All good things must come to an end, and that is what Yui Hara’s Kiniro Mosaic does with its eleventh, and final, volume. The girls’ time as students is nearing the end, which means lots of studying for entrance exams – and a graduation trip afterwards. Out of all the places they can travel to, there is only one that really fits.
Front cover of the eleventh and final volume of Kiniro Mosaic, featuring Aya Komichi, Yoko Inokuma, Shinobu Oomiya, Karen Kujou and Alice Cartelet
It’s the final stretch as Aya, Youko, and Karen study frantically for college entrance exams, with Alice and Shinobu cheering them on. The it’s finally time for their graduation trip, and there’s a single destination on their map – England! Join your favourite fun-loving group of girls one last time as they make memories abroad!
It’s been a fun journey, and here we are at the end of Kiniro Mosaic. It still stands firmly at the top as my favourite slice of life series, and this final volume only strengthens my thoughts on that. All the characters are great, and the humour is exactly to my tastes.
There’s a lot of frantic studying to begin this particular volume, yet the series still manages to maintain its charm throughout. Then, we get something I have wanted to see for a long time in this series: the girls travelling to England. That’s definitely a great way to cap off the final volume, and I’m glad we actually get to see the England trip, too.
There’s also some small fun moments, such as Aya actually being honest with Yoko, and absolutely nobody batting an eye when Aya talks about a dream where Alice and Shino get married in England. It would’ve been amazing to see that dream in particular become reality, but alas, graduation is where this particular story ends for the girls.
Whilst I have a lot of praise for this series, there is one thing that I do somewhat take issue with, and that would be the translation. It’s not bad at all, but this is where I get particularly nitpicky about it. There’s too much American English in there. A silly criticism perhaps, but to a Brit like myself, college is not further education – that’s university. So to have Alice call it college… yeah, that doesn’t sit right with me.
There’s also an instance where Alice calls a mobile phone a “cell phone” – again, not a very English thing. They do go out of their way to differentiate between “Mum” and “Mom”, though. To do that in only one case and not any other feels inconsistent to me. It kind of shows that the translator only has a basic grasp of British English. Their work on other titles such as Cocoon Entwined and Harukana Receive has been great though, but it seems there’s a bit of stumbling block here. It’s something that perhaps only Brits would really pick up on. Well, at least this Brit did.
Another minor nitpicky thing: Big Ben is specifically the name of the bell, not the tower it resides in. That one is a common misconception, though, I suppose. Still, I’d think that Alice would actually be aware of that… That has got me curious about what she said in the original Japanese.
These are all relatively minor nitpicks in the grand scheme of things, though. I definitely hold far more positive feelings towards this manga.
I absolutely adore Kiniro Mosaic, and it is a little sad to see it come to an end. It was a joy to read from start to finish, and I personally feel that no other slice of life series has come quite so close to topping this one for me. There are plenty of fantastic slice of life series out there, but British characters give Kiniro Mosaic the edge – for me, at least.
Rory Muses 