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Gekkou
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Rating(4.6 / 5.0, 392 votes)
5    74% (291 votes)
4    16% (61 votes)
3    8% (31 votes)
2    1% (4 votes)
1    1% (5 votes)
Language
Support Book (#ad)
Author(s)
One entry per line
Artist(s)
One entry per line
Year
Example: 2012
2010
Status in COO
Status in Country of Origin. One entry per line
1 Volume (Complete)
2 Side Stories (Complete)
Licensed
No
Completely Translated
Original Publisher
One entry per line
English Publisher
One entry per line
N/A
Release Frequency
Every 337.9 Day(s)
Activity Stats
[Graph]
Weekly Rank: #2000
Monthly Rank: #2000
All Time Rank: #4797
Reading List
[Graph]
On 3432 Reading Lists
Monthly Rank: #31570
All Time Rank: #2675

Description

Links are NOT allowed. Format your description nicely so people can easily read them. Please use proper spacing and paragraphs.

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 “mu*der 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…

Associated Names
One entry per line
Moonlight
月光
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria (3)
Ordinary I and Extraordinary Them (2)
Jaku-chara Tomozaki-kun (2)
(Um, Sorry) I’ve Been Reincarnated! (1)
Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (WN) (1)
Ghost Hunt (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Decent Novels
  2. stuff i liked a lot
  3. Fallacies of Interesting Books (tbr forever)
  4. everything ive read (part 1)
  5. my reads

Latest Release

Date Group Release
01/16/16 Baka-Tsuki short story 2
10/14/12 Baka-Tsuki short story 1
06/12/11 Baka-Tsuki v1 afterword
06/12/11 Baka-Tsuki v1c11
06/12/11 Baka-Tsuki v1c10
06/12/11 Baka-Tsuki v1c9
06/12/11 Baka-Tsuki v1c8
06/12/11 Baka-Tsuki v1c7
06/12/11 Baka-Tsuki v1c6
06/12/11 Baka-Tsuki v1c5
06/12/11 Baka-Tsuki v1c4
06/12/11 Baka-Tsuki v1c3
06/12/11 Baka-Tsuki v1c2
06/12/11 Baka-Tsuki v1c1
06/12/11 Baka-Tsuki v1 illustrations
Write a Review
27 Reviews sorted by


Katsono rated it
September 2, 2016
Status: --
Be aware that if we were only talking about literature, without taking into consideration how the prose is intentionally light and the whole light novel culture, I am unsure of what grade I would give this book. But nonetheless, my enjoyment of it was true no matter what I treat this work as.

Be it out of boredom or some slight interest accompanied by hope, I've been reading many Japanese light novels throughout the years. Having grown up with literature classics, I did mind the simplistic writings of these and how... more>> crude they could often be. I've only been seldom pleased by light novels, and there are only four cases I can quote, two of which should perhaps not count. The first such novel I ever enjoyed was No.6, but as far as I know it is not counted as a light novel and the only reason I would mention it is because it is related to mangas and annexed on mangaupdates. The second one is Rakuin no Monshou but I only thought it succeeded at what the others failed and not at light literature. The third would be many Chinese and a few Korean novels for they have great story telling and such, but I like to think of them as another type of literature, and not really different from classics such as Xi Youji (A Journey to the West). But then, the morning of the day I am writing this review, I wished to check novelupdates for opinions of others on a certain Korean novel with moonlight in its title, and through my search of this single world I got to know Gekkou. And here ends my trip through Japanese light novels, for I have finally found a precious ore among mud.

I do happen to read even books simply because of their covers, and in this case it had both a nicely drawn and attractive cover along a really intriguing title, Gekkou meaning Moonglight. I had to check it and I did so eyes closed, without even reading its synopsis lest I would spoil myself my new discovery. I was not disappointed.

Gekkou is satisfying from the get go. Who among light novel mongers hasn't seen that stereotypical beginning with an ordinary school day, a protagonist complaining about his boring life, his friends and such, yet why does this novel make it different ? Simply because it's well written, and this is why I proclaim it as true light literature ! It's not just the rant of a lambda bored highschooler, it's about a being put into more words than that, it's about a life that's not limited by the word boring, and dialogues which aren't one sided from the author.

Narrated through the protagonist's cynical point of view, Mamiya Natsuki tells us a mystery story I found extremely great and refreshing, bringing originality even among western polars for I have never seen a similar story. The novel is the length of a typical book, being only a volume long, and while I do feel saddened at how there's neither any continuation or other work from the author, it certainly was the perfect length to conclude such a story, making it way greater than novels lasting tenth of times longer.

The words used are not complicated, the descriptions don't take much place, yet they are here when needed and they do manage to embellish the novel without making it any harder to read. The main character's thoughts are easy to follow and to relate to, but at the same time they are his own and can be doubted or disagreed with. Being a mystery novel, it of course manages to keep the reader intrigued about the events and ends things in a more than satisfying way. And what it does even better than mystery is its romance between the two main characters. For I who never liked that genre in books, this is certainly a first. The opposition between the main character and the heroine brings at the same time a special relation between them, but the enmity and doubt present all along makes it really interesting and the outcome hardly known without reading through the whole thing. Their interactions really couldn't be any better.

I'm truly glad to have found Gekkou, and I enjoyed it very much, maybe more than I should have. Be it the characters or the story, I liked them all and it had a great impact on me. Still, if it leaves the bitterness of finishing a good work, there's none of the unsatisfaction of a bad ending, or a not so good work. Still, it's unpleasant to know that, when eight out of ten people got a prize, this author didn't, although fortunately he was published, and that we haven't yet seen anything else from him apart from a Persona 4 fanwork.

Like another reviewer had said, Gekkou should be the first title to come when recommending light novels. And I don't believe so only because it's the most fitting but by far the best I've read and a memorable one. <<less
37 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
ninish
ninish rated it
February 17, 2016
Status: --
This novel... is different. in an excelent type of way xD

awesome read. it's short, and is warranteed to surprise you.
16 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Sumire
Sumire rated it
October 6, 2016
Status: Completed
Amazing novel, 10/10 on everything.

Not some mediocre characters, but someone that actually think and act like somewhat a normal human. Original plot with clever wording that exploits ours emotions. Humor was also blend in perfectly along side with romance and plot development.
14 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
YellowFlash103
YellowFlash103 rated it
May 30, 2019
Status: Completed
I really like parts of it, but I read it hoping for good romance was was extremely letdown, fair warning to all!
12 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Garknight
Garknight rated it
December 27, 2015
Status: --
If you love Mystery Novels then you're going to love this. Gekkou is a mystery-thriller novel where we follow the protagonist thoughts, perspective, and plans. The flow of the story is smooth giving it more of a tension atmosphere as you engrossed yourself with the plot. And as the plot thickens more mystery is being laid out. I can say for sure that it didn't waste my time.
9 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
OrderedChaos
OrderedChaos rated it
June 9, 2017
Status: --
Found this a while ago on baka-tsuki (the good old times when I spammed the site for sao) when I couldn't find anything to read so I visited the old sidebar with all the translated novels A-Z. I went through it and found Gekkou.

I really don't need to say much about it other than the fact that I read this about 5 times due the fact that it was so well written (at my age at the time) and the fact that when I finished and looked for more things... more>> to read, not many came close when compared to Gekkou and I ended up rereading it, until I eventually discovered things aside from the JP ln scene. All in all, a diamond in the rough. <<less
5 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
MarkMyWords
MarkMyWords rated it
October 25, 2020
Status: Completed
I don't really know how to describe this novel, but right now, I'll describe it as amazing.

Everyone maintains their personalities throughout the course of the story, the mystery aspect is decent, the comedy is fine (I didn't laugh though), and the romance isn't anything special but nonetheless enjoyable. The FL is kind of overpowered though, giving the "all part of my master plan" feeling.

The words were imbued with emotion, making me feel sad, mad, or happy at times. Although, most of the time I was just annoyed at the ML.

In... more>> all honesty, this left me wanting more material to read. The story (not plotwise) was just utterly staggering. <<less
4 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
misa3012
misa3012 rated it
May 16, 2018
Status: --
I like it. It is my favourite novel of all time. It is fun, a bit mystery, a bit adventure, a bit teenager, a bit comedy, and generally easy to read and short. It feels very much like the detective games we played when we were in elementary schools, every time something interesting happened such as the mood changes of the teacher, the hole in someone's clothes, etc. Very predictable, but I think based on the way the author phrases it, it seems that s/he deliberately does it this way.... more>> 5 stars, mostly because of the nostalgia. <<less
4 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Gekkoureader
Gekkoureader
June 15, 2019
Status: Completed
I signed up to this website just to express my joy at how great this short story is. While it definitely ended, I am not at all left unsatisfied with its ending. Great story, interaction, plot, and characters. Romance too. Overall this just gets a 5 star rating from me. A definite recommendation for romance readers as the mystery helps immerse you in the story! It's also simple to read, and the relatibility is there. Quality short story. I would never ask for more.
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
EvilGenesis666
EvilGenesis666 rated it
October 30, 2017
Status: Completed
As a very short novel, it did it's job pretty good. U shouldn't expect the characters to be extremely developed neither can you expect much of their backstories shown as the novel is short, but the mystery aspect of it was amazing as well as the interaction between the characters, especially between the male and female lead, it also depicted the characters as realistically as possible. Unfortunately, I can't rate it 5 stars, since I'm not a very big fan of mystery novels but it's a nice refreshment after all... more>> those mindless deus ex machinas from fantasy novels. <<less
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
clowred
clowred rated it
March 8, 2017
Status: Completed
A short and very surprising novel. It dealt surprisingly well with both the childhood friend which in almost all novels becomes the shackles that blocks the progress of the plot and at the same it managed to bring the love interest in a way that made it impossible to discern what was hidden behind the unusual confession. Perfection brought to the absolute and imperfection brought down to the elemental sins. Sloth and Divinity. But then again, this novel tried from the beginning to put some question marks in both Nonomiya... more>> and Tsukimori's personalities. These questions marks grew bigger and bigger as misfortune seemed to get closer to Tuskimori's family. Only the ending made it possible to catch a glimpse of the true nature of Nonomiya and Tsukimori, and only because the last photo.

A novel that managed to bring something closer to the ideal while dealing with imperfection and false appearance. If you want something short and enjoyable, read it. <<less
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Le-Ether
Le-Ether rated it
May 31, 2022
Status: Completed
Ngl I wasn't attach to any characters but this does give me a good insight of the story. It was a short story consisting of 7 chapters and everything played out well, we have the typical jp MC eith a cynical personality who finds life boring, a perfectly mysterious girl that has your regular main heroine aura, the childhood friend type which is mostly ignored, the senpai and interesting side character. Overall this novel is great at mystery but also lacking in character in depth probably because it's short
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
I_UwU_I
I_UwU_I rated it
September 14, 2019
Status: --
I can see that the author really put his/her thoughts on his/her craft. I could say that the this novel is perfect for me. The only thing I would complain is it is very short, it is very short to the fact that I finished this novel within 2 hours. And after reading this short novel it gives you a hangover that makes you feel empty after because you keep wanting for more. Good job author I am really looking forward to the time that your works gets animated.
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Jadin
Jadin rated it
January 22, 2019
Status: Completed
I enjoyed this a lot. I usually don't enjoy shorter stories but it was just really good. Although in the end some questions were not answered, I like it better that way.
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
caffeine_and_salt
caffeine_and_salt rated it
September 15, 2017
Status: Completed
This one is good. I really enjoyed it. It's not flawless of course. I have few problems with it:

    1. Some predictable stuff like...
      Spoiler

      i knew from the start that this mu*der recipe is a trap of some sort (it happened to be Youko's way to get closer to MC). There's no way reader wouldn't think about it. So from this scene I wasn't thinking what this recipe is about and all of this crap, but why she decided to show it to him.

      [collapse]
    2. Inconsistancy (for the lack of better word) in... MC smartness/s*upidity
      Spoiler

      the scene when the next day he was like "hey, looking for something?" - oh, so much cringe just for itself... And by the end "but when did you realized that I have this mu*der recipe?" - ooohhh, the cringiest cringe. You f**ing told her yourself, you idiot, so even if she really happened to lose this recipe by some misfortune, you just told her "hey, i've found something that belongs to you"

      [collapse]
    3. Spoiler

      Kind of overpowered main female character. She is like some female Moriarty or whatever. Hahaha, it was planned all along! - kinda like that, but without "hahaha, it was planned all along" actual line

      [collapse]
      Had to hide it under the spoiler, cause that's what it is even if you try to express it in vague words or maneer.
Now, besides that, everything is really enjoyable. I had fun reading.

4 stars, one cup of coffee and a couple of cringes. Quite good!
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
AlexanderVonAlexandria rated it
October 26, 2023
Status: short story 2
If you are looking for a romance, this novel is not for you; however, I must say that this is one of the most compelling mystery novels you will ever lead and I encourage everyone (even if you are not interested in mystery) to read it.

The story surrounds our two main characters where a series of peculiar events occur to our FMC and the MC is dragged into them (once he discovered the m*rder recipe)

I can't say much without spoiling the story, but the best analogy that I could... more>> give is how they filmed the scene when Detective Kimball was interrogating Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, by doing it 3 different times, one where he knows batemann is the mu*derer, one where he does not, and one where it is ambiguous.

The story keeps a level of ambiguity as to what the truth is, and keeps on feeding you little hints here and there that could completely change your conclusions.

BIG TIME SPOILER!!!

Spoiler

Personally, I think she did everything from the mu*ders, to dropping here notebook and leaving the m*rder recipe in there on purpose

[collapse]
<<less
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Reindeer
Reindeer rated it
May 21, 2022
Status: Completed
For what it's worth, I think it was quite decent. As a mystery novel, the most interesting parts of the novel are definitely the earlier parts that gets your mind going. I do think that honestly it falls off quite a bit when it tries to make revelations, and in particular the last two confrontations was a little too dramatic to take seriously. There were also times where the characters' reasoning weren't really that believable, like for example ... more>>
Spoiler

when the female lead apparently staged a fake call by using an alarm instead. This was something way too easy to confirm if the detective really suspected it, I mean just check the call logs from the caller side to see if it matches.

[collapse]

The concepts in the novel itself were really quite interesting, I think that's something at least worth checking out. The characters are a bit too unrealistic, it would be hard to believe that such a collection of bizarre characters would coincidentally be associated with each other. If there were just one normal person in the most important trio of the novel, the story could've gone way differently. The way they talked to each was also just really unrealistic. It was a little too theatrical for my taste, especially since it's a novel that's supposed to convince you of the supposed mystery that is happening. That may seem like a useless nitpick, I don't blame you if you think it is, but I just want novels to be more believable (which is not the same as being realistic).

Some rant I have, read with caution it you haven't read the novel yet, it will probably ruin your experience:

Spoiler

I can't believe the MC never thought of recording audio as evidence for whatever stage play level conversations that they had. Definitely could've gone way differently. Also, for someone who is stubbornly prideful about not wanting people to manipulate him, the MC sure doesn't mind getting beaten up and pointed at by a gun. The author tries to portray him as someone smart and thoughtful, but he has no sense of danger for when the plot wants him to fall for it. Someone wants to meet him under a noisy bridge, and yet he has no precautionary measures? Like maybe inform someone else of who he's meeting or, like I mentioned earlier, record it in audio? Just honestly pretty bullshit, this scene really ruined the novel for me. I still think it's quite interesting, the idea of killing someone by relying on luck where it would be impossible to prove that they would be the killer.

[collapse]

All in all, not a bad novel, you can check it out to see if it suits your tastes better. For me personally, I didn't like it enough to the point where I would bother reading the side stories. <<less
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Just_F
Just_F rated it
December 30, 2021
Status: --
Beautiful! I couldn't think of any word to describe this novel. The emotion it gave me as I read it is very thrilling. It is as if it was a simple mystery novel but to think that I was sent in to a rollercoaster ride the moment I read the first page of this book. I couldn't fully put words of my feelings but this is indeed a wonderful story. A wonderful story more than enough to give me goosebumps, the excitement I long lost and of course the thrill... more>> when I myself made assumptions of what possibly happened just to be crushed by a sudden twist and revelation. Therefore, I'll say this again, Beautiful truly is beautiful! <<less
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VillageMoron
VillageMoron rated it
October 17, 2021
Status: Completed
A masterpiece of peculiarity. It's short and the ending is not as conclusive as some may like, but it manages to be satisfying. I love the wine and orange juice metaphors, so applicable to real life.
0 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
v.o.i.d
v.o.i.d rated it
June 20, 2021
Status: Completed
This story is kind of 4.3/5.

It isn't possible to write mysteries that readers can never guess unless author intentionally hides key point which is just bad writing or a plot not meant to be guessed which isn't intriguing for readers to begin with. Keeping that in mind, this novel gives you most of the required information to make conjectures early on. Then, it does a great job of making you doubt your guesses repeatedly. You feel like you understand it now, but the plot's direction keeps you speculating and denying... more>> your own hypothesis, which comes off as solid writing to me.

Plot is relatively good and causes your body to release the right hormones at the right times. So 4.5/5

Characters are good, not great. 4/5

All lead characters (ML, FL, Konan) of this novel are characterized to be 'unique' because they are bored with life, and their only avenue of entertainment is to f*ck with people around them. This recycling of nature on 3 out of 4~5 characters of the novel is kind of meh.

FL is supposedly perfect and blah blah, quite the cliché (don't care, don't mind), but her mental state is in a deplorable condition if one looked from the other angle.

Spoiler

She was raised by some non-ideal parents, which led her to become estranged from them over the years and lack some common sense when growing up.

She knows how to please everyone, and she knows what to respond to and when to respond. She isn't mean or intentionally malicious to people that are being spiteful to her. Still, she is indifferent towards familial relationships and is very proactive in mu*dering her own mother. The latter cherished her daughter (at least much more than her husband).

[collapse]

ML is a prideful person with an attitude that doesn't necessarily put women on a pedestal. Usual Japanese 'high-school' literature seems to portray males to be lowly creatures that should take anything coming from a beautiful girl to be a godsend, and be grateful about it. ML here is just the opposite and is pretty much needlessly rude plenty of the time to show off his differences to the above-mentioned norm.

Spoiler

His actions seem like he's being protective of his ideology and is prideful, but if you peer closely, he is just impolite, which is happily accepted by FL, blame for her masochistic tendencies.

He is mostly a narcissist that considers himself to be unique and sub-consciously maintains that image by continuously self-deluding himself that he is mentally superior to his adversaries.

[collapse]

All this is not to say that characters are bad; it's to say that they have their own pros/cons, which makes it all the more interesting to read (even if their development is disagreeable morally).

Ending 4/5

Spoiler

Like I said previously, FL is seriously mentally ill. Still, her omniscience and pro-active romantic advances are a fatal attraction to ML towards the end. Allowing him to effectively gloss over the fact that she had no issue killing two individuals she had been living with for ages for a reason: 'I felt like it'. Just because she was beautiful and was romantically interested in him, he denied his caution and detested for killers that he had in the beginning.

This was a bit of pooper for me as I don't like patronizing criminals, beautiful or not. But that's just me; I guess since a romance ending with FL going to jail/dead is just not going to work.

[collapse]

Anyway, it was a queer and enjoyable ending if you removed ethics and morals from the equation.

There's a lot more depth in the novel, and worth a read, but since it uses gimmicks like: all characters are bored and seek interesting things in life, psychologically immature reasons for plot progression, it couldn't match up to the greatness of novels like Lord of the Mysteries. LotM builds up the mystery, thrill over world setting and multiple ideas instead of singular ideologies like in this novel. I understand this is a short novel and shouldn't expect everything, hence: 4.3/5.

All these odd characters and their interactions build up to few hours of reading with sufficient intrigue and thrill. <<less
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