The Moon on a Rainy Night is one of the most acclaimed yuri manga series running today, and its slow-burn story about Saki and Kanon has pulled in readers well outside the usual yuri audience. Kuzushiro's series reads in a single straightforward order, but the gap between how many volumes exist in Japan and how many have actually been translated trips up a lot of new readers.
Kodansha Comics began releasing the English edition in North America in September 2023, and new volumes have followed on a steady but not identical schedule to the original Japanese release.
This guide lays out the full reading order, explains exactly where the English edition currently sits relative to the Japanese original, and covers the physical format and protection side of building a shelf of digest-size volumes.
Whether you're starting the series for the first time or trying to figure out how many more volumes you're waiting on, here's the full picture.
Unlike some manga series with side stories or alternate numbering, The Moon on a Rainy Night reads in one straight numerical sequence from Volume 1 onward. There are no spinoff volumes or out-of-sequence side stories to worry about.
The story follows Saki Kindaichi and Kanon Oikawa from their first meeting as high school first-years, so starting anywhere other than Volume 1 means missing the foundation the whole relationship is built on.
In Japan, Kodansha has released twelve tankobon volumes of the series as of mid-2026, with the manga still serializing new chapters on the Comic Days website. The series began that serialization in June 2021, and Kodansha has kept up a fairly consistent release cadence of roughly two volumes per year since.
Because the manga is still ongoing in Japan, the total volume count is not yet final - collectors chasing a complete set are chasing a moving target until Kuzushiro wraps the story.
Kodansha Comics' English edition currently stands at eight released volumes, with Volume 8 having arrived in December 2025 and Volume 9 scheduled for December 2026. That means English readers are currently several volumes behind the Japanese original, which is normal for an ongoing license but worth knowing before you assume you're caught up.
The English release cadence has not been perfectly consistent - some volumes landed roughly every two to three months, while others saw longer gaps - so it's worth checking Kodansha's own release calendar rather than assuming a fixed schedule.
Because English releases trail the Japanese originals, the volume number on an English book always corresponds to the same chapters as the matching Japanese volume - Volume 5 in English is the same story content as Volume 5 in Japan, just released later. This makes cross-referencing straightforward even with the release gap.
If you're following fan translations or scanlation discussion online to bridge the gap, double-check which Japanese volume number is being referenced so you don't accidentally spoil content several English volumes ahead of where you actually are.
The Moon on a Rainy Night is published in the standard digest-size manga trim used across most Kodansha Comics releases, the same compact paperback format as the bulk of English-language manga on shelves. This is a notably smaller and more fragile format than a standard comic book or graphic novel, with thinner paper stock and a perfect-bound spine.
That smaller trim size is exactly why digest manga needs its own protective sleeve rather than a standard comic bag - a regular comic-size bag will be loose and won't actually protect the corners or spine the way a correctly sized sleeve does.
A digest-size resealable sleeve keeps each volume's cover art crisp and protects against shelf wear, moisture, and the kind of corner dings that happen when volumes get pulled in and out of a shelf repeatedly. This matters even more for a series like this one, where the cover illustrations are a genuine part of the collecting appeal.
If you're planning to collect the full run as it releases in English, sleeving volumes as soon as they arrive - rather than waiting until the shelf starts looking worn - keeps your whole collection in consistent condition from Volume 1 onward.
If your shelf also holds onto any standard single-issue extras or promotional inserts tied to this release, EVORETRO's Regular Size Comic Book Bags covers that standard comic-book format too.
Eight, with Volume 9 scheduled for December 2026.
Twelve as of mid-2026, with the series still ongoing.
No, it's still serializing new chapters in Japan.
Standard Kodansha digest manga trim, the same compact paperback format used across most of their catalog.
Sleeve each new volume the moment it arrives with EVORETRO's Digest and Manga Resealable Bags, sized specifically for this trim.
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