Tsukino of the moon village series#

Sometimes a character who is often seen as “weak” or a “damsel-in-distress” can make a great leading protagonist, with an excellent example of this is Kagome Higurashi from Inuyasha. Usagi doesn’t wield a dangerous weapon or fight very often, but she's still strong in her own way. Strong female leads like Revy from Black Lagoon or Faye from Cowboy Bebop can make the story more intriguing for fans, but not every female character needs to 'take action'. Many shojo manga, especially those written in more recent years, seem too caught up in making their female lead “powerful” and “strong” instead of making her compelling, complex, and fun to read about. This tells the reader Usagi has more interest in romance and finding a partner than she does in creating a name for herself among her peers, which isn’t a bad thing, it's actually quite refreshing. Usagi doesn’t have an interest in becoming a great or powerful ninja, but, when her grandpa gives her a “special mission” to bear Hanzo’s child, she sets off for Segachi right away.

Usagi is a terrible ninja - at the start of the manga, she’s shown training with children who don’t look much older than five or six years old. But, like most other manga, Usagi is her own character and has her own unique traits and faults she must overcome throughout the story. Usagi’s personality and attitude are nothing new when it comes to shojo manga leads - her personality is very similar to Usagi Tsukino from Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon. At first, the two girls view each other as “love rivals”, but Usagi slowly wins over Yuri’s platonic affection, and they become unlikely allies, bonding over their mutual annoyance with Hanzo’s reluctant attitude among other things. For example, there’s another woman named Yuri, a successful and highly skilled kunoichi who joins the pair, claiming she has also come to marry Hanzo.

Usagi is not allowed to return to her village until she becomes Hanzo’s wife, so she's forced to stay, hoping to win over Hanzo's heart.Īlong the way, Usagi faces many other obstacles other than Hanzo’s disinterest in marriage. When they reach Segachi, Usagi and Mamezo find out Hanzo has no interest in taking a wife. Usagi doesn’t travel to Segachi alone, she brings her friend - a little boy named Mamezo - along with her. Hanzo is the current head of the Hattori family's main ninja branch. Disgruntled with Usagi’s shortcomings, her grandfather sends her off to marry Hanzo Hattori, of Segachi and raise a family with him. Usagi lives with her grandfather in an unnamed village in southern Iga. A group of girls trying to fight evil by transforming into legendary superheroes! How cool is that? On the other hand, the cute witch magical girl type often includes a magical school or a competition with the goal to become queen.Set in the Tensho Era (1573 – 1592), Tail of the Moon tells the story of Usagi Momochi, a teenaged ninja-in-training who can’t quite seem to do anything right. So it’s not a surprise that we have found this trope in YA books nowadays. Sailor Moon renovated the magical girl genre and influenced future projects that had it as well. With the help of her Sailor Soldiers, she will also find the princess. We see schoolgirl Usagi Tsukino transforming into Sailor Moon, guardian of the Earth from the forces of evil who want to steal the Silver Crystal. Sailor Moon is such a pillar to anime and the magical girl genre. In this article you’ll see five epic magical girl YA books that you won’t be able to put down.

Tsukino of the moon village series#

Inspired by anime series like Card Captor Sakura and Sailor Moon and shows like Bewitched, the magical girl genre has become so popular in our culture today. There are different types of magical girls but I chose cute witches and magical girl warriors for today’s post. Before we talk about YA books, let’s start from the beginning.