Kids and Usagi

[superpuzzlefighter]

Back in 1986, I was 10 years old, Usagi Yojimbo was the first comic I bought with my own money. I was instantly hooked. Reading Usagi helped with my grammer and knowledge of feudal japan and the samurai. It introduced me to Akira Kurosawa, Miyamoto Musashi and Toshirô Mifune. It was also a great way for me to bond with my family. I would talk with them about what was happening in the story or what the long words, that I had never heard of, meant. It inspired me to be an artist, that which I excelled in throughout school. Every 3 months or so, when a Usagi book would come out(I believe it was about 4-6 issues a year) I would get right to the drawing board and draw the newest cover of Usagi.

Now I am an adult with children of my own ages 9, 11 and 14. All of them have been reading Usagi for years and enjoy them as much as I did when I was a child. My love for comics like Usagi, got me into the comic book business. I had owned comic shops for 15 years and now put on my own conventions. I fully suport Usagi Yojimbo as excellant reading for kids!

[Ronin-K]

Back in 2007, when I was turning 13, I was on the Dark Horse website looking for "Alien" trade paperbacks when I stumbled upon UY #101 and immediatly recognized Usagi (despite the evil Jei smile) from TMNT the cartoon. I used the Preview button to look inside and I loved the art from the second I saw it.

I've never been a big fan of comics, but this one looked very interesting. A week later, I bought UY Books 1, 2, and 3 online. After reading the three, I became a huge Usagi fan, determined to collect all of the trade paperbacks. Currently, I have books 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, and 19. HALFWAY THERE! I've always had an interest in Ancient Japan, but I also liked the fact that Sakai-sensei used animals for characters. If it used only humans for characters, I probably wouldn't have bought it. I used to read manga, but I got bored of it quick.

Usagi Yojimbo blends interesting Japanese customs and history, cartoony(yet bloody) violence, and real life situations with strong drama, not to mention funny characters and coolio one-liners. Comic books aren't as popular as they used to be, and Usagi is the only comic I've seen in a while that is truly worth spending a long time reading. Thank You, Mr. Sakai!
(end of long speech about origin of obsession with furry samurai)

[Suumesh]

Hi all,

Last October, my 3 year old daughter picked Tomoe's Story off the shelf at Border's and begged/insisted that we get it for her. We were dubious since the odds are pretty low that you'll pick something at random out of the graphic novel section that is appropriate for a 3 year old, but we hate to ever discourage reading and the cover wasn't too ominous.

But she absolutely loves these books. We preview the books/chapters that we read to her and sanitize, avoid, or skip the parts that are too intense or mature...but those aren't her favorite parts anyway. We have probably read Tomoe's Story, Dragon Bellows Conspiracy, and the beginning of The Samurai close to 1000 times by now.

No one in our extended family have ever really been into comics, but now almost everyone has started to work their way through the series and my wife and I have read the entire series. For our daughter, we especially like that there are so many cool/interesting/strong/proactive female characters...which is pretty rare in children's books or comics. You can do far far worse than have your daughter pretending to be Tomoe, Inazuma, or Chizu (or fighting Noriko) in her play time. Though she spends a lot of time as Shingen too.

Anyway, I swear we are responsible parents and with common sense "editing", these have been #1 on our daughter's request list for 4 months now. Except that I always get cast as Lord Tamakuro in re-enactments of Dragon Bellows Conspiracy (no Usagi or Gen for dad!) , and my wife has sewn tiny kimonos for every stuffed cat and rabbit in the house, Usagi Yojimbo has been nothing but good positive fun for our family.

Sorry for the long post. We just wanted to join the fun and thank Stan Sakai for writing something that has brought so much fun and magic (and ninjas!) into our daughter's childhood (and our parenthood)! Now when is the Tomoe/Inazuma/Chizu poster coming heh??

[Stan Sakai]

Thank you for the wonderful story, Suumesh. You and your daughter have made my day!

[Steve Hubbell]

YES!

A Tomoe/Inazuma/Chizu poster would be really cool!

(Maybe with Mariko in there as well?)

[Mayhem]

An official one WOULD be cool

Though I came close with my commission from last year's SDCC

[Corky Kneivel]

I'm reading book 9 at the moment and I began to wonder. Are there any folks here who has kids and they read your Usagi books? Sensei, do your kids like to read Usagi?

I have two daughters, aged 10 & 6. They appreciate my comic mania and, as all kids like to, have their own individual "faborites". Both daughters LOVE, not like mind you, LOVE Usagi Yojimbo. I have eagerly and excitedly showed both of them UY at various times, sometimes just interrupting them and making them look at a page that's beautifully detailed. At first they "tolerated" UY more than anything but I think that was because of annoyance with me. They've both come to appreciate the book immensely, but for different reasons.

My youngest daughter Molly, she loves the look of the book but won't pick up a book to read on her own. I have purposely kept her from reading or viewing the pages I feel are too violent for her sensibilities but I have also not kept her from reading some of the stories with violence and/or death involved. Her favorites are the female characters especially Kitsune and her young "sister-in-crime". She thinks Tomoe is too much of a tomboy, I love how children have such a "black and white" view of things.

My older daughter Daphny will pick up the trades and just plow through them in one sitting. She loves how the stories coalesce as well as the good the art is. She has turned tables on me and broken down a page or two, showing me how she liked the story progression through the panels. I can specifically remember her affinity for the "watchtower" scenes in a particular book. Her take on it, when I asked her, was, "Dad, of all the stuff you read, Usagi Yojimbo is pretty cool."

I have a small box of comics saved for my daughters to read when they are a bit older. Mostly Disney and Uncle Scrooge ones. I'm hoping they will read them, and one day Bone, and am wondering if they will want to read Usagi like their dad does. I'd like to be able to share this with them, or maybe my grand kids one day!

Both of my daughters love BONE, and were willing listeners and lookers-on at age 5. I think BONE is the easiest to start a kid on. How great is it that adults can get into it too?
They also like ABADAZAD from Cross-Gen but that was only like 3 issues.