The Fall 2023 Manga Guide

Blade Of The Moon Princess

What's It About? 

Defiant and vulgar, Princess Kaguya Takenouchi is not the heir to the moon's Silver Court that her mother's retainers had hoped for. But when the empress falls ill during a wave of terrorist attacks, Kaguya resolves to do right by her people and rise to the occasion.

Unfortunately, Kaguya's enemies are a step ahead of her, and she ends up ejected from the moon and stranded on the primitive Tainted World below. Can she find her way back to the moon and reclaim the throne that is rightfully hers from the usurpers?

Blade of the Moon Princess has a story and art by Tatsuya Endō. English translation is by Casey Loe, with lettering by Phil Christie. Published by Viz Media (September 5, 2023).

Is It Worth Reading?

Christopher Farris

Rating:

The rollout of Tatsuya Endō's earlier material in the wake of SPY x FAMILY's massive success continues. Standing apart from the clandestine spy and assassin games of SPY x FAMILY or the earlier Tista, Blade of the Moon Princess sees Endo tackling that classic entry of Japanese folklore, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, putting a fantasy/sci-fi spin on the story of Princess Kaguya. This manga sets out for an epic take on Kaguya's journey, each beefy chapter laying out another upset in her status quo as she's forced to grow up in a hurry.

The opening that sets up the whole situation is the most interesting. Kaguya is a solid take on the rebellious princess archetype, but her mother and current empress, Fujiya, stole the show for me. She's a strong leader with complex feelings about her daughter's upbringing that manifest in the climax, taking us to the story's premise by the end of that first chapter. She is, in the parlance of a description later in the story, "...a real man for you. The sort of man I want to be. I mean, she's a woman, but still." Blade of the Moon Princess is full of great, snappy dialogue like that, full of character without devolving into feeling quippy for its own sake. Some credit has to go to Casey Loe on translation for helping that vibe come through in the English version.

It's also fun, as is often the case with retroactive releases like this, to see how Endo's art was evolving at this stage in his career. Early on, some of the details on the character art can get lost due to all the zoomed-out smaller panels he's cramming in. But it does eventually come into its own, with a cartoony dynamism that feels appropriate for the tone and setting of the series. It culminates into some irreverent antics Endo would become known for, such as having our heroine fall into a mid-battle discussion with a drag queen over societal gender labels. Some of the broader ideas powering the conflict, particularly some laid out early on concerning the concept of a benevolent monarchy being challenged by nominal terrorism from a remnant regent power, feel a little bigger than Endo might be equipped to handle at this stage. But it lends things that suitably epic feeling overall, and things start shifting once Kaguya gets to Earth, and the story turns into a real thrill ride by the last third of this first volume. Some of your entertainment value will hinge on how annoying you might find many of the characters, including Kaguya herself. But if the tone does click with you, there will be an entertaining story worth following here.

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

Between SPY x FAMILY and Tista, there's Blade of the Moon Princess. Although it's still about a teenage girl fighting for her life, like Tista, this book's first (of five) volume is much more in the vein of Tatsuya Endō's biggest hit – Kaguya may be the heir to the moon's Silver Kingdom. She may be hiding from would-be assassins on Earth (the Tainted World), but this story still has a goofiness that keeps it from feeling too bleak. It certainly has its profound moments, but essentially what Endo is doing here is taking a classic piece of Japanese literature and turning it into an action fantasy. That in itself is an invitation for some silly shounen antics.

As far as this volume goes, that feels like a positive. We've all seen plenty of versions of the story of Princess Kaguya (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter) over the years. Endo seems to draw at least a little inspiration from both Sailor Moon and the Sengoku period – the book takes place in the early 1500s, which is smack in the middle of that era. The moon is the primary seat of civilization, and it's very advanced: televisions, modern weaponry, helicopters, and other bits and bobs are all present. The royal family is currently made up of the present empress and her daughter Kaguya, but there's a branch family who used to hold the throne. We eventually find out what caused the change in the central family, but more important is that Kaguya isn't all that keen on being the heir to the throne – but the branch family is. When they rise to unseat the empress, she sends her daughter to what is a penal colony.

The result is that Kaguya has to grow up fast, and that's not something she's sure she wants to do. It's like having a girl version of Damian Desmond star in the book, and it works for the most part. Kaguya can be a bit of a brat, but we also understand where she's coming from and how she feels like she always had a ruler rather than a mother. When push comes to shove, she wants to be the best daughter possible, but she's always trying to figure out how or even what it would look like. Kaguya feels like a child who never really had a chance, forced to be someone she didn't want to be and guided more by ritual and tradition than what she wanted: a parent.

The start of the volume is much heavier than the end of it, and it feels very much like Endo is feeling his way with the story. Yes, landing on Earth gives Kaguya more freedom than she's ever had, but she's still trying to figure out what to do with it, and she doesn't always make the best choices. Earth is very much in the sixteenth century (and the detail of a noblewoman blackening her teeth with ink is a great detail to show that), and Kaguya's a modern girl, so the disconnect helps to push the story and the character along. This will be worth a second volume; it's an interesting take on the folktale and a story that only finds its footing at the end.