Best explaination for animal characters in UY?

[Jet_Jaguar]

For some reason, I was thinking about what I would say to anyone who asked me why UY uses anthropomorphic characters (I'm not sure exactly why I thought about this since everyone that I've showed UY to seems to "get" it without any explanation). I think that my short answer would be that the use of anthropomorphic characters helps to make the world of 17th century Japan that the series is set in seem a little bit less alien by connecting the series to the long tradition of the use of animal characters in folktales, animal fables, and, more recently, in cartoons. If I were to give a slightly longer answer, I might connect it somehow to some of the stuff that Scott McCloud wrote in Understanding Comics about how simpler, more "cartoony" characters more easily invite reader identification than characters drawn in a more conventionally "realistic" way.

Would anyone here answer the question differently?

[Todd Shogun]

I think I would answer differently, although your answers are also good ones. Reading the comic for so long now, I had always assumed it was done in funny animals for a couple reasons: Stan's influences (Sergio, Dave Thorne, Walt Kelly), and Usagi's design -- with ears tied up in a samurai chonmage top-knot -- was so unique and fresh that Stan really liked it. It is hard to pinpoint exactly when Stan changed Usagi from human to lagomorph, but most interviews and such seem to indicate 1982. He stated several times that after he changed "Miyamoto" (Usagi) into a rabbit and tied up his ears in '82, he immediately changed Nilson and Hermy (his then main characters) to anthropomorphs as well. The trouble here lies in the fact that there's a Nilson story with him done as a rabbit and Hermy as a hedgehog that is supposedly from 1979. That could have been cited incorrectly, not sure.

One answer some people might have to the question is that Stan was simply capitalizing on the black-and-white boom of the 80s, spawned by the TMNT craze. This would be in error however, because Usagi was developed well before the boom hit. In fact, when Usagi was first transformed to a rabbit there really wasn't a big market for black-and-white funny animal-based comics. When he and Nilson finally appeared in Albedo, it was a hard sell, and Stan and Steve found it difficult to even give the books away. Just like anything else, it took time before being embraced. Fortunately others helped shape what ended up becoming the B&W boom (Eastman/Laird, Josh Quagmire, etc). I think it also helped existing comics like Cerebus.

If someone were to ask me why Usagi works so well in funny animals as opposed to human characters, I think I would respond similarly to your two answers. Someone once wrote about Usagi that you could change out the characters to humans and the series would essentially remain the same without any loss. I totally disagree. The animal characters give Usagi a warmth and feel that I doubt could ever be accomplished with the use of human characters. And I highly doubt the series would have continued for 25 years strong had it been done with humans. Of course, there are other equally important reasons why it has been so successful and appealing besides being done in anthropomorphics....the art & design, the authenticity, the Kurosawa-influenced storytelling, the character developments, and Stan's original, inventive concepts used within Usagi's framework have all been key components to the success of the series.

[Ben]

The comic might have started out that way, but now it's gone beyond simple cartoon anthropomorphics. There's almost something archetypal in Usagi Yojimbo's animal characters, and I for one have no desire to ever see them become human.

Ironically, I find them more "human" now than if Stan actually drew them without bunny ears or cat faces. Stan has taken the so-called funny animal genre into a place very dark and very different from anything mainstream comics have seen before.

[go]

Dear Readers,
Its more fun.
Best wishes to all!
go
ps. after all the genre is called "funny animal " .......

[Fanfan]

Dear Readers,
Its more fun.
Best wishes to all!
go
ps. after all the genre is called "funny animal " .......

+1

[Stan Sakai]

One explanation of why I am using anthropomorphic animals was in my Live Journal:

"Here is an unpublished painting of Nilson Groundthumper done in 1982, two years before the first Nilson and Hermy story was published in Albedo comics #1. Whereas my Usagi Yojimbo is about feudal Japan, the Nilson stories, for the most part, takes place during the same time in Europe.

Nilson predates Usagi Yojimbo by many, many years. In fact, Usagi was to have been a secondary character in the Nilson epic. The entire story would have taken about 2,500 pages, and would have told the story of why there are animal-animals, why there are funny-animals, and the rise of the humans. It would have started off with short humorous stories, turning into longer, more dramatic, story arcs spanning an entire generation. The entire thing was to culminate with the anthromorphs making their last stand in a castle that looked much like the abbey at Mont St Michele (I was very excited when I finally got to visit that site in France).

I finished about 100 pages of Nilson stories for Albedo, Critters, and the UY Color Specials. As I said, Usagi was to have been a character in the Nilson story, and would have been introduced at about page 1,000. However, I fell in love with the samurai rabbit after I completed his first adventure, so I pretty much sidelined Nilson. I've since completed about 4,000 pages of Usagi stories. The last remnant of the Nilson epic ironically appears in UY Book 1. I drew Lord Hikiji, the main political power in UY and who would have been the major villain in Nilson, as a human."


Basically, it was supposed to be an epic story about the decline of the funny animals, and the rise of the humans, and why there are anthromorphs and why there are regular animals. I pretty much abandoned the story when I made Usagi an ongoing series.

Here is the link to that LJ entry so you can see the painting I refer to:

http://usagiguy.livejournal.com/21050.html