Graduation is fast approaching, and so that means it’s entrance exam season! Shino and Alice don’t need to take them, but that doesn’t mean they won’t encourage their friends. Because in the end, for those who succeed, there’s a graduation trip to celebrate!
Kiniro Mosaic volume 11 is the series finale, and the author has decided the take the cuteness level up to 11 as well. Everything fans have grown to love about these girls is on full display even though they’ve all matured in some way.
Yes, even Karen. Although Kuzehashi is still very, very worried about her former student.
Anyway, volume 11 wraps up the girls’ final year of high school. The early strips here involve the girls studying or worrying about the examinees, with brief interludes involving the winter holidays. But while most manga go from studying to the tests to the results and then skips ahead to graduation day, Kiniro Mosaic shows some of that in-between time. Granted, this period includes a more significant event than most: a trip to merry ol’ England.
The trip is somewhat bittersweet, as this is just another reminder for the gals their time together is coming to an end. But volume 11 strikes a perfect balance between this melancholy and the girls still being their goofy selves. The 4-koma manga includes a lot of great comedic quips involving lucky charms, nervous international travelers, and their fetishes. Aya forces Youko to have a practice interview and asks questions about herself (Aya). Honoka spends more time thinking and worrying about Karen than her own future. Shino tries to show off her English skills and ends up with the wrong blond girl by her side. Even Karen, Miss Don’t-Worry, gets nervous at the upcoming exams. It’s all just a bundle of fun and cuteness, and the plot doesn’t throw in any unnecessary surprises or twists to try to go out with a bang.
Readers hoping for confirmation of any relationships, though, will be left disappointed. Aya does have a dream of Shino and Alice in wedding dresses, but teasing fans is as far as Kiniro Mosaic goes. We do see a brief glimpse of their post-high school days, but this bonus story more or less just confirms the gang will be friends forever.
Kiniro Mosaic volume 11 is what more final volumes should be: more of what you love, just one last time. Probably the only complaint I have is that a karuta battle is reduced to a single panel, and judging from Aya’s horrified expression, we’ll never know what secret of hers she was forced to reveal! Otherwise, the book deserves 5 gold stars. Or, to put it in Shino and Honoka terms, 5 blonds out of 5.