shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,862
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Post by shaxper on Feb 16, 2016 20:39:50 GMT -5
 Published: February 1995 Synopsis: Usagi, Gen, and Stray Dog team up to take down the brigands from the "Slavers" storyline who now possess Usagi's swords. Notes: Discuss the issue and/or post full reviews below! |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 25, 2016 20:54:59 GMT -5
Once again the actions okay but I found myself kind of scanning it as there really wasn't any meat to it. The ending with Stray Dog funding the oprhanage was great though so the issue wasn't a complete loss.
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Post by stillpoint on Oct 22, 2016 0:41:38 GMT -5
This story made me a fan of Stray Dog. (He'd only been introduced in the previous issue, so maybe I'm easily impressed.) He's a jerk but cunning. He's already planned how he'll use Hanako to get sole possession of the reward for Fujii even before he and Gen and Usagi enter Fujii's camp. And he also supports an orphanage. Stan is not in the habit of creating one-dimensional characters, of course, but Stray Dog really is multi-faceted.
I'm not much of a fan of buddy comedy in general, probably because it's not done well most of the time, but I almost always enjoy it in Usagi. Gen gets all the best lines. For whatever reason, his exasperated shout at the impeccably honorable Usagi of "Your word?! AARRGH! You infuriate me!" always makes me laugh.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,862
|
Post by shaxper on Oct 24, 2016 8:22:30 GMT -5
This story made me a fan of Stray Dog. (He'd only been introduced in the previous issue, so maybe I'm easily impressed.) He's a jerk but cunning. He's already planned how he'll use Hanako to get sole possession of the reward for Fujii even before he and Gen and Usagi enter Fujii's camp. And he also supports an orphanage. Stan is not in the habit of creating one-dimensional characters, of course, but Stray Dog really is multi-faceted. I'm not much of a fan of buddy comedy in general, probably because it's not done well most of the time, but I almost always enjoy it in Usagi. Gen gets all the best lines. For whatever reason, his exasperated shout at the impeccably honorable Usagi of "Your word?! AARRGH! You infuriate me!" always makes me laugh. As much as I never developed an affection for Stray Dog, I was impressed by Stan's choice to present a side character who is just as competent and worthy of his own ongoing series as Usagi. This span of issues seems highly concerned with de-escalating our opinion of Usagi -- we're shown again and again that he is not the BEST swordsman in Nippon, nor one who never loses, and Stray Dog makes it clear that he's not even the only hero with a heart of gold. Stan seems confident enough in Usagi, at this point, that he trusts we'll continue to root for Usagi because we like him, and not because he's any kind of Gary Stu. Stray Dog is yet another way of illustrating that. It's around this point where I start to think that, if Stan could clone himself, we might see an entire Yojimbo-Verse, wth titles featuring Stray Dog, Gen, Inazuma, Tomoe, Chizu, and later Ishida and Sasuke. Each is arguably as deserving of attention as Usagi. |
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