The Original Issue/Lone Rabbit and Child
- Location
- United States of America
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Due to how slow things are lately for me, and how some media gems either go unnoticed or aren't appreciated, especially on their own wikias, I figured doing a Let's Read of Usagi Yojimbo would be a good idea. I can always do a (re)watch of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles later on when I feel comfortable. Some good advice from @Rojixus (who has done some similar work on Transformers) was most appreciated, too.
Usagi Yojimbo, by Stan Sakai, is something many TMNT fans like myself learned about from the 2003 and 2012 animated series, but the real comic where Miyamoto Usagi calls home is not something most people may know of. I myself had only a scant level about it until I started buying the hardcover special edition and the following nine Usagi Yojimbo Saga, plus Legends, omnibuses online from wherever I could. It's a pretty good series, although, I suppose I can understand why its not given enough attention compared to more animated media and such.
Because of how big the comic series is, though, I think reading them by omnibus would be easier to keep track of compared to by publisher, or even altogether. I figured it would keep me out of trouble for making a large thread as well.
Anyway, let's get started with...
The story begins in a wintry setting (even when it's black and white, you can tell), where a certain fellow is approaching an old-looking shelter that is home to a just as old cat woman (at least she looks like a cat, anyway), who welcomes the cloaked samurai as her honored guest (talk about trusting).
The samurai rabbit in-question introduces himself as Miyamoto Usagi, and while he's addressing his hostess as "Grandmother" (I guess it's nicer than calling her "Granny"), Usagi is told that her husband was a casualty of the Battle of Adachigahara which was fought not so far where they're at.
Usagi reveals that he was a veteran of that same battle and that it was strange for his wanderings to have brought him back. Flashbacks follow as Usagi narrates that the forces he was a part of were close to winning until General Toda betrayed their lord's trust to side with the opposing Lord Hikiji (not a very wise move as the betrayed lord would agree). When Usagi, as his lord's personal bodyguard, ultimately failed to protect his master, he decapitated his body to prevent a public disgrace and fled with the head through the hills surrounding Adachigahara Plain, where he buried it in a secret place. Nonetheless, Usagi had become a masterless samurai with the battle lost.
Moving past the grim topic, Usagi asks why the Grandmother is not worried of the rumored goblin (might mean something different in Japanese, but what can you do?) living in the mountains, but she dismisses the idea of being killed by goblins as her karma, and offers a futon bed for Usagi to sleep on.
As Usagi sleeps, however, a very grotesque, boney rhino with sharp fingernails (weird, I know, but animal people) approaches the hut to attack Usagi in his Futon!
Only for the goblin to realize he just attacked a pile of firewood underneath the futon instead (you thought fast, rabbit), prompting him to threaten the nearby samurai that he'll die horribly for the trick, but Usagi is quick to attack the goblin with his long sword, bringing them both outside where the rabbit delivers the fatal blow. His hostess's reaction throws him in a loop, however, as she cries out to the slain goblin as her husband.
In her grief, the Grandmother bows down to Usagi and reveals herself to be the recent widow of Buichi Toda (what goes around comes around). Having been beaten, banished, and unallowed to commit seppuku to regain his honor by the ungrateful Lord Hikiji, Toda eventually demanded that he and his wife were to live in the aforementioned hut out of his self-torment before eventually becoming a wrathful goblin.
Having said his piece, Usagi then leaves through the snow.
As far as comic beginnings go, it's a decent one in giving a brief, yet tangible, look into Usagi's past and personality. I suppose some samurai would have just killed the old lady, and rubbed in the wounds even more so while doing it, but Usagi? He's far too kind to do that. While he doesn't refer to his onetime hostess as "Grandmother," he chooses to go in peace and merely tells her to find a holy man to make sure Toda can rest easier.
All the same, the only real criticism I have is that Sakai made the "Toda goblin" so one-dimensional then in the 1980s.
Edit: I really do hate double-posting, @Bernkastel and @IfIhadaHammer, so I'd be really happy to see some responses.
Anyway,
The issue begins with a small procession of samurai being struck down while a lone, long-haired swordswoman retreats with a small panda boy in her arms, with their attackers not far behind while three straw-hatted locals are apparently singing a song bemoaning their living as peasants (Don't make me quote Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove or Sonic Boom's Lady Walrus, people).
Finding a hut with a straw roof, the runaway swordswoman and her charge enter only for the latter to attack the current occupant (not counting the stray dog that is there for some reason), Usagi himself, out of shock, but the latter quickly defends himself with his quick reflexes, prompting the kid panda, Noriyuki, to plead for his "vassal's" life.
With Usagi having no desire to harm either of them, the vassal, Tomoe Ame, apologizes for her brashness and explains the situation while Noriyuki bonds with the dog (aww). Noriyuki's father, who headed the Geishu Clan, had recently died and as the sole heir, Noriyuki and his escorts were traveling to the capital of Edo for the Shogun to officially establish the kid as the new clan leader.
Unfortunately, on the whole trip, they had been attacked thrice (three times of suffering attackers is just insane, if I might add), which has rendered only Noriyuki and Tomoe as the survivors of their party, and if the Geishu Clan loses its heir, it would be abolished with all its holdings distributed. A scenario that would benefit the likely culprit to these assassination attempts, Lord Hikiji, much to Usagi's shock of hearing the man's name.
Before Tomoe could question if Usagi's shock was because he's a Hikiji supporter, the rabbit hears the arrival of newer, more hostile swordsman demanding "the boy." Usagi attempts to turn them away by claiming to in a bad mood from haven waken up (which probably isn't far off), but the swordsmen lose their patience and attack, only to be slain by Usagi and Tomoe.
Although Noriyuki initially wants to depart without intruding on Usagi any further, the latter offers to accompany them in case there are more assassins, prompting Tomoe to suggest his hiring as a bodyguard (which is where the Yojimbo part comes from).
Later in the evening, Usagi and his new companions take shelter in an inn while a storm is brewing with the intent to ferry over a river in the morning (I'd say Tomoe was wiser than Usagi in this part of choosing slow and steady, rather than risk life and limb during a storm).
With this breather, Tomoe formally introduces herself to Usagi as the daughter and student of Tatsutaro, founder of the Falling Rain School of Swordsmanship, and that three years ago, she became a retainer to the Geishu Clan out of familiar loyalty that has lasted ten generations (a nice enough summary, even though there's really more to it than that).
Returning the introduction, Usagi mentions his late sword-master as Katsuichi, who developed his own techniques in defiance of the Eight Kyoto Styles and lived as a mountain hermit when Usagi became his disciple (even when formal, its nice to see Usagi and Tomoe offer a friendly duel to gauge their skills). After his sensei's death, Usagi then became the retainer to a northern clan that fell in battle to Lord Hikiji (as was told in the previous issue), leaving Tomoe surprised in understanding the reason of Usagi's earlier reaction.
The next morning, the older samurai agree to avoid the main highway to Edo by taking the mountain path from Ubagami to Gombei Pass (am I really supposed to know what those places are, though?), which would allow them to arrive in a few days. However, the previous storm made the river too dangerous, and a new force of assassins arrive to attack Usagi, Tomoe, and Noriyuki, forcing the first former to hold them off while the others (including the dog) escape to the boat on the dock.
Unfortunately, the warthog ferryman is revealed to be as assassin himself and he successfully slashes at Tomoe's left arm, who falls into the current, leaving Noriyuki defenseless. At least until Usagi, having already felled his opponents, races over to decapitate the hog (if he did that in any of the available TMNT shows, they would be rendered as PG), saving Noriyuki, whose first concern is Tomoe's safety, but Usagi convinces him to search the bank with hope she made it to shore.
Hours later, the other party members are horrified to find Tomoe feverish and unconscious, and even with Usagi warming a fire near some small dinosaur-like creatures (wow), he notes that without proper help that would best be found in a town, she won't last long. With a somewhat taunting speech, the bodyguard declares it is for Lord Noriyuki to decide whether to face danger for the sake of his retainer or not (no pressure there, rabbit).
Skipping to the town of Narai, we then find Usagi and the dog (he really needs a name at some point) watching over Tomoe, who awakes in a startled manner and fears that Noriyuki had been killed until the young lord himself shows up (in different clothes no less). In a frenzy, Tomoe demands that they leave immediately for her lord's sake, but the panda boy says his own piece.
The next morning has Usagi, Noriyuki, and the still unnamed canine venturing to Edo (with Usagi mentally calling some obscure character an "ugly barbarian" just as the barbarian thinks "stupid samurai") until they arrive at a bridge, where they are attacked by the black-cloaked cats of the Neko Ninja Clan, who face Usagi with all kinds of ninja weapons before they all die at his blade (talk about a lot of blood spilled out).
After the intense fight scene, only one ninja, who addresses himself as Hanzo, remains and he quickly blinds Usagi with some kind of dust that gets in his eyes. Although the rabbit is able to dodge the first attack, he tumbles down from being tripped by a ninja's body and is close to death until Noriyuki surprises Hanzo with a sword through the cat's back (kids can be resilient creatures as Sameen Shaw from Person of Interest had said).
Almost immediately after, retainers from the Geishu Clan's Edo mansion, having been on the look since the schedule fell apart, arrive to get their lord and his companions to their destination (seriously, though, did the greeter at the mansion have to ask if Noriyuki had a "pleasant journey?").
One week passes, and a recovered Tomoe returns to Noriyuki (who apparently has the dog as his new pet), who tells her that Usagi disappeared soon after they arrived despite the young man's plan to make him his retainer. Tomoe then hops on a horse, and as night has fallen, mentally thanks Usagi for her lord's life, which skips to Usagi smiling at the moon (black and white, though, you'd think he was on the moon looking at the Earth).
As the issue reaches its epilogue, a literally large snake of a counselor, Hebi, is summoned by his liege, Lord Hikiji, who demands a report from Noriyuki's meeting with the Shogun. Fortunately for these schemers, Hebi had taken steps to ensure Hikiji's involvement with the assassination attempts would not be revealed and Hikiji himself states that a Counselor Nerai, who was in charge of the operation, was ordered to perform seppuku (bushido or not, that sounds rotten).
Despite how things had turned out, Hikiji is curious how Noriyuki was able to survive the assassins and wonders if his surviving escort was really that strong. Hebi, though, reveals that Noriyuki's savior was in fact a ronin named Miyamoto Usagi as the issue ends overlooking the solemn, very Human-looking face of Hikiji himself (like what?).
And there you have it! That's how Usagi met two of his closest allies in the whole series (that even appeared in a season three episode of 2003 TMNT no less), and we got the dialogue and even face of his fallen lord's slayer, with his oversized "face man" appearing as well.
I admit, it was pretty off to see blood spilling out from the Neko Ninja in this issue, even more so when the dog just came from nowhere and hadn't been named yet, and I'm really forced to wonder why Hikiji has to be the only Human so far in a world of animal people. Sakai said in his author's notes he made the latter because having Usagi be the only rabbit samurai in a Human world was weird, but what about the reversal.
All in all, though, it was amazing to see a panda boy like Noriyuki slowly, yet surely, show himself as someone who would not only be responsible for others, but be willing to fight for them, too, while still having moments where he's still a good kid. And while Tomoe and Usagi's introductions were a bit rough cut, they had indeed developed some mutual respect by the end of this issue.
Next time: The Confession
Usagi Yojimbo, by Stan Sakai, is something many TMNT fans like myself learned about from the 2003 and 2012 animated series, but the real comic where Miyamoto Usagi calls home is not something most people may know of. I myself had only a scant level about it until I started buying the hardcover special edition and the following nine Usagi Yojimbo Saga, plus Legends, omnibuses online from wherever I could. It's a pretty good series, although, I suppose I can understand why its not given enough attention compared to more animated media and such.
Because of how big the comic series is, though, I think reading them by omnibus would be easier to keep track of compared to by publisher, or even altogether. I figured it would keep me out of trouble for making a large thread as well.
Anyway, let's get started with...
Usagi Yojimbo
(The Original Issue)
(The Original Issue)
The story begins in a wintry setting (even when it's black and white, you can tell), where a certain fellow is approaching an old-looking shelter that is home to a just as old cat woman (at least she looks like a cat, anyway), who welcomes the cloaked samurai as her honored guest (talk about trusting).
The samurai rabbit in-question introduces himself as Miyamoto Usagi, and while he's addressing his hostess as "Grandmother" (I guess it's nicer than calling her "Granny"), Usagi is told that her husband was a casualty of the Battle of Adachigahara which was fought not so far where they're at.
Usagi reveals that he was a veteran of that same battle and that it was strange for his wanderings to have brought him back. Flashbacks follow as Usagi narrates that the forces he was a part of were close to winning until General Toda betrayed their lord's trust to side with the opposing Lord Hikiji (not a very wise move as the betrayed lord would agree). When Usagi, as his lord's personal bodyguard, ultimately failed to protect his master, he decapitated his body to prevent a public disgrace and fled with the head through the hills surrounding Adachigahara Plain, where he buried it in a secret place. Nonetheless, Usagi had become a masterless samurai with the battle lost.
Moving past the grim topic, Usagi asks why the Grandmother is not worried of the rumored goblin (might mean something different in Japanese, but what can you do?) living in the mountains, but she dismisses the idea of being killed by goblins as her karma, and offers a futon bed for Usagi to sleep on.
As Usagi sleeps, however, a very grotesque, boney rhino with sharp fingernails (weird, I know, but animal people) approaches the hut to attack Usagi in his Futon!
Only for the goblin to realize he just attacked a pile of firewood underneath the futon instead (you thought fast, rabbit), prompting him to threaten the nearby samurai that he'll die horribly for the trick, but Usagi is quick to attack the goblin with his long sword, bringing them both outside where the rabbit delivers the fatal blow. His hostess's reaction throws him in a loop, however, as she cries out to the slain goblin as her husband.
In her grief, the Grandmother bows down to Usagi and reveals herself to be the recent widow of Buichi Toda (what goes around comes around). Having been beaten, banished, and unallowed to commit seppuku to regain his honor by the ungrateful Lord Hikiji, Toda eventually demanded that he and his wife were to live in the aforementioned hut out of his self-torment before eventually becoming a wrathful goblin.
Having said his piece, Usagi then leaves through the snow.
The End
As far as comic beginnings go, it's a decent one in giving a brief, yet tangible, look into Usagi's past and personality. I suppose some samurai would have just killed the old lady, and rubbed in the wounds even more so while doing it, but Usagi? He's far too kind to do that. While he doesn't refer to his onetime hostess as "Grandmother," he chooses to go in peace and merely tells her to find a holy man to make sure Toda can rest easier.
All the same, the only real criticism I have is that Sakai made the "Toda goblin" so one-dimensional then in the 1980s.
Edit: I really do hate double-posting, @Bernkastel and @IfIhadaHammer, so I'd be really happy to see some responses.
Anyway,
Lone Rabbit and Child
The issue begins with a small procession of samurai being struck down while a lone, long-haired swordswoman retreats with a small panda boy in her arms, with their attackers not far behind while three straw-hatted locals are apparently singing a song bemoaning their living as peasants (Don't make me quote Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove or Sonic Boom's Lady Walrus, people).
Finding a hut with a straw roof, the runaway swordswoman and her charge enter only for the latter to attack the current occupant (not counting the stray dog that is there for some reason), Usagi himself, out of shock, but the latter quickly defends himself with his quick reflexes, prompting the kid panda, Noriyuki, to plead for his "vassal's" life.
With Usagi having no desire to harm either of them, the vassal, Tomoe Ame, apologizes for her brashness and explains the situation while Noriyuki bonds with the dog (aww). Noriyuki's father, who headed the Geishu Clan, had recently died and as the sole heir, Noriyuki and his escorts were traveling to the capital of Edo for the Shogun to officially establish the kid as the new clan leader.
Unfortunately, on the whole trip, they had been attacked thrice (three times of suffering attackers is just insane, if I might add), which has rendered only Noriyuki and Tomoe as the survivors of their party, and if the Geishu Clan loses its heir, it would be abolished with all its holdings distributed. A scenario that would benefit the likely culprit to these assassination attempts, Lord Hikiji, much to Usagi's shock of hearing the man's name.
Before Tomoe could question if Usagi's shock was because he's a Hikiji supporter, the rabbit hears the arrival of newer, more hostile swordsman demanding "the boy." Usagi attempts to turn them away by claiming to in a bad mood from haven waken up (which probably isn't far off), but the swordsmen lose their patience and attack, only to be slain by Usagi and Tomoe.
Although Noriyuki initially wants to depart without intruding on Usagi any further, the latter offers to accompany them in case there are more assassins, prompting Tomoe to suggest his hiring as a bodyguard (which is where the Yojimbo part comes from).
Later in the evening, Usagi and his new companions take shelter in an inn while a storm is brewing with the intent to ferry over a river in the morning (I'd say Tomoe was wiser than Usagi in this part of choosing slow and steady, rather than risk life and limb during a storm).
With this breather, Tomoe formally introduces herself to Usagi as the daughter and student of Tatsutaro, founder of the Falling Rain School of Swordsmanship, and that three years ago, she became a retainer to the Geishu Clan out of familiar loyalty that has lasted ten generations (a nice enough summary, even though there's really more to it than that).
Returning the introduction, Usagi mentions his late sword-master as Katsuichi, who developed his own techniques in defiance of the Eight Kyoto Styles and lived as a mountain hermit when Usagi became his disciple (even when formal, its nice to see Usagi and Tomoe offer a friendly duel to gauge their skills). After his sensei's death, Usagi then became the retainer to a northern clan that fell in battle to Lord Hikiji (as was told in the previous issue), leaving Tomoe surprised in understanding the reason of Usagi's earlier reaction.
The next morning, the older samurai agree to avoid the main highway to Edo by taking the mountain path from Ubagami to Gombei Pass (am I really supposed to know what those places are, though?), which would allow them to arrive in a few days. However, the previous storm made the river too dangerous, and a new force of assassins arrive to attack Usagi, Tomoe, and Noriyuki, forcing the first former to hold them off while the others (including the dog) escape to the boat on the dock.
Unfortunately, the warthog ferryman is revealed to be as assassin himself and he successfully slashes at Tomoe's left arm, who falls into the current, leaving Noriyuki defenseless. At least until Usagi, having already felled his opponents, races over to decapitate the hog (if he did that in any of the available TMNT shows, they would be rendered as PG), saving Noriyuki, whose first concern is Tomoe's safety, but Usagi convinces him to search the bank with hope she made it to shore.
Hours later, the other party members are horrified to find Tomoe feverish and unconscious, and even with Usagi warming a fire near some small dinosaur-like creatures (wow), he notes that without proper help that would best be found in a town, she won't last long. With a somewhat taunting speech, the bodyguard declares it is for Lord Noriyuki to decide whether to face danger for the sake of his retainer or not (no pressure there, rabbit).
Skipping to the town of Narai, we then find Usagi and the dog (he really needs a name at some point) watching over Tomoe, who awakes in a startled manner and fears that Noriyuki had been killed until the young lord himself shows up (in different clothes no less). In a frenzy, Tomoe demands that they leave immediately for her lord's sake, but the panda boy says his own piece.
The next morning has Usagi, Noriyuki, and the still unnamed canine venturing to Edo (with Usagi mentally calling some obscure character an "ugly barbarian" just as the barbarian thinks "stupid samurai") until they arrive at a bridge, where they are attacked by the black-cloaked cats of the Neko Ninja Clan, who face Usagi with all kinds of ninja weapons before they all die at his blade (talk about a lot of blood spilled out).
After the intense fight scene, only one ninja, who addresses himself as Hanzo, remains and he quickly blinds Usagi with some kind of dust that gets in his eyes. Although the rabbit is able to dodge the first attack, he tumbles down from being tripped by a ninja's body and is close to death until Noriyuki surprises Hanzo with a sword through the cat's back (kids can be resilient creatures as Sameen Shaw from Person of Interest had said).
Almost immediately after, retainers from the Geishu Clan's Edo mansion, having been on the look since the schedule fell apart, arrive to get their lord and his companions to their destination (seriously, though, did the greeter at the mansion have to ask if Noriyuki had a "pleasant journey?").
One week passes, and a recovered Tomoe returns to Noriyuki (who apparently has the dog as his new pet), who tells her that Usagi disappeared soon after they arrived despite the young man's plan to make him his retainer. Tomoe then hops on a horse, and as night has fallen, mentally thanks Usagi for her lord's life, which skips to Usagi smiling at the moon (black and white, though, you'd think he was on the moon looking at the Earth).
As the issue reaches its epilogue, a literally large snake of a counselor, Hebi, is summoned by his liege, Lord Hikiji, who demands a report from Noriyuki's meeting with the Shogun. Fortunately for these schemers, Hebi had taken steps to ensure Hikiji's involvement with the assassination attempts would not be revealed and Hikiji himself states that a Counselor Nerai, who was in charge of the operation, was ordered to perform seppuku (bushido or not, that sounds rotten).
Despite how things had turned out, Hikiji is curious how Noriyuki was able to survive the assassins and wonders if his surviving escort was really that strong. Hebi, though, reveals that Noriyuki's savior was in fact a ronin named Miyamoto Usagi as the issue ends overlooking the solemn, very Human-looking face of Hikiji himself (like what?).
The End
And there you have it! That's how Usagi met two of his closest allies in the whole series (that even appeared in a season three episode of 2003 TMNT no less), and we got the dialogue and even face of his fallen lord's slayer, with his oversized "face man" appearing as well.
I admit, it was pretty off to see blood spilling out from the Neko Ninja in this issue, even more so when the dog just came from nowhere and hadn't been named yet, and I'm really forced to wonder why Hikiji has to be the only Human so far in a world of animal people. Sakai said in his author's notes he made the latter because having Usagi be the only rabbit samurai in a Human world was weird, but what about the reversal.
All in all, though, it was amazing to see a panda boy like Noriyuki slowly, yet surely, show himself as someone who would not only be responsible for others, but be willing to fight for them, too, while still having moments where he's still a good kid. And while Tomoe and Usagi's introductions were a bit rough cut, they had indeed developed some mutual respect by the end of this issue.
Next time: The Confession
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