Gekkou (Light Novel)

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by Baka-Tsuki

Gekkou (月光 "Moonlight") is a light novel written by Natsuki Mamiya and illustrated by Shiromiso.

Gekkou, or "Moonlight", is about the peculiar relationship between a cynical boy and a perfect girl.

Said cynical boy is Nonomiya who spends day in day out in boredom, taking refuge from his dull life in his imagination. One fateful day, he happens upon the notebook of the much-rumored beauty Youko Tsukimori, neglected on the ground. Poking out from it is a scrap of paper with the unexpected title "Murder Recipe". His interest ignited, he immediately stuffs it into his pocket, only to find out the promising recipe contains nothing but scenarios that may or may not lead to deadly accidents, not even worthy of being called a plan.

When he tentatively asks her about it the next day, she hasn't lost anything. But then her father dies. An accident...

Just finished reading this gem on Baka-Tsuki, and immediately looked for a thread here. I can't believe there isn't one, either! At least, not that I could find. So, to bring attention to this wonderful LN, I thought I'd make the thread myself. I don't usually make threads, so I hope I didn't break some convention.

It's a fantastic read. The mystery itself was good, but it was presented in such an interesting way and the characters were so engaging to me that I couldn't help but read the entire thing in one sitting. I wish I could find more books like this more often.

It's one novel and it's completely translated, so it's not a huge time investment. I finished the whole thing in around 3-4 hours. It was definitely worth it. There are apparently some additional short stories as well according to the B-T forum, but they are untranslated for now.

[Xacual]

I think that's probably why there isn't a topic for it because there isn't much to discuss since it's not a continuing series other than like you said those short stories.

I really enjoyed it back when I read it two? months ago.

Spoiler for Story Spoilers:

I still say she killed both her parents.

[Chaos2Frozen]

I was asking Teh_Ping about this the other day I saw it in my Kino store and the illustrations immediately caught my attention... Along with what little words I could make out on the back of the cover like "Perfect Girl", "Witch/demon girl", "Murder Romance"...

But I didn't know it was already translated

[Athena]

It came out as a surprise project, if remember...

[Chaos2Frozen]

Job well done then Considere me surprised.


EDIT: Here's a little something to attract more attention...

[Okashira]

Originally Posted by KiRa08o2

It came out as a surprise project, if remember...

Exactly, for what I remember nothing was told about the novel until the translator and project head were actually done with the thing.

I enjoyed this LN a lot, and is actually one of the first LN that pops into my mind when it comes to advising "what to read" to people that aren't into anime and manga but are more into literature, the way it flows and the chain of events are pretty interesting, and the changing chemistry between the main pair is always there and it's always evolving, so it's pretty interesting on it's own.

I think that this was actually the debut work from the author? One can actually see some clumsiness in writing here and there, but nothing that would make you rage quite the novel (for example, Yoko isn't as 100% perfect as advertised, but oh well).

[Student no.0]

Oh yeah I read this a while back too. Really enjoyed it and currently rereading it bit by bit.

I think the author started a new series, right? I believe I spotted it around japanese amazon before.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by Xacual

I think that's probably why there isn't a topic for it because there isn't much to discuss since it's not a continuing series other than like you said those short stories.

I really enjoyed it back when I read it two? months ago.

Spoiler for Story Spoilers:

I still say she killed both her parents.

Well, I don't think it would hurt to have a thread in case people wanted to post their opinions on it. I just hope some people see the thread and decide to try it out.

Spoiler for Story spoilers:

Honestly, I don't think so. Not because of what he thought at the end, though. I can't really decide if it was a cry for help, but it really depends on how you interpret her, "Not lying when she's serious," scenes [or whatever you'd like to call them]. I think she was telling the truth about not lying. The novel does a good job of making it ambiguous though, which is something I like.

[Okashira]

Originally Posted by OceanBlue

Spoiler for Story spoilers:

Honestly, I don't think so. Not because of what he thought at the end, though. I can't really decide if it was a cry for help, but it really depends on how you interpret her, "Not lying when she's serious," scenes [or whatever you'd like to call them]. I think she was telling the truth about not lying. The novel does a good job of making it ambiguous though, which is something I like.

Spoiler:

I agree that the novel does a good job at keeping the ambiguity of "did it or didn't", but eventually we come to the true realization that most of the "she didn't do it" arguments come from a subjective point of view, and not an objective one (something that Nonomiya himself pointed out within the story).

In the same case, the "cry for help" it's actually a strong argument on her being guilty instead of innocent. Because the "cry of help" that she supposedly felt wasn't heard at all, Yoko came to truly be into Nonomiya's radar because her father died, thus he "couldn't help her" at the point when the "cry for help" was made; in order words she was in that state with no one to confide in and no one to support her, only fueled with total indifference towards her own family.

Additionally, the conversation that she has with Nonomiya with the topic of "why do people commit murder" lampshades what Nonomiya would eventually deduct to be her motive; the novel doesn't go into the detail of "how would she commit the murder"; but rather thanks to Nonomiya it's more of an issue of "if she is suitable for murder or not", Nonomiya's deductions properly proved that Yoko not only was suitable to pull it off, but also she had absolutely no reason for not doing it, thus if you want to believe that the deaths aren't accidental, then she is 100% guilty. That conversation is really meaningful, and it really tells a lot if it is one's second reading.

Personally, to me the moment she asked him to check her dead father's room she pretty much declared herself guilty on the spot. "Storyline" wise that advice makes no common sense at all and "flow" wise it makes no sense from the emotional point of view, as the room of someone who died recently is a very delicate matter and touching subject (which she casually brings up to the table and even delegates to Nonomiya). Her attitude at the time felt more like she was sharing something with Nonomiya rather than asking him for help for finding about her mother; mentally I even felt like that Yoko was kid~like happy at the time telling him something like "look at what I did" as she showed him definite "proofs" of her mother's disappearance.

I'm soo looking forward to another novel with these characters.

[Endscape]

I remember reading this a while back, very interesting stuff, I can recommend it to anyone.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by Okashira

Spoiler:

I agree that the novel does a good job at keeping the ambiguity of "did it or didn't", but eventually we come to the true realization that most of the "she didn't do it" arguments come from a subjective point of view, and not an objective one (something that Nonomiya himself pointed out within the story).

In the same case, the "cry for help" it's actually a strong argument on her being guilty instead of innocent. Because the "cry of help" that she supposedly felt wasn't heard at all, Yoko came to truly be into Nonomiya's radar because her father died, thus he "couldn't help her" at the point when the "cry for help" was made; in order words she was in that state with no one to confide in and no one to support her, only fueled with total indifference towards her own family.

Additionally, the conversation that she has with Nonomiya with the topic of "why do people commit murder" lampshades what Nonomiya would eventually deduct to be her motive; the novel doesn't go into the detail of "how would she commit the murder"; but rather thanks to Nonomiya it's more of an issue of "if she is suitable for murder or not", Nonomiya's deductions properly proved that Yoko not only was suitable to pull it off, but also she had absolutely no reason for not doing it, thus if you want to believe that the deaths aren't accidental, then she is 100% guilty. That conversation is really meaningful, and it really tells a lot if it is one's second reading.

Personally, to me the moment she asked him to check her dead father's room she pretty much declared herself guilty on the spot. "Storyline" wise that advice makes no common sense at all and "flow" wise it makes no sense from the emotional point of view, as the room of someone who died recently is a very delicate matter and touching subject (which she casually brings up to the table and even delegates to Nonomiya). Her attitude at the time felt more like she was sharing something with Nonomiya rather than asking him for help for finding about her mother; mentally I even felt like that Yoko was kid~like happy at the time telling him something like "look at what I did" as she showed him definite "proofs" of her mother's disappearance.

I'm soo looking forward to another novel with these characters.

Spoiler:

I don't know about that. The only reason Konan and Nonomiya made those speculations in the first place was due to their "feeling" of something being off with her personality. The most basic, "she didn't do it," argument is that there's no evidence that points to her and the note itself is the best evidence that the mother killed the father. I think that the scenario in which Youko kills them has way too much speculation with no actual proof.

Even if she is capable of doing it and she has no reason not to do it, that doesn't implicate her. There's no reason to believe that the deaths are accidental, but that doesn't mean that it automatically points to her doing it.

Also, I just re-read that section. Nonomiya is the one to ask to split up the search and to check her dead father's room.

[Marulash]

I just finished reading it. Very interesting! I really like the detective character. Sounds like a great person to hang out with haha. Is this a 1-volume thing, or are there going to be more?

[Valky]

1 Volume I believe.

[Chaos2Frozen]

I'm almost certain it's a oneshot story... For now at least.

I finally got around to reading it over the week and I have to say that's one of the most intriguing 'love story' I've encountered, sort of like a villain pairing with both characters having slightly questionable moral values that they fit each other perfectly I don't have anything against morally conscious characters, but this is certainly a interesting take on boy-meets-potentially-murderous-girl.

Evil couples ftw

[OceanBlue]

The characters really are interesting. They really made the story exceptional for me. If it weren't for them I probably wouldn't have thought so highly of the book. I'm really glad they added Usami, because it added that contrast that really emphasized how different they were.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by OceanBlue

The characters really are interesting. They really made the story exceptional for me. If it weren't for them I probably wouldn't have thought so highly of the book. I'm really glad they added Usami, because it added that contrast that really emphasized how different they were.

The perfect girl with a dark secret is nothing new, but I like how the guy is also of questionable moral standing

In another series, they would have made a lovely 'Evil' couple

[DragoZERO]

I started this the other night. It's awesome. I'm a quarter way finished. The characters are really great and the story flows smoothly. This would make a perfect OVA too.

Be back when I finish.

[DragoZERO]

Finished! Boy that was good. Reminded me of Nisemonogatari, a lot.

Spoiler for Novel:

I don't think she killed her parents. I think she was just unlucky. I got a kick out of her leaving the recipe for him since I wondered why would you bring something like that to school. I feel bad for Usami, I really don't like when there is an extra girl like that who loses out. I wish we had a bit of an epilogue to see how they turned out, whether or not they would still "battle" each other x number of years later.

All in all, it was good.

[yuzen003]

According to the Baka-Tsuki forums Hen Ai Psychedelic is set in the same world with the same cast and there is also at least 1 short story so the world setting does continue.

[taichi-kun]

I read somewhere that Nonomiya and Tsukimori appeared in Hen ai Vol. 2

But There aren't translations... and Hen ai is ongoing