All good things must come to an end. That’s the sad truth that each of the girls face. Aya is trying to get everyone to buckle down and prepare for their college exams, but even she can’t escape having mixed feelings about their final year in high school.
…But hey, they still might as well enjoy their last summer and school festival!
The first half of Kiniro Mosaic volume 10 is mostly about college dreams, becoming independent, and the like. Sisters-in-ponytails Alice and Aya consider changing their hair to appear more mature. Honoka comes up with an odd plan to remain connected to Karen. And Karen and Alice are torn between their homeland and their new lives in Japan. While it takes some courage and comes with a lot of sadness, Alice and Karen make a decision about where they’re going to spend the next phase of their life. So even as Kiniro Mosaic keeps up with the quips, it’s all against a backdrop of melancholy since the fun is going to end for the girls and for readers.
That’s not to say the manga doesn’t try to get in some laughs. But the humor in the lighter chapters, however, were…subpar:
- Aya worries that Isami has a boyfriend.
- Aya thinks Alice is lovesick.
- Kana and Youko’s trip to an anime tie-in restaurant.
…just a lot of forgettable episodes that seem to focus on the obsessive sides of the characters. The opening color chapter with even Aya getting sucked into the summer fun was a better example of their personalities and relatable situations (fun vs studying).
The pace doesn’t pick up until the classes choose their festival events. Shino recruits Alice to star in a play. Class B, courtesy of Honoka, decide to have a café — a Karen café.
I approve.
Meanwhile, of course Shino’s version on the Princess Kaguya fairy tale involves some of her own personal preferences — I mean, creativity. The bonus chapter was also a delight as the girls put together a time capsule and end up revealing their letters anyway. Plus, a certain teacher finds her own old letter in a time capsule. Funniest moment in the manga for me and a great way to end the volume.
This isn’t the first time where Kiniro Mosaic has had a much better second half versus the first half. And while I am partial to the silly comedy, the struggles over college and the future do help add realism in story featuring blond-obsessed schoolgirls. So those of you more interested in the slice-of-life (with a dash of yuri), you’ll probably have a better enjoyment overall of volume 10.