This series is absolutely adorable. I love romance, comedy, and slice of life. Lucky for me, this series checks all those boxes! It's absolutely hilarious at times, but also sweet and heartfelt. There was recently an anime of this manga which is also fantastic. However, I still prefer the manga. I probably wouldn't recommend this book for someone who's new to manga since it's a little over the top. However, I think any seasoned fan would love this story.

This series is shaping up into a really cute, kind of awkward love story between Nasa and Tsukasa, as they start to get more comfortable with each other. In this volume, Nasa meets his new wife's jealous little sister, Chitose, who kidnaps him, planning to orchestrate something nefarious involving battle maids that will make Tsukasa want a divorce, which doesn't work out the way she planned. The newlyweds also visit a public bath house together and have some tropey misunderstandings, and Nasa decides he should be more romantic, and give Tsukasa a more traditional marriage experience, including a proposal and a ring. We get to see a less calm side of Tsukasa on movie night (she's a big fan of the Sharknado movies), and Nasa being a guy, thinking about seeing his wife naked. This was cute, funny, and full of mushy sweet feels!

#FlyMetotheMoonVol2 #NetGalley

Nasa and Tsukasa have to get used to life as a newly married couple who also barely know each other. The first issue that comes up is that Nasa’s apartment doesn’t have a bathtub, which means they have to utilize one of the public baths in the neighborhood. The daughter of the owners, Kaname, can’t believe Nasa is married and warns him that her older sister, Aya, is going to be very unhappy to hear the news. Nasa has a pretty meta moment where he realizes his story has the “bathhouse chapter,” and bathhouse chapters are included in stories as a shameless plug and nod to traditional Japanese culture that helps sell stories. He starts looking out for the miscommunication that often plagues bathhouse storylines and adds hilarity. Unfortunately for him, the misunderstanding happens inside Tsukasa’s room, so he is vigilant for nothing. Next, Nasa finally gets to meet Tsukasa’s family, but only because her younger sister, Chitose, kidnaps him and plots to destroy their marriage. Chitose is flabbergasted that Nasa doesn’t know who Tsukasa is, yet he still loves her. Lastly, Nasa wants to buy wedding rings for them, but Tsukasa doesn’t want them. He’s adamant, so she takes him to the most expensive diamond shop to dissuade him. It almost doesn’t work.

This story is very silly, and super cute. Most of the time, characters are drawn in a “chibi” form with very large eyes, small heads and bodies, and over-the-top expressions. There are a few areas where the illustrations are extremely detailed, like the interior and exterior of the bathhouse, but oftentimes, the two main characters are interacting without a background behind them. Rather than come off as an incomplete drawing, this increases the attention on the facial expressions of the characters.

Neither Nasa nor Tsukasa know much about marriage, but both have decided to work towards making each other happy. Nevertheless, plenty of other characters have important lessons about what it means to be a good partner in a marriage, and much of the advice is really sound! The wisest of them all in this volume is Kaname, who seems to be overly in-tune with other people’s emotions. She knows of her sister’s feelings for Nasa, even though he’s completely oblivious, and she delivers some of the best advice about self-sacrifice and compromise to make a marriage work. Mixed in are some infrequent jokes about Nasa wanting to see Tsukasa naked, and lamenting that they have to go to a bathhouse where the genders are separated.

There is still something Tsukasa is hiding from Nasa about her past, as she is determined to make sure her sister doesn’t tell him before she gets a chance, but this volume reveals very little about what it is she’s keeping. The mystery continues, and is a slow-burn storyline simmering underneath the everyday slice-of-life adventures of our main couple. Readers will be eager to learn more about her, but contented with the cuteness of Nasa and Tsukasa.

Fly Me to the Moon, from mangaka Kenjiro Hata is localized in English by VIZ Media and is currently getting the anime treatment under the title TONIKAWA: Over the Moon For You for Crunchyroll’s Fall anime season. The series follows Nasa Yuzaki who has felt connected to outer space. Last volume, we saw his efforts to outperform the space program veer off course when an accident introduced him to Tsukasa, a mysterious girl with strange powers. At the end of the volume we saw the two get married, years after their first meeting. Now in Fly Me To The Moon Volume 2, we get to see the two start their married life in a wholesome romantic comedy style.

Fly Me To The Moon Volume 2′s starts with a bath chapter. Nasa’s apartment is too small and doesn’t have a bath, so the newlyweds head to a bathhouse and introduce their marriage to the outside world for the first time. Now the reason a point out the “bath chapter” in this volume – because Hata points it out. This volume embraces the tropes of manga and anime and does so through a fourth-wall-breaking narration from Nasa. But, after that, the volume introduces Nasa to Tsukasa’s family. Or rather, he gets kidnapped by Tsukasa’s overprotective sister Chitose and her combat maids.

While there is a lot of Fly Me To The Moon Volume 2 that is just about humor, there is a wholesome love story unfolding around it. Nasa, while he is awkward, does what he can to learn more about Tsukasa, her tastes, and get her a ring to show the world he loves her. The ability of Hata to balance absurd plot points like a giant sword-wielding maid with small moments like Nasa’s declaration of love, or his focus on getting Tsukasa elements of a wedding she missed, is what makes this series work.

My only issue with this volume is more of an issue with the series as a whole: the ages. While the artwork is done to make sure that Nasa doesn’t look older than Tsukasa, he still is and if anything the way Hata illustrates all of the characters to be young makes certain scenes uncomfortable. In Fly Me To The Moon Volume 2 specifically, there are multiple sex jokes about Nasa’s sex drive made between him and one of the young girls who runs the bathhouse. Clearly a child, she not only talks about his sex drive, but we later see her coming out of the pornography section of a video store and recommending smut to Nasa. This is a common issue I have with anime and manga in general, especially romantic comedies geared towards teen boys.

That said, this shonen rom-com isn’t all bad, in fact, the wholesome label still because of the way Nasa and Tsukasa interact. While we get to see their first kiss in Fly Me To The Moon Volume 2, it’s a moment about emotion and commitment and showcases that both of them are new to this thing called love. While I hope we see less of talking about sex from underage characters, I would still recommend checking this series out.

Fly Me to the Moon is a sweet romantic manga about learning to love each other, growing and communication. I'm very intrigued where this story is going in the potential alien, moon goddess or other fantasy route. I'm kind of over the intrigue though, to be honest. I want something to happen other than just the cute relationship.

Three out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and VIZ for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

The romance continues as the two settles into their roles as a married couple and learns to live together.

Tsukasa and Nasa continue to build a life in the tiny apartment above the store. Tsukasa's family creeps into their life and despite her attempts, they plan to stick around. Nasa continues to make blunders as he learns to live with a girl and interpret emotions. The plot has a steady flow with humorous anecdotes. The cast of characters expands with some classic manga tropes and an expanding arc. The illustrations are simple but detailed, drawing readers to characters' emotions and their modest lifestyle.

This volume moves slowly and takes longer to build-up to the obvious. Hopefully, the next volume moves the plot along and spends less time getting things for the apartment.

With every romcom comes an established dynamic – engaging the reader into the titular duo’s complementary personalities and overall chemistry; Volume 2 has this is in spades. Following the first volume, mangaka Kenjiro Hata maintains the work’s light-hearted feel featuring a plot that can only be out of this world in the realm of its contemporaries. Romcom junkies, especially fans of his previous work -most notably Hayate the Combat Butler - will be pleased with its comedy and presentation; weeby, raunchy, cheesy, and charming all the way. Whether it is Nasa’s blissful ignorance of how much a wedding ring costs to the meta-commentary of the notorious anime “bathhouse scene” - the delivery is nonetheless cute, self-aware, and reminiscent of corny 2000’s anime and manga. That is not to say the comedy overshadows the romance, there is substance, and in my experience much more to be had compared to its first volume. Nasa and Tsukasa’s relationship gets more intimate with every turn of the page. A particularly endearing chapter features Nasa wanting to remember his love and devotion of Tsukasa with engagement/wedding rings only for a financially concerned Tsukasa to take our young shonen protagonist to jewelry shops in an effort to not leave him in the red. There is a clear love and care apparent in this couple, pursuing a myriad of ways to express affection, especially at an affordable price. Furthering Nasa’s archetypal obliviousness, Tsukasa takes the opportunity to “culture” the plebian through her extensive knowledge of movies; symbiotically Tsukasa learns of Nasa’s philanthropy in aiding the aforementioned bathhouse from closing down from a possible, albeit eccentric love interest. While the work is not necessarily groundbreaking – the work’s reliance on misunderstandings as a plot driver and its archetypal characters may be a turn off for some– there is a lot of charm to be had in the volume.

To market it, I would recommend leaning into its selling point “married at volume 1” and follow it up with “then what?” Additionally, state common tropes of romcom manga and anime – holding hands, blushing, kissing, etc. – and pitch how this goes WAY past that and wrestles with “what does a marriage look like for a couple who just met?” I think edging the title in that direction will bring more people, especially romcom junkies like me, to turn and pay attention to it.

This second volume has even more adorable moments and even more humor!

I love how the focus is still on them building up their relationship despite the oddity of it and some new opposition. Nasa is kind of clueless but has his heart in the right place, and Tsukasa remains somewhat mysterious but we do get some more background and we get to see her open up a bit more.

The humor gets ridiculous in some areas but I honestly found it quite fun, and made what would normally be a very tense situation pretty fun.

This slice of life is just plain fun, and I'm looking forward to see how it continues to unfold. Hopefully volume 3 gives us even more background for Tsukasa.

Fly Me to the Moon Volume Two depicts the evolution of Nasa and Tsukasa’s relationship.

Fly Me to the Moon Volume 2
Written by: Kenjiro Hata
Publisher: Shogakukan
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: November 10, 2020

I can’t believe when I read and reviewed the first volume of Fly Me to the Moon that I hadn’t realized the author for this series is the same author as Hayate the Combat Butler. Now knowing this information, the storytelling and art styles make sense, since this bears a similarity to Hayate the Combat Butler.

Volume One basically spent its time establishing the two main characters and their situation. Volume Two works at developing their story and adding more characters and elements in earnest. A pair of sisters are introduced: Kaname and Aya Arisagawa. Their family owns a nearby bath house, which becomes an important location in the series since Nasa’s apartment doesn’t have a tub. Nasa knows the sisters because he helped save the bath house from shutting down. Kaname is a blunt girl who enjoys tormenting Nasa, especially after learning that Nasa is now married. Aya, on the other hand, meets Tsukasa when Nasa isn’t around and assumes the two are simply related. The story also seems to be setting up that idea that Aya has feelings for Nasa.

We also get some character development for Tsukasa in this volume, especially with the arrival of her “sister,” Chitose Kaginoji. The reader, along with Nasa, learn a little bit about Tsukasa’s past through an explanation from Chitose, who has come to take Tsukasa home with her. When Chitose finds out that Tsukasa and Nasa are married, she flips out and makes it her goal to break the two of them up. With what we see of Chitose, as well as hints dropped about one of Tsukasa’s relatives, it appears the family she’s with is rather well-to-do… which is quite the difference from the type of life she currently has with Nasa.

But, most importantly, the relationship between Nasa and Tsukasa is evolving naturally. At first, it’s spurred on by Kaname’s tormenting of Nasa, and Nasa jumping to conclusions at things Kaname tells him. Nasa is clueless but does have good intentions. And Tsukasa is starting to figure out ways to help him out of his cluelessness and misunderstandings.

One thing that was present in this volume that hadn’t been in the first volume are jokes and references toward other anime and manga. I was greatly amused by the references that I picked up on. While we see later in the volume that Nasa doesn’t have much knowledge of pop culture, he has just enough to reference tropes in anime and manga.

Volume Two has helped to make the story more interesting than it was in Volume One. Enough hints have been dropped about Tsukasa to make her a more interesting character. The new characters and elements introduced here add more dimension to Nasa as well. And the development of Nasa and Tsukasa’s relationship also adds something to the title.

I’m glad I decided to give Volume Two a chance after my lukewarm reception to Volume One. I hoped that the lack of dimension in Volume One was due to it having to spend pretty much most of its pages developing the characters and their situation, and I’m glad that Volume Two finally provided a little more “meat” to this title. I’m now more genuinely interested in reading Volume Three when it’s released.

Silly romance mange with a sweet message about open communication and discussion of expectations in a relationship. But mostly silly and a little too genre-savvy. I liked it but not sure I'll read any more.

I love that we get to know Tsukasa more in this volume. We understand at least partially why she had a quickie wedding with Nasa, and we get to see people who care about her.
We also see their marriage continue to grow, and to have Nasa truly showing her how he feels about her. He wants her to feel loved and not alone, and it is so well done. I love this series a lot, and plan to continue!

Ok I'm going to give up on this. Nothing much happens in volume 2 except clichés and two pages hinting at "something".

There is an introduction a bunch of new female characters who are designed to revolve around the MC there is just nothing progressing the story. The first volume by comparison had much more to offer.

Such a cute manga! I am still trying to figure out who Tsukasa really is! It's fun watching Nasa's reaction when he discovers all these different things about her and her family.

Fly Me to the Moon volume 2 gives us a few more insights into Tsukasa's background, though honestly they just leave me even more curious! This volume is slightly more pervy than the previous volume, but still surprisingly pure-hearted for a Shonen Jump romance manga. With the upcoming anime, I highly suggest this series for all teen graphic novel/manga collections.

The second volume in the series in which the couple visits a bath house, Nasa proposes to Tsukasa, Nasa is abuducted by Tsukasa's adopted sister, the couple buys a TV, and they shop for wedding rings.

I was very impressed with the first vol, so I was eager to read the second one, and it did not disappoint. This volume follows our main couple, Tsukasa and Nasa, as they adjust to married life, while also getting to know each other when they’re basically strangers, while also dealing with the mystery behind Tsukasa’s origins. It’s very much a slice of life comedy, with a bit of fluff and waifu bait, but it’s harmless compared to all the other depictions of waifus I’ve seen. This is more cute and adorable, which fits the tone of the series so far.

The main focus is seeing our couple develop. It was sweet to witness how much of a movie nerd Tsukusa is and how much she needed to educate her oblivious husband on popular culture, and Nasa trying to find the best way to propose to his wife while also being clueless on her thought process. You definitely get the sense they’re young and don’t know what they’re doing, but their affection for each other is a joy to witness, and they work well together.

I feel like the mystery of Tsukasa’s origins is going to be stretched out for as long as possible, even though there are a few guesses to what she might be. The introduction of her family will be interesting, and has the potential to create some funny scenarios. I do hope we get to see Nasa’s family in the future too.

Another great volume.