Crescent Moon Marching

Mizuki is spending the summer with her aunt when she stumbles across the high school’s marching band. When she stumbles into the marching band, she also encounters Akira, who is one of the trumpet players, and brings her to meet the rest of the marching band. While she’s never played a musical instrument or marched in time with a group, she decides to transfer to the high school so she can join the marching band.


What I Liked: There are various moments in which Mizuki stumbles with her feet and causes more problems. These moments add humor to the story while you feel bad for her and hope that she is able to recover from these stumbles. It’s fascinating to see Mizuki grow from the start of the book to the end, and also to see her dad’s perspective of Mizuki and to see how that isn’t who she is anymore.


The relationships that Mizuki has throughout the book are full of support and heart. There are other relationships that you see with Mizuki and other band members, in which you see them being tough on her or doubting her, but you get the chance to see how these words only propel Mizuki to find solutions to what they are declaring problems.


While Crescent Moon Marching, Vol. 1 is a riveting story that captures your heart and attention from page 1, there is one frustrating piece, and that is that the story leaves you on a cliffhanger. As soon as you finish reading this story, you want to read more and find out if Mizuki is going to be able to fit into the marching band.


Final Verdict: Crescent Moon Marching Volume 1 is an inspiring slice-of-life manga that highlights friendship and how team activities can encourage someone to come out of their shell. This book is perfect for children ages 9 and up who enjoy books about music, marching band, friendship, and slice-of-life manga.