General discussion about Usagi Yojimbo, the comics, the stories, the characters, collectibles, TV appearances, Stan Sakai, Space Usagi, Nilson & Hermy, and all other related topics.
Trope
Merriam-Webster defines trope as a "figure of speech." In storytelling, a trope is just that -- a conceptual figure of speech, a storytelling shorthand for some sort of concept that the audience will recognize and understand instantly.
Above all, a trope is a convention. It can be a plot trick, a setup, a narrative structure, a character type, a linguistic idiom. It's like porn; you know it when you see it. When the trope itself becomes intrusive, distracting the viewer rather than serving as shorthand, it has become a cliché.
Usagi Yojimbo
A landmark Furry comic book by Stan Sakai about the adventures of a rabbit samurai (actually a ronin since he is not working for a Lord) in a Funny Animal version of Shogunate Feudal Japan.
This series, which just passed issue 100 with its fourth publisher, Dark Horse, is a deft mix of humor and drama in tales that are so well researched that it has won a Parent's Choice Award for its educational value. Inspired heavily by the films of the great director, Akira Kurosawa.
Set in a fantasy Japan, Miyamoto Usagi is a ronin wandering Japan having a wide variety of adventures ranging from the silly to the tragic. He typically doesn't look for trouble, but when push comes to shove, he is a master with the sword.
He's also known for his loose association with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and has occasionally appeared in their comics and animated series.
Tropes:
Action Girl - Plenty of them, Tomoe Ame the Samurai, Kitsune the street performer/pickpocket, Chizu the Ninja and Inazuma the fugitive
All Myths Are True - Take any Japanese legend, myth or monster and Sakai will likely be using it.
Animal Stereotypes - Obviously subverted with the lead character, a butt kicking samurai rabbit.
Big Bad - Lord Hikiji, killer of Usagi's lord and his father. His only personal confrontation with the villain in the Battle of Aichi to led his distinctive arched forehead scar.
Bounty Hunter - Gen, Stray Dog and Usagi himself when he's available for an extra buck.
Foreshadowing - Between major arcs, Sakai often does seemingly unrelated stories with minor characters who usually play a big role later.
Carnivore Confusion - Sakai usually avoids the issue since only vegetables, rice and fish, major staples of Japanese diet, are shown as food.
Creepy Child - Keiko, a young girl who travels with Jei. She started out perfectly normal, but any child who is so innocent as to delightfully treat seeing the dead as simply a path to her beloved "Uncle/Aunty" is definitely screwy.
Dating Catwoman - Usagi knows full well that Kitsune is a pickpocket who has lifted stuff from him, but still likes her company, after swiping his stuff back of course.
Deal With The Devil - The demonic Jei's origin. Done with the absolute best of intentions, but still brought disaster to nearly all.
Evil Chancellor - Lord Hebi is Lord Hikiji's delegate for his dirty work; a real snake in the grass considering he is a snake, a big one.
Furry Confusion - Sakai sometimes plays it vague about how "furry" his story world is. For instance, one sick "furry" complains that the Europeans who infected him aren't human. Sakai states that saying they weren't "animals" would not have the same dramatic effect. In addition, there are regular horses while an original creature, a lizard species seems to fill the ecological niches.
Grand Theft Me - The malevolent spirit Jei jumped to the sympathetic character Inazuma when his original body was killed and now possesses her. Fortunately, our heroes are pursuing her right now with an exorcist in tow.
Jerk With A Heart Of Gold - Stray Dog the Bounter Hunter seems like a opportunistic and greedy jerk, but only he knows that that's in service of supporting an orphanage.
Katanas Are Just Better - This comic treats the sword realistically in that they often well made, but they deteriorate and break like any real sword. For instance, Inspector Ishida is a master at the standard police weapon, the jitte, a forked weapon specifically designed to counter and/or break a katana. Furthermore, the fabled Grasscutter is depicted as a clearly old style sword. Furthermore, it's not a weapon that's great in all melee situations; part of what made the first Jei so dangerous is that he is a deadly master of the spear which is a difficult weapon to defend against with a sword.
Kid Samurai - Usagi's son, Jotaro, is simply a student for now, but since he has been seen taking opponents twice his size with only a bokken, he is obviously a very fast learner. There is Motokazu, a young page to Lord Noriyuki and protege to Tomoe Ame, who proved so brave and cunning saving the day that he's already been dubbed a samurai.
Long Runners - 25 years, 140+ issues over 4 publishing houses and that's not including his anthology stories.
Nerf Arm - All the samurai students depicted use a bokken, a wooden practice sword for their training. However, while obviously not as lethal as a real sword, that weapon can still be effective in a real fight if wielded by someone as skilled as Jotaro.
Ninja - Plenty and fitting a Funny Animal world with a ninja mole clan who tunnel and a ninja bat clan who can fly. Meanwhile the "normal" ninja clan has access to explosives.
Old Master - Usagi's teacher, a lion who is very picky about his students and likes the Wax On Wax Off approach to teaching.
Politically Correct History - Averted by Stan Sakai who endeavors to depict the real (or at least the legendary) history. For instance, he depicts the Battle of Dan-no-ura with a non-judgmental tone, including when the "Queen Mother" of Imperial entourage, who are on the losing side, leads the group to drown themselves, including the Emperor who was an eight year old boy. Usagi is unusually egalitarian for his class in that era, but that's because every time when he tried lording his class to some "inferior" in his youth, he got his butt kicked.
Public Domain Artifact - Kusanagi (Grasscutter), a legendary sword nearly as important to Japan as Excalibur is to Britain was the focus of two major story arcs.
Reassignment Backfire - Used in Tomoe Ame's backstory to explain how she got to be a warrior in a really privileged position.
Ronin - Technically, most of the samurai in the series are this
Recycled INSPACE - Space Usagi
Samurai - Obviously
Scooby Doo Hoax - Usagi discovers one by a family using it as a tourist attraction and decides to play along.
Sherlock Scan - Since intensive examinations of corpses like an autopsy are taboo, this trope is all Inspector Ishida has to work with in murder scenes.
Shown The Work - Sakai always goes that extra mile to get the details of feudal Japan right and occasionally has a story where some craftwork is depicted in detail.
The Single Stroke Battle - Happens a lot in this series
In many ways, Stray Dog is an opportunistic and greedy jerk. The fact that he deserted Usagi while he was being squeezed to death by one of Fujii's henchmen back in DAISHO is pretty solid evidence. Maybe the orphanage is just Stray Dog's attempt at partially redeeming himself.
I don't know if this was reworked or rewritten from scratch, but there is a mostly new list of Usagi Yojimbo related Tropes listed at the same web address as the previous list....
USAGI YOJIMBO
This comic book series by Stan Sakai chronicles the adventures of Miyamoto Usagi, once a loyal retainer of lord Mifune who, after his whole clan was vanquished in battle, walks the earth as a Ronin, meeting interesting people, facing mythological monsters and solving the odd murder mystery too.
Also, he's an anthropomorphic rabbit in an alternative dimension Medieval Japan. And the historical background and strong sense of cultural nuances work so well. As does the addition of tiny dinosaurs.
One of the longest-running comics of all time to be drawn and written by a single person, Usagi Yojimbo has been running (under various publishers) since 1984. It's been noted for its meticulously researched and accurate portrayal of feudal Japan (talking animals notwithstanding) as well as its ability to take readers by surprise by messing with tropes; a seemingly lighthearted story may turn out to be a heartrending tragedy, or vice-versa.
Usagi is often associated with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, thanks in part to several crossovers between different incarnations of the properties, and the friendship between Sakai and the Turtles creators. This has permitted Usagi to appear on the screen in both TMNT cartoons as a recurring character, culminating in an episode set in Usagi's world—the closest thing yet to an Usagi animated series. Usagi Yojimbo was also published by Eastman and Laird's Mirage Studios for a time, before moving on to Dark Horse.
Backdoor Pilot: Usagi's guest shot on the original Ninja Turtles cartoon was supposed to be a set up for his own cartoon show. But the show was never made due to creative differences between Stan Sakai and Playmates. His appearance on the 2000's TMNT show carried no such aspirations; it was just a treat for the fans.
Big No:
Big Ol Eyebrows: Ishida, Koji
Bloodless Carnage: Although blood is present, it is lesser quantities than one would realistically expect.
Bounty Hunter: Gennosuke, Inukai and occasionally Usagi
Broken Pedestal: (Mainly in Space Usagi)
Cain And Abel: Tomoe and Noriko
Complete Monster: Noriko "The Blood Princess" (Jei-san at least thinks he's doing good); any gang who thinks enslaving an entire village is a good idea; Lord Hikiji and Lord Hebi.)
- At least Noriko has a Freudian Excuse...
Conservation Of Ninjitsu: Ninja mooks abound; the really lethal ones are the named characters
Creepy Child: Keiko, after Jei designates her his "innocent". Although she's quite cheerful about it. - Which, as Keiko cheerfully bids a polite farewell to the men Jei has just murdered, makes it all the eerier.
Cross Over: The comic featured several early appearances by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Usagi is a Recurring Character in the TMNT cartoons
Deal With The Devil, complete with Gift Of The Magi: A mediocre artist called Katsushige sold his soul for the ability to create "art the like of which had never been seen before". The dark gods turned him into an ink set. Anything that was drawn with it became real, but still... he's an ink set. Then we have the unfortunate Priest Jizonobu, whose well-meant Deal With The Devil had even worse consequences.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Princess Kiku
Disability Super Power: Zato Ino - "The Blind Swordspig", who can "see" things thanks to his sense of smell.
Evil Is Deathly Cold: The air around Jei-san becomes noticably chilly
Four Is Death: The quartet of assassins known as "Shi" <Four>
Furry Confusion:
Gentleman Thief: Kitsune and Nezumi
Good Scars Evil Scars: Usagi gets a cut over his eyebrow during the battle of Adachigahara; not a "scar" per se, but Gen had his horn chopped off.
Hit Me Dammit:
Honest Axe:
Honor Before Reason
- Reconstructed. Usagi has no problem using trickery, usually to help the underdog. Characters who mistake honor for weakness frequently come off the worse for it.
- Also played straight, averted, and subverted, depending on the character and occasion.
Humans Are Bastards: The main villain, the shadowy Lord Hikiji, is a human in a world otherwise populated by anthropomorphic animals; the only other human-looking character with a speaking part is really a flesh-eating monster.
- And Jesus, who appears in a crucifix. Not a bastard.
I Am Not Shazam:
Implacable Man: Jei-san, Inazuma, and Inazuma after she gets possessed by Jei. (The same presumably goes for Hama).
After being (seriously) wounded in one fight, Inazuma reassures Keiko that it's "merely a flesh wound".
Improbable Aiming Skills: Kiku: "I just aimed at everything but the target!"
Implausible Fencing Powers: Usagi provokes a bandit into demanding that Katsuichi-sensei perform a near impossible feat of cutting a seed of Usagi's nose. Katsuichi calmly replies that this is near impossible, and asks the bandit to release Usagi. The bandit refuses. Katsuichi kills the bandit. Then cuts the seed to teach Usagi not to shoot his mouth off.
Jerk BADWORD Facade: Gen, Stray Dog
Jerk With A Heart Of Gold:
Kick Them While They Are Down: Noriko to Tomoe (twice), Noriko to the laborers.
Kid Samurai: Jotaro, Usagi during the flashbacks, Motokazu.
Lawyer Friendly Cameo: Sergio Aragones' Groo and characters from Mark Crilley's Akiko have appeared as background characters from time to time—the former may in fact count as a Yuppie Couple.
Luke You Are My Father Averted: Jotaro shouts this to Usagi, but he's too far away to hear. And they both know of Jotaro's true paternity, but they don't know that the other knows.
Magic Warrior: Sasuke (not that one) the Demon Queller
Meaningful Name: Usagi means "rabbit" in Japanese.
Medieval Japan:
Milky White Eyes: Jei-san and anyone he/it possesses, and technically all other supernatural beings since it's black & white.
Miyamoto Musashi: The inspiration for Usagi.
Ninja: The Neko, Komori and Mogura clans of ninja. Chizu of the Neko clan is an important secondary character.
Obake: Many Japanese creatures appear in UY, from kappas to obakenekos, nues, onis and so on.
Old Master: Katsuichi-sensei
Operation Jealousy: Kitsune telling Tomoe that she and Usagi have "shared so many adventures and... other things".
Pet The Dog: Jei-san and Keiko, Gen and Stray Dog's acts of kindness.
Public Domain Artifact: Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, the Grass-Cutting Sword, one of Japan's imperial regalia (which is nearly as important to Japanese legend as Excalibur is in England), is the center of a whole story arc.
Punny Name: Some throwaway secondary characters have names that are somewhat funny when translated from Japanese.
Red Oni Blue Oni: Gen and Usagi.
Recycled INSPACE: Space Usagi features descendants of the main characters and puts them in a Space Opera setting.
Ronin: Usagi and many secondary characters.
Samurai: Usagi, Tomoe.
Scars Are Forever:
Scooby Doo Hoax: The Inn on Moon Shadow Hill.
Secret Test Of Character: Katsuichi-sensei is prone to do this.
Shout Out: Many characters are shout outs to Chanbara heroes — the Lone Goat and Kid is a nod to the Lone Wolf And Cub, Zato-Ino the blind masseur pig is a thinly-veiled version of Zatoichi, Lord Mifune references the actor Toshiro Mifune, and so on)
Shown Their Work: (Stan Sakai may research some aspect of ancient Japanese life, from pottery to seaweed farming or geishas, and render it lovingly on the page or afterwords.
Space Whale: Giant space turtles! (Space Usagi) Whose corpses get turned into giant space ships!
Speech Bubbles: There is a speech bubble for death, with a skull in it.
Tear Jerker:
The Drifter:
The Faceless:
The Farmer And The Viper: Jei-san to a hapless fisherman.
Trick Dialogue:
Voice Of The Legion: Jei-San and anyone posessed by him/it.
Walking The Earth:
Wax On Wax Off:
What Could Have Been: Initial work had begun on a Space Usagi cartoon, but was stopped after the failure of the superficially similar Bucky O'Hare. Similarly, Space Usagi was slated to make an appearance in the second season Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fast Forward, but the appearance was scrapped when the season was cancelled.
