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potato_review's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
chemistry_goodness's review
5.0
The Daisho storyline was engrossing and had a sidetrack about making swords which was interesting. This collection also had the flashback story about Lady Hirano and how she and Usagi find themselves trapped by life. He discovered his love had married and he can't do anything about it. She being required to marry in order to bind two clans together. Then again, Usagi has the possibility of finding love again in the future while Hirano is forced into an arranged marriage so the situations aren't the same.
bowienerd_82's review
5.0
This one got a bit more intense then the average Usagi, but in an awesome way. The storyline with the slavers was in particular a bit on the hardcore side, but it was nice to see that side of Usagi as well.
pranavroh's review
5.0
Usagi Yojimbo, on the surface is a simple concept. Anthropomorphic animals in 16th century Edo Japan - with the narrative centering around a "Long Eared Samurai", a Rabbit - the eponymous Usagi of the title. Usagi,literally means Rabbit in Japanese and Yojimbo refers to "Bodyguard". Rabbit Bodyguard. It mixes several references to the Samurai films of Kurosawa with a deliberate homage to the great samurai swordsman Miyamoto Musashi while treading its own unique path. There really isn't another comic like it on the stands and Sakai has been writing, plotting and drawing this gem for the past twenty five years or more - sticking to what must seem like a cutthroat monthly schedule. He makes it all look so easy which just proves - it probably isn't.
Usagi is a Ronin - a masterless Samurai. He wanders the land on a Warriors Pilgrimage, honing his mind and his sword. A near master swordsman, Usagi practices a unique fighting style. His gentle demeanor, humble bearing and diminutive frame often leads his adversaries to underestimate him - to their detriment.
The Kill Bill films of Tarantino center around the bloodshed unleashed by Samurai swords in the hands of a skilled wielder. The aesthetization of violence is a common theme with Tarantino and he repeatedly uses Japanese samurai motifs over the course of the two Kill Bill films. I enjoyed those films but they led me to expect the same within the pages of Usagi Yojimbo. The animal characters are mostly cute. I expected decapitated bunny heads and chopped feline limbs. Stories of the seamier side of human nature and war. Sakai delivers none of this; at-least, not in the way you would expect. The violence in Usagi Yojimbo is always tinged with regret. Usagi takes no pleasure in it, tries to avoid killing and maiming as much as possible and always resorts to defense. However, once you see the click of the sword, with the picture of Usagi flicking the blade from the scabbard it is almost certain that blood will be shed.
The fight sequences are brilliant. Sakai takes his time, worrying less about space and more about the deliberate choreography of death. People are stabbed, decapitated and killed. Most of it is left up to your imagination with almost no blood. The graphics of the death continue to toe the line between humor and morbidity - the dead lie with their tongues lolling out and creative skulls paraphrasing the end of their appearance in the comic. It makes for excellent reading - the violence isn't cool, it isn't desirable and it almost always ends in tragedy for some character. This is age appropriate violence!
A centerpiece to the entire saga and one of the major plot motivators is Bushido - the unrelenting and unbending code of the Samurai. It is a harsh discipline, focusing more on the tenets laid down by it than any sense of morality. There are several instances in the story where a common question asked is if a samurai retainer who serves an evil/corrupt lord is justified in rebelling against him. The answer is invariably no. No matter how evil/corrupt and insane your lord may be, no matter what criminal activities he may indulge in, no matter how depraved his tastes it is the duty of the retainer to follow him and remain Honorable. The concept of good and evil and self righteousness is almost done away with. Usagi is our hero just because he has the good fortune to have served under Lord Mifune, a great man just prior to his death in the Battle of Adachigahara. He seems to recognize this fact and I think this influences his approach to almost all his antagonists. Those who serve an evil lord win more respect from him than the evil lords themselves.
Sakai, through his focus on the laws of Bushido manages to evoke an atmosphere of rigidity and sacrifice that makes the book quite unique at times. When Usagi's sweetheart is married off to someone else he fails to put an end to the wedding due to his loyalty to his lord - his duty forbids him from going away. The duty of a Samurai's wife is to her husband, this prevents his love Mariko from ever being with him. Honour and duty are cages within which our characters live their life. It is a harsh law that seems to hurt much more than helps but it is his adherence to this discipline that sees Usagi through his many encounters. He is unable to avoid direct challenges to a duel as a result - he must kill, albeit with regret, if he is to regain his honor. Usagi isn't a rebel. He doesn't seek to reform or buck the system. When a peasant begs to hold on to the swords of her lover, a samurai he is quite categorical about the right thing to do - the sword is the soul of a Samurai and doesn't belong with a peasant. In another episode he tells a peasant's son that there is no hope for him to ever become a Samurai. Any historical novel seeks to impose the character of a man of our times on someone dead years ago. Stan Sakai eschews this approach by depicting a man (rabbit??!) of his time in Usagi and making him a truly sympathetic character.
This focus on honour and Bushido is not the only layer to this comic. There are several more. History lessens on the culture of Japan are interwoven into the narrative - be it pot making, kite making or the fashioning of a Samurai blade. An entire episode dedicated to seaweed farming was a highlight of the series and the Grasscutter arc elaborates on the major dieties of Japanese culture. This is a meticulously researched comic that isnt heavy handed with the historical details. It mixes humor, history, culture and pathos to make a wonderfully enjoyable comic.
Rather than speaking about the artwork in the peripheral fashion I have employed so far I think I ought to come out and say it - the artwork is fascinating. It uses simple lines and expression to convey the message. At first glance it seems simplistic but as I trace my eyes over the artwork a wealth of detail leaps out. The grass bends gently with the breeze. The folds of Usagi's kimono float lazily around him as he jumps into the air. The Sword strokes are clear, easy to follow with the use of masterfully placed after images. Sakai is a master of the quiet panel. Several pages hold only movement, expression and silence, lending a wonderful quietude to the comic until a brutal explosion of action breaks the silence. Quiet panels fused with a silhouette are even more melancholy - it forms a space in which the contemplation of the character within the panel tends to wash over the reader himself. The artwork isn't simple. A lifetime of garish coloring and the bright but shallow palette of superhero comics seems to have robbed me of what little sense I possess. The black and white lines in Usagi are pieces of art I want to revisit forever.
Like most successful comics, Usagi Yojimbo doesn't succeed through the strengths of the main character alone. Usagi has a wealth of peripheral friends and enemies who recur throughout the various stories. These plot points keep diverging and melding together seamlessly over the course of the volumes I have read. I am still about halfway through the entire run but so far the side characters are vibrant, well sketched and interesting. Gen, the bounty hunter, the crime solving Inspecter Ishida, the ex samurai turned priest Sanshobo. The women in Usagi's life are a fun bunch - his lost loves Mariko and Kinuko, his comrade in arms Tomoe and his antagonist/friend Chizu. Add to this his lion sensei - Katsuichi, his frenemy Kenichi and a pet lizard Spot, not to mention the blind swordspig Zato Ino, Sakai has amassed a wealth of characters who ought to see him drawing Usagi comics well into hist nineties.
Usagi Yojimbo is to superhero comics what a glass of single malt is to spurious liquor. It is the very pinnacle of comic book art. I agree with an another reviewer who states that in the twenty five years he has been following Usagi, Sakai has yet to draw a single bad issue. I am not yet through the entire run and I must agree - the first issues are great though Sakai is still finding is feet. Seven issues in and you will be hooked till the end. This is an excellent comic, worth reading and proof that in the right hands the comic book has a significant advantage over the prose form. It should probably be the introduction to the world of comics - and I hope that those of you who havent yet started reading comics will avoid wading through a lot of garbage like i had to and start with Usagi Yojimbo.
Believe me, its worth it.
(5 on 5 stars)
Usagi is a Ronin - a masterless Samurai. He wanders the land on a Warriors Pilgrimage, honing his mind and his sword. A near master swordsman, Usagi practices a unique fighting style. His gentle demeanor, humble bearing and diminutive frame often leads his adversaries to underestimate him - to their detriment.
The Kill Bill films of Tarantino center around the bloodshed unleashed by Samurai swords in the hands of a skilled wielder. The aesthetization of violence is a common theme with Tarantino and he repeatedly uses Japanese samurai motifs over the course of the two Kill Bill films. I enjoyed those films but they led me to expect the same within the pages of Usagi Yojimbo. The animal characters are mostly cute. I expected decapitated bunny heads and chopped feline limbs. Stories of the seamier side of human nature and war. Sakai delivers none of this; at-least, not in the way you would expect. The violence in Usagi Yojimbo is always tinged with regret. Usagi takes no pleasure in it, tries to avoid killing and maiming as much as possible and always resorts to defense. However, once you see the click of the sword, with the picture of Usagi flicking the blade from the scabbard it is almost certain that blood will be shed.
The fight sequences are brilliant. Sakai takes his time, worrying less about space and more about the deliberate choreography of death. People are stabbed, decapitated and killed. Most of it is left up to your imagination with almost no blood. The graphics of the death continue to toe the line between humor and morbidity - the dead lie with their tongues lolling out and creative skulls paraphrasing the end of their appearance in the comic. It makes for excellent reading - the violence isn't cool, it isn't desirable and it almost always ends in tragedy for some character. This is age appropriate violence!
A centerpiece to the entire saga and one of the major plot motivators is Bushido - the unrelenting and unbending code of the Samurai. It is a harsh discipline, focusing more on the tenets laid down by it than any sense of morality. There are several instances in the story where a common question asked is if a samurai retainer who serves an evil/corrupt lord is justified in rebelling against him. The answer is invariably no. No matter how evil/corrupt and insane your lord may be, no matter what criminal activities he may indulge in, no matter how depraved his tastes it is the duty of the retainer to follow him and remain Honorable. The concept of good and evil and self righteousness is almost done away with. Usagi is our hero just because he has the good fortune to have served under Lord Mifune, a great man just prior to his death in the Battle of Adachigahara. He seems to recognize this fact and I think this influences his approach to almost all his antagonists. Those who serve an evil lord win more respect from him than the evil lords themselves.
Sakai, through his focus on the laws of Bushido manages to evoke an atmosphere of rigidity and sacrifice that makes the book quite unique at times. When Usagi's sweetheart is married off to someone else he fails to put an end to the wedding due to his loyalty to his lord - his duty forbids him from going away. The duty of a Samurai's wife is to her husband, this prevents his love Mariko from ever being with him. Honour and duty are cages within which our characters live their life. It is a harsh law that seems to hurt much more than helps but it is his adherence to this discipline that sees Usagi through his many encounters. He is unable to avoid direct challenges to a duel as a result - he must kill, albeit with regret, if he is to regain his honor. Usagi isn't a rebel. He doesn't seek to reform or buck the system. When a peasant begs to hold on to the swords of her lover, a samurai he is quite categorical about the right thing to do - the sword is the soul of a Samurai and doesn't belong with a peasant. In another episode he tells a peasant's son that there is no hope for him to ever become a Samurai. Any historical novel seeks to impose the character of a man of our times on someone dead years ago. Stan Sakai eschews this approach by depicting a man (rabbit??!) of his time in Usagi and making him a truly sympathetic character.
This focus on honour and Bushido is not the only layer to this comic. There are several more. History lessens on the culture of Japan are interwoven into the narrative - be it pot making, kite making or the fashioning of a Samurai blade. An entire episode dedicated to seaweed farming was a highlight of the series and the Grasscutter arc elaborates on the major dieties of Japanese culture. This is a meticulously researched comic that isnt heavy handed with the historical details. It mixes humor, history, culture and pathos to make a wonderfully enjoyable comic.
Rather than speaking about the artwork in the peripheral fashion I have employed so far I think I ought to come out and say it - the artwork is fascinating. It uses simple lines and expression to convey the message. At first glance it seems simplistic but as I trace my eyes over the artwork a wealth of detail leaps out. The grass bends gently with the breeze. The folds of Usagi's kimono float lazily around him as he jumps into the air. The Sword strokes are clear, easy to follow with the use of masterfully placed after images. Sakai is a master of the quiet panel. Several pages hold only movement, expression and silence, lending a wonderful quietude to the comic until a brutal explosion of action breaks the silence. Quiet panels fused with a silhouette are even more melancholy - it forms a space in which the contemplation of the character within the panel tends to wash over the reader himself. The artwork isn't simple. A lifetime of garish coloring and the bright but shallow palette of superhero comics seems to have robbed me of what little sense I possess. The black and white lines in Usagi are pieces of art I want to revisit forever.
Like most successful comics, Usagi Yojimbo doesn't succeed through the strengths of the main character alone. Usagi has a wealth of peripheral friends and enemies who recur throughout the various stories. These plot points keep diverging and melding together seamlessly over the course of the volumes I have read. I am still about halfway through the entire run but so far the side characters are vibrant, well sketched and interesting. Gen, the bounty hunter, the crime solving Inspecter Ishida, the ex samurai turned priest Sanshobo. The women in Usagi's life are a fun bunch - his lost loves Mariko and Kinuko, his comrade in arms Tomoe and his antagonist/friend Chizu. Add to this his lion sensei - Katsuichi, his frenemy Kenichi and a pet lizard Spot, not to mention the blind swordspig Zato Ino, Sakai has amassed a wealth of characters who ought to see him drawing Usagi comics well into hist nineties.
Usagi Yojimbo is to superhero comics what a glass of single malt is to spurious liquor. It is the very pinnacle of comic book art. I agree with an another reviewer who states that in the twenty five years he has been following Usagi, Sakai has yet to draw a single bad issue. I am not yet through the entire run and I must agree - the first issues are great though Sakai is still finding is feet. Seven issues in and you will be hooked till the end. This is an excellent comic, worth reading and proof that in the right hands the comic book has a significant advantage over the prose form. It should probably be the introduction to the world of comics - and I hope that those of you who havent yet started reading comics will avoid wading through a lot of garbage like i had to and start with Usagi Yojimbo.
Believe me, its worth it.
(5 on 5 stars)
library_orb's review
3.0
Stan Sakai is nothing if not consistent. Daisho doesn't seem to add too much to the continuing story of Usagi, but didn't feel as fresh as some of the earlier books.
Upcoming books suggest a larger story arc, which might breathe new life into the series.
Always entertaining, always well drawn, but sometimes a little short. Worth it if you're already knee-deep in the series.
Upcoming books suggest a larger story arc, which might breathe new life into the series.
Always entertaining, always well drawn, but sometimes a little short. Worth it if you're already knee-deep in the series.
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