Tail of the Moon

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I am here to bear your child!

Usagi is the great-granddaughter of the leader of a prestigious Ninja clan. However, she's so klutzy that she's never made it out of the kiddy class, and is the oldest ninja in training, unable to receive her qualification due to her laziness and klutziness. Until the twelfth volume, that is.

Her great-grandfather, Master Tanba, decides to send her away on a mission she could complete--going to the stoic leader of the Hattori branch of the Iga clans, marrying him, and bearing his children! However, the stern leader has no interest in her, or her babymaking abilities, and rejects her outright. Determined to complete her mission, Usagi swears to bear his children, no matter what the cost.

Usagi's story takes place against the backdrop of the Tenshō Era in Japan during the warlord Oda Nobunaga's attempted unification of Japan. His hatred of ninjas and his desire to attack Iga to destroy the ninja village becomes a major plot point as the story progresses, eventually leading up to the attack and massacre of Iga.

Tail of the Moon spanned 15 volumes from 2002-2007, beginning in Margaret magazine and then getting licensed by Viz Media under their Shojo Beat imprint.

Mangaka: Rinko Ueda

Tropes used in Tail of the Moon include:

• Action Girl: Sara and, later, Yuri
• A Handful for an Eye: Used by Usagi on more than one occasion to get out of trouble
• Alas, Poor Villain: Ranmaru and Nobunaga
• All of the Other Reindeer: Usagi is frequently bullied for being unable to make her qualification
• Alpha Bitch: Yuri is this at first, although she eventually warms up.
• Anti-Villain: Mitsuhide serves Nobunaga, but is against war.
• Art Evolution: As the story progresses, the characters (the men in particular) change, and the art does become much prettier.
• Babies Ever After
• Badass Grandpa: Usagi's great-grandfather, Master Tanba
• Band of Brothels: Visited by Usagi
• Beta Couple: Hanzou and Sara
• Big Bad: Oda Nobunaga
• Big Damn Heroes: Hanzo is this to Usagi on more than one occasion
• Big Eater: Usagi
• Can't Catch Up: Yuri, to Yuna
  • Usagi, to everyone.
• Captain Ersatz: Um, the main character is a klutzy lazy big eater named Usagi...
• Chekhov's Gunman: The man in Kouga whom Usagi sees after getting kidnapped by Hikaru turns out to be Ranmaru Mori, a major villain
  • Also, Watari, whose life Usagi saves after being kidnapped by Hikaru, works under her and Hanzo's (attempted) assassin
  • Kame, introduced for a few panels in the very first chapter, doesn't show up again until volume ten--in which she becomes a major character.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Yuki, to Usagi
• Chekhov's Skill: Usagi's medicine and tea making skills are initially just her hobby, but turn out to be a major skill later on in the series.
• Childhood Marriage Promise: One occurs between Mamezo and Hatsune
• Chivalrous Pervert: Hanzou
• Complete Monster: Oda Nobunaga
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: You'd think that Hanzo could count for most of the CMOA, but Usagi definitely gets some for herself. For instance, dousing herself with water to RUN INTO A BURNING BUILDING to save Mamezo, spanking Suzune's bratty children for setting the building on fire in the first place and nearly killing Mamezo even though Suzune was going to literally kill her for it, and her Took a Level in Badass after her Heroic BSOD
• Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: Pretty much any scene where Usagi cares for Mamezo as if she were his mother, and quite a few Usagi/Hanzo scenes.
• Death by Childbirth: Usagi's mother
• Dies Wide Open: Kame
• Doomed Hometown
• Dojikko: Usagi
• Dropped a Bridget On Him: Yuki and Watari
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Yuki
• Fangs Are Evil: Kotaro Fuma...well, he's not really evil, he's more or less a dork.
• Faux Action Girl: Usagi might be a kunoichi, but she can never seem to rescue herself. She has to be saved by someone else at nearly every occasion, even after her Took a Level in Badass (which only seemed to last for a couple of chapters).
• Gonk: Hatsune grows up to be something very close to this. Mamezo's nanny also counts.
• Heel Face Turn: Mitsuhide
• Heroic BSOD: Usagi suffers from one after the massacre at Iga
• Heroic Sacrifice: Kame dies after saving Usagi from a gunman
• He's Just Hiding: Fans think this of Hanzo after he disappears after the raid on Iga. It turns out, they were right.
• High Octane Nightmare Fuel: The massacre of Iga, and believable due to the real-life horrors of war. The constant Dies Wide Open deaths don't help, either.
• Hollywood Homely: In-universe example. Yuri frequently says that Usagi has no sex appeal or beauty, yet quite a few men fall for her.
• Hollywood Pudgy: After her return from Lord Ieyasu, Usagi is constantly teased that she's become fat. However, she really does look the same except for in a couple of panels, where she is intentionally drawn that way.
• Idiot Ball: Usagi letting Mamezo out when they're supposed to be hiding...more than once.
• Idiot Hair: Usagi
• Important Haircut: Done by both Usagi (the second time) and Yuki
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Both Yuki and Goemon, for Usagi
• Jerkass: Ranmaru
• Ladykiller in Love: Hanzou, with Sara
• Luke, You Are My Father: Happens when Mamezo finally finds his family. It doesn't go over very well.
• Luminescent Blush: Yuki, on multiple occasions by Usagi
• Mama Bear: Usagi to Mamezo
  • Suzune to all of her children
• The Mole: Mitsuhide becomes The Mole, as his pacifistic ideals conflict with Nobunaga's violent approaches.
• Moral Event Horizon: Ranmaru purposely ruins the feast Mitsuhide was to prepare for Nobunaga for no real reason.
• Mutual Kill: Bomaru and Toshimitsu
• Ninja: Of course.
• The Nose Bleed: Usagi nosebleeds whenever Hanzo is shirtless, sometimes after they kiss, and thinking about them cuddling.
• No Sympathy: Hanzo's reaction to a depressed Usagi worrying that she'll never be as good as Sara? Locking her out of the village and refusing to let her in even when it starts raining.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: After Iga is destroyed
• Obi-Wan Moment: Kame
• Oblivious to Love: Usagi seems unaware that Goemon is being serious when he flirts, despite the obviousness of it.
• Official Couple: Usagi and Hanzo, Sara and Hanzou, Yuri and Goemon, Mamezo and Watari
• One Head Taller: Most of the couples work out this way, although it's justified with Usagi and Hanzo because at the start of the series she is only 15 and he looks to be about 20.
• Rags to Royalty: A variation. Mamezo is discovered by his grandfather. He's actually the son of a court noble, and is thrust into the world of riches, servants, and the rigid lifestyle of a noble. He quickly wants to return to Usagi...
• Retired Badass: Master Tanba
• She's All Grown Up: Usagi might have only aged a year after the attack, but she's definitely changed. In a good way...?
  • Watari, after the final timeskip
• The Slacker: Usagi, initially
• The Stoic: Hanzo
• Suck Out the Poison: Usagi
• Tear Jerker: Although the raid on Iga is sad enough, Kame's death takes the cake.
  • Mamezo getting outright REJECTED by his own mother!
• Those Two Guys: Hanzo's servants
• Took a Level in Badass: Usagi took a HUGE level in badass after the massacre at Iga
• Training from Hell: Suzune's chore training
• Tsundere: Hanzou teased Hanzo by calling him this during an omake (the latter was unable to get the reference)
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: After Yuki has an Important Haircut before leaving for the West, he promises to come back as "a man who can tell [Usagi] his feelings." When he does, not only has he regrown his hair so he looks exactly the same, but he acts the exact same way to Usagi.
• The Unfavorite: When Mamezo finally finds his parents, they are downright cold and distant to him, and his mother outright states that she would never be able to love the longtime-missing Mamezo as she could her current child
• Unlucky Childhood Friend: Goemon
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Between Hanzo and Mamezo
• Who Dares?: Yuri says this line after seeing her dead grandfather
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: The hermit, saddened by the death of his loved ones, wishes he would die just to see his family again.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: Princess Sara