Water Moon

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

The novel’s protagonist is Hana, whose parents are Toshio and Chiyo. In the narrative present, she’s 21 years old. When Hana was a baby, her mother, Chiyo, broke the law and stole a choice from the vault in her family’s magical pawnshop. As a result, she was exiled and taken away from Hana. Therefore, Hana never really knew her mother. She grew up relying on her father, learning the rules of the pawnshop, and preparing to assume these responsibilities when Toshio retired. The novel opens the morning after Toshio passes the family business to Hana, thus marking her foray into adulthood.

Hana is a curious and questioning character who longs to be free. However, the parameters of her world bar her from making her own choices and discovering herself on her own terms. She feels trapped by familial duties and incapable of rebelling against the system she was born to occupy and uphold. Thematically, the Conflict Between Duty and Desire complicates Hana’s sense of self throughout the novel. While she’s innately skeptical and adventurous, she has learned to tamp down these traits to please her father and avoid the wrath of the Shiikuin.