Amayo no Tsuki - Vol. 11 Ch. 41 - Courage

[Thrembs]

.. you're too far gone bro

Twitter is so shit that people are coming here to subtweet.

 

[Rogojinen]

I don't think that's quite fair about how obvious any of this is. You've read Saki and Miura-sensei perfectly, I think, I'm just emphasizing how there isn't evidence for many folks seeing through the confusion.

The art isn't shared reality. Just in a sense of how Kuzushiro's method of using art: The author has depicted different facial expressions in alternate flashbacks of the same scenes, so rather than a depiction of obvious blushing we're seeing exaggerations of ground truth that are the most expressively true for the viewpoint character. The POV subtly reshapes scenes because the art serves the POV story. It's not uncommon but it feels pronounced here. The tradeoff is we learn more about the POV character by emphasis, but less about what others know about the POV character.

So from Saki's perspective we do not canonically know how much of Kanon's affectionate discombobulation is obvious. It's less obvious in her POV scenes and vice versa. And Saki's got a lot on her mind, her cognitive load from masking and holding her tension would limit her thinking clearly about Kanon. With the art direction here, there's a bit of extra importance on the photos as ground truth and not just POV-truth.

Subtext > Realism. One thing that I haven't gotten used to in East Asian queer media is the degree emphasis on subtext and leaving things unsaid, in comparison to contemporary queer media from the 'west' or even South Asia. Coded communication as art is part of our history, it's safer and poetic, but it doesn't have as much utility when there's nothing illegal or widely scorned... but if subtext artfulness is already emphasized by a culture apparently we get even more of it in queer media despite acceptance rising to relatively safe and neutral levels. We can't rely on characters to catch others nuances and body language. Miura-sensei, Saki, Saki-mom, and the hairdresser friend are the only people to have demonstrated clear awareness of the lesbians being lesbians. For now I'm forgiving this manga for this since it bifurcates the approach with having some people in the know and everyone else unclear ... which is honestly accurate to the main character POVs even if it's unrealistic.

So a lot of people clocked the couple for a moment but we don't know how many people that truly registered to. Probably most? But it's not proven. Rinne knows something is up, childhood friends and some new friends know something is up, but words and ideas that would be top of mind for them are hidden from us.

Not that things need to be PSA-carrying subtext-is-for-cowards like I Favor The Villainess; Realistic is more or less shown in the balance of early on lacking words to later clearly understanding and using words in She Likes To Cook, She Likes To Eat. Stories don't need to be real-world-style with their prose but it does bother me when half the cast may have figured out the romance here yet the info is obscured far more than necessary. Amayo no Tsuki handling the transition from half-subtext to open romance will probably determine if it's a masterpiece or trying to add depth with narrative tools that confuse and can annoy readers.

Well put. I even started to do this work myself at some point, but there is indeed clear moments that are only expressing visually one of the girls' POV and don't translate to reality, to the other girl's POV when she reflects on the moment. There's the obvious tell of the sudden blushing but if it's not actually there, the expression left for Kanon to interpret is confusion, something she's used and dreads to see on people's face; and for Saki, she can instead jump to wondering what she has done or said to bother and hurt Kanon instead of seeing that it's the good kind of trouble.

Saki seems completely unaware that Kanon (even other people that noticed her sunny personality and wide positive influence) sees her more and more with her 'Prince-like' filter on. I emphatized with Saki's struggle to live and eventually communicate her feelings for Kanon but at some point, I realized I completely underestimated who she was and their dynamic. As Kanon put it, 'the moves on this girl!'.

So that's indeed a clear motif and not only a problem inherent to Kanon, Saki needs to acknowledge and reconcile how she is, how she sees herself, and how she's seen. And in both of their cases, it would not only help them to see they're already growing into an actualized and great version of themselves, but with the added nice surprise that the one they love sees them just like that.

Saki's demand for Kanon to truly ask herself what she thinks about her, about them, leaves me very hopeful about the resolution. Especially after this chapter, we're on the right with Kanon putting into words that she feels so much for Saki, and the potential reactions to see her love/awe-struck face clear as day on a picture, not just in anyone's imagination.

This is the first work of this author I've read but I feel confident to say we can trust them to avoid the usual pitfalls of lesser romcoms. For example, I really liked the maturity and nuance displayed when Kanon's mother refused for them to live together in college. This wasn't thrown for drama's sake, she made great points and was painted as a villain to their relationship, on the contrary she showed there her care not only for her daughter but for Saki's too, she didn't want them to risk their beautiful friendship with something as polarizing as cohabitation and overexposure, overreliance, codependancy, etc.

And of course, with the one mention of eventual and other romantic partners, it lead the plot forward and Saki to understand that they needed to end this artistic blur and clarify their relationship and feelings before she gets hurt, living a lie.

Glancing at the spoilers for the next chapter, I'm happy we're delving into Saki's past crush for another girl because for Kanon's defense, that's the very important key she was missing to understand her. Learning that Saki was attracted to this girl, to her piano teacher would not be important but also useful to indirectly confess to Kanon, without doing it and risking their friendship with no reassurance whatsoever that she'd be inclined. Saki could see first how she reacts and if she accepts her knowing she's lesbian.

Then the unsaid question will be 'Wait, does she sees me that way too? Why do I look this possibility very much??'

Meaning, it's a bit ironic that Saki's demand might only be met once she makes clear how she sees and identifies herself first, because it's not fair to be angry that Kanon doesn't understand her if she's burying her feelings.

 

[RoseYuri]

next photoshoot will be in wedding dresses

 

[Andigo]

That reminded me of something funny, and interesting:
In the anime for Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun, his definition of a "date" is different in the dub, and it makes sense, just due to cultural differences.

In Japanese「男女が出かける」
In English "Two people hang out together" (or something)


While that does mess up a moment coming in next season (he is like "you wanna marry another girl?!" "? Yeah, why?" and that's the only time anyone ever addresses genders and relationships. Well, there's also his non-binary butler from the first episode), it's a kid's show, and no Western kids would buy a 14yo being heteronormative. It would straight up (no pun intended) confuse them.

Spoiler: not to mention

Our main character is bisexual, which becomes increasingly clear over time.

Spoiler

Also poly. He has an eating disorder. And CPTSD. And a bar mitzvah. And rizz. I fucking love this series.

That series has a statistically-accurate level of queers, at minimum, and no one gives a shit.

Anyway, yeah. That's not how most Asian media is, currently.


Also, I personally prefer coding to stating.
Not everyone introduces their partner as such to everyone they meet. Sometimes they just... Are there, sometimes together.
Not everyone needs to wear flags (despite what I have had spat at me: that if I don't wear pride gear, I'm hiding).

Surprisingly useful comparison now that you mention it. At least for how I process the two series. The Moon on a Rainy Night sits in a sort of balance where I feel yuri is in 2025. Iruma-Kun is likewise a good cultural signal, maybe a much better one considering popularity. Iruma-kun exists without fetishizing, and similar to a lot of yuri manga I think it's strongly helped that it was written by a woman who isn't interested in emphasizing male gaze (not literal, but in a feminist sense) or mainstream misogyny. I understand that magical girl shows had good taste decades ago, but Iruma-kun is shaping norms now.

You make me have to think over the norms in play...

Spoiler: Thinking about the norms in play...

• Hot nonbinary butler guardian an early and major character, alongside adoptive grandpa. Various characters show off gendered or non-gendered styles of hotness, but it's not exploitative of the cast. Good diversity of body types, including among leading women in the cast.
• The art is in line with an audience not worried over queer or not. Half the major characters are fabulously styled. Gendered styles don't limit the art, especially while crossdressing. Some folks are hot regardless of gender but the style language of a children's show but the writing of a situation irony teen show mean it's vastly less fetishy for the content than would be average - like compared to battle shonen. Or even some Sailor Moon characters (CLAMP being CLAMP).
• If anything the art is a bit too tame given how much demonic brutality is offscreen. The dissonance is real, even in referencing the brutal school coursework. If the series continues another decade or two, at the pace of the school levels, intended demographic could shift a bit. For now and maybe forever it's a cutesy gloss over highly vicious yet loveable aliens.
• There's still subtly gender roles, and recently noted population and psychological gender dimorphism. It seems in range of equality for demonkind.
• The gender roles are still played for comedy even then. There's some wild xenopsychology that isn't applying strictly to everyone, and people cross boundaries freely.
• And there's no outright statements on feminism or acceptance being made. Maybe if it's longrunning for decades it'll progress to some incidentally, but the only blunt messages seem to be about loving friendship, prosocial ambition, and humankind being at least as bad as demons - worse from the view of a boy with CPTSD versus newfound stability.
• Making too many stands that could be interpreted as social critique isn't good for mainstream publishing, but situations vary across genre and region if a few stands are a gamble that pays off. I don't think this manga is intentionally making any stands, or will; it's simply respectfully laying out norms better than modern humans.

If that's the barometer of what is almost unremarkably normal in Japan, it helps place Amayo no Tsuki in context. A lot of Iruma-kun points have had more normalization over past centuries in Japan than in Christendom-influenced cultures, some are showing more recent progress slowly against a cultural conservative generational decline. Quite a lot is okay so long as it's not outright stated, because that would draw hypersensitive people to complain.

It's still odd to me at a glance that expectations that

• make sense for demonkind (why remark on something so accepted now / historically)
• work different from JP commerce (why remark if it's gambling with backlash / breaking harmony)
• work different from queer subgenres (it's already obviously queer but the poetic subtlety wins out; albeit less in newer works).
• Showing acceptance can be taken in stride easier than bringing up terms that are attached to clear traits and discrimination. Not exclusive to Japan but calling something out even when it's obvious is often interpreted as disputing current (and purportedly proven) hierarchy.

To be clear, my expectations here are unfair now that I lay them out.

Kuzushiro is a smart author, I just can't say I've always jived with her style. My take is still that unless she uses the known/unknown contrast it's unnecessary confusion.

At the same time your example reminds me it's not quite as easy and simple as I laid out, since different aspects of acceptance can be decades of progress apart in different cultures. The diction that is normal to choose is going to vary greatly.

 

[Thrembs]

Surprisingly useful comparison now that you mention it. At least for how I process the two series. The Moon on a Rainy Night sits in a sort of balance where I feel yuri is in 2025. Iruma-Kun is likewise a good cultural signal, maybe a much better one considering popularity. Iruma-kun exists without fetishizing, and similar to a lot of yuri manga I think it's strongly helped that it was written by a woman who isn't interested in emphasizing male gaze (not literal, but in a feminist sense) or mainstream misogyny. I understand that magical girl shows had good taste decades ago, but Iruma-kun is shaping norms now.

You make me have to think over the norms in play...

Spoiler: Thinking about the norms in play...

• Hot nonbinary butler guardian an early and major character, alongside adoptive grandpa. Various characters show off gendered or non-gendered styles of hotness, but it's not exploitative of the cast. Good diversity of body types, including among leading women in the cast.
• The art is in line with an audience not worried over queer or not. Half the major characters are fabulously styled. Gendered styles don't limit the art, especially while crossdressing. Some folks are hot regardless of gender but the style language of a children's show but the writing of a situation irony teen show mean it's vastly less fetishy for the content than would be average - like compared to battle shonen. Or even some Sailor Moon characters (CLAMP being CLAMP).
• If anything the art is a bit too tame given how much demonic brutality is offscreen. The dissonance is real, even in referencing the brutal school coursework. If the series continues another decade or two, at the pace of the school levels, intended demographic could shift a bit. For now and maybe forever it's a cutesy gloss over highly vicious yet loveable aliens.
• There's still subtly gender roles, and recently noted population and psychological gender dimorphism. It seems in range of equality for demonkind.
• The gender roles are still played for comedy even then. There's some wild xenopsychology that isn't applying strictly to everyone, and people cross boundaries freely.
• And there's no outright statements on feminism or acceptance being made. Maybe if it's longrunning for decades it'll progress to some incidentally, but the only blunt messages seem to be about loving friendship, prosocial ambition, and humankind being at least as bad as demons - worse from the view of a boy with CPTSD versus newfound stability.
• Making too many stands that could be interpreted as social critique isn't good for mainstream publishing, but situations vary across genre and region if a few stands are a gamble that pays off. I don't think this manga is intentionally making any stands, or will; it's simply respectfully laying out norms better than modern humans.

If that's the barometer of what is almost unremarkably normal in Japan, it helps place Amayo no Tsuki in context. A lot of Iruma-kun points have had more normalization over past centuries in Japan than in Christendom-influenced cultures, some are showing more recent progress slowly against a cultural conservative generational decline. Quite a lot is okay so long as it's not outright stated, because that would draw hypersensitive people to complain.

It's still odd to me at a glance that expectations that

• make sense for demonkind (why remark on something so accepted now / historically)
• work different from JP commerce (why remark if it's gambling with backlash / breaking harmony)
• work different from queer subgenres (it's already obviously queer but the poetic subtlety wins out; albeit less in newer works).
• Showing acceptance can be taken in stride easier than bringing up terms that are attached to clear traits and discrimination. Not exclusive to Japan but calling something out even when it's obvious is often interpreted as disputing current (and purportedly proven) hierarchy.

To be clear, my expectations here are unfair now that I lay them out.

Kuzushiro is a smart author, I just can't say I've always jived with her style. My take is still that unless she uses the known/unknown contrast it's unnecessary confusion.

At the same time your example reminds me it's not quite as easy and simple as I laid out, since different aspects of acceptance can be decades of progress apart in different cultures. The diction that is normal to choose is going to vary greatly.

Edit: I hope the way the "you want to marry a girl?!" line in the dub is a psyched surprise. Without the single heteronormative line, him spouting anything is odd, unless it's a pleasant surprise. (Everything that happens in that series becomes part of the plot! Clothing isn't stated to be gendered (女装 isn't used, ヒラヒラ、フワフワ is), so Ameri's ick is kinda odd, already)) Going LISP with the parens...

The only time MaIruma gets heavy handed is the Many-Ears arc.
That shit made me cringe just as much as psyched. I was psyched for all the Judaism blasting off the page, but I was cringing at the blatant, naïve Zionism.
I'm pretty sure that Nishi is a convert, and the brainwashing that can go on in any educational context (it takes at least a year of study, practice, integrating into the community, interviews...)
It's my least favourite part of progressive Jewish circles. They're all about rights and equality... Everywhere but Palestine.

I'll go to The Land when the Messiah comes (Gd willing)

Free Palestine

 

[Angelsheart85]

Truly grateful for the update🙏🏻

 

[Andigo]

Well put. I even started to do this work myself at some point, but there is indeed clear moments that are only expressing visually one of the girls' POV and don't translate to reality, to the other girl's POV when she reflects on the moment. There's the obvious tell of the sudden blushing but if it's not actually there, the expression left for Kanon to interpret is confusion, something she's used and dreads to see on people's face; and for Saki, she can instead jump to wondering what she has done or said to bother and hurt Kanon instead of seeing that it's the good kind of trouble.

Saki seems completely unaware that Kanon (even other people that noticed her sunny personality and wide positive influence) sees her more and more with her 'Prince-like' filter on. I emphatized with Saki's struggle to live and eventually communicate her feelings for Kanon but at some point, I realized I completely underestimated who she was and their dynamic. As Kanon put it, 'the moves on this girl!'.

So that's indeed a clear motif and not only a problem inherent to Kanon, Saki needs to acknowledge and reconcile how she is, how she sees herself, and how she's seen. And in both of their cases, it would not only help them to see they're already growing into an actualized and great version of themselves, but with the added nice surprise that the one they love sees them just like that.

Saki's demand for Kanon to truly ask herself what she thinks about her, about them, leaves me very hopeful about the resolution. Especially after this chapter, we're on the right with Kanon putting into words that she feels so much for Saki, and the potential reactions to see her love/awe-struck face clear as day on a picture, not just in anyone's imagination.

This is the first work of this author I've read but I feel confident to say we can trust them to avoid the usual pitfalls of lesser romcoms. For example, I really liked the maturity and nuance displayed when Kanon's mother refused for them to live together in college. This wasn't thrown for drama's sake, she made great points and was painted as a villain to their relationship, on the contrary she showed there her care not only for her daughter but for Saki's too, she didn't want them to risk their beautiful friendship with something as polarizing as cohabitation and overexposure, overreliance, codependancy, etc.

And of course, with the one mention of eventual and other romantic partners, it lead the plot forward and Saki to understand that they needed to end this artistic blur and clarify their relationship and feelings before she gets hurt, living a lie.

Glancing at the spoilers for the next chapter, I'm happy we're delving into Saki's past crush for another girl because for Kanon's defense, that's the very important key she was missing to understand her. Learning that Saki was attracted to this girl, to her piano teacher would not be important but also useful to indirectly confess to Kanon, without doing it and risking their friendship with no reassurance whatsoever that she'd be inclined. Saki could see first how she reacts and if she accepts her knowing she's lesbian.

Then the unsaid question will be 'Wait, does she sees me that way too? Why do I look this possibility very much??'

Meaning, it's a bit ironic that Saki's demand might only be met once she makes clear how she sees and identifies herself first, because it's not fair to be angry that Kanon doesn't understand her if she's burying her feelings.

You're right to trust Kuzushiro on this. They may not handle things as clearly as I'd like, but they will not screw up what's already here. Their older breakthrough comedy is very gay but not as notable as their dramas.

For a really indicative example ... Their previous longrunning dramatic work they finished definitely shows talent, and issues that won't apply here. Living With My Brother's Wife was deep and impactful on the topic of grief and moving onwards. However it had (mostly early on) about the same style of queer subtext as in this work, and some literal cues in text, but backpedaled despite the author mainly making yuri.

Spoiler: How shifted stance on queer rep highlights some aspects of Amayo No Tsuki, but it's light spoilers

The first hundred or so chapters visually teased angsty romance between the widow and her sometimes-daughter-like sister-in-law, and introduced a canonically queer friend (gender-nonconforming amab), and some other details that barely mattered. I can imagine a lot of reasons but the sister-widow subtext stopped and was redirected. There are fewer decent reasons that other characters being sapphicly inclined stayed subtext at best if not non-canonical, a queer friend was never majorly focal again, and any subtext seemed minor. Plot flows like it dropped a dropped a subplot for one of the leads, an LGBT subplot, and it's a bit streamlined flow to the ending... but to the end it was a powerful work on grief. I'd just not recommend it to sapphics or anyone queer since it toned down the elements like a TV show where after a season the management forcibly stamped on all but the lightest queer relevance. Maybe not a big deal if you don't look for it, and the main plot going romance (looked one-sided but still) while gaining fans grieving family was always rocky if not baiting.

Personally I was left a bit angry the sister was set up to deal with complex feelings and queer issues then suddenly was just basically healthy and arguably straight after a point. Well, Amayo no Tsuki is like a mirror opposite of what could go wrong.

The early difference from this work is huge but indicative. If anyone gets attached to the work as about disability, it's baked in from the start they also need to accept a canonical lesbian canonically crushing on Kanon. Kuzushiro reused apparently her favorite visual traits for two female leads. Even without speculating on publisher stuff, or wanting to go the opposite approach for various reasons, it stands out that The Moon On A Rainy Night is comparatively blunt in laying out the romance and societal adjustment subplots as intertwined.

It's already pretty awesome that how Kanon and Saki see one-another's faces at times, like princely moments, differs so visually in the art. What was outright misleading (and later artistically shifted) in LWMBW is now genuinely useful unreliable visual narrative. What was unintentionally or intentionally bait in a work that throttled back queer elements is now not only information but sometimes contrasts of blushing and expression that implies even more information. The angles on discussion of codependency, down to similar parental warnings, will be very different if handled in a romance or with longer focus on disability (sensory rather than depression). And societal integration is a subplot that can't be dropped given disability.

Considering what works in the story carries over from the past, I trust Kuzushiro with complex interactions like caring-yet-adversarial parents, with careful consideration of codependency, and more. Essentially I trust the author can handle realism excellently. And the story is fundamentally structured to avoid the lopsided issues that made the other series not quite a masterpiece. So I'm excited even if I'm critiquing a little aspect of how secondary characters are black boxes more than I prefer. Because Kuzushiro is really good at this; if this story continues on to the issues it teased, especially proven in prior works but in a new light, it will showcase the author's proven diligence and care.

 

[Thrembs]

Surprisingly useful comparison now that you mention it. At least for how I process the two series. The Moon on a Rainy Night sits in a sort of balance where I feel yuri is in 2025. Iruma-Kun is likewise a good cultural signal, maybe a much better one considering popularity. Iruma-kun exists without fetishizing, and similar to a lot of yuri manga I think it's strongly helped that it was written by a woman who isn't interested in emphasizing male gaze (not literal, but in a feminist sense) or mainstream misogyny. I understand that magical girl shows had good taste decades ago, but Iruma-kun is shaping norms now.

You make me have to think over the norms in play...

Spoiler: Thinking about the norms in play...

• Hot nonbinary butler guardian an early and major character, alongside adoptive grandpa. Various characters show off gendered or non-gendered styles of hotness, but it's not exploitative of the cast. Good diversity of body types, including among leading women in the cast.
• The art is in line with an audience not worried over queer or not. Half the major characters are fabulously styled. Gendered styles don't limit the art, especially while crossdressing. Some folks are hot regardless of gender but the style language of a children's show but the writing of a situation irony teen show mean it's vastly less fetishy for the content than would be average - like compared to battle shonen. Or even some Sailor Moon characters (CLAMP being CLAMP).
• If anything the art is a bit too tame given how much demonic brutality is offscreen. The dissonance is real, even in referencing the brutal school coursework. If the series continues another decade or two, at the pace of the school levels, intended demographic could shift a bit. For now and maybe forever it's a cutesy gloss over highly vicious yet loveable aliens.
• There's still subtly gender roles, and recently noted population and psychological gender dimorphism. It seems in range of equality for demonkind.
• The gender roles are still played for comedy even then. There's some wild xenopsychology that isn't applying strictly to everyone, and people cross boundaries freely.
• And there's no outright statements on feminism or acceptance being made. Maybe if it's longrunning for decades it'll progress to some incidentally, but the only blunt messages seem to be about loving friendship, prosocial ambition, and humankind being at least as bad as demons - worse from the view of a boy with CPTSD versus newfound stability.
• Making too many stands that could be interpreted as social critique isn't good for mainstream publishing, but situations vary across genre and region if a few stands are a gamble that pays off. I don't think this manga is intentionally making any stands, or will; it's simply respectfully laying out norms better than modern humans.

If that's the barometer of what is almost unremarkably normal in Japan, it helps place Amayo no Tsuki in context. A lot of Iruma-kun points have had more normalization over past centuries in Japan than in Christendom-influenced cultures, some are showing more recent progress slowly against a cultural conservative generational decline. Quite a lot is okay so long as it's not outright stated, because that would draw hypersensitive people to complain.

It's still odd to me at a glance that expectations that

• make sense for demonkind (why remark on something so accepted now / historically)
• work different from JP commerce (why remark if it's gambling with backlash / breaking harmony)
• work different from queer subgenres (it's already obviously queer but the poetic subtlety wins out; albeit less in newer works).
• Showing acceptance can be taken in stride easier than bringing up terms that are attached to clear traits and discrimination. Not exclusive to Japan but calling something out even when it's obvious is often interpreted as disputing current (and purportedly proven) hierarchy.

To be clear, my expectations here are unfair now that I lay them out.

Kuzushiro is a smart author, I just can't say I've always jived with her style. My take is still that unless she uses the known/unknown contrast it's unnecessary confusion.

At the same time your example reminds me it's not quite as easy and simple as I laid out, since different aspects of acceptance can be decades of progress apart in different cultures. The diction that is normal to choose is going to vary greatly.

I did an edit right before you hit like, FWIW.

 

[GoldenFoolofanArtist]

I mean it's not horrible, there are worse arcs

Sounds like a good time for Kanon to figure things out and Saki to move past her trauma - type of arc.

Ah. To clarify; I meant that Saki is having a horrible time of it. I’ve personally been looking forward to an arc like this for a while so we can delve into saki’s past and learn why she is so terrified of coming out.

 

[MathMols]

Spoiler

In chapter 43, saki is thinking about her problems with "that" girl and thinking about kanon and what she need to do, in gymnasium she's was distracted and a ball hit her head and she left earlier and waiting for the bus to come, her "friend" from middle school appears and that triggers saki bad experience with her and she talks to Saki and asks why she's there, and Saki explains about the ball, etc., and then she forces Saki to go with her on the bus to Saki's house.

So we have another case of a MC that dont know how to tell a bitch to fuck off?