[Februaryuri 2024 rerun] The Moon on a Rainy Night

04 Dec, 2024

(base post on Februaryuri here!)

(note that all that follows, unless mentioned explicitly or in the rerun section, was written in February 2024)

The Moon on a Rainy Night (Amayo no Tsuki), by Kuzushiro

Publication

Ongoing (8 volumes)
Published in English (Kodansha), 5 volumes so far
Published in French (Meian) under the same title, 4 volumes so far

Summary

Saki is on the verge of entering high school, and as she's going to her piano lessons, she bumps into another girl her age who helps her back up then leaves without saying a word.
That girl, Kanon, on whom Saki may or may not be crushing, turns out soon after to be one of her new classmates. As they introduce themselves to the class, Saki discovers that Kanon is hard of hearing, and that teachers and students alike are doing a terrible job, in blatant and more subtle ways, about any kind of accomodation. Kanon, to protect herself from all this, has defaulted to a rather icy behavior; Saki however really wants to be friends, and slowly starts to unlearn anything she could assume about how Kanon's impairment affects her life or not. Moreover, as her usual piano teacher stops teaching her much to Saki's chagrin, the latter is referred to a new teacher, Kanon's mother - an event which allows the two students to see each other even more.

Comment

Though elements of this one have trappings of generic high school yuri at first glance, it feels actually really subtle about a lot of topics - most notably the way it handles the disability of its deuteragonist. It shows all the difficulties caused by people singling you out, and assuming things about you from "common knowledge" or that one story they read about someone with the same diagnostic¹. Also Saki is quick to identify she's falling in love with Kanon, and how she's attracted to women overall, and how it can be a struggle to express in a heteronormative society - and that is treated in a much more grounded way than it is in most high school yuri mangas.
I have only read like one volume and a half of this one yet, so I kinda surprised myself when I put it here, but I've kept reading good things about it and its first few chapters earned my trust? So this is an unexpectedly short review, less informed than others can be, but an enthusiastic one nonetheless. The manga started being released in French recently, and I'm really curious about reading the print version soon.

Rerun section

I have a bunch of things to add here, since I read up to volume 5 of this one this summer!!
The bottom line, though, is probably that The Moon on a Rainy Night keeps being really really good. Through its two protagonists, it continues to talk about disability and being a closeted lesbian in big and small ways, rather brilliantly - be it accessibility, blending in, prejudice, fairness of treatment, finding people who share some your experiences, and more. It also has some occasional simpler moments at times, but they are a welcome respite and still the opportunity to see the two leads go on with their life and be people in their own right.
Volume 5, the latest released in English so far, leaves us at a turning point, and I cannot wait to read more.

For French readers, I would strongly advise against the French published edition as it is now, though I'm hoping reprints may correct some of it at some point².
My read of the first two volumes in French highlighted notably at least one joke in vol. 1 that gave the feeling the translator didn't get it, and one important conversation in vol. 2 on being angry at labels that felt rather unnatural instead of an actual monologue. Most importantly, the French translation of volume 1 seems to almost erase the subtextual element of Saki being a closeted lesbian(!!), notably by removing all the hints of her crushing on her former piano teacher. It doesn't feel like an intentional decision, but like an extremely careless translation that erases hesitant speech patterns or ambiguous wordings in the text that are supposed to carry this entire reading - as if the translator never realized it was here in the first place. This makes me very angry for obvious reasons.
French publishers and translators, please take better care of your yuri translations!! Please please please plea--

#cohost #februaryuri 2024 #yuri