Coffee Moon 5 makes friend and foe murky by showing how everyone does what they believe is right.
Coffee Moon 5 has many fascinating qualities; with its noir, Groundhog Day meets magical girls story. While the series drowns in convoluted, unexplained sections, this volume builds a cohesive, well-paced story. Rather than inspiring “what in the world is happening,” the fifth in the series evokes the response of “oh my god, what is next.” As stakes take on an action film quality combined with Pieta’s development, Coffee Moon 5 bridges the elusive gap between mystery and confusion, crafting excitement.
The volume, created by Mochito Bota, translated by Ko Ransom, and lettered by Phil Christie, continues after Pieta succumbs to despair, losing her memories of and magical girl abilities. The Yen Press manga covers six chapters. While her friends argue about jogging her memory, an unknown threat arises. So, Pieta and her friends must step in. It’s an inconceivable world filled with doom and gloom. Yet, these girls find joy with each other. But it doesn’t answer why the world is an inescapable dreary mess.
Coffee Moon 5 Makes It Clear Pieta Is Special
As Pieta’s best friend Danae, alongside the rest of the girls Pieta brought together, confront her, they learn the extent of Pieta’s memory loss. Tapping into the eyes are windows to the soul; there is a noticeable difference between Pieta’s eyes then and now. Pieta no longer has the spiral eyes. Her friends still possess them as they remain aware of the unusual qualities of their city.
Still, Pieta is different from all of them. As one of their enemies points out, no one ever retrieves their memories after giving in to despair. Pieta feels like a Naruto-type hero. However, the world is so bleak in Coffee Moon that readers may develop a fear of the story heading into the horrifying trajectory of Madoka Magica. Pieta recovers her memories of everyone back and, with her umbrella, faces off against an enemy that is not evil. Coffee Moon 5 makes friend and foe murky by showing how everyone does what they believe is right.
Noir Die Hard
There is still too little known about the magical girl groups, not to mention the various other tidbits that popped up about religion and politics. Fortunately, Coffee Moon 5 relegates some of that to the back burner instead of dumping confusing exposition on readers. So, in this manga volume, there’s a scenario similar to Die Hard With a Vengeance, leaning into the action.
That, along with Pieta’s prior conversation with Nike’s rival, allows readers a glimpse of Pieta’s strength while showing her positive effect on others. With locations blowing up—unless these girls answer questions from an anonymous caller—the threat level is high. Plus, there are few laughs as the various officers in the precinct demand the girls take part even though they are kids. Pieta helping them again highlights her caring nature.
Coffee Moon 5 has much better pacing and less confusion than previous volumes. There is still too little information about what is happening. But it’s easy to cheer for Pieta and hope she and her friends discover how to end whatever plagues this town. As Coffee Moon 5 leans into clarity with a focused story, it engages with readers beyond its unique and stylish appearance.
