The girls are looking to the future in volume ten of Kiniro Mosaic, as the end of their last year of high school approaches. That means some serious study time, though not everyone is too keen on that idea.
There is also the small matter of the school festival, too.
Front cover of the tenth volume of Kiniro Mosaic, featuring Karen Kujou and Alice Cartelet
Summer vacation is here, and while the girls just want to have fun, Aya’s determined to get some studying done! College is right around the corner, and the idea of being separated from one another is enough to make anyone anxious about the future. But the good times they’ve shared aren’t done yet – because once summer’s over, the school festival begins, and Karen and Alice will be taking centre stage!
Even after ten volumes, Kiniro Mosaic is still a delight to read. It just hits all the right notes for me, particularly with its humour. Volume 10 does actually have some more serious moments, too, and it is clear that Alice, Shino and the others are putting some serious thought into what comes after graduation.
Plenty of fun stuff in this volume, though, including Alice and Aya visiting a hair salon, Honoka still absolutely loving blonde hair – and by extension, Karen – and the rare sight of Youko and Kana visiting an anime collab café together.
There’s also something a little bittersweet about this volume; perhaps that is because we are approaching the end, and the characters focusing on studying and considering what to do with their futures drives that home. Plenty of fun moments are still squeezed in there, though.
The school festival in this volume has plenty of great stuff going on, too. Alice’s class puts on a play, whilst Karen’s class opt to have a café with a very specific theme – one that might cater to Honoka’s tastes in particular.
Kiniro Mosaic remains my favourite slice of life series, in both anime and manga form. I might be a little biased due to the English characters, but there’s just so much here that I adore.
The humour is exactly to my taste, and all the characters are wonderful. I believe that volume 10 is the penultimate volume of Kiniro Mosaic, and that’s a little sad. Still, a really enjoyable read.
Rory Muses 