By Hyouta Fujiyama
Yen Press, 160 pp.
Rating: Mature

After being spurned by his girlfriend and wandering to his town’s fabled wishing hill, Ryuka wishes for someone to love who will love him in return. Much to his surprise, his wish is answered by Ixto, the spirit of the waning moon. Ixto offers Ryuka several matches, but since they are all men, Ryuka wants nothing to do with them. For whatever reason, Ixto takes this as a sign that Ryuka is his one and only, and after a passionate night, Ryuka finds that his body has been cursed to seek out Ixto. Ryuka wants no part of the spirit, but can’t resist the curse, so he finds himself on an unwilling pilgrimage that Ixto promises will end with the two as lovers.

I was won over by the premise, the whole “wishing on the waning moon and getting the spirit as your lover” hook. It’s good, and it stays strong through most of the volume, but it’s also more or less the only thing this book has going for it. Mostly, the series is full of really bad yaoi plot devices that pass in the blink of an eye through the short chapters. Everything from the straight main character that eventually turns gay, the unfortunate raping and rape jokes, various lecherous characters, catboys (that can turn into molesting catmen)… if you’ve seen it in a yaoi manga, it’s probably in here. Admittedly, it’s very self-aware, and most of the plot devices are used with comedic intent, but many jokes fell flat for me.

Ixto is the most interesting and developed of all the characters in the book (which include, in addition to Ryuka and the two catboys, all the possible lovers that Ixto offers Ryuka at the beginning of the story. I thought that was a nice touch). Aside from his strange insistence on becoming Ryuka’s beloved at the beginning of the book, I really enjoyed the way Ixto was watching Ryuka’s journey from afar, and I also liked his overly formal way of speaking and relatively laid-back “courtship” of Ryuka. The rest of the characters, including Ryuka, are extremely one-dimensional. The story doesn’t seem like it will dip into character development anytime soon, but having Ixto to break up the monotony helps a little.

As yaoi, it is sadly lacking as well. While there is a rape at the beginning, and the characters are molested and joke about raping throughout the rest of the book, sexual activity is discussed and not actually shown, which is surprising given how graphic and uncomfortable some of the discussions are. There’s not a lot of romance, which is what I look for in BL books more than sex, so it left me wanting quite a bit as far as the relationships go. It does have lots and lots of different men suggesting naughty things to each other, which will probably appeal to a lot of people who would be inclined to pick this up.

Mostly the book relies on its sense of humor and common yaoi plot devices to keep the story going, and it’s not all that great as a result. Surprisingly, I didn’t dislike it as much as I should have, and the mix of the basic plot, the character devices, and the characters themselves kept me interested enough to get through the book rather quickly, and I’ll likely pick up the second book. What can I say? I’m easy to please, and it does hit some of the right buttons.

Volume 1 of Tale of the Waning Moon is available now.