Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon

by Shio Usui

Genres: Manga, Romance
Pages: 164
Series: Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon #4
Rating:

Synopsis:

Asahi has never been big on romantic love—her top priority has always been family. But now that Hinako is in her life, her feelings about romance seem to be changing. Asahi still doesn’t know exactly what that means, but one thing is for sure: her feelings for Hinako are growing more intense by the day. Are Asahi and Hinako destined for more than friendship? Find out in the final volume of Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon!

Wow, there’s a lot to love about the final volume of Shio Usui’s Doughnuts Under A Crescent Moon. I was sure it’d take longer to get here, since it’s been a pretty slow burn so far, and it seems like neither Asahi nor Hinako were very comfortable with their feelings.

I really loved the scenes with Hinako’s mother, adding a bit of depth to that relationship; I feel like a bit more time was needed on that, because she was introduced in person so suddenly, and it didn’t feel like she matched up with the version of her we’ve been seeing overshadowing Hinako. In a way, that’s how people are, though — the shadows something casts don’t always look exactly like the thing that cast them. The scenes were really sweet and necessary.

And I loved the fact that both Asahi and Hinako seem to be explicitly romantically interested in each other, but asexual. There’s no skirting around their love for each other, but also no skirting around the fact that Hinako’s made it pretty plain she’s not interested in kissing, and doesn’t understand that kind of love.

The whole series came as a bit of a surprise to me, and I’m really glad I gave it a shot.

Rating: 4/5