Book Review: The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki and translated by Jesse Kirkwood #ReadingtheMeow2024

I received a review copy of this book from Octopus Publishing via NetGalley for which my thanks.

Along the lines of the Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Kamogawa Food Detectives books in its broad structure and emotional appeal, but also with a little more depth as well as uniqueness in having its base firmly in astrology (the only piece of fiction I’ve read so far to be so), The Full Moon Coffee Shop not only turned out every bit the delightful and heartwarming read I was expecting but even more, and quite a perfect start for my #ReadingtheMeow2024 reads.

The first in a series and translated by Jesse Kirkwood, as the book opens we meet a former primary school teacher Mizuki Serikawa who now writes scripts for games (mostly for the side characters) and has all but lost interest in life, no longer taking any pride in her appearance or care of herself, and surviving only on instant ramen. A last-ditch attempt at reviving her TV-series writing career (in which she was once at the top) seems to fail sending her further into depression. But then at the restaurant where she met and was let down by young and successful producer Akari Nayakama, she finds not only surprise fans but also an invitation to a strange café she’s never heard of before. Reluctant and after some dithering, she does make it to the place—amidst the beautiful cherry blossoms, just by the river Kamo in Kyoto and to her surprise finds a place run not by humans, but cats. Besides feeding her some delicious pancakes (Full Moon Pancakes with butter and Astral Syrup), these cats (who are special in another way that we soon see) give Mizuki insights into herself and into the age we live in that she had never considered before. Using astrology and Mizuki’s chart, they help her see things from a new perspective and understand where she’s perhaps been going wrong in life, giving her new purpose and motivation.

We then learn more about the producer, Akari Nakayama who shares a deeper link than we first realise with Mizuki as also with actress Satsuki Akiwara whom also Akari has had to deal harshly with, than we first realise. As these two ladies and after them various other connected characters find their way to the Full Moon Coffee Shop, which opens up magically at different locations in Kyoto, its various special cats, from a Singapura named Caelus to Cranus the tux help them understand themselves as never before. Readers also begin to see how these characters are bound together, but fate it seems connects them and our magical café in another way too!

This was a book I jumped at when I saw it listed both because of the cats (no surprise there) but also because its name ‘The Full Moon Coffee Shop’ reminded me very much of a Kdrama I enjoyed some years ago, Hotel Del Luna (still one of my favourites that I’ve watched) where a hotel for spirits who haven’t been able to cross opens every Full Moon night, with the characters helping the spirits find the answers they are seeking. The Full Moon Coffee Shop did in a sense turn out the same, a café magically appearing every Full Moon night only to those who need it—not spirits in this case but real, live human beings who’ve perhaps lost their way or been unable to find what they’re really looking for in life.

The cats who run the café—and there’s a whole set of them—make this additionally special. As we read on, we realise they are no ordinary cats. However, even more of a surprise awaits us as the book gradually reveals deeper connections. In fact, the book is full of these, seemingly serendipitous happenings, meetings and links but which turn out to have more to do with fate, perhaps than chance. Everything links back and together so beautifully by the end, that one can’t help but have a smile on one’s face.

What set this book apart from the others I’ve mentioned and makes it more than just cats and people in need of help, though is the astrology. Because it is astrology and birth charts that these cats use to give our various characters better and deeper understandings of themselves. And along with them, the reader too gets to learn a fair bit about it, different stages of life, the influences of the stars and planets, how each person’s unique chart shapes they way things can turn out for them—not necessarily fated in that it can’t be changed but more like a map that helps one navigate life, especially the obstacles likely to arise in one’s way or one’s own fears. What I found even more interesting was the broader insights into the age that we live in, once again from the perspective of astrology. It was fascinating to learn how things transition across ages in terms of values and value systems, natural and manmade occurrences and how humans too must adapt to these changes (to which we are much more resistant than we might realise), with lessons from each age to be carried into the next—an aspect of the book which had a lot more profundity than I was expecting. It also left me curious as to why the author chose to base the work on Western astrology rather than the Japanese/Chinese systems (a question to which I haven’t yet found the answer).

Beyond the astrology, characters and even the cats, the book has much more–there’s Western classical music referenced all through (Pathetique and Nessun Dorma among them), plenty of delicious sounding food (desserts, really—all of which one would want to eat) and also very much the lovely city of Kyoto and many of its landmarks (with a very brief visit to Osaka too)—among them the Gokonomiya Shrine, Daiko-ji temple and the Otesuji shopping arcade.      

All these elements together make it a rich reading experience, with emotional appeal, charm and much to interest one’s intellect too. At its heart though is also just humanness or humaneness, the compassion, love and concern for fellow creatures that makes us (or ought to) who we are and what really sets everything off for this story.

As a cat-themed pick, I did find myself wondering at one point whether characters other than cats could have done the same ‘job’—perhaps they could, but with the backstory we learn eventually, one realises though that it had to be the cats!

Book details: Brazen Books, 2024; pp. 324; rel date: 29 August 2024

This is also #1 from my #20BooksofSummer list