USAGI YOJIMBO Volume 3, Number 48

Dear Stan Sakai,

I'm writing to say thank you for the years of enjoyment Usagi Yojimbo has given me, and to throw in a few ideas and hopes I have for future story lines.

First, I'd like to say how much I'm enjoying the flirtatious/adversarial role Chizu has taken on. It's nice to see Usagi get the occasional kiss, even though I understand that kisses didn't really happen in traditional Japanese society. What I'd really like to ask is: how about moving Usagi's relationship with Tomoe along a bit? I know absolutely nothing about how marriages were arranged or how weddings were conducted, but I do know that for people of Tomoe's rank they were often politically motivated. How about this - Noriyuki arranges a political marriage for Tomoe! It would make Usagi and Tomoe begin to confront how they feel about each other, and also give us the chance to learn a bit more about the culture of the day.

The other character I'd like to mention is Jei. I've never really liked him - until he started traveling with Keiko I'd always thought he was a bit two-dimensional - but I'm interested to see what you plan to do with him next. Since Inazuma has now been possessed by whatever it was that was previously possessing Jei, I'd like to cast my vote for Jei returning at some point - as he was before he was possessed - bowed and unrepentant about all the people he killed. Could you imagine how you would cope if that had happened to you? I don't know how I'd cope, and I thought I knew myself pretty well.

Graham Dean
65 Aspen Avenue
Bedford MK41 8DA
United Kingdom

[Actually, Tomoe's Wedding is a story line I am planning for, in the far future. It would be a political wedding with Noriyuki acting as the formal go-between.

[I have already begun laying the groundwork for Jei's "return". And you'll see Inazuma and Keiko weaving in and out of stories for a while.]

Dear Stan S. and Diana S.:

Flipping through Usagi Yojimbo #45 gave me the impression that Stan had decided not to let Grasscutter II run as long as its predecessor. That made me nervous, as I like my story arcs long, and there were surely plenty of adventures for Usagi and his friends to have before reaching the shrine.

Yet, as I thought about it, I began to see what was in Stan's mind. The first five chapters had been full of incident and character, and to resume the quest without the Komori and Neko ninja could have resulted in serious padding.

Skimming left me unsure. Reading made it clear that I needn't have worried. This was why:

As in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, the jump over events was smooth and skillful, and the introduction of the four sword-bearers established their personalities immediately: good-natured Usagi, gruff Gen, reverent Sanshobo, and the noble and weakened Ikeda.

Then Stan had Ikeda correct his former vassal's use of his true title, which made it all the more moving when "Inushiro" received his last order from his lord (note, though, that Sanshobo obeyed with a "my lord"!).

Rather than bringing back the Komori and the Neko ninja, Stan concentrated on a specific group of antagonists under the direction of chunin Kagemaru. After the complicated Chizu, Kagemaru was a smart choice of foe.

Yet, at the same time, we could glimpse seeds planted that could sprout against Chizu. In the fight with Kagemaru's crew, Gen vowed to kill Chizu, while Usagi thought she was not as aboveboard with them as we know she was.

The four friends split slowly, with Ikeda making the first sacrifice and Gen making the second. Gen is a samurai in spite of himself; he's so busy growling that it takes you a while to realize that he's doing exactly the right thing. He's come a long way since his first two "Bounty Hunter" stories and is all the better for it.

The death of Ikeda was unsettling. He clearly gave up the ghost on page 20, yet he dispatched several of the Neko ninja before he expired, and it was with a voice which Jei would have admired.

Usagi versus Kagemaru made me feel like a kid again, when the fight sequences were what I wanted in comics. The sword fight here had all the tang of a space flight, and the emphasis on movement and sound effects made it all the more striking when the opponents spoke on page 18, panel 2. In contrast to this seriousness, we had the utterly hilarious report from Gen on his own condition.

The reactions to Ikeda's death were masterfully succinct. In a single panel were the essences of a man who had lost a master, a friend who wanted to do what he could, and another friend whose brevity was no mask for true regret.

Kimi, for whom I had predicted a major role, returned for the first epilogue, and amidst the prayers for the dead and the reflections on wounds, we had hints of future conflicts. While deeply wounded, Kimi remained true to the code of the Neko ninja, while Chizu expressed reservations. The kashira's "but it should not be so, Kimi" made me think of the "deserters" whom she had hoped to spare. And perhaps Kagemaru, in time, will succeed to the leadership of the clan.

As for the second epilogue, it said "abayo" in just the right way. We had a smile from the ronin, a "harrumph" from the bounty hunter, and a task for the head priest. Truly, when Stan creates an epic, he doesn't fool around.

Charles Sperling
37-15 Parsons Blvd.
Flushing, NY 11354-5814

[Grasscutter II was originally planned as a six-issue story. Not counting the prologue, each chapter title referred to the use of a different sense (sight, smell, etc.). However, five chapters seemed too rushed, so in the final few months of drawing the story I added another chapter, but ran out of senses. So, I used a title that incorporated all of them.

[Chizu has already reaped some of the seeds that she had sown. She is now an outcast and is hunted by her clan.]

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Last change: 19. May 2003

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Usagi Yojimbo, including all prominent characters featured in the stories and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Stan Sakai and Usagi Studios. Usagi Yojimbo is a registered trademark of Stan Sakai. Names, characters, places, and incidents featured in this publication either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events, institutions, or locales, without satiric content, is coincidental.