Special Edition: Blade of the Moon PRincess Vol. 2
Author: Tatsuya Endo
Illustrator: Tatsuya Endo
Publishers: Viz Media
Age Group: Teen
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Mythos Retelling, Shonen
Type: Manga
Content Warnings: violence
Spoilers ahead
Plot
Princess Kaguya is still on the run with her new side-kick, Mikuni Takano, an imperial guard in training who got lost in the woods on a survival assignment. Together they try to find the base only to end up at an Ume one!
Part of the plot also covers what the old couple are doing as well. They’re trying to make sure the enemy cannot return, fight some of the big bads, and find Kaguya.
We get more information into the Ume clan and Princess Izumiya, who I’m betting is Kaguya’s main villain. Princess Izumiya covets Kaguya’s spot because it was supposed to be hers originally. The Ume clan were the empresses before Kaguya’s mom overthrew the Pestle Empress, an empress that slaughtered a lot of people.
On top of that we are introduced to Akibo Amanobe, a young hacker trying to find his father and what he was investigating after his father was exiled to the tainted world on ‘consipracy of treason’. Akibo ends up arrested for hacking into secret government intel and sent to the tainted world as well. He becomes one of Kaguya’s allies in her fight against the Ume and returning to the moon.
The plot is better developed with Kaguya taking more of a stand. While she’s still on the run it doesn’t seem like she’s being tossed and turned anymore. The story seems more focused than it did before and the reader can finally get their bearings.
Character Development
Kagura is still our reckless, immature princess. She starts getting some character development by realizing what she’s bad at and staying true to her convictions. She has a giant heart and follows it even if she’s not the smartest. Her indomitable spirit makes her a complex character.
Mikuni Takano is the imperial guard in training who comes across Kaguya in book 1. He decides that while his goal is to become a love singer, he’ll protect Kaguya in the meantime. He’s goofy, cowardly, and kind of annoying. He wants him and Kaguya to be together and calls her Kags Babe all the time. He has quite the vivid imagination that gets him in trouble with Kaguya a lot.
Akibo Amanobe is our hacker looking for information on his dad. He wants to be a hero journalist just like him. He joins Kaguya’s cause because someone needs to be the smart one. He’s not afraid of a fight but uses his smarts to find the best use to help her.
Princess Izumiya is calculating, reasonable, but also jealous of Kaguya. While Izumiya is very popular, she thinks she deserves the throne more than Kaguya because she sees her as weak. She’s manipulating but controls her emotions around those that annoy her, unlike Kaguya.
We still have a variety of background characters that help Kaguya along the way. One such person is Grand Minister Yoshifusa, who helps Kaguya learn how to use her sword properly. He was the grand minister for the Pestle Empress. He’s mainly there to be the guide for Kaguya.
World-building
We get a lot of world-building in this volume. We learn more about the Pestle Empress that was mentioned in the first volume. Everyone compares reckless Kaguya with the Pestle Empress fearing she will turn out just like her. The Pestle Empress was an Ume, the original royal line, while Kaguya’s family is another line.
We learn from Yoshifusa that all to-be empresses have an inhibitor so they can’t use the sword effectively until it is undone, which is normally around their coming-of-age ceremony. He teaches her the basics of how to best use her sword and make her realize that defending isn’t the only option. In essence, he let’s her know that her way of doing things is okay. All the other adults in her life treated her like a child reminding her to only use the sword for defense. Yoshifusa doesn’t do that.
We learn a bit more about the coup and how it was executed, mostly through Akibo’s findings.
The world seems more fleshed out in this volume focusing on a few settings instead of tossing the audience around like a rag doll.
Themes
Convictions
Sticking to your convictions is important. What’s important to you? What will you do when you need to make a decision? Will you stick to your convictions or will you go with the flow? Kaguya does an excellent job of sticking to what she believes and her main goal. She doesn’t let other people sway her back and forth. She hates her insecurities and flaws, while She hasn't worked through them yet, there is room and hints in the story that we can expect that.
Observations & Predictions
This installment of Blade of the Moon Princess is much better than the first one. Everything isn’t as much over the top, though there are points in the story that do that. We get more world-building, character development, and plot.
With this new ally and her powers unlocked, it will be interesting to see how things develop. I’m hoping we get a lot more character development with Kaguya as she continues her ascend to the throne. I also hope that Mikuni also has more character development. Right now he’s still pretty annoying. I’d like to see his character round out a little bit.
We’ve already got a great main antagonist for Kaguya in Izumiya. I can’t wait to see Kaguya grow so they can be on equal footing. I also want to see Izumiya be a little more childish as she seems very adult and could use that.
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