Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Right now my collection I'm up to v.11 of the graphic novels.

Is Jei ever explained in more detail? Right now all I know is he possess some supernatural powers and hates evil/Usagi. Has his origin been explored/explained yet?

Well you're in for a treat when you read UY Book 12: Grasscutter! The storyline is basically the climax in Usagi's adventures with the Possessed One. Problem is, while we do get to learn more about Jei, Grasscutter only raises MORE questions! After that, the Jei saga remains pretty quiet... not even Grasscutter 2 touches on it (GC2 contains the Chizu storyline that was cut from the original GC). But it will sure as hell (pun intended) pick up again soon!

On another note, Stan promised to reveal the Origin Story of Jei-san one of these days. Not sure if it will occur before or after Tengu Wars, the next big UY story arc on the horizon (waaaay on the horizon). Perhaps an out-of-continuity Jei mini-series is in order here. Fully-painted art on super-glossy pages in that old "prestige" format... maybe in the same vane as those old horror comics from way back when? Hey just throwing out some ideas

Now you're talking! How about it Stan!!?

That'd be cool! .

Has his origin been explored/explained yet?

What's Jei's true origin? There could be some possibilities:

1) Jei was a normal guy who got possesed by a very mean gaki. Perhaps Jei died on a battle and the gaki used his dead body to come back to life and finish his task.

2) Jei was a normal guy who made a mean sorcerer mad for whatever reason, so the sorcerer placed a curse on Jei. Now Jei is either the sorcerer's puppet or he is just plain crazy.

3) Jei was a very mean guy, so some evil god possesed him and made Jei even meanier.

4) Jei truly is the emissary of the gods, so Usagi must be the very mean guy.

5) Jei was always crazy. That's what made him very mean.

6) Jei was a normal guy who ate/drunk something that he was not supposed to eat/drink, so he became sick and made him mean.

7) Jei was an alien from another dimension sent to earth to slay the human race for its mean acts against nature.

8 ) I'm a very mean person for torturing you by making you read my posts.

Please don't beat me up. I mean it .

I haven't gotten it completely figured out, but there is an Origin on Jei story in the works.

ziritrion wrote:That'd be cool! .


8 ) I'm a very mean person for torturing you by making you read my posts.

Please don't beat me up. I mean it .

Yeah I stopped halfway through.

Looking forward to it, Stan!

SPECULATION! In the understanding that...

I haven't gotten it completely figured out

... I have a surmise based on past activity: Jei was a talented warrior, of decent nature but rather simple. Through a wrong time/place event, he's been made a patsy by some evil Kami (I won't speculate on which-- there's how many million of 'em?), which has convinced him to do away with "evil men"-- all to enhance the amount of evil in the world, or some other nefarious evil kami purpose. SO, he believes he's on a crusade against evil, while attacking only decent folk like Usagi. Tragic!

If anyone knows Morden's backstory (from Babylon 5), I'd place my bets on something similar.

Backstory for character's like Jei has a habit of making the character more sympathetic rather than less.

His "unlikely" connection to the young girl, suggests that a child (or the loss of one) is likely to play a central role in his past. Having gone through so much to kill Usagi, when the moment finally came saving a child was more important.

---Steven

takematsu: so,

Jei was a talented warrior, of decent nature but rather simple. Through a wrong time/place event, he's been made a patsy by some evil Kami (I won't speculate on which-- there's how many million of 'em?), which has convinced him to do away with "evil men"-- all to enhance the amount of evil in the world, or some other nefarious evil kami purpose. SO, he believes he's on a crusade against evil, while attacking only decent folk like Usagi.

is like

Jei was a very mean guy, so some evil god possesed him and made Jei even meanier.

and

Jei was a normal guy who made a mean sorcerer mad for whatever reason, so the sorcerer placed a curse on Jei. Now Jei is either the sorcerer's puppet or he is just plain crazy.

but mixing them up and writing it in a fancier way, without that "mean" thing, right?

If I recall, according to the "Grasscutter" notes, there are about 8 million good kami and 10 million mean kami.

(I think this is when I start running away...)

Pretty much-- I think that since Jei's convinced he's doing good, and all the while poking holes in good people, means that he's either being tricked, or darn crazy. The fact that he leaves some folks alone means he's only being aimed at the parts of society making significant contributions to the forces of Good. On the other hand, Usagi did kill that money-lender's mother without any real provocation-- maybe he IS evil....

If I recall, according to the "Grasscutter" notes, there are about 8 million good kami and 10 million mean kami.

(I think this is when I start running away...)

Of course, some of those are the teeny ones responsible for toe-stubbing or key-misplacing. Most of the stories I know indicate the key is to be very polite.