Manga Review - 'Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon, Vol. 1' by Shio Usui

'Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon' is the first in the sample of contemporary yuri manga titles I've decided to read, and it is absolutely beautiful and wholesome. Especially considering that the main characters are adults. Ordinary, working class adults.

One of the women, Uno Hinako, has been trying hard to fit into society's traditional feminine woman role her whole life. It's the reason for why she's working for a fashion and make-up magazine, and for why she cares so much about her appearance. She is expected to fall in love, get married and have kids already.

But it's not happening. She's never fallen in love with any man, and so she thinks she's wrong and broken. Defective in some way. That she's not normal. That's what limited, boxed gender roles and conservatism straight out of the fifties does to you.

Uno is depressed - society's expectations of her have forced her into her own worst enemy, have made her hate herself and not systematic prejudice at large. She is unmotivated, insecure, has low self-esteem, and is terrified of being alone (keeping up appearances means clinging to work friends she doesn't really like).

But she finds she is happy when she gets to know and hang out with Asahi Sato, a cool and sombre woman who also works at her fashion company. Asahi is also unmarried, and five years older than Uno, and she doesn't seem to care what other people think of her. Uno is in awe of this serious and hardworking social outcast.

They bond over lunches; lunches that include food in bento boxes. But specifically, they bond over doughnuts. Cat-decorated doughnuts with holes in the middle. It is the sweet food, with or without holes in them, eaten under any stage of the moon, that makes these women feel whole and happy. They need to be careful about their money, but their concern for each other makes them buy food for one another. Uno even starts visiting Asahi's home, and cooking, with Asahi's younger sister eagerly eyeing them.

More than the doughnuts, Uno and Asahi make each other whole.

Bottom line, 'Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon' is a career woman's yuri manga that's so sweet and touching and enlightening that it almost aches. I'll be honest, I wanted to pick it up mostly because of the title - sweet foods from a bakery and crescent moons are among my favourite things in the universe! And cats!

With the LBGTQ content or not, Uno's depression, her fear of disappointing her conservative family and friends, and of being alone in an unforgiving and outdated culture full of stigma - it is harrowing and relatable. Asahi, too, is three-dimensional (it's implied that her parents are deceased and she has to support herself and her sister all on her own) and kind of adorable. Workplace sexual harassment is another issue that's touched upon in a serious light.

But there is hope on the horizon, however, that's like milky way starlight and sugar, mixing into the night sky like cookie dough. In a doughnut-shaped galaxy, where pretty crescent moons are common sights when stargazing. The couple don't kiss yet in the first volume, but it'll get there.

Here is a new manga (2020!) that I strongly recommended to anyone. Start the progress, and keep the conversation going.

Final Score: 5/5