by Lorie Lewis Ham
Last month we did our first ever manga reviews here in KRL! We are reviewing mystery manga published by Yen Press and started off reviewing some of their more recent releases. This time we are reviewing the first volumes of some of their older manga—Coffee Moon and Love of Kill.
Coffee Moon Vol 1
Coffee Moon Vol. 1 by Mochito Bota was published by Yen Press in November of 2022. This one doesn’t start out as a mystery. The mystery is in figuring out what is really going on. Pieta lives the same day over and over again—her birthday. A perfect day. During that day everything is normal and uneventful, except that there is a constant black rain. She takes the same route to school, has the same conversations with her mother and her friend Danae, and she is happy with it. However, one day she meets someone new and things start to change!
If you like mysteries that have a supernatural/sci-fi feel to them, then Coffee Moon is for you. I always enjoy a time loop and this one is different from any others I have read or seen. Since I didn’t look up the description before picking it up, at first, I wasn’t sure what was going on, but the story quickly pulled me in. Beyond the interesting story with its twists and turns, this manga series seems to have a deeper message of appreciating what you have and the people in our lives. One of the bad things about repeating even a perfect day over and over, is that Pieta never truly gets to apologize for her mistakes or for hurting the feelings of those she cares about because the next day they don’t remember anything.
I love the cover art, and look forward to reading the next volumes of this story and finding out what is really going on and how Pieta started reliving the same day over and over! Vol 2 came out in March of 2023 and Vol 3 in July or 2023 so head on out and get all 3! Vol 4 will be out in October!
Love of Kill Vol 1
Love of Kill Vol 1 by Fe was published in 2021 and several volumes are now out, with Vol 13 coming out this December. This one again is not a straight-up mystery. Both main characters are hitmen (well one hitman and one hitwoman). They are also referred to as assassins and bounty hunters.
There is the charming, self-confident Ryang-Ha Song and the quiet Chateau Dankworth. He is a master assassin who never fails to eliminate his target, and she is one of the bounty hunters out to get him. There are more than twenty organizations who have taken out bounties on his head. The pair start off fighting each other, he gets the better of her but doesn’t kill her. Ryang seems more set on seducing her, and while she isn’t interested, he begins taking out her targets for her so she finds herself with no choice but to play his games. The mystery here is, why is he doing this?
There is of course a fair bit of violence in Love of Kill, but the best part of this manga is the interaction between the pair. I love Ryang-Ha Song’s wit and charm. It very much feels like an enemies-to-lovers story more than anything else. I look forward to reading the other volumes and finding out what happens, and what is really going on. The cover art on this one is great as well! There appears to be an anime of this one on Crunchyroll, so I will be checking that out for sure!
You can use this link to purchase the book. If you have ad blocker on you may not see the Amazon link. You can also click here to purchase Coffee Moon, and here to purchase Love of Kill.
Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. Also listen to our new mystery podcast where mystery short stories and first chapters are read by actors! They are also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify. A new episode goes up next week.
Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.
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