Rinko Ueda

[Review for manga as a whole; no spoilers]

This manga as a whole is so utterly dumb. I think at one point it genuinely tried to be suspenseful and dramatic, but everything is too ridiculous to take seriously. This is trashy reality TV, greasy fast food, and the most erratic telenovela you’ve seen. And yet I enjoyed it! I love this hot-behind mess. I think I’ve read it at least 4 times throughout the years since I first read it in Dec 2016.

The male lead, Soichiro, starts out mean and show more borderline abusive (he’s also terribly and inappropriately hand-grabby in the beginning chapters). He begins as a jerk until he has some SERIOUS growth. The female lead, Sumi, is beyond stupid, but I loved her determination to take care of her siblings. And the older brother you will want to dropkick in the throat. Nozumu was a. lot. And he never stopped being a lot.

So yeah, with no spoilers, read this one. It’s entertaining. The sibling relationships will wreck you all with tender hearts. Stepping on Roses does get tropey at times, but it’s worth it for the pure foolery it pulls out of its nose.

SN: I adore the way the mangaka draws babies and little kids. They always look so precious with their little bobble-heads. Also, men are always drawn startling handsome as well.

Major spoiler (read, only if you've completed manga): Something that annoyed me to no end is that the manga tries to pretend Nozumu's obsession with Sumi is because she's secretly his sister and somehow his body knows or whatever. But no dude is just messed up. no ifs ands or buts about it. show less

Usagi is the granddaughter of a prestigious ninja village's leader, but she never grew out of her kiddie class. Due to Usagi's lack of progress, her grandfather sends her to marry Lord Hanzo and have lots of ninja children. Unfortunately, the lord is not interested in her childbearing abilities!

Love is never easy, and Usagi has some unexpected competitors. There is another ninja clan that wants Lord Hanzo to join their family, so they have sent the beautiful and talented Yuri to win her show more wedding. Usagi won't be daunted by her rival's looks and skills, but will Lord Hanzo's feelings for an off-limits princess be enough to make her give up?

The reason for my rereading of this manga is a mystery to me. My teenage self did not like it, and I still do not like it as an adult. When I saw this manga at the library, I was curious to know if my taste in manga had changed. I wanted to see if my opinions had evolved, but I quickly realized that my feelings about the story hadn't changed. The characters and plot still didn't resonate with me, and I struggled to stay engaged with the manga.

This lesson focuses on superficiality. The reason Usagi wants to marry Hanzo is that he is attractive. Although he has some positive qualities, his asshole-like tendencies outweigh all the positives (like being attractive, which is one of his defining characteristics). Nothing else really stands out about Hanzo. Looks only. My summation of him would be: "Attractive guy, somewhat arrogant; only shows kindness when reminding us that he and Usagi are destined to be together."

As for Usagi, she's not much better. It's supposed to be her job to train to be a ninja, but she fails miserably. She's lousy at everything. This woman is seriously too stupid to live. Her only talent is making medicine. Despite being naive, unquestioningly trusting people, and not very good at ninjary, she believes she can go on real missions. She is incapable of seducing one guy at all, which is something that ninjas should have the ability to do. I hated her because she kept following Hanzo around like a puppy dog, despite him being a dick, fawning over him even when he tried to tell her to leave him alone.

The series also has two "romantic rivals" -- I put that in quotes because in the "real world," Usagi wouldn't be able to compete (but this is shoujo manga, so Hanzo is going to choose her for some reason I cannot fathom). This romantic rivalry includes "rich bitch" (who even attempts to poison the competition) and "better than you in everything, but she's so wonderfully amazingly talented, you can't hold it against her" princess who is so perfect it's almost unimaginable. All they serve is to show all of Usagi's flaws and add some drama or make her work harder. While I liked the princess (in spite of the fact that she has a chance to survive, unlike our heroine), I did not care for rich bitch whatsoever.

This princess bothered me because she acted as if Usagi had broken up my boyfriend and me when it was obvious Hanzo was totally in love with her.

The princess's perfection and Usagi's flaws create a stark contrast that highlights the challenges of the romantic storyline. Despite this, the series seems determined to push Usagi as the chosen one, leaving readers questioning the plausibility of the romance.

There's nothing special about Tail of the Moon; it's just poorly written. There is no point in continuing this manga or recommending it. show less

I'm sorry, but this was so trash. How do you expect me to root for the male character, Sei? This girl comes crying and snot-nosed that her uncle tried to molest her and askes for refuge, and what does he do? He forces his hands inside her kimono and gropes her. WHAT TYPE OF MESS! Not to mention he always talks down to her, and he gets a kick off of that servant-master dynamic.

At the last minute, Sei does a half-baked apology where he never really admits what he did was wrong. He's just like show more ' you can still be nice to me after that? Ugh, can't even own up to his evil.

Now, Mari had a slither of some personality. I liked that she had every plan to manipulate the doctors until she could clear her daddy's name, but then somehow she falls in love with Sei. So... I'm like priorities, sis. ಠ_ಠ

And then that last minute love scene in vol 2. How in the world do y'all love each other!?!

None of the characters get developed at all. They are all flat.

Overall, not worth reading. I only finished this because it was such a quick read. I wanted to like the story because I enjoyed the mangaka's other shoujos Stepping on Roses and Tail of the Moon but nah. On the bright side, the artwork is wonderful. The men and women look very beautiful with pretty eyes and nice suits. show less

When I first picked up the first 3 volumes I wasn't expecting much,to me it looked like every other girly manga I've ever seen as ne'er read. I mean SERIOUSLY a romantic ninja adventure?!? You've GOT to be kidding me :|

It was so super cute I absolutely loved it!!!! ^.^
Usagi is this hopeless ninja clan who's been sent to marry and bear Hanzo a child. The thing is, Hanzo just eats to be left alone. As soon as Usagi sees him she's smitten and falls head over heels for him but he seems show more unattainable. Hanzo is an Elite ninja and she's a lazy clutz who can't even qualify to be a ninja. He's in love with a ninja Princess (who's deeply in love with Hanzuo, A relative of Hanzo)

Oh and to top it all off Usagi has an adorable sidekick named Mamezo. Mamezo is a little kid who's terrified of dogs and has a pet piglet that Usagi caught for him. He wears a good luck rabbit tail on his bum so that he can run fast (princess has one too)

So what's the point of all of this? Well Hanzo has agreed to let Usagi live in his house and train to qualify as a ninja within the year. If she fails she'll be sent back to her village. So what's stopping her? Well she's a terrible ninja, Goemon, her ex-fiancé, wants her to marry him now but she won't, and she's an amazing herbalist that everyone wants to help them.

As everyone's relationships grow and the character development flourishes it really becomes a cute ninja romantic adventure and I love it! I don't think it could compare to Fairy Tail or any really popular manga but Tail of a Moon is great in it's own special way and you'll just have to read it to know what I'm talking about! show less