Last Quarter (manga) explained

Last Quarter
Ja Kanji:下弦の月
Ja Romaji:Kagen no Tsuki
Type:manga
Author:Ai Yazawa
Publisher:Shueisha
Magazine:Ribon
Imprint:Ribon Mascot Comics
First:April 1998
Last:June 1999
Volumes:3
Type:live film
Music:Kuniaki Haishima
Studio:Shochiku
Licensee:Geneon Entertainment
Runtime:112 minutes

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Ribon from the April 1998 to June 1999 issues. A live action film adaptation was released on October 9, 2004.

Plot

Facing struggles with her father's re-marriage and cheating ex-boyfriend, 17-year-old high school student Mizuki Mochizuki falls in love with Adam, a British musician, one night. Captivated, Mizuki begins avoiding her family and friends to spend time with him in secret at an abandoned mansion. Two weeks into their relationship, Adam tells her that he will be leaving, and Mizuki decides to run away from home to follow him. While crossing the street to him, Mizuki is hit by a car.

At the same time, 5th grade elementary school student Hotaru Shiraishi is also hospitalized from a car accident while looking for her pet cat Lulu and dreams of a girl who helped her look for her. After being discharged from the hospital, Hotaru's search leads her to finding the girl at the abandoned mansion and discovering she is a ghost, with Hotaru being the only one who can see her. The girl has no memories of her past life other than Adam and she is unable to leave the mansion. With the help of her classmates Sae Kayama, Tetsu Sugisaki, and Masaki Miura, Hotaru assists the girl with recovering her memories. The four children nickname the girl "Eve" due to her searching for Adam and they communicate through Hotaru's interpretation and Eve writing in Sae's notebook.

Miura initially identifies Eve as Sayaka Kamijo, but Hotaru states they look nothing alike. Sugisaki and Miura are then able to identify Eve as Mizuki, and the children learn that she is alive but in a coma, leading Hotaru to the conclusion that she will awaken if she is able to meet Adam again. They manage to identify Adam based on a song written by his band, Evil Eye, that Eve plays on the piano, only to learn that Adam had died in 1979, before Mizuki was born. At the same time, Eve begins recovering memories of another person.

The children soon discover that Adam's girlfriend was Sayaka, who died at age 17 from illness, leading them to realize that Sayaka has possessed Eve. Miura concludes that the only way to have Sayaka leave Mizuki is to give her closure by revealing Adam's death. Once Mizuki tells Eve the truth, Eve vanishes and reappears at the street where Mizuki's accident took place, while Mizuki's body takes a turn for the worse. Hotaru chases down Eve and convinces her that she is loved by her family and friends, giving her resolve to live. Once Eve disappears for good, Mizuki wakes up from her coma after Adam leads her out of her dreams.

At the end of the series, Mizuki returns to her normal life with no recollection of what had happened, and the children bury Sae's notebook inside the abandoned mansion. Through a monologue, Adam reveals himself to be a wandering spirit searching for Sayaka after his death, and he had managed to lure her during a moon cycle after she had possessed Mizuki; during their time together, he had also fallen in love with Mizuki. While she ultimately had been unable to follow him due to her willpower to live, Adam states that he will continue to watch over her.

Characters

/
  • (film)
  • Mizuki is a 17-year-old high school student who has recently been struggling with her father's re-marriage and infidelity from her ex-boyfriend. After meeting Adam one night, she is drawn to him in an instant and quickly falls in love with him, spending two weeks with him every night in secret. When she attempts to pursue him as he is leaving, she is hit by a car and falls in a coma, awakening with no recollection of her past other than Adam. After meeting her, Hotaru and her classmates nickname her "Eve" and decide to help her recover her memories. However, they later learn that Sayaka Kamijo's soul has also possessed her, which leads her into confusing Sayaka's memories as her own.
    (film)
  • Hotaru is a 5th grade elementary school student. She meets Eve while in a coma after a car accident taking place around the same time as Mizuki's while looking for her pet cat Lulu. Throughout the series, she befriends Eve and becomes dedicated in helping her recover her memories. Hotaru has feelings for Miura, but she later finds herself in love with Sugisaki.
    Sae is Hotaru's classmate and has been best friends with her since she saved the latter from being bullied in 3rd grade. She is strong-willed but she also comes from a strict family. Throughout the series, she becomes impressed by Miura and develops feelings for him.
  • Sugisaki is Hotaru's classmate who comes from a family of doctors, with his father treating Hotaru at the clinic while she was in a coma. He is on the soccer team and has a cheerful personality. He finds himself falling in love with Hotaru throughout the series.
  • (film)
  • Miura is Sugisaki's best friend and an attractive boy from class 1 who Hotaru initially is infatuated with. His parents are actors and he lives with his father after their divorce. He is level-headed and logical, but he is also noted by Sugisaki to be curt and disregarding of other people's feelings.
    (film)
  • Tomoki is Mizuki's ex-boyfriend who cheated on her with her friend Aya. Tomoki reveals he is still in love with Mizuki and regrets what happened in their relationship.
    (film)
  • Adam is a mysterious man with blond hair and blue eyes who Mizuki meets one night under the full moon. He is from London and is the lead singer of the band Evil Eye. Hotaru and her friends eventually learn that Adam died in 1979, presumably from drug addiction, after being distraught from the death of his girlfriend, Sayaka.
    Sayaka was Adam's girlfriend and pianist, and they met when she was studying abroad in England. She died at age 17 from an illness, and her soul later possesses Mizuki after being drawn to Adam's song.

    Media

    Manga

    Written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa, Last Quarter was serialized in Shueisha's monthly manga magazine Ribon from the April 1998 to the June 1999 issues.[1] Shueisha collected its chapters in three volumes, released from December 7, 1998, to November 15, 1999. It was republished in a two-volume edition on September 17, 2004,[2] and a two-volume edition on March 19, 2013.[3]

    In February 2024, Viz Media in licensed the manga for North American distribution in English, publishing the version of the manga.[4]

    In 2022, Yazawa stated that she had initially moved on from using dip pens and brushes to illustrate manga after the conclusion of Neighborhood Storyin 1996; however, she mentioned that she returned to using those tools for Last Quarter, as she felt that they helped convey the mood of the story better.[5]

    Volumes

    Bunkoban edition

    Film

    A live action film adaptation, written and directed by and distributed by Shochiku, premiered in Japan on October 9, 2004. It stars Chiaki Kuriyama as Mizuki, Hyde as Adam, and Hiroki Narimiya as Tomoki.[6] Additional cast members include Tomoka Kurokawa as Hotaru and Motoki Ochiai as Miura.[7] The film's theme song is "The Cape of Storms" by Hyde.[7] The song was originally released in Hyde's 2002 debut studio album Roentgen.[8] The film grossed at box office.[9] The film was licensed by Geneon Entertainment for North American distribution in English, and it was released on DVD on July 4, 2006.[10] The film saw several changes from the manga, such as making several characters older.

    Reception

    Editors at Anime News Network reviewed Last Quarter favorably, praising the artwork, storytelling, and tone.[11] [12] [13] [14] Sequential Tart stated that the story became more interesting after Hotaru's introduction.[15]

    For the live-action film adaptation, critics at Anime News Network panned Hyde's acting and the film's cinematography.[16]

    Further reading

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: ja:下弦の月. https://mangapedia.com/下弦の月-zxbfsuois. . Voyage Group. ja. July 17, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240717095509/https://mangapedia.com/下弦の月-zxbfsuois. July 17, 2024. live.
    2. Web site: ja:愛蔵版／下弦の月　―Last　Quarter―. http://www.s-book.com/plsql/com2_series?tid=908782083. s-book.com. Shueisha. August 1, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20070208085032/http://www.s-book.com/plsql/com2_series?tid=908782083. February 8, 2007. ja.
    3. Web site: ja:下弦の月 集英社文庫 (コミック版). https://www.shueisha.co.jp/books/search/search.html?seriesid=38357&order=1. Shueisha. August 1, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240801122515/https://www.shueisha.co.jp/books/search/search.html?seriesid=38357&order=1. August 1, 2024. ja. live.
    4. Web site: Mateo. Alex. Viz Media Licenses Trillion Game, Otaku Vampire's Love Bite, Spider-Man: Octo Girl, X-Men, More Manga for Fall 2024. Anime News Network. February 2, 2024. February 2, 2024. February 3, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240203084436/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2024-02-02/viz-media-licenses-trillion-game-otaku-vampire-love-bite-spider-man-octo-girl-x-men-more-manga-for-/.207161. live.
    5. News: Yayoi. Kawayuka. https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/culture/subcul/20220731-OYT8T50085/. ja:「登場人物のことは全員大好き」――『天使なんかじゃない』『NANA』作者・矢沢あいさんインタビュー（後編）. "I love all the characters": interview with Ai Yazawa, the creator of Tenshi Nanka Janai and Nana (final part). ja. Yomiuri Shimbun. August 5, 2022. November 30, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20221011171023/https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/culture/subcul/20220731-OYT8T50085/. October 11, 2022. live.
    6. Web site: ja:下弦の月〜ラスト・クォーター. https://jfdb.jp/title/203. Japanese Film Database. July 17, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240717102908/https://jfdb.jp/title/203. July 17, 2024. ja. live.
    7. Web site: https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0002295. ja:下弦の月/ラスト・クォーター. Last Quarter. ja. Cinema Today. December 2, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240418215152/https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0002295. April 18, 2024. live.
    8. Web site: https://www.rbbtoday.com/article/2004/10/14/19054.html. ja:HYDEが歌う「下弦の月〜ラスト・クォーター」テーマ曲、ビデオクリップが36時間限定公開に. Theme song sung by Hyde for Last Quarter will have a video clip released for a limited time for 36 hours. ja. RBB Today. October 14, 2004. December 3, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20241204030652/https://www.rbbtoday.com/article/2004/10/14/19054.html. December 4, 2024. live.
    9. . February 2005. ja:2004年度 日本映画・外国映画 業界総決算 経営/製作/配給/興行のすべて. 2004 summary on the Japanese and foreign film industries: Everything about management, production, distribution, and exhibition. 152. ja. Kinema Junpo. 1423. Japan. Kinema-Junposha.
    10. Web site: Last Quarter. Geneon Entertainment. July 17, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20071120094421/http://www.geneonanimation.com/MainContentPage.aspx?PageUID=e4f7842c-b100-4a9a-8ea8-e91dfc6e5c63&hdn_ProdID=cc024eab-e0f1-4883-babc-750a037e8598&Title=f454d6e4-19fc-4dd2-ba36-eb2314223f6c&HideBrowser=1. November 20, 2007.
    11. Web site: Carlos. Santos. RIGHT TURN ONLY!!: The Melancholy of Kanji Sasahara. Anime News Network. May 2, 2006. December 3, 2024. November 10, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20241110072321/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/right-turn-only/2006-05-02. live.
    12. Web site: Carlos. Santos. RIGHT TURN ONLY!!: Light Yagami and the Deathly Notebooks. Anime News Network. July 24, 2007. December 3, 2024. July 17, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240717104316/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/right-turn-only/2007-07-24. live.
    13. Web site: Rebecca. Silverman. RIGHT TURN ONLY!!: Sweet Days. Anime News Network. February 25, 2014. December 3, 2024. November 10, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20241110070145/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/rto/2014-02-25. live.
    14. Web site: Rebecca. Silverman. Kevin. Cormack. Caitlin. Moore. The Fall 2024 Manga Guide: Last Quarter. Anime News Network. October 21, 2024. December 3, 2024. November 10, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20241110001834/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/seasonal/2024/fall/last-quarter/.215334. live.
    15. Web site: Patti. Martinson. Last Quarter Vol. 1. Sequential Tart. October 7, 2024. December 3, 2024.
    16. Web site: Theron. Martin. Review: Last Quarter (live-action). Anime News Network. October 30, 2006. December 3, 2024. January 25, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230125090944/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/last-quarter-dvd. live.

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