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==Plot summary==

Frankly, there is little more to say about the confused and often self-contradictory plot than has already been stated in the summary given above. It is also clear that Miss Austen's knowledge of geography does not extend much beyond the borders of Western Europe. For example, when Kurosawa, the leader of the band of Ninjas, arrives in Barton Park, he greets Marianne by explaining that he and his fellow travellers have come all the way from Japan. Yet an entire chapter of the book is later devoted to describing (at interminable and excruciatingly inaccurate length) his early childhood in Peking.

Kurosawa is a problematic character for several reasons, and not just because of the casual (at least to modern eyes) racism of Miss Austen's descriptions of him and his countrymen. For reasons best known to Miss Austen, his name changes halfway through to Karaoke and he is subsequently referred to as "she." This has caused much critical debate (see below).