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'{{Infobox animanga/Header | name = Tail of the Moon | image = | caption = | ja_kanji = 月のしっぽ | ja_romaji = Tsuki no Shippo | genre = [[adventure]], [[Romantic love|romance]], historical }} {{Infobox animanga/Print | type = manga | title = | author = [[Rinko Ueda]] | illustrator = | publisher = [[Shueisha]] | publisher_en = {{flagicon|USA}} [[Viz Media]] | publisher_other = | demographic = [[Shōjo]] | magazine = [[Margaret (magazine)|Margaret]] | magazine_en = | magazine_other = | published = | first = 2002 | last = 2007 | volumes = 15 | volume_list = }} {{Infobox animanga/Footer}} {{Nihongo|'''''Tail of the Moon'''''|月のしっぽ|Tsuki no Shippo}} is a [[shōjo]] [[manga]] series by [[Rinko Ueda]].<ref name="ann">{{Ann manga|5138}}. Accessed [[2007-03-21]].</ref> All fifteen volumes, along with the one volume prequel, have been published in North America by [[Viz Media]] as part of their Shojo Beat imprint.<ref>http://viz.com/products/products.php?series_id=1112</ref><ref>http://viz.com/products/products.php?product_id=7753</ref> The main characters are Usagi and Hattori Hanzo. ==Plot== The story takes place in the [[Tenshō (Momoyama period)|Tenshō]] Era of Japan. Usagi is a bumbling [[ninja]]-in-training in her village in southern [[Iga Province|Iga]]. Since she is such a terrible ninja and has made no progress, though she is already fifteen, her grandfather gives her a special mission: to go to Segachi and marry Hanzō Hattori, the leader of the main branch ninja family, and bear his child. Mamezo, Usagi's longtime friend, companion,and foster child ,accompanies her on her trip to Segachi. Once they arrive it becomes apparent that Hanzō has no intention of marrying anyone, and worse yet, it seems Usagi has a much more refined rival. It is clear that as Usagi spends more time with Hanzō, she is growing on him, though the fact that he is constantly bombarded with new potential brides makes Usagi self-conscious. ==Characters== ;Usagi Momochi (also known as "Usa") :A young ninja-in-training who seeks to marry Hanzō Hattori in order to bear his child for the sake of her family. Her one skill is the making of medicinal herbs, because she suffers from constant stomach aches and sought to find a medicine that would cure them. It is revealed that originally, Usagi faked stomach aches to get out of ninja practice, but as she got older she really began to have them. She is rather inept as a ninja and widely considered a "ninja failure", though she steadily improves over time and eventually becomes a competent ninja. Usagi is very kind-hearted, such as when she tries to get Hanzō and Princess Sara together because she hopes it would make Hanzō happy, and innocent, having learned how babies are made when her friend Kame only after she instructs Usagi on how to seduce Ranmaru in order for them to escape his prison alive.<ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 10">Tail of the Moon, vol. 10</ref>. :Usagi is an orphan <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 2">Tail of the Moon, vol. 2</ref>; her father was apparently killed by a bear on the "Mountain of Death" and her mother died in childbirth along with the new baby <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 3">Tail of the Moon, vol. 3</ref>. She and Goemon had been together since her birth and she doesn't have passionate feelings for him like she does for Hanzō. Usagi eventually becomes Hanzō's official fiancee <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 7">Tail of the Moon, vol. 7</ref> and marries him <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 12">Tail of the Moon, vol. 12</ref>, but on their wedding night, the Oda clan attacks Iga. Because Hanzō hides her in a secret place, Usagi survives the attack and emerges three days later, setting out to the remains of Iga and learning that three high ranking ninjas have been killed, one of them being Hanzō. In the subsequent year, Usagi recovers and matures, becoming a remarkable ninja while still caring for a grown Mamezo, though she still loves Hanzō and doesn't want to forget him. She eventually discovers her grandparents and Yuri are still alive and becomes engaged to Yuki, a herbalist who works for Lord Ieyasu <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 13">Tail of the Moon, vol. 13</ref>. When she is captured by Ranmaru and saved by a mysterious ninja, Yuki suspects that Usagi's savior is Hanzō. To comfirm this for herself, Usagi works for the Oda clan as a herbalist and is reunited with Hanzō, only to be told he doesn't love her any longer. Heartbroken and betrayed, she continues to work and protect Nobunaga under Hanzō's scorn. After escaping an ambush on the Oda castle, she meets Hanzō and tells him their passed on friends would want them to live a happy life. They later have three daughters and a newborn baby boy named hanzo also < Iga, hence his being referred to as ''Shimo-no-Hanzō'' (下の半蔵 "Lower-(Iga)-Hanzō") to distinguish him from thref>Tail of the Moon, vol. 15</ref>. ;{{nihongo|'''Hanzō Hattori'''|服部 半蔵|Hattori Hanzō}}, or {{nihongo|'''Shimo-no-Hanzō'''|下の半蔵|Shimo-no-Hanzō}} :Usagi's love interest. A dedicated and talented young ninja who is head of the Hattori clan of Segachi in lowere other ninja also named "Hanzō Hattori" (including the historical [[Hattori Hanzō|Hanzō Hattori]]). Since Hanzō was eleven, he has held the difficult position of leading the weakening Hattori clan <ref>Tail of the Moon, vol. 2; "lead the weakening Hattori clan since he was 11 years old".</ref> :Hanzō has made it clear that he has no intention of marrying anyone, although he allows Usagi to hang around and even indulges her a little. He still has feelings for Princess Sara, who does not reciprocate his feelings. However, he starts to fall in love with Usagi <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 3"/> and eventually tells her that he wants to marry her <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 7"/>. He marries Usagi and is believed to have been killed on their wedding night during a night raid by Oda clan. However, a man who resembles Hanzō appears and saves Usagi <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 13"/> and it is revealed that Hanzō survived the attack and plots revenge on Nobunaga <ref>Tail of the Moon, vol. 14</ref> ;Mamezo :Usagi's constant companion and foster child. He is a young boy who looks to be between six to eight years old, although he seems somewhat more skilled in every day tasks than Usagi, even helping her to get dressed <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 2"/>. Mamezo was a baby, he had been found by Usagi's dog, Shiro,<ref>Tail of the Moon, vol. 5</ref> and it is believed by Hanzō that Mamezo's fear of dogs stems from this incident. Later on it seems that Mamezo's deepest wish is to have Usagi as his mother and to have Hanzō as his father. Eventually, Mamezo's real parents had found him and then rejected him since his father tried to force Mamezo to forget his past and his mother, stating that she cannot love him as she loves his baby brother. His grandfather entrusts Usagi to care for him after knowing that Mamezo can never become a court noble. He helps Usagi in her missions as a ninja later on. After the attack on Iga, Usagi is forced to mature as she must care for Mamezo. He later becomes engaged to his childhood friend Watari who he had thought was a boy, but is really a girl. ;{{nihongo|'''Yuri Fujibayashi'''|藤林 百合|Fujibayashi Yuri}} :Usagi's rival. Yuri is clearly more talented than Usagi at [[ninjutsu]], but seems to be threatened by the way Usagi's good-natured and straightforward behavior seems to affect Hanzō. Shortly after she arrives, she attempts to poison Usagi but fails due to Usagi's immunity. Later, she develops a girlish crush (which later develops to full-on romantic feelings) on Goemon, mentioning to Usagi how "lucky" she is to have Goemon so devoted to her. She claimed to have been qualified as a ninja at the age of seven, though Hanzō finds out that it had actually been Yuri's twin sister, Yuna, who achieved the feat. Yuri's desperation and ruthless determination to become a ninja had been to escape the shadow of her sister.She sees her grandfather and friend die during the attack opn Iga, becomes a qualified ninja, and forms a relationship with Goemon. <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 13"/> ;{{nihongo|'''Hanzou Hattori'''|服部 半蔵|Hattori Hanzou}}, or {{nihongo|'''Kami-no-Hanzou'''|上の半蔵|Kami-no-Hanzou}} :A relative of Shimo-no-Hanzō Hattori, this Hanzou is from the Hattori clan of Okazaki in upper Iga, hence his being referred to as ''Kami-no-Hanzō'' (上の半蔵 "Upper-(Iga)-Hanzō") to distinguish him from the other ninja also named "Hanzō Hattori" (including the historical [[Hattori Hanzou|Hanzō Hattori]], who is Kami-no-Hanzou's father in this story). While he is a notorious playboy, he is currently in a relationship with Sara, the daughter of [[Oda Nobunaga]]. Their relationship is one that his father reservedly accepts, not only because (as the manservant of [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]]) the Hattori clan is current warring against her father, but also her father's aim to obliterate all ninja in Japan. He is devoted to and protective of Sara, refusing to allow her to go on an assignment because she is pregnant with their child <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 7"/>. They eventually have a daughter named Kaguya <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 12"/>. Hanzō compares him to [[Hikaru Genji]] from ''[[The Tale of Genji]]'' <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 2"/>. ;Princess Sara :The daughter of the feudal warlord [[Oda Nobunaga]], Princess Sara is a talented ninja, but is considered an enemy by many ninja clans due to her father's actions and assassins are regularly sent after her. She is attended by a loyal retainer, Rikimaru, who is also a ninja. It is revealed that Sara climbs three mountains every day to stay fit. She once faked a marriage to Shimo-no-Hanzō to save Iga from an attack by her father and remains an ally of the ninja of Iga. Though she despises Kami-no-Hanzō's flirting, her love for him is so strong that she would rather die than live without him. She becomes pregnant with Kami-no-Hanzō's child <ref>Tail of the Moon, vol. 3, chapter 16</ref>. Her daughter Kaguya is eventually born after the attack on Iga and was delivered with Usagi's help. She and Kami-no-Hanzō are the main characters of ''Tsuki no Toiki'', the prequel to ''Tail of the Moon''. {{nihongo|'''Goemon Ishikawa'''|石川 五右衛門|Ishikawa Goemon}} :He was once engaged to be married to Usagi, and grew up taking care of her in their ninja village. Goemon canceled the engagement for some unknown reason (revealed to be that he so incredibly injured on an assignment that he had no choice but to cancel as he felt he can no longer take of Usagi as she needed), but appears to still hold feelings for Usagi, and actively interferes with communications between Hanzō and Usagi for a while. A real [[Ishikawa Goemon]] is known in Japanese history, being a skilled ninja and a bandit. :Goemon was described as one of the finest ninja in Iga until he broke his leg during an assignment. He is still a wonderful athlete, especially when he takes Usagi's medicine to help his leg. He is a very easy-going guy and not afraid to be very intimate with Usagi in public. Later, his leg is completely healed due to a meeting with the mountain hermit and, once healed, he continues working as the most outstanding ninja. He is one of the few ninja who survived the attack on Iga because he was on an assignment that night. When he breaks the code of the ninja and starts stealing money, Usagi stops him <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 13"/>. While he continues to remain protective of Usagi and greatly wishes for her happiness, he eventually marries Yuri. {{nihongo|'''Ieyasu Tokugawa'''|徳川 家康|Tokugawa Ieyasu}} :Another feudal lord, Ieyasu's son and wife were killed by Princess Sara in the manga (although that is not historically true). Usagi first met him in the woods when gathering herbs to tend to a wounded soldier. Later, he stitched up Usagi's forehead when she ran into a wall and he hired her as an herbalist to assist his current herbalist, Yukimaru. After much begging on Usagi's part, he allows Sara and Kami-no-Hanzō to be together. Kami-no-Hanzō's father, the historical [[Hattori Hanzō|Hanzō Hattori]], works for him and this is the reason that he will not allow Kami-no-Hanzō and Sara to be together. Usagi also inspires him to gain control of Japan in order to establish peace and prosperity. He lets Usagi work and live with him. {{nihongo|'''Yukimaru'''|雪丸}} :Ieyasu Tokugawa's chief herbalist, a beautiful young man who has studied western medicine. Originally Usagi believed him to be a woman, due to his good looks, while Yukimaru believed Usagi to be a boy. Yukimaru has a [[fear of women]], and Usagi makes him uncomfortable, though he falls in love with her. To keep her by his side, he even burns the elixir of eternal life, which will allow her to leave Ieyasu Tokugawa. When he comes back from the west, he is surprised to see how beautiful and strong Usagi has become <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 12"/>. He sets out to go look for a "monster" that has been haunting the new Iga after the destruction of the former one. He goes with Usagi so she can finally cry since she has never cried after the attack. He is briefly engaged with Usagi after Hanzō's apparent death <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 13"/>, but releases her from their engagement when he suspects Hanzō is alive and wishes for Usagi's happiness. ;Master Momochi Tanba :Usagi's great-grandfather and one of the three high ranking ninjas. He fears that Usagi will be left all alone if he dies and she has not yet become a wife or a ninja. He is an excellent ninja, capable ofwearing a disguise that even fools Hanzō's sharp eyes <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 10"/>. On Usagi's wedding night, he was one of the three high ranking ninja targeted by the Oda clan during the attack on Iga and is believed to have died in the attack. However, he had survived and chose not to reveal himself because he wished to see Usagi mature into an adult <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 13"/>. He and his son, Sandayu (Usagi's grandfather), look remarkably alike and often argue. ;Ranmaru Mori :The most loyal follower underneath Oda Nobunaga. He is in charge of hunting down Iga ninja, but somehow falls deeply in love Usagi. He even tries to have his way with her even going as far saying that as he was having sex with her best friend Kame, he imagined that it was with Usagi. After the attack on Iga, he sets out to look for Usagi, but finds the dead and burned Kame, and later kidnaps Usagi <ref name="Tail of the Moon, vol. 13"/>. He is a bitter rival of Mitsuhide, who was granted the Sakamoto Castle, which had been previously held by Ranmaru's family. He dies protecting Usagi. ;Kame :Usagi's best friend since childhood, they are like sisters to one another. She is a beautiful and outstanding ninja, but had once been picked on for being a slow learner and Usagi would have to save her. Though she graduated second-to-last from Usagi, the reason is that Kame would constantly give into Usagi's demands to play with her. When she discovers that Usagi is Hanzo's bride elect, Kame is relieved that someone will care for Usagi when she cannot. While she loves Goemon, Kame becomes Ranmaru's lover in order to learn about the plans for the attack on Iga; she has no compunction whatsoever to seduce any man and kill him to protect her home and Usagi. Kame dies saving Usagi during the attack on Iga. ;Mitsuhide Akechi :A loyal retainer of Nobunaga and the holder of Sakamoto Castle, Mitsuhide is thoughtful man with moderate political views and an open mind. He is a devoted husband to his wife, Hiroko, and father to their daughter, Tama. He suffers from failing eyesight and when Usagi makes him medicine to help improve his vision, Mitsuhide realizes that not all ninja are bad. He secretly helps the Iga ninja, though is eventually discovered by Ranmaru. Mitsuhide is forced to lead the eventual attack on Iga and Ranmaru's machinations force Mitsuhide out of Nobunaga's favour, Mitsuhide leads a rebellion against Nobunaga as revenge for Hiroko, who committed suicide in hopes it would atone for Mitsuhide's perceived slight on Nobunaga. Though Mitsuhide is believed to have died in the attack after being captured by [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]]'s forces, he continues to secretly live as a monk named Tenkai with Ieyasu. ;Oda Nobunaga :A powerful warlord conquering clans in Japan and on the verge of unifying the entire nation, Nobunaga is temperamental and despises all ninja, but is also known for recognizing a person for their abilities rather than their social status. He is the father of Princess Sara, as well as Sara's older sister Toku and her brother Nobukatsu. His constant shifting moods make him unpredicatable, forcing many lords like Mitsuhide and Ieyasu to act extremely carefully around him. Usagi's talents eventually reach him and he forces her to remain as his herbalist, which she agrees to for the sake of finding Hanzō and dissuading him from taking revenge for the destruction of Iga. During Mitsuhide's revolt, Hanzō pretends to kill Nobunaga to appease Mitsuhide's desire for revenge, but really doesn't, and Nobunaga walks into the flames Mitsuhide had created and is found dead after the fires burn out. ==References== * Ueda, Rinko. ''Tail of the Moon: Prequel.'' California: Viz Media, LLC, 200?. * Ueda, Rinko. ''Tail of the Moon: Vol. 1.'' California: Viz Media, LLC, 2006. * Ueda, Rinko. ''Tail of the Moon: Vol. 2.'' California: Viz Media, LLC, 2006. * Ueda, Rinko. ''Tail of the Moon: Vol. 3.'' California: Viz Media, LLC, 2007. * Ueda, Rinko. ''Tail of the Moon: Vol. 4.'' California: Viz Media, LLC, 200?. * Ueda, Rinko. ''Tail of the Moon: Vol. 5.'' California: Viz Media, LLC, 200?. * Ueda, Rinko. ''Tail of the Moon: Vol. 6.'' California: Viz Media, LLC, 200?. * Ueda, Rinko. ''Tail of the Moon: Vol. 7.'' California: Viz Media, LLC, 200?. * Ueda, Rinko. ''Tail of the Moon: Vol. 8.'' California: Viz Media, LLC, 200?. * Ueda, Rinko. ''Tail of the Moon: Vol. 9.'' California: Viz Media, LLC, 200?. * Ueda, Rinko. ''Tail of the Moon: Vol. 10.'' California: Viz Media, LLC, 200?. * Ueda, Rinko. ''Tail of the Moon: Vol. 11.'' California: Viz Media, LLC, 200?. * Ueda, Rinko. ''Tail of the Moon: Vol. 12.'' California: Viz Media, LLC, 200?. * Ueda, Rinko. ''Tail of the Moon: Vol. 13.'' California: Viz Media, LLC, 200?. * Ueda, Rinko. ''Tail of the Moon: Vol. 14.'' California: Viz Media, LLC, 200?. * Ueda, Rinko. ''Tail of the Moon: Vol. 15.'' California: Viz Media, LLC, 200?. ==External links== *[http://annex.s-manga.net/tukinoshippo/main.html Official ''Tail of the Moon'' website] {{ja icon}} *{{ann manga|id=5135}} *[http://www.akacool.com/2582/tail-of-the-moon/ ''Tail of the Moon''] at akacool.com [[Category:Manga of 2002]] [[Category:Shōjo]] [[Category:Viz Media manga]] [[ja:月のしっぽ]]'