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The Moon and the Sandals #1
The Moon and the Sandals 1
As a newly appointed high school teacher, Ida has yet to gain confidence in his abilities. His insecurity grows worse when he feels someone intensely staring at him during class. The piercing eyes belong to a tall, intimidating student -- Koichi Kobayashi. What exactly should Ida do about it? Is it discontent that fuels Kobayashi's sultry gaze... or could it be something else? With the schoolyard as a backdrop, Fumi Yoshinaga, creator of Antique Bakery, Flower of Life and Solfege, presents Moon and Sandals -- a feel-good boy's love story and a long awaited manga series!
218 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1996
About the author
Fumi Yoshinaga
157 books253 followersJapanese: よしなが ふみ
Fumi Yoshinaga (よしなが ふみ Yoshinaga Fumi, born 1971) is a Japanese manga artist known for her shōjo and shōnen-ai works.
Fumi Yoshinaga was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1971. She attended the prestigious Keio University in Tokyo.
In an interview, she said that "I want to show the people who didn't win, whose dreams didn't come true. It is not possible for everybody to get first prize. I want my readers to understand the happiness that people can get from trying hard, going through the process, and getting frustrated."
Little is known about her personal life. She mentions that her favourite operas are those by Mozart in the author's note of Solfege.
She debuted in 1994 with The Moon and the Sandals, serialized in Hanaoto magazine, but was previously a participant in comic markets.
Of Yoshinaga's many works, several have been licensed internationally. She was also selected and exhibited as one of the "Twenty Major Manga artist Who Contributed to the World of Shōjo Manga (World War II to Present)" for Professor Masami Toku's exhibition, "Shōjo Manga: Girl Power!" at CSU-Chico.
Outside of her work with Japanese publishers, she also self-publishes original doujinshi on a regular basis, most notably for Antique Bakery. Yoshinaga has also drawn fan parodies of Slam Dunk, Rose of Versailles, and Legend of Galactic Heroes.
Fumi Yoshinaga (よしなが ふみ Yoshinaga Fumi, born 1971) is a Japanese manga artist known for her shōjo and shōnen-ai works.
Fumi Yoshinaga was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1971. She attended the prestigious Keio University in Tokyo.
In an interview, she said that "I want to show the people who didn't win, whose dreams didn't come true. It is not possible for everybody to get first prize. I want my readers to understand the happiness that people can get from trying hard, going through the process, and getting frustrated."
Little is known about her personal life. She mentions that her favourite operas are those by Mozart in the author's note of Solfege.
She debuted in 1994 with The Moon and the Sandals, serialized in Hanaoto magazine, but was previously a participant in comic markets.
Of Yoshinaga's many works, several have been licensed internationally. She was also selected and exhibited as one of the "Twenty Major Manga artist Who Contributed to the World of Shōjo Manga (World War II to Present)" for Professor Masami Toku's exhibition, "Shōjo Manga: Girl Power!" at CSU-Chico.
Outside of her work with Japanese publishers, she also self-publishes original doujinshi on a regular basis, most notably for Antique Bakery. Yoshinaga has also drawn fan parodies of Slam Dunk, Rose of Versailles, and Legend of Galactic Heroes.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 29, 2011
Okay, this is not Flower of Life or Ooku, but I actually think it's stronger than Gerard & Jacques or Solfege. I love the fact that the chapters center around certain characters of the cast and then go on to someone else related. You can follow the emotional developments quite well, and the teacher's relationship with his lover gets explored just as well as the lovestruck student's eventual love.
I guess Ichigenme is like this story, only with better skills - and it's set at university. The sex is not a big part of this story (but very hot when it shows up), it comes into play visually very late in the book - how believable it is that a grown man and his lover of many years never went for the real thing until a school boy gives them some books on the technical side... well.
My favourite character, shamefully underused and the only one who doesn't get a happy end even in the second volume is Rikuko aka Naru-chan, who accepts school-boy Kobayashi for the person he is, but couldn't help wanting to be his lover anyway. The especially bitter part of course being that her brother will end up as the love of Kobayashi's life.
I guess Ichigenme is like this story, only with better skills - and it's set at university. The sex is not a big part of this story (but very hot when it shows up), it comes into play visually very late in the book - how believable it is that a grown man and his lover of many years never went for the real thing until a school boy gives them some books on the technical side... well.
My favourite character, shamefully underused and the only one who doesn't get a happy end even in the second volume is Rikuko aka Naru-chan, who accepts school-boy Kobayashi for the person he is, but couldn't help wanting to be his lover anyway. The especially bitter part of course being that her brother will end up as the love of Kobayashi's life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 15, 2019
In a few words, this volume was... not very good. It contains most tropes common to shonen ai manga, even repeating itself a couple times. While it's better with handling consent than its counterparts (which isn't saying much), that just isn't enough to make this series very memorable.
Every quirk that I've mentioned from Yoshinaga's other works is front and center here, and you can easily tell this is her first series. Yoshinaga's love for cooking and commentary on homophobic policies aren't as polished and smoothly integrated as in her later works. Her art style still stands out, but hasn't developed the originality that sets it apart yet, reminding me of other titles like Gravitation, Volume 01. Again, the plot borrows many tropes from the genre: hanging out after school watching movies leads to romance, ignoring the other parties feelings and their boundaries, younger boy trying to seduce his teacher, the list goes on. Thankfully, Yoshinaga's gotten much better at avoiding these tropes in her later works.
The dialogue is clunky and long-winded, not surprising as it's a) an LGBT+ manga published in the early 2000s, and b) it's Fumi Yoshinaga and she likes to talk about food preparation. Usually this isn't too bad, but for some reason it was incredibly stunted and boring to get through here.
If you're bingeing all of Yoshinaga's works and just need this series to finish it off, go ahead and read it. But if you're just finding Yoshinaga or the genre, go find one of her better titles. Go read Antique Bakery, Vol. 1 or What Did You Eat Yesterday?, Volume 1, two vastly superior series by the same author.
See you in the next review.
Every quirk that I've mentioned from Yoshinaga's other works is front and center here, and you can easily tell this is her first series. Yoshinaga's love for cooking and commentary on homophobic policies aren't as polished and smoothly integrated as in her later works. Her art style still stands out, but hasn't developed the originality that sets it apart yet, reminding me of other titles like Gravitation, Volume 01. Again, the plot borrows many tropes from the genre: hanging out after school watching movies leads to romance, ignoring the other parties feelings and their boundaries, younger boy trying to seduce his teacher, the list goes on. Thankfully, Yoshinaga's gotten much better at avoiding these tropes in her later works.
The dialogue is clunky and long-winded, not surprising as it's a) an LGBT+ manga published in the early 2000s, and b) it's Fumi Yoshinaga and she likes to talk about food preparation. Usually this isn't too bad, but for some reason it was incredibly stunted and boring to get through here.
If you're bingeing all of Yoshinaga's works and just need this series to finish it off, go ahead and read it. But if you're just finding Yoshinaga or the genre, go find one of her better titles. Go read Antique Bakery, Vol. 1 or What Did You Eat Yesterday?, Volume 1, two vastly superior series by the same author.
See you in the next review.
August 25, 2017
3.5 stars, like this mangakas work, enjoyed this series!
August 30, 2019
Reread in 2019
Not bad by any means, but Giant is my least favorite character and I just don’t want to root for him...
Not bad by any means, but Giant is my least favorite character and I just don’t want to root for him...
June 18, 2010
Definitely not my favorite style of art. At all.
I liked the mixed chronology, but sometimes it was hard to follow.
I liked the story (lots of different threads and shadings), but sometimes it wasn't that well executed.
Snow pointed out a particular scene when she handed this over, and I think that's spot-on where these two volumes are strongest. Some of these glimmering moments of emotion, experience, connection...that we can all relate to.
I really, really like the end of volume 1, the scenes when both couples finally commit to each other (physically, for one pair, and more emotionally, for the other). Ida is too precious, overcome as he is with the whole experience. "Oh! No-Don't...!" [Hashizume stops:] "Oh-...Sorry." Hehe. Maybe this is why those other stories have people disregarding early protests. (I was glad to see H. didn't, though.)
I liked the mixed chronology, but sometimes it was hard to follow.
I liked the story (lots of different threads and shadings), but sometimes it wasn't that well executed.
Snow pointed out a particular scene when she handed this over, and I think that's spot-on where these two volumes are strongest. Some of these glimmering moments of emotion, experience, connection...that we can all relate to.
I really, really like the end of volume 1, the scenes when both couples finally commit to each other (physically, for one pair, and more emotionally, for the other). Ida is too precious, overcome as he is with the whole experience. "Oh! No-Don't...!" [Hashizume stops:] "Oh-...Sorry." Hehe. Maybe this is why those other stories have people disregarding early protests. (I was glad to see H. didn't, though.)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 12, 2011
A very lovely series about two couples and the sister of one of the guys. I wasn't too sure about this when I started reading it, but I'm glad I kept reading. The characters felt like real people, and there were some really good emotional moments. The drama, too, wasn't overdone. I can see whythe art may not be everone's thing, but I actually like it.
November 9, 2009
Not as excellent as, say, Antique Bakery, but enjoyable. Comparable to Yoshinaga's "The First Class is..." duology, with art much like that in "Truly Kindly."
For Yoshinaga fans. Not a bad introduction if it's the first one a reader picks up, and they have better stories to come1
For Yoshinaga fans. Not a bad introduction if it's the first one a reader picks up, and they have better stories to come1
July 30, 2007
Not as strong as her later work but good for collectors of Yoshinaga Fumi's stuff.
September 3, 2008
enjoyed the manga, very yaoi
October 4, 2016
Relatively boring with a style from the 1996 that some may not find appealing. At times it wasn't pleasing to the eye. Cute and simple story.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews