Boku wo Tsutsumu Tsuki no Hikari: BokuTama Jisedai-hen

How many times have people wondered what happens after the happy (or sad) ending in a story that lasts more than a couple of extra chapters? This is one of the few cases when fans have managed to convince the creator to give the story another spin, but how successful that is, is a bit up in the air. Unlike its predecessor, Boku wo Tsutsumu Tsuki no Hikari is mostly a very lighthearted series even when it tackles more serious themes and it does not have a specific story to tell; various adventures in every chapter and a couple of more story-centered arcs. Because of that,the pacing can be a bit off and as the overall vibe of the manga is more innocent and pure since everything is seen mainly by the eyes of children, the distinct feeling of having to include a happy ending one way or another is always around the corner and diminishes any tension there might be. There is, however, progression in the overall story as it starts out with unimportant events and slowly builds up to more serious ones. It can be said that the main theme that runs through the manga is about how the children want to find out the truth about their parents’ past, and consequently their own, which causes most of the troubles, sometimes a bit too excessive and not properly explained. Part of the old cast has its time to shine as well, when new problems arise and those arcs are what make this work worth it even more as the reader explores further into the relationship between Mokuren-Alice and Shion-Rin, which gives tidbits of new information to add to the story that we already knew. Considering the big time skip from the original manga, this work gives insight to Rin’s development throughout the years and how much he has changed. Even if there is not enough development for anyone except maybe the main character, Ren, the light shed to important characters’ background is enough to believe that it has done a decent enough job on fleshing them out. However, there are many instances that the adults behave incomprehensively only to add more to the drama and there is no satisfactory conclusion. Art-wise, it is a downgrade as characters seem to have lost their uniqueness and are deformed in many pages or even covers with weird anatomy and expressions. There is no sharp detail, everything seems a bit more round, the backgrounds are very basic and it feels generic most of the time. As the tone of the story is more of a playful one, the art has probably tried to adjust to this and while this is not bad as an idea, it has failed to at least meet some kind of standard. It is easily forgotten, but thankfully, there are times when it does feel it hit its mark with its expressions on people. All in all, it is not as enjoyable as the first series even if they obviously did not have the same the same purpose. Whereas the first series had great art with details and characters/story that were fully developed, this just seems like a mishmash of random stories and characters that only got better when the familiar cast appeared. But, it is a generally enjoyable read for every fan of the series as the kids are adorable too!