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Post by coke & comics on Jul 23, 2014 19:39:27 GMT -5
Once, on another forum, in what seems like a different life, I was reviewing Usagi Yojimbo. I would like to continue doing so. I saved off those old reviews and may one day somehow repost them. But for now I wish to move forward. As before, I have decided to review stories in publication order. This is because all my exposure so far comes from reading in trade, in the order the trades present the stories. I wanted to see what it would be like to a fan reading along from the beginning. Commentary, criticism, reading along, adding your own reviews, etc. are all more than welcome. All stories reviewed by Stan Sakai. Here is a link to a poorly formatted version of the old reviews, for those interested: drive.google.com/file/d/0B7QFN1RlOQJnMHhKamdORTF6UUE/view?usp=sharing |
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Post by coke & comics on Jul 23, 2014 19:40:26 GMT -5
Before going further, I would like to take this opportunity to mention a charitable opportunity. Stan Sakai, the creator of Usagi Yojimbo, is caring for his wife, who has been battling a debilitating illness. His decision to care for her in home has placed a huge financial burden on the household. The community of comic artists had done an amazing job showing support, creating several pieces to be sold with the money going to benefit caring for Stan's wife. Dark Horse is releasing an art book specifically to benefit the Sakais. Details: www.darkhorse.com/Books/26-371/The-Sakai-Project-Artists-Celebrate-Thirty-Years-of-Usagi-Yojimbo-HCStan Sakai is famed for being the nicest guy in comics, and he is extremely grateful for any support. |
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Post by coke & comics on Jul 23, 2014 19:41:21 GMT -5
We have previously reviewed Usagi stories from:
Albedo #2-4
Usgai Yojimbo Summer Special
Critters #1,3,6,7,10,11,14,23,38,50
Doomsday Squad #3
Usagi Yojimbo (Fantagraphics #1-31)
Turtle Soup
Usagi Yojimbo Color Special #1-2
We will be picking up any day now with Usagi Yojimbo #32, which introduces a girl just doing what she has to do to get by.
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Post by coke & comics on Jul 23, 2014 19:42:32 GMT -5
The story so far:
Fedual Japan, turn of the 17th century. Miyamoto Usagi was a loyal retainer to his Lord Mifune, until Mifune's defeat by Lord Hikiji and death on the battle of Adachigahara Plain. Now Usagi is a ronin, wandering feudal Japan on a warrior's pilgrimage.
Usagi is an excellent samurai, trained by Katsuichi, who founded his own school of swordsmanship. To train to be a samurai and then become a retainer to Mifune, Usagi left his childhood home, including his sweetheart Mariko and his rival Kenichi. Kenichi is now the village headman and husband to Mariko. Together they raise their son, Jotaro. Usagi had wanted to return home, but past rivalries and secrets continue to keep him away.
He has many time encountered the schemes of the dark lord, Hikiji, who killed Usagi's father and lord, and is always questing for more personal power. We rarely see Hikiji but he acts though his counselor, Hebi, and sometimes with the aid of ninja clans. In the past, he has worked with the Mogura the Neko, and the Komori ninja.
Usagi has repeatedly encountered and aided the Geishu clan, under the rule of the benevolent child lord, Lord Noriyuki. His chief retainer is Tomoe Ame, a samurai Usagi has perhaps developed an attraction toward.
In his wanderings, Usagi has encountered many colorful characters, and often seems to keep running into them. These include:
Gen A bounty hunter and Usagi's self-proclaimed best friend. Their relationship often amounts to cheating each other out of earnings, but Gen has proven he can be depended on when it counts.
Ino The blind swordspig, always seeking quiet and finding only violence. When last we saw him, his dream of peace finally seemed to be coming true.
Spot Usagi's pet tokage (lizard) who later kept Ino company. Spot was killed defending Fujiko from bandits
Jei The gods speak to Jei, tell him who is evil and must die. So he kills. And is very good at it. Only Usagi has managed to defeat him so far. But they will meet again...
Leonardo Leader of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles who has twice encountered Usagi somehow.
Shingen Leader of the Neko ninja, occasional enemy of Usagi. They made common cause for the Dragon Bellow affair, where Shingen sacrificed his life.
Fujiko A kind peasant woman with whom Ino finally finds the peace he craves.
Lone Goat and Kid Yagi and Gorogoro. Along with General Oyaneko, Yagi was a retainer to Lord Higashi and then his heir Hirone. Both were betrayed by corrupt counselors: Wakame, Tadon, and Kagihana. Yagi now seeks revenge while selling out his services as an assassin. And don't underestimate his young child.
Shunji Katsuichi's current student. His brother Sunichi was killed by Shubo, a samurai who teamed with a gambler to duel for gambling money, before being killed by Usagi, widowing Kuniyo.
Goyemon A painter whose paintings come to life through sorcery.
And a peasant woodcutter and his wife.
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Post by coke & comics on Jul 23, 2014 19:44:07 GMT -5
The best stories so far (in my humble opinion)
1. Circles The best of everything. Thrilling action, secrets revealed, and an ending with so much heart and emotional maturity. The story of Usagi's decision to not settle down at home. No short description can do it justice.
2. Dragon Bellow Conspiracy All the characters we have met so far are brought together for an epic battle for the fate of Japan. A story of evil and heroism and sacrifice and honor and redemption, as well as a masterpiece of graphic storytelling.
3. Samurai The origin of Usagi, from his childhood to his training to his first return home and final meeting with his father to his entering the service of Lord Mifune.
4. A Kite Story A detailed insight into the process and wonder of kitemaking. A sad but redemptive tale of three intersecting stories: the ronin, the gambler and the kite-maker.
5. Homecoming Usagi attempts to settle down in his old home, but finds old rivalries and unrequited love, and decides his life is best spent on the road. Introduces the heart at the core of this series, and ends with a cute, touching, but ultimately sad scene.
6. The Way of the Samurai A one-time great samurai who was betrayed and dishonored now serves a village. He is getting old and wants to die an honorable death in a duel with Usagi. A compelling clash of values follows.
7. The Duel A samurai named Shubo needs to provide for his family and so has teamed with a gambler to arrange duels and win betting money. He needs only fight one more duel, then he will be done. His last duel is with Usagi.
8. The Tower A lizard is trapped atop a tall tower and a storm may knock it down. Humans have been cruel to the lizard, but Usagi must earn its trust if he is to save it. The lizard becomes his pet Spot.
9. A Mother's Love A short yet heartbreaking tale about a kind old woman whose son is evil, and the choice she must make.
10. Blade of the Gods An insane serial killer believes he is doing the work of the gods killing people who are evil. This leads to the first awesome swordfight of the series.
11. Blind Swordspig. A parable about a tragic character who cannot find peace, and blames all but himself for this failing.
*I tried really hard to only pick 10!*
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,860
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Post by shaxper on Jul 23, 2014 20:35:32 GMT -5
I am SO glad to see this back!
Absolutely. I think it's probably my #2 of all time, but #1 is still a ways off.
Also agreed.
I think I would have chosen A Mother's Love and The Tower over this, but it's a good one.
Another great choice.
I have zero memory of this one.
Absolute classics. I would have placed them higher on this list, but I generally agree with your choices.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 23, 2014 20:37:57 GMT -5
We will be picking up any day now with Usagi Yojimbo #32, which introduces a girl just doing what she has to do to get by. Let me go on record as saying that I have never liked Kitsune. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 23, 2014 21:15:33 GMT -5
I pretty much agree with the choices, but not the order... I think I'd put the Tower and A Mother's Love over the Kite Story (which is great, but doesn't really involve Usagi much) and Samurai (I don't think there's anything to special about the origin story. Also, I'd be ok with calling Homecoming and Circles one story, so that makes it ten  . Really surprised you don't remember the Duel Shax.. it's defnitely one of the more memorable ones! |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 23, 2014 21:18:39 GMT -5
Really surprised you don't remember the Duel Shax.. it's defnitely one of the more memorable ones! Well it encapsulates two themes that Sakai has returned to numerous times: staging conflicts for profit, and the ruse inevitably getting undone much to the pretenders' detriment, and someone going out to do something wrong ONE LAST TIME before they call it quits. They always die. So I get any story that ties into either of these themes muddled in my head. |
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Post by coke & comics on Jul 23, 2014 22:53:36 GMT -5
Really surprised you don't remember the Duel Shax.. it's defnitely one of the more memorable ones! Well it encapsulates two themes that Sakai has returned to numerous times: staging conflicts for profit, and the ruse inevitably getting undone much to the pretenders' detriment, and someone going out to do something wrong ONE LAST TIME before they call it quits. They always die. So I get any story that ties into either of these themes muddled in my head. This one has some impact on the overstory though. It first hints at the idea that Katsuichi may be alive because Shubo had previously fought and killed another samurai who fought in Usagi's style. In Circles, we learn this samurai was Sunichi, brother of Shunji, both students of Katsuichi. And of course the story will have a sequel later, when Usagi again meets up with the gambler and Kuniyo... |
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Post by coke & comics on Jul 28, 2014 20:39:54 GMT -5
"Kitsune" Usagi Yojimbo #32 (February, 1992) Reprinted in Usagi Yojimbo Book 7: Gen's Story  Summary: Usagi witness a street performer do tricks with a fan and top and is impressed. He introduces himself after the show, tipping her. Her name is Kitsune. She likes Usagi and feels a little guilty about stealing his purse, but.. "A girl has to do what she can to get by." Usagi notices the loss when it is time to pay for dinner. He ends up washing dishes. Meanwhile, Hatsu the gambler and is bodyguard enter the gambling den of Ichinobei. Hatsu wins a lot of money. He had cheated by bribing a worker. Later, Ichinobei sends his men to ambush Hatsu and get his money back. They kill his bodyguard and chase Hatsu to the inn where Usagi is washing dishes. Usagi runs them out. Hatsu pays the innkeeper for the damages so he will not call the police. Usagi does not seem to recognize Hatsu, even though they had had conflict during a kite festival. Hatsu decides to risk hiring Usagi to protect him. The pair comes across Kitsune peforming more top tricks, this time with swords. When Ichinobei's men attack, Kitsune and Usagi team up to run them off. After the battle, Usagi realizes who Hatsu is and chases after him. He later steals back his purse from Kitsune. Thoughts:One of my favorite things is always the seamless integration of some aspect of traditional Japanese culture into the story. In this issue, we get as a beautiful opening a demonstration of a performance balancing a top (koma) on a fan. The particular arrangement is called "Strolling on a Dragon's Back". It is performed to an appreciative audience amidst a large crowd which includes two familiar woodcutters. These tops were made by the famous craftsman of Kanagawa province. We also see fighting tops, called Beigoma, and learn these are often played with by children. During this lesson, the plot is being subtly set up as two people clearly looking for something wander through the background. If we were really paying attention, we would recognize one of them to be Hatsu the gambler, last seen in Usagi Yojimbo #20. We will later see more cool top tricks involving balancing them on swords. My first complaint about the story is that Usagi gets robbed a bit too easily. He is usually depicted as being very aware of surroundings. Letting his purse get snatched goes against what we know about him and is used to demonstrate the skill of Kitsune. To think she may be fast enough to get past his training is fine. But he then fails to notice his purse lost until much later. This seems counter to what we know of him. However, the ending, when Usagi steals from her makes up for this somewhat. Usagi spends some time trying to remember who Hatsu is, saying "I usually don't forget a face, but I've met so many people in the past few years..." This seems to be Stan poking fun at his own story, and a common pitfall of episodic series, that a single individual runs into an inordinate amount of interesting situations. By the end of the issue, humor seems to be the theme. It really is a lighthearted tale. Usagi defeats the thugs by growling at them. The gambler promises to return if he is saved then hopes nobody hear him. And Usagi finally recognizes Hatsu, leading to a comical chase. The warmth of the tale comes from the interaction between Usagi and Kitsune. When they meet again, he knows she had stolen from him, but gives no sign of it and seems to bear her no ill will. He seems to implicitly understand her philosophy. So he does not complain about the theft and merely takes his money back. This could be the beginning of an odd friendship. But his friendship with Gen began under such conditions. I am told there are some who do not like the character of Kitsune, but it is hard to see why that might be from these pages. She does cool tricks with tops and thus fills a role similar to the kite-maker from A Kite Story. She is a bit of a scoundrel, but a pleasant one, and does no real harm. And as I mentioned above, there is a lot of warmth in the interaction between her and Usagi. Notes: |
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Post by coke & comics on Jul 28, 2014 20:43:23 GMT -5
Out of curiosity, do others see the image I supposedly included in the previous post?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2014 20:45:59 GMT -5
I see the code for it but not the image...maybe there is a formatting error?
-M
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Post by coke & comics on Jul 28, 2014 22:05:21 GMT -5
I think the forum is being buggy. I deleted and reinserted the image using the gui. And the post looked fine in the preview, image and all.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 29, 2014 9:15:04 GMT -5
I agree when I first read this one I thought Usagi being pick pocketed was kinda ridiculous, but as the series goes on, it's kinda portrayed that money is very, low on Usagi's priority list, so it makes more sense... he just didn't care that much.
Contrary to Shax, I really like Kitsune, I thought it refreshing to show a thief that wasn't remorseful, or that was a 'good' thief. She know's she's a thief, and is proud of it, because 'a girl does what she has to to get by'.
That's far better than the typical thief character that is either a cocky thrillseeker, or a hero that was 'forced' into it by a tough life.
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