is done in a way that just reeks of the dreaded "sudden cancellation" curse that plagues manga. I don't know if that is actually true or not though.

I will say that the art is extremely well done, particularly the female characters have great designs. Of course, coming into the picture is the problematic and incredibly frequent fan service. There is nothing wrong with fan service, but it just get in the way for the most part. Though, the mangaka did at least have enough sense to come up with a plot thread to give a reason for the rampant sex and nudity in the latter half of the story.

In any case, I enjoyed this to a decent extent. Just don't go thinking you are going to read another Sanctuary or something, which is a work that had random fan service and Yakuza but was actually able to tell it's story well.


Story: 4
A decent, if clichéd, set up of a boy meets sister and tries to find her parents killer all told with back drop of the Yakuza and random sex. The organized crime bits are much more interesting than the main storyline, unfortunately all of that just grinds to a halt at a certain point.

Art: 8
Very good drawings, the girls are great to look at and the character designs in general are very good. Maybe a bit to much unnecessary fan service, but this may be one of the few things to actually make the manga mildly entertaining.

Character: 4
Kyotaru is a wimp, but so is Shinji Ikari and he's one of my favorite characters. The thing is this guy just is and he never becomes interesting or has any perfectly valid reasons for his attitude.

Kumiko and all the other female characters are hot and that's about it. She wants revenge for her parents, cue typical tragic childhood that just isn't emotionally engaging like it could be. She also spends a lot of time naked for seemingly no reason.

All the other characters are rather uninteresting as well, though some do get decent development but..I wouldn't read this for the characters.

Enjoyment: 5
It's decent fun, but people up for a good crime story should look elsewhere. As the backdrop is very obviously just to get people to read the thing. Disappointing is how I'd describe this manga.

Overall: 4
Read it for the fan service, it's good at that. Not much at anything else, still it isn't terrible. It's mildly entertaining, but definitely on the lower end of the spectrum. Flat, uninteresting characters and a very generic undeveloped story combined with good art doesn't suddenly make the manga any better I'm afraid.Avoid this.

As usual, I'd like any feedback and such. Really, any kind of comments are welcome. Appreciate it.

Gekkoh deals with the story of a boy trying to figure out how to deal with his role as the son of a yakuza boss while helping his new-found sister uncover the story of her past. His other problem is the constant struggle with his own consciousness for being sexually attracted to his half-sibling, who tempts him at every opportunity.

At first, Gekkoh does not reveal anything that feels remotely engaging. The story seems cookie-cutter, the characters are flat and the pacing uneven. However, once you skip past the middle (around volume 5), things start looking for the better as more of the story is revealed and the author regains some control over the narrative. You can see the main character develop as a person as a result of his feelings for his sister and the situations he has to go through in order to help her. Later on, some characters revel unusual personality traits and there are even a few jokes thrown in here and there. Expect a few predictable plot twists as well.

The artwork is fair, erring on the side of 'generic' but it gets the job done. Characters could benefit from a more artistic depiction but the environments and some of the background images are done well. The sex scenes are depicted with relative frequency but the author somehow manages to avoid making them feel excessive.

The author uses direction no just to advance the narrative, but also to provide an excuse for depicting erotic parts and sex scenes in the story. While this may decrease the enjoyment for some, fans of the 'ecchi' genre will definitely be satisfied.

*Story - 6
*Art - 6.5
*Character - 7
*Enjoyment - 7

Final Score - 6 (Good)

So before I start this review, I just want to say that this is my first time to do such a thing and please go easy on me :P.

Now, let's get started:

Gekkou was the 3rd LN I've ever read, and to date it is probably my most favorite LN of all time. I've always favored manga and LN over anime, and my special favorites was romance. However, I've been known to enjoy some oddballs and in this case, Gekkou definitely fits the mark.

Now, I use the term "oddball" as a compliment in this situation: Gekkou is probably the most unique mix of romance and mystery I have ever experienced.

Story: 9/10.

As I read this on BT, the entire novel was presented in a full pdf file as opposed to other big name LNs (such as Campione, SAO, etc.) with multiple volumes. In this respect, the plot felt very short to me. However, the story is one of the most unique I've ever read; the male and female MC meets through a "murder recipe". While that short preview itself initially lent me to believe that this was a mix of murder, mystery that leads to a gruesome romance, it was instead a light, psychological romantic novel. I won't spoil the ending for anyone, but I guarantee that this novel provokes the mind through the facade of an innocent romance story, has several tricks up its sleeve, and the ending makes me yearn for more. In fact, while I was initially unsatisfied with the ending, I do understand the appeal of the mysteriousness of the novel as a whole and I do hope that sequels will be in place.

Character: 10/10

Here is where I believe the story truly shines. Character development's not as good as Berserk, but it is damn a lot better than I expected. With such a short plot, Gekkou somehow manages to present characters that I can relate to, but also seems to have a mysterious side to them that I could never reach. To be honest, each character and his/her actions aren't realistic at all, yet as I read I can imagine myself performing the actions with the MCs. Character development in such a short story compared to normal, serialized LNs was very well done in my opinion.

Art:

I can't comment on art because I never really pay too much attention it in LNs, but the few pictures I see seem very well done.

Enjoyment: 9/10

Overall, Gekkou was a great short LN that I read one day while I was relaxing in the summer. At first, i went from expecting it to be a typical rom com to then suspecting some sort of School Days gruesome plot (especially since the preview mentioned a "murder recipe"). I was pleasantly surprised when I was met with a mysterious and tricky plot that definitely tickled my mind and made me think. I greatly enjoyed the novel and while I wished for a more traditional ending, I do believe that the ending suits the style of the story itself. I do hope for a sequel and I will gladly recommend Gekkou to anybody interested in a light romance mystery novel!

Gekkou ("Moonlight") is about the relationship of a pessimistic boy and a 'perfect' girl, who are united from a murder case. Nonoymia, the male lead, is trying to escape his boring and orthodox life, with his only comfort being his imagination. Whereas Tsukimori, female lead, is the well renowned and school-beauty. Nonomiya finds a notebook belonging to Tsukimori, which contains a scrap piece of paper titled ‘Murder Recipe’. But these ‘recipes’ are just scenarios that may or may not lead to fatal accidents. Upon planning to dismiss the ‘recipe’, Tsukimori’s father dies from an accident. On the surface, Gekkou is about a fatal misfortune leading into a murder case. As progression occurs the plot moves away from its initial intentions and voyeurs into something different.

One point that makes the novel interesting and unique is the lack of universal morals and laws. The characters act out of personal reasoning as there is no 'wrong' answer, if they can justify their actions. Because of this the characters have a sense of maturity despite still being growing children. For Nonomiya, the typical thing would be to not take the idea of ‘perfect girl’ Tsukimori, being related to the murder recipe seriously. But for him, the ‘murder recipe’ couldn’t have been better, since it’s the first time something out of the ordinary has happened in his life. As well as the truth that no one else knows the unknown side of Tsukimori. Their relationship of the two is founded from the initial case which changes from anonymities to a sense of affinity between them. Rather than the changing in ethics and morals, the characters go through conflictions of their own beliefs. Conflictions are overcome by fighting for their own sense of righteousness. Individually each character is an enjoyment to read, but their true personalities shine when they are together; by talking metaphorically and witty there is never a dull moment.

There are only three secondary characters worth mentioning; Usami, Samejima and Konan. Usami, she is a straight forward and ordinary classmate of Nonomiya’s. Samejima is a female senior at Nonomiya’s workplace, but has an abrasive and self-cantered personality. Konan is a detective and due to his similar thought patterns with Nonomiya, they become rivals. These secondary characters are all likeable and advance the plot in different ways. They all have different relationships with Nonomiya, which gives him more insight of the world around to base his decisions from. There is only a single character acting as the law and that is Konan. His job is to find the murderer of Tsukimori’s father, but becomes more interested in Nonomiya. They drift off from the typical murder investigation to a battle of wits and survivability. Tsukimori also benefits from these side characters, as they give hints to Nonomiya’s personality.

While the plot is intriguing, the characters overshadow the plot at times. Not to say that the plot is inconsistent, but rather the characters become more than the plot, which is enough to lose focal on the story at times. The murder plot doesn’t essentially revolve around the murder, but instead the protagonists involved. Thus the characters become of a greater relevance to the murder case than the actual mystery, making it appear that the characters have a greater priority. While this isn’t an issue, it’s just to say that Gekkou isn’t plot driven.

The writing style is concise with short explanations and uses the bare minimum to engage one into the story. The novel is short despite many events occurring and thus immense detail is cut into shorter and more abridged sentences, usually containing metaphors. For example, the concept that Usami is the ‘orange juice’, while Tsukimori is the ‘wine’, says a great deal. While some might not be able to take it all in one sitting, reflecting over the ideas presented is pleasant. The reader is pushed to the focal point of the story since each argumentative point for solving the case is countered. Because it breaks logic of society to some extent, it is obvious author is aiming to break into a specific ending to satisfy the audience.

There are still a few unsolved mysteries at the end, which may be dissatisfying to some. The overall development keeps the reader’s mind attentive and imaginative throughout the course of the novel. While it is short, the style of writing is concise and every page is entertaining. Highly recommended, especially since the light novel has been translated into English and other languages.

Gekkou is a Light Novel written by "Mamiya Natsuki". If you're fond of Persona franchise. You probably hear him/her once or twice. It's revolves around a Boy named Nonomiya which is a bit pessimistic and sarcastic guy. *cough Hachiman.
He want's a peaceful way of life but it turns out to be another way around, since showing in his manners how bored he is in life.

Story : 9
I honestly not know how to say it, maybe i can't put it in words to express it but Gekkou is one of the hidden special treasure under pile of treasures. Why i said so because of it's uniqueness to the other formidable LN is spectacular in a way.
I even say that it's one of the UNIQUE LN I read so far. And reading it's page is thrilling it's self. When I have a concrete deduction of what will happen next, there will be happenings that is out of what i think.

Art : 10
What i say to myself when i saw the illustration. "Oh this is ***** good".
especially the last illustration of Nonomiya and Tsukimori!.

Character : 9
The Character design, especially Tsukimori *grab at my heart

Enjoyment : 10
Why i enjoy it the most is because of my simlarities with Nonomiya, his attitude and boredom about life is about the same as me, though i have no tsukimori on my side lol. back to the main topic
The mystery, thrill, romance, and the sarcastic replies of Nonomiya i enjoy every bit of them to the point that i pull an all nighter just to finish this LN (currently 4 am).

OVERALL 10
Final thoughts :

Not much to tell , i guess i put every thing of it in the texts above. but let me encourage you some more to read this. and here to end my review

"IT"S DEFINITELY AWESOME!!!!"

Gekkou is an extremely short, 1 volume novel, its genre is a bit weird, it has mystery, it has romance, it has comedy but the selling point of this novel is described in the synopsis. The relationship between the two main character is indeed the main selling point and the best part of the novel.

Nonomiya is a peculiar MC, usually his type of character doesnt get the spotlight and Tsukimori compliments him perfectly and vice versa. Their conversations and interactions are the just the best and even after reading 3 times i found it enjoyable.

There is also some mystery elements to this story but it is nothing groundbreaking but for me it was interesting and suspenseful enough.

Also special mention to the illustrator, the art was fantastic! I hope someone draws a full manga of this series one day with this artstyle, need more Tsukimori!

This is one of the few LNs i ever read and highly recommend this to everyone!

Upfront honesty: I'm not that much of a 'Light Novels' reader. Nothing too deep really, I'm just not the biggest fan of 'A lot of dialogue, little details' when it comes to the writing styles. While that is not the case for every Light Novel, for sure, I mostly found myself coming to those conclusions.

Gekkou isn't really that different - expect a lot of dialogue between the characters and, while there are some detailed descriptions, most of what's written is either monologue or dialogue. But, despite all that, I didn't mind.

Gekkou is rather short - so short I read it whole in one go. The main reason being, obviously, that it was quite an interesting read. It follows the story of Nonomiya and his everyday adventures. The story starts off slow, with a decent amount of built up and, while it ties up all too perfectly (in the vein of a lot of mystery stories, to be honest), right up until the ending it had me tied down, thinking about the possible outcomes. There's a decent amount of twists and surprises and, while none of them will truly drop your jaw, they are tasteful enough to keep your attention. However, the ending did not pay off the build up, at least for me. As I said beforehand, it tied up way too perfectly to the point where I had to suspend my belief in order to actually believe it. Other than that though, I really can't complain.

The story in itself is completely carried by the characters. There's not all too many of them, but I'd rather not describe them because the fun-factor about them comes from discovering their personalities. I will mention that Nonomiya, the MC of the story, is an interesting characters and, while not many will be able to relate to him, his perspective and point of view is really interesting, albeit kind of annoying at some parts. All in all, cast, while not that diverse and numerous, carries the story on their backs with their quirky and not-so-seen personalities. The 'perfection factor' also plays a part in their characters as well, but it didn't bother me that much really.

All in all, Gekkou was a very good read, as my grade suggests. For all the fans of mystery it should be a welcome distraction from the everyday life and for all those that are yet to venture into the genre, it can be a good entry. I'd like to point out that it's extremely easy to read because, as I said in the beginning, it mostly consists of monologue and dialogue. While, at times, it does sound a bit over-the-top, it's nothing you can't swallow. The writing style doesn't differ that much from the western young-adult novels, so if you like that kind, it should be right up there in your alley.

Recommended.

Is there such a thing as a perfect girl?

This is the question that our main character attempts to answer in Gekkou. He is cold, distant, and bored with the world, while she is kind, popular, and perfect in every way. He finds her utterly boring until he finds a "murder recipe" in her notebook. While the "murder recipe" itself is poorly planned and written, the fact that such a perfect girl was in possession of it interested our main. This interest skyrockets after her father dies in an accident exactly like one described in the "murder recipe".

Story - 9
As our main is drawn further down the rabbit hole of investigating this perfect girl, he and the reader are forced to question just how deep perfection can run before it becomes disturbing. The girl becomes interested in the main as he tries to become closer to her, creating some of the most enjoyable interactions of the novel. The book somehow strikes a balance between being a romcom at parts and analyzing human nature at others. For most of the novel, you ask the question yourself, "Did this girl kill her own father?" You may be unable to answer.

Despite being a read that will only take a couple hours, there are several interesting plot twists and developments. The ending, while it does not tie up all loose ends, concludes the book very well by showing that these loose ends do not need too be tied.

Art - 8
It's a light novel, so there isn't much, but the few pictures portray our characters quite well.

Characters - 10
Here is where Gekkou truly shines. Our main character provides a cold, calculating, totally amoral and apathetic view of the world that twists the entire perspective of the novel, sometimes tricking the reader into thinking from his point of view. The perfect girl shows herself to be an extremely clever and capable woman, often manipulating the main and entering into amusing verbal sparring with him.

Although these two have the spotlight, several side characters add even more to the story. The violent unwed woman, the stereotypical high school girl, and the flamboyount detective all help further our understanding of the main character through his interactions with them.

Enjoyment - 9
Gekkou had me eagerly flipping to the next page, and then quickly turning back to make sure I hadn't missed anything. The interactions between characters made me laugh, the plot made me think. Although I read it in an afternoon, it was a very enjoyable afternoon.

Overall - 9
Gekkou might fall just short of a true masterpeice (mostly due to it's short length), but it is far better than almost any other light novel I have read. It has the clever interactions of works like Oregairu, in addition to its deeper questioning of human nature. Of course, the special Gekkou flavor is that you are questioning whether someone is capable of murder the whole way. Even if you don't like it as much as I did, I am sure that you will enjoy this short peice.