A Question For Stan

[Nakamura Sensei]

First, I just want to say that I have been a long time fan of Usagi. I feel that he is about the only comic character left these days that still has any heart put into him. I do have a question though and I'll try to make it spoiler free in case anybody doesn't want to know the true indentity of Lord Hikiji. Way back in the day (UY book#1) when Usagi first meet Noriyuki and Tomoe, you revealed the face of Lord Hikiji. His appearance was a bit...shocking. I am wondering if you will ever reveal his face again? And if you do, will you change his appearance?
Keep up the fantastic work!

[Robert Wetherelt]

Yeah...I was wondering that to. He did appear quite "human"? Will you Sakai-sensei,make him a little more "funny-animal"? Just to keep him in tune with the rest of Usagi's "world"?

[Todd Shogun]

According to Stan, we will NEVER see Lord Hikiji again. Perhaps in the shadows, but never face-to-face. Way back when, Stan made Hikiji a human, but has regretted doing it and has vowed not to show him in the future.

In my opinion, this is just one of the items that makes the whole UY universe so intriguing. Here we have a human character among an anthropomorphic population. Stan even gave him 5 fingers on each hand. But because he's human, Stan has decided to keep him "behind the scenes" from now on.

I always wondered if he felt the same way about Noriyuki's pet dog Koro....

[Nakamura Sensei]

I was just wondering about Noriyuki's dog. I once read that Stan wanted to do without common household pets like cats and dogs since...well..everyone was a cat and dog (thus the tokage). Hikiji has always been something that has left me wondering if Stan will ever reveal him again, but as a funny animal character. We almost saw his face in a flash back when Usagi returned to the battleground where he recieved his scar, and to me he didn't seem as human.

[Stan Sakai]

We almost saw his face in a flash back when Usagi returned to the battleground where he recieved his scar, and to me he didn't seem as human.

Hikiji was wearing a battle mask in those flashbacks, quite common for samurai as it has a fierce expession that intimidates the enemy. Hikiji will not be back--at least not for a long while. He works best from the shadows, or through intermediaries like Lord Hebi.

Koro was a dog I had when I was a kid. He was an akita.