Kiniro Mosaic is a sweet, soothing read for any girl age 12 and older. Yui Hara illustrates and writes the yonkoma, a Japanese four panel manga/comic, and does an excellent job doing so. With really no main plot, the reader truly gets to know the main characters--a small group of girls in a Japanese high school--and feel as if they are one of the characters themselves in this friend group. The comic does a great job of incorporating humor and cute graphics in the girl’s daily lives as readers live day by day with them, exploring changes in school life and discussing topics like hair and food. What girl doesn’t?

Fortunately for novel readers who are unfamiliar with the content of manga, manga have protagonists, too! The protagonist of this story is Alice, a girl from England with blonde pigtails who just transferred to a high school in Japan. I am not sure why most protagonists in manga have blonde pigtails (see my Sailor Moon review), but hey, it makes the character memorable! Lucky for Alice, she is able to reunite with her friend Shinobu, who visited England when she was younger. Soon, Alice meets other girls, including Karen (a fellow transfer student from England), Youko, and Aya, who become close friends! 

What makes the story engaging is the aforementioned friendship between the four girls. Each girl has a different personality that sets them apart, another parallel between Kiniro Mosaic and Sailor Moon. From Aya’s shy persona to the energy and athletic edge Youko brings, it is fun to read their interactions. As friends do, they often tease one another, and the manga is scattered with jokes and plenty of Japanese references. I personally really enjoyed reading the manga because of the latter; I find it fascinating to learn about Japanese culture and have the protagonist be a foreigner to Japan (so the reader learns along with Alice). I was disappointed, however, to find that there was not much else besides the girls doing cute and fun daily activities--no drama, no romance, no family issues, no supernatural elements. 

Reading the book and viewing the cute and simple pictures on each page will feel like a warm fire on a cold day--it is fun, nice, and relaxing. You will definitely have a smile on your face after reading Kiniro Mosaic! That said, I rate the book a three out of five, as I felt the storyline became quite repetitive and simple over the eight plus books in the series. But who knows, maybe you will want to rate it a five out of five!

Checkout Kiniro Mosaic from the Newport Beach Public Library.