Manga Review: Blade of the Moon Princess Volume 2 by Tatsuya Endo
Quick recap: Princess Kaguya Takenouchi is banished from the Moon by her mother, Empress Fujiya Takenouchi for petty offenses. This is actually an excuse to send Kaguya to the Tainted World (Earth) to protect her and the empire from a power grab by the Umenouchi branch of the Imperial family.
The rambunctious princess is armed with Futsunushi, a sacred sword needed to coronate a new empress. Thus the Ume conspiracy to take the throne is stalled until they can retrieve it. Knowing she’s somewhere on the Tainted World, the Ume branch sends elite warriors known as “pursuitors” to track down and capture Kaguya.
This volume opens with a flashback to 27 years earlier, when Hatoya Umenouchi was the Empress of the Silver Court. She’d announced a “concert”, but it was actually a trap as she killed 300 members of the court with sonic vibrations from Futsunushi. This was only the beginning of the rampage that got her nicknamed the “Pestle Empress” and eventually led to her being overthrown and replaced by the Takenouchi branch.
It’s then revealed this was a history lesson being taught to Kaguya and her cousin Princess Izumiya Umenouchi. Kaguya is horrified, but Izumiya finds the story fascinating.
In the present day, Izumiya is suggesting that perhaps she should go to the Tainted World to search for her cousin. Her father Fuyuhito Umenouchi forbids it. It’s too dangerous, the pursuitors whose job it is are already on-site, and besides, she has her concert scheduled soon. That last is part of restoring the Ume branch’s reputation in the eyes of the public.
Izumiya’s mother shows up, a vain and rather witless woman. Izumiya sees her as a liability to be eliminated the moment Mom’s no longer needed. Izumiya has a long list of people to be chopped into mincemeat once she takes power.
Back on Earth, Take military cadet Mikumi Takano is trying to keep Kaguya alive despite her complete lack of woodcraft skills. They manage to stumble on a military base, but realize too late that it’s not the Take branch base Mikumi is from, but an Ume branch base. In an effort to find Kaguya, the soldiers there have been abducting all the girls in the area, even ones that are clearly the wrong age.
Worse, the plan is to just kill off all the extra prisoners once Kaguya is identified, with the soldiers being allowed to have fun by picking how they want to do it. After all, these prisoners are all subhuman Tainted World people, right?
Obviously, this needs to be stopped. But with just two people, neither of whom is completely trained, how are they going to do it? Well, it turns out that one of the soldiers is secretly a infiltrator with a grudge against the Ume branch who’s been trying to work his way up the ranks until he can assassinate the corrupt leaders.
Also, there’s a mysterious old man in an iron mask in the tunnels below the base. This turns out to be the former Grand Minister who served Empress Hatoya. He’s a creepy guy, who says he wants to help Kaguya unlock the full potential of her sword. His methods are…extreme, and it’s not quite clear that he’s on any side but his own amusement, but he does indeed give Kaguya a combat upgrade.
As our heroes escape from the base, we focus on a new character. Abiko Amanobe is a young hacker who was investigating why his journalist father had been banished to the Tainted World for crimes he probably didn’t commit. He got caught, and was in that hijacked criminal transport from last volume.
At first it looks like he’s going to be forced to join the other prisoners (who are actual criminals) in their new gang, but he’s rescued by Suzume Sanuki, one of the two elders who were supposed to be Kaguya’s guardians on Earth. She plans to rendevous with her husband Miyatsukomaro Sanuki at the nearby Takamatsu base.
The old warrior has arrived at the Take branch base only to find it nearly deserted–a forged order has recalled most of the soldiers to the Moon. Worse, this has allowed a pyromaniac pursuitor to turn the base into a trap for Kaguya and anyone who might support her.
It’s not clear that Abiko is going to support Kaguya, though, as they do not get along at all. At least at first.
Once the current threat is dealt with, Kaguya collapses. Cliffhanger!
This is an early work by Endo, being translated now as he’s found international success with Spy X Family. While the art’s already pretty good, the characters are much more of the shounen stereotypes. Each plotline is meant to build up to the next cool battle scene.
Izumiya is the most interesting character in this volume. Despite being a bit younger than Kaguya, she is much more mature and put-together, at least on the surface. Her dutiful princess persona and bubbly pop idol stage presence are both covers for her actual murderous tendencies. She hasn’t taken her rightful place as the main villain yet, but it’s obvious that she will be.
There’s some omake gag strips (including revealing that one of Izumiya’s pop songs is “The Peasantry Is Trash”) and a report by Endo on his first Jump Festa experience.
Content note: Lethal violence, including a bloody mass murder. Children in peril. Female nudity from behind. Teenagers on up should be able to handle it.
This is okay, but the main reason it’s being published is that the creator went on to better things. Recommended primarily to fans of Endo.
