Tail of the Moon: Vol. 3

by Rinko Ueda

Synopsis
Usagi is the granddaughter of the leader of prestigious ninja village, but she's such a klutz that she's never made it out of the kiddie class. Frustrated with Usagi's lack of progress, her grandfather sends her to marry Lord Hanzo and have lots of ninja babies. But the lord has no interest in her or her childbearing potential!

Lord Hanzo readily agrees to Ieyasu's offer to take Usagi away to work as an herbalist -- almost as quickly as he agree with Ieyasu that Usagi doesn't have what it takes to become a ninja! Hanzo seems unconcerned about having Usagi out of his life, but Usagi isn't faring as well. Lonely in a new place, Usagi crawls into Yukimaru's bed, much to his distress!

Review
This is such a crazy messed up series. It has a lot of humorous moments, and seems really goofy at times, but also, it can become really serious and develop the characters. Fortunately, I think that the humorous moments are genuinely funny, rather than obnoxious slapstick. Specifically, this scene where Usagi makes a "Hanzo comfort pillow" is just so ridiculous and priceless. But then, when the series shows how capable and strong Usagi is, when she and Yukimaru have to help a pregnant woman in distress. Hanzo sees this, and he comes to respect her more.

There was some potential for a "big misunderstanding," when Goemon doesn't deliver the letters that Hanzo and Mamezo sent to Usagi (and therefore doesn't get a response, which upsets Hanzo), but the author is above using such cheap methods to keep characters apart for long. The two characters talked about their sides of the story when the meet up, and all is forgiven. I really appreciate that, seeing as I've seen the big misunderstanding contrivance used too often.

The rest of the story involves a complex plot about finding an elixir of eternal youth for Ieyasu Tokugawa, which if Usagi does so, she can return to Iga to be with Hanzo, although I think he's already going to request that Ieyasu return her anyway.

Finally, something that has been annoying me, and in a series which takes place in feudal Japan, I believe I have the right to be annoyed. Whenever the characters write something, it's in English. How out of place. Why don't they use the the original art, and put translations next to the writing? Seriously, how ridiculous is it that Japanese characters are writing in English?

Final thought: I'll keep collecting this series.