Fly Me to the Moon Volume 1 Review – Marriage Made Simple

Many people spend years searching for someone to spend their lives with. It can be incredibly difficult to cultivate a healthy relationship that is ready for marriage, leading to years of struggles and heartbreak before most find their special someone. What if, however, getting married was as easy as simply saying, “yes?”

In Fly Me to the Moon, protagonist Nasa Yuzaki learns that for some, that’s all it takes. After spending his whole life working to become one of the strongest minds in the world, Nasa has a chance encounter with Tsukasa Tsukuyomi, a girl so cute that he immediately becomes obsessed. After Tsukasa saves him from a potentially fatal car accident, Nasa asks her out without even thinking. Tsukasa accepts, but with the condition that the two skip dating altogether and get married.

It isn’t often that we get a look into a couples’ married life in anime or manga. Most romantic comedy series are infinite “will-they-won’t-they” stories, with everything ending when the couple actually gets together. Fly Me to the Moon skips all that nonsense, getting readers right into Nasa and Tsukasa’s marriage.

Of course, when the couple gets married, they’re still basically strangers. This means we get a ton of the typical awkward comedy that comes in these types of stories, but with a twist. The fact that both Nasa and Tsukasa actually want to be married to one another leads to loads of wholesome moments.

Mangaka Kenjiro Hata flexes his comedic writing skills in Fly Me to the Moon, making me laugh out loud more times than I can count in just the first volume. Hata also illustrates the series and has clearly improved from his earlier work on Hayate the Combat Butler.

Fly Me to the Moon still carries the same style that Hayate had, but with a more updated, modern look, leading to some stunning panels and character designs. Tsukasa, in particular, is major waifu material, being one of the cuter girls I’ve seen in a recent manga.

One of the only places that Fly Me to the Moon falters is in its core mystery. Early on, it is revealed that something is off about Tsukasa; she miraculously saves Nasa, disappears from his life for years only to reappear out of nowhere, and, obviously, she randomly proposes to Nasa out of nowhere. Hata seems to be setting up some connection with Tsukasa and the Japanese myth of Princess Kaguya, but nothing is ever explained in the first volume.

While the lack of any answers about Tsukasa’s true identity is clearly intentional, it would have been nice to get some sort of tease to draw readers into the next volume. Though we aren’t given anything close to an explanation in the first eight chapters, you can bet I’ll be tuning back in the next volume (or perhaps the series’ anime adaptation that premiers soon) to try and get some answers.

Fly Me to the Moon has the potential to become one of my favorite romantic comedy series. Its first volume boasts quality art, likable characters, laugh out loud comedy and presents a mystery that has me eager for answers. With Hata having a strong track record with Hayate, I do not doubt that Fly Me to the Moon will turn into an absolute classic.