The Fall 2022 Manga Guide

In the Clear Moonlit Dusk

What's It About? 

Yoi Takiguchi's long legs, deep voice, and handsome face are the perfect recipe for an attractive guy--until people realize she is, in fact, a girl. Dubbed a "prince" by her peers since childhood, Yoi has all but given up on being seen as anything else. That is, until she bumps into Ichimura-sempai, the school's other prince (who's a he) and gets a taste of what it feels like to be seen for her true self. The story of the two high school princes starts here!

In the Clear Moonlit Dusk has story and art by Mika Yamamori, with English translation by Jessica Latherow and lettering by Viet Phuong Vu. Kodansha Comics released the first volume digitally in July and will release the physical volume on November 29.

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Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

Yoi doesn't so much look masculine as she's got a more androgynous appearance, and people just make their assumptions from there based on superficial factors like her short hair or if she's wearing pants. Yoi's quiet personality and helpfulness end up being misconstrued as “princely” qualities based on these details.

It's something she seems to have resigned herself to at the beginning of the series. While she isn't overtly bothered by being called a prince, we also get the impression that she's not all that thrilled with it either, resulting in her keeping as much to herself as possible to avoid interactions with smitten girls. She's uncomfortable with their adoration, not necessarily because they're female, but because a piece of her simply doesn't like being framed as masculine. It's gotten to the point where she largely avoids most people because she's not comfortable with the way they react to her, and apart from two friends in class, Yoi is very much a loner.

All of that begins to change when she has an encounter with Ichimura, the school's other “prince.” While Yoi earned the nickname for her looks, Ichimura's title comes from the fact that he's from a very wealthy family, and as the volume unfolds, we can see that he's fairly uncomfortable with that landing him the prince nickname as well. As Yoi notices, Ichimura works at appearing “normal” from a socio-economic standpoint – he eats the same school-bought bread for lunch, he hides his enormous family home from prying eyes by living in a rented apartment, and he just generally goes out of his way not to let on that the rumors of his family's wealth are true. That he lets Yoi in, bringing her to his house when they're caught out in the rain, is perhaps the biggest indicator that his feelings for her are real, because he's trusting her with one of the things about his life that he tries very hard to keep away from most people.

While In the Clear Moonlit Dusk isn't off to as strong a start as Daytime Shooting Star, it is still very promising. Yamamori looks set to take the story in a direction that will explore the characters' inner selves versus how schoolmates see them. It does still feel a bit old-fashioned in its gendered themes, but the characters are interesting enough that it will be worth seeing where the story goes.

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Jean-Karlo Lemus

Rating:

In the Clear Moonlit Dusk almost feels like a romance without a decent hook. The central idea is interesting, what with the princely Yoi being pursued by the similarly-princely Ichimura, but the series seemingly forgot to do anything past that. There really isn't any kind of gimmick or twist to the story beyond Yoi fretting over Ichimura's odd approaches while she realizes this is the first time anyone has ever treated her like a woman. Lots of people joke about how masucline Yoi is, but outside of her having a masculine face (and apparently liking stand-up comedy) there's not much more to her personality. Ichimura comes off as more interesting, given his dashing-yet-goofy nature... and yet, even then, both he and Yoi are basically defined by being really, really good-looking.

Some kind of twist would have been fun, or at least something that makes us re-evaluate Yoi and Ichimura on some level. But these people are exactly who they seem to be: a handsome woman who is a bit tired of being considered manly, and a handsome man who doesn't want people to like him only for being handsome doggedly pursuing her. Their flirting is at least cute, so the romance doesn't feel empty or vapid. And a series without any kind of forced romantic obstacle is better than one with, say, a forced romantic triangle or the like. But outside of being a pretty series about pretty people in love, I struggle to find too much to recommend about In the Clear Moonlit Dusk—unless you just gotta have another romance to read.

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MrAJCosplay

Rating:

They can be difficult operating in a society where it feels like you're not allowed to craft an identity for yourself. Sometimes the way we look and present ourselves assigns us a label by others that carries expectations. This is very common when it comes to troupes associated with gender and while the concept is more than just a binary, it doesn't stop it from getting used in these types of stories. In the Clear Moonlit Dusk is a story about allowing yourself to open up and experience things that you might not have originally thought that you could. It's about dealing with the contrast of being frustrated by what people associate you with versus feeling that you don't deserve anything outside of what has been assigned to you. But sometimes, all you need is one oddball that doesn't always conform to those standard norms to pull you out of that funk. This romance series does still feel a bit dated by a lot of modern conventions but when you look at it as a character piece first and a romance second, I think there is still a lot of relatability that can apply to people in a general sense. The artwork is simple yet striking and there is a believable chemistry here that I think most people would find engaging. Combine that with a natural sense of romantic progression and honestly, I can't wait to see what happens in volume 2!