Best Wishes from the Full Moon Coffee Shop

Three women receive guidance from otherworldy felines in Mochizuki’s heartfelt follow-up to The Full Moon Coffee Shop. In December 2020, planetary messengers of the stars transform into cats and open the Full Moon Coffee Shop, a traveling food truck, to help people cope with the destabilizing effects of the age of Aquarius. The troupe’s tortoiseshell master cat explains their mission: “The most important thing is for them to know themselves.” In Tokyo, workaholic advertising executive Satomi contemplates her boyfriend’s impending marriage proposal while babysitting her niece Ayu, who’s visiting with her mother, Junko, Satomoi’s sister-in-law, from the countryside. The marriage would mean a move to the more sedate city of Tsukuba, and she’s not ready to give up her career. At the coffee shop, the master cat serves Satomi and Ayu cheese fondu and explains that Satomi’s astrological signs point to both business and family, adding, “I hope this becomes the night you discover your true wishes.” Two other story lines feature women finding peace after a family rupture: Junko drinks a sparkling tea at the coffee shop that prompts happy memories of her estranged and ailing father, while Satomi’s coworker Koyuki struggles with facing her father’s new wife at Christmas. The situations and resolutions are simplistically portrayed, but Mochizuki seamlessly blends a whimsical tone with time-worn wisdom and copious astrological chart readings. This breezy tale has plenty of charm. (Oct.)