In Kunoichi Bettegumi Igarashi Satsuki, Volume 3 (くノ一別手組ー五十嵐五月), Satsuki comes face to face with a political group that wants, not just foreigners’ expulsion from Japan…but their deaths!

But first, we learn that the new British Embassy in Edo has been burnt to the ground. Satsuki becomes manic until she learns that the caravan with her girlfriend Clare, has returned to Yokohama. Vlad requests that Clare stay under her roof, since she will be better protected there.

Satsuki is attacked by a ninja, but she’s so superior a fighter that she escapes unscathed, while the ninja, Kaoru, was wounded.  Kaoru returns to her leader and asks that she be given another chance, so she’s assigned to kill Vlad.

It turns out that there is a group that has almost cult-like devotees, dedicated to the deaths and expulsion of foreigners. Kaoru is deeply mesmerized by the group leader who insists all foreigners are murders as he exhorts his followers to commit murder.

To achieve her end, Kaoru masquerades as a lady of the red light district, but as she attempts to kill Vlad in bed, she just…cannot. Falling head over heels for the red-eyed, probably-a-vampire, Kaoru loses her will to kill her benefactor. Vlad challenges her – live here for a month and if you can kill me, do. Kaoru agrees, without realizing that she’s already lost.

Things heat up, and Kaoru goes back to her leader to argue that not all foreigners are bad, then comes up with a plan to kidnap one to prove her point. She takes Clare and is ready to present her proof that some foreigners are good, when she’s told to kill the girl. Finally, Kaoru sees that her cause is not just and she fights an epic battle with Satsuki in which everyone is saved and we all go home together for dinner. Kaoru never is seen again.

I’ve commented already about how this series sometimes becomes a “here’s what I learned today” kind of thing, but here in book three of this quite-silly premise, it actually starts to become something bigger. It is growing up into an actual historical novel.  It’s still a Light Novel, with pictures that illustrate the people, rather than the scene, but I spent a fair amount of time looking up the events that backlit the action and they are all real. I found this interesting history of the  British Embassy in Yokohama (the building for which still stands) written by a former British Consulate, Paul Madden.

As a story, I found the focus on Kaoru frustrating at times. There’s Clare and Satsuki living under one roof and instead we have to live in the head of a brainwashed ninja. But the climactic battle on an ice-covered pond was good and we’re all sorted for Volume 4, which will deal with the consequences of the Namamugi Incident, and the effects on Vlad’s household!

Ratings:

Art – Always never what I want illustrated. ^_^;
Story – I learned a lot, honestly.
Characters – Satsuki is officially too cool for her kimono
Service – Not really, considering Kaoru definitely slept with Vlad
Yuri – 9+ Satsuki and Clare, Vlad and pretty much everyone, and now Kinu’s having feelings for Vlad too

Overall – 7 A bit of a slog in places, but overall good.

Oh, btw, Claire is from Ireland, not England, her sister lived in England and got her a job when her family sent her away because of the Potato Famine. chiina-sensei just realized that as they wrote this book.

Another term I never really expected to learn in Japanese, ジャガイモ飢饉  jagaimo kikin, the Great Potato Famine. You never know when you’ll need random terms. I very much appreciate Kindle’s translation feature when I read these books. ^_^

There once was a girl from Old Japan
Whose leader gave her a important plan
To protect Edo’s empire
She’d need to bag them a probably-a-vampire
Instead the ninja became Vlad’s number one fan.