Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Yea, Iv read alot on hear about this Manga called the Lone wolf club, I really had no idea what you guys were talknig about, till my firend and went into this Manga store (which I had no Idea we evin had in my little place in the world lol)- And I saw the Lone Wolf Club Volumes, remembering some talk about it, I tihnk I picked up #2 and skimmed threw it, but I did not buy any, because I wantto start withthe first one, (I learnd my lession to start with the first, when I havent done it with Usago yet- which is hard to find ...>.< Still )-

Anyway, Could yal'll give me some really cool backround info on it ^^ , like, Is it oozing with Japanese history, Fact/Fiction- Storyline?? ^^ Tee Hee

There's quite a lot of background in the rear sections of the new Lone Wolf and Cub books.

Storywise, it's wound around history rather than being historical. There were three powerful families and two of them disappeared during the period of time covered in the story. Major floods and fires are also supossed to have occured when and where the story depicts them.

It's probably very accurate in places and completely fanciful in others but so well put together that it's impossible to tell which is which.

I don't know that it stands comparisson to Usagi because whilst there is something very similar at the heart of them, they are so very different in implimentation. For instance, whilst Lone Wolf wobbles a bit near the beginning - possibly because the authors hadn't really settled on exactly where they were going - the vast majority of it is very much just a single story. Perhaps reflected in the difference between the central characters: Usagi is a wanderer where Ogami Ito is very much driven towards one specific goal. Also, off the top of my head I really can't think of anything funny in Lone Wolf, certainly nothing on a par with the relationship between Usagi and Gen.

If reading Lone Wolf has a downside it is that Usagi may be relegated to being your second favourite Samurai character. Nonetheless I think having read Lone Wolf and Cub certainly makes Usagi Yojimbo a better read, and I already loved it, if only because it sheds so much light on the little things...

---Steven

Is it oozing with Japanese history, Fact/Fiction- Storyline

I think it's set, in a very loose way, in the 1750's-- about halfway through the Tokugawa era. There are some interesting little factlets that pop up now and again, but there's a lot of pretty fanciful stuff too. I think I mentioned earlier the guy in it who somehow trained to trap a sword with his own skull to give his clan-mates a momentary opening in an opponent's defence....

If reading Lone Wolf has a downside it is that Usagi may be relegated to being your second favourite Samurai character

I beg to differ; they're sufficiently different to fall into separate categories. Do I prefer gravy-soaked roast turkey, or a delicious, chocolatey fudge cake? Depends on the mood....

I believe that the main differance between Usagi Yojimbo and Lone Wolf & Cub (beside anthropormorphic art compared to realistic (?) art) is the viewpoint of the artist involved.

Stan Sakai is third generation Japanese American writing and drawing Usagi yojimbo based on a culture he is learning about somewhat second hand, frequently as he writes some of the stories. This is great because it allows him to explore any and all aspects of Japanese culture as well as explain it as he goes along. Stan writes his stories for himself, so he claims, and I, for one, am glad that he is allowed to share them publicly.

Lone Wolf and Cub (Kozure Okami) written by Kozue Koike and Illustrated by Goseki Kojima, is Full blood Japanese... It is written and drawn by artists living in Japan, for an audience living in Japan, and set in a period in Japan's history... While it shares a lot in style and setting to Usagi Yojimbo, it is still vastly differant.

Dale Furutani, author of the Samurai Mystery Trilogy of novels (Death at the Crossroads, Jade Palace Vendetta, & Kill the Shogun), is also third generation Japanese American and his trilogy reads with the same sense of... sharing? of information about the time and culture that he is writing about.

Comparing Usagi Yojimbo to Lone Wolf and Cub is similar to comparing The Samurai Trilogy to Eiji Yoshikawa's Musashi... Set in the same time period and culture but seen from different perspectives.

Abayo...

PS...
This post was just an excuse to check out my new icon!

Oh, I see, Thanks guys ^^ Tee Hee,
I wasent acctually trying to do a comparison btwn Usagi and the LWC- Though, it was brought, up, It was really nice to read your comments about that. Usagi Y, Will always have a place on my Desk of papers, ink, markers pencel lead and little drawings of Chbi me running around the desk, That will not go away *litterally, hes in permanit marker LoL*-->So, The LWC- If you start from the beggining, Is not that complicated to read, if you pick up on the bits of learnnig along the way? I can do that- ANd thanks for all the cool Backround info for it as well ^^ your all to kind

Usagi Yojimbo is a series of stories, and it does not matter too much where you start, as long as it isn't in the middle of one of the multi-issue stories. There is a continueitty (sp. ?) to the series but the stories can all be enjoyed independently.

Lone Wolf and Cub is more of a single story with lots of episodes building to a definite finish. While some of the episodes can be read as seperate stories, it is better to start at the beginning and read it in order.

If you enjoy Lone Wolf and Cub, Dark Horse Comics is releasing an English language edition of Koike and Kojima's Kubikiri Asa under the title of Samurai Executioner with the first of ten volumes being released in July.

Another Japanese manga set in the fuedal period of Japan that has been translated into English and published in two volumes by Viz Comics is The Legend of Kamuii with lettering by none other than Usagi yojimbo's own Stan Sakai.

One other Japanese manga translated into English of note, also published by Viz Comics, is Vagabond. It is about Musashi Miyamoto, the character whom Stan Sakai had initially concidered doing a comic book about, before he made his fateful drawing of a rabbit with a top-knot.

Wow.....Ok I'll takre your word for what I may get my hands on ^^ *huggles* thanks!

I started on Usagi at like Issue 65 at last, so I was pretty lost- so I had to resurch myself on it ^^

ESP I can handle well, no really long story plot ot it none.- I'll look into what else i can ^^ Hehehe thank you again-as always ^^!

Lone Wolf & Cub is awesome!

I've just hit upon a link to this page, which is a VERY funny lampooning of some of the excesses in LW&C. It starts dry, but persist-- the fruit is well worth the effort.

MASAGARU: But surely, he can't stand against the 100,000 members of the Emperor's mounted cavalry, in full armor, with swords and bows?

Screams of pain, also whinnies of pain...

TAKANA: ...I don't see why he had to slaughter all the horses, as well. That seems completely unnecessary.

/whipes tears off

CLASSIC!! That read was priceless! Thanks for cheering me up today!

Off-topic: speaking about crickets, they've opened a store around here which sells all kinds of cooked bugs for your pleasure, including fried beetles and crickets with curry. I haven't tried it yet, but from what I've heard they're pretty good. I'll let you know if they're slimy, yet satisfying, or not...

takematsu, thanks ^^ fir that link, I read threw it , It was inetesting *giggles * - If i come across it- Ill so need to purchace #1