{"id":2675,"date":"2009-06-11T00:01:40","date_gmt":"2009-06-11T07:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/manga.jadedragononline.com\/village\/?p=2675"},"modified":"2012-06-30T22:17:19","modified_gmt":"2012-07-01T05:17:19","slug":"tail-of-the-moon-prequel-the-other-hanzou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/manga.jadedragononline.com\/village\/2009\/06\/11\/tail-of-the-moon-prequel-the-other-hanzou\/","title":{"rendered":"Tail of the Moon Prequel: The Other Hanzo(u)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kaguya doesn’t remember who she is or why she has a huge scar on her back.\u00a0 Six months ago, she was found injured and unconscious in a field of bamboo.\u00a0 Now she works as a housekeeper and babysitter at a brothel, living her new life simply as “Kaguya”.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>By Rinko Ueda
\nPublisher:<\/strong> Viz Media
\nAge Rating:<\/strong> Older Teen (16+)
\nGenre:<\/strong> Historical, Romance
\nPrice:<\/strong> $8.99<\/p>\n

Kaguya’s real identity is entwined with two men–Hanzou, a handsome bodyguard of Okazaki Castle, and Hanzo, a leader of the ninja village of Iga.\u00a0 Between amnesia and mistaken identity, no one knows for sure what kind of person Kaguya is.\u00a0 Only her distinctive scar will lead her to the truth…<\/p>\n

Tail of the Moon Prequel<\/em> has a heroine just the way I like them; smart and in control.\u00a0 As either Kaguya or Princess Sara, this female lead is never clueless, a klutz, or unable to act on her feelings.\u00a0 This, plus the historical drama, makes this volume a real pleasure to read.<\/p>\n

I read the preview of this in Shojo Beat<\/em>, and really enjoyed it. So I was thrilled at the chance to read the whole volume.\u00a0 It’s essentially two stories about Kaguya, a worker in the brothel, who turns out to be a Princess, but not in a way you’d expect.\u00a0 The first story centers around Kaguya and how she falls in love with Hanzou Hattori, a guard at Okazaki castle and how that leads to her regaining her memory.\u00a0 In the second story, she is Princess Sara, a member of the elite ninja group for theOda clan and daughter of Oda Nobunaga.\u00a0 She goes on a mission to Iga village, under the guise of marrying Hanzo Hattori, who she thinks is her Hanzou, but she gets a surprise.<\/p>\n

The characters are great.\u00a0 Kaguya\/Princess Sara is the perfect lead in this story.\u00a0 She’s upbeat and strong-willed.\u00a0 It doesn’t matter to her if Hanzou is handsome and popular with the other girls.\u00a0 She doesn’t like his advances, and she lets him know.\u00a0 She doesn’t let her feelings get completely in the way of her missions.\u00a0 Even if she lovesHanzou, she doesn’t let that stop her from trying to assisinate his lord, Tokugawa Nobuyasu.\u00a0 Hanzou is rather typical for the male lead.\u00a0 Handsome and kind-hearted, he is attracted to Kaguya, despite her imperfections.\u00a0 But he’s still like-able, as is the other Hanzo, who shows the same kindness and is just as good-looking, if only a little older.<\/p>\n

The historical aspect of this title is the other great boon.\u00a0 It takes place at a time when the Tokugawa is still trying to establish its power, and Oda Nobunaga is a force to be reckoned with.\u00a0 The first story has the subplot of an alliance between the Oda and Tokugawa clans by having their heirs marry.\u00a0 Nobuyasu however doesn’t prove to be as committed to the alliance and it costs him.\u00a0 The second story involves Oda and it’s conflict with the Iga ninja clan.\u00a0 But subplots really add to the stories, giving them some significant context.\u00a0 And I just love historical dramas that work in real historical figures.<\/p>\n

The art is well done.\u00a0 Ueda’s males are bishonen, but still retain their masculinity.\u00a0 It’s the perfect balance.\u00a0 Princess Sara is pretty, without being stunning, and has just enough of a masculine feel that her ninja prowess is believable.<\/p>\n

Overall, Tail of the Moon Prequel: The Other Hanzo(u)<\/em> is a great read.\u00a0 The balance of romance, comedy and action are perfect.\u00a0 And knowledge of Ueda’s main manga Tail of the Moon is not needed to enjoy these stories, though knowing about it may add to its enjoyment.\u00a0 Historical and\/or romance fans will thoroughly enjoy this title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kaguya doesn’t remember who she is or why she has a huge scar on her back.\u00a0 Six months ago, she was found injured and unconscious in a field of bamboo.\u00a0 Now she works as a housekeeper and babysitter at a brothel, living her new life simply as “Kaguya”. By Rinko Ueda Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Older Teen (16+) Genre: Historical, Romance Price: $8.99 Kaguya’s real identity is entwined with two men–Hanzou, a handsome bodyguard of Okazaki Castle, and Hanzo, a leader of the ninja village of Iga.\u00a0 Between amnesia and mistaken identity, no one knows for sure what kind of person Kaguya is.\u00a0 Only her distinctive scar will lead her to the truth… Tail of the Moon Prequel has a heroine just the way I like them; smart and in control.\u00a0 As either Kaguya or Princess Sara, this female lead is never clueless, a klutz, or unable to act on her feelings.\u00a0 This, plus the historical drama, makes this volume a real pleasure to read. I read the preview of this in Shojo Beat, and really enjoyed it. So I was thrilled at the chance to read the whole volume.\u00a0 It’s essentially two stories about Kaguya, a worker in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,19],"tags":[83,110,120,121,135],"class_list":["post-2675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","category-viz-media","tag-manga","tag-review","tag-shojo","tag-shojo-beat","tag-teen"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/manga.jadedragononline.com\/village\/files\/2012\/06\/Tail-of-the-Moon-Prequel.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2umma-H9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/manga.jadedragononline.com\/village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2675"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/manga.jadedragononline.com\/village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/manga.jadedragononline.com\/village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/manga.jadedragononline.com\/village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/manga.jadedragononline.com\/village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2675"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/manga.jadedragononline.com\/village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2782,"href":"http:\/\/manga.jadedragononline.com\/village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2675\/revisions\/2782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/manga.jadedragononline.com\/village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/manga.jadedragononline.com\/village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/manga.jadedragononline.com\/village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/manga.jadedragononline.com\/village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}