Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

"Kill the Geishu Lord!" Great issue-plenty of action! Good to see Tomoe again, it's been too long. The Neko really seem more brutal than usual in this issue, considering the villagers. Very good battle scenes. I WON'T give away the ending but will say it did surprise me-Stan can be very sneaky in his writing. What most interested me was Usagi and Tomoe's conversation. I thought her reaction was a bit odd-anger at Usagi for not telling Jotaro the truth? I wonder if she was miffed because Usagi had never told her he had a son. Certainly a complicated situation, and Usagi's conflicted feelings about it were perfectly summed up. I have the feeling that he won't tell Jotaro the truth, but I wonder if Jotaro has already figured it out, or at least suspects?

This just confirms what I knew all along...Tomoe's got it bad for Usagi... it's too obvious...

Usagi must have some feelings for Tomoe since he saved her in issue 15. I admit the Neko Ninja were brutal in a way not portrayed since their earliest appearances, usually Stan has their members speak intellegently. I like the page where Usagi is trying to find quarters for the night with Jotoro and the woman closes the window. On the day I bought issue 72 I went to my friend James' and with his credit card he bought me two copies of issue 25 Fantagraphics Books off of the Mile High Comics website.

Tomoe's feelings for Usagi get obvious in her reaction on Usagi's confession, that Jotaro is his son.
SPOILER:
The End didn't suprise me at all. Though the death of Kaze is very touching (especially panel 4 of the page) it was to clear, that Stan would not let die the Tono. I've got three problems with the series, of which two are important for this story:
1. There are to many people killed in Usagi-Comics. Where find's Usagi still any marodeurs, he can kill - there shouldn't be any left. Alone in this issue there are at least 30 dead people! Though I never counted them: Usagi must have killed hundreds of people by now, and in the Usagi-comics there must have been over 1000 people dying. It's sometimes simply to much for me.
2. Hardly any of the more important charakters ever dies. Usagi kills 20 thiefs - and does not get harmed. Genosuke kills 10 Ninjas - and isn't harmed as well... So it was to obvious, that the Tono would not be dying and the end did not suprise me at all.
Well, it is okay, that not everybody, Usagi knows, gets killed, but on the other hand it'S not very convincing considering how many enemies are dying.
3. (not important for this story) Why doesn't everybody know and fear Usagi. Every bad guy should know his name by now, judging by the trail of death he leaves on his way.

Oops, I wasn't logged in. This post was by me - did not want to post this anonimously.

I enjoyed this story, specially when Usagi and Tomoe are talking bout Jotaro (can't wait for the next issue ). Crazy Quokka is right: sometimes I feel like too many people die but almots none of the important characters die. *SPOILERS* I also knew that Noriyuki couldn't die in just a single issue: there should be some story development first to make the death more dramatic (perhaps a two or three issues long story). Of course I could be wrong and there could be some important character suddenly dying for some reason.

I have one question for Stan: have you already figured out Usagi's life (relationship with Tomoe and Jotaro, Usagi's death, Jotaro's life, etc...) or are you making it all up as you write the story, experimenting a little to see how things turn out?

Let's not forget that while Stan's stories are some of the most accurate of Feudal Japan, that this is still a comic book... the main characters should not, for the most part, die... It is true that a lot of enemies do die, but don't forget how many of the good guys die too (plenty of Geishu retainers gave their lives to protect the double). Also, the main characters of UY each have their own fanbase... to arbitrarily kill one off for drama's sake would be pointless (might also upset a few fans in the process!)...sure, it might be more realistic, but if you want that kind of reality, simply turn to the evening news! also, to create one with the intent of that character dying off would also be pretty meaningless...

Stan has, from time to time, had some main characters die. While they weren't the front-running characters like Tomoe and Gen, their deaths did cause some reaction (Spot and Shingen for instance). I for one was pretty miffed by Shingen's death way back when. Some were predictable in a way (Jei, Nakamura Koji), but this did not detract from the overall stories. Innocents die on a regular basis in UY (such was the way back then). Witness the entire village's people who were replaced by Ninjas. The pendulum swings in both directions -- remember what happened to the Neko Clan's village in the DBC series.

Anonymous wrote: I've got three problems with the series, of which two are important for this story:
1. There are to many people killed in Usagi-Comics. Where find's Usagi still any marodeurs, he can kill - there shouldn't be any left. Alone in this issue there are at least 30 dead people! Though I never counted them: Usagi must have killed hundreds of people by now, and in the Usagi-comics there must have been over 1000 people dying. It's sometimes simply to much for me.
2. Hardly any of the more important charakters ever dies. Usagi kills 20 thiefs - and does not get harmed. Genosuke kills 10 Ninjas - and isn't harmed as well... So it was to obvious, that the Tono would not be dying and the end did not suprise me at all.
Well, it is okay, that not everybody, Usagi knows, gets killed, but on the other hand it'S not very convincing considering how many enemies are dying.
3. (not important for this story) Why doesn't everybody know and fear Usagi. Every bad guy should know his name by now, judging by the trail of death he leaves on his way.

Very valid points.

1. The high body count in this story was very deliberate. I wanted to show the ruthlessness of the Neko Ninja now that Chizu is gone and Kuromaru is their leader. They'll go even more over the top as we get closer to the Ninja Wars story arc. Of the three ninja clans introduced so far, the Neko has been the most honorable, most like the good guys. That really needs to change under the new leadership. Incidentally, the body count really will go down in the subsequent issues. I wanted to accomplish two things with UY 72--show the ruthlessness of the "new" Neko Ninja, and re-introduce Tomoe and her relationship with Usagi in preparation for another future story line.

2). The last death of a major character occurred about a year ago with the death of Nakamura Koji (and you don't know how close Katsuichi came to meeting the Grim Reaper).

3). Usagi is nowhere near the best swordsman in Japan. He was beaten by Koji, and wounded by Jei. He has not been tested against many others including Katsuichi and the Lord of Owls. So far, the best of the swordsmen I've introduced is Inazuma.

Thanx for responding.

Of course I'd be shocked and sad, if one of my favourite charakters (Gen!) would die and I see the necessity of "unrealism".

This is good reason you give for the bodycount in this issue, but for me it is a general problem of the comic.

Well, there may be better swordsmen than Usagi, but a boxer with a career of 200 Victories by 2 losses would surely fight for the WC.

Anyway: Keep up the good work, Stan.
And: The better a comic or a movie is, the more I think about, what I would do different. I don't spent a second thought on a bad comic.


I beg your pardon for my bad English, but I'm obviously no native speaker.

Stan Sakai wrote:... and re-introduce Tomoe and her relationship with Usagi in preparation for another future story line.

Hell yeah! (Assuming this is what I think it is...)

Well I was thinking about it and a possible idea for a future storyline would be to have Tomoe and Usagi get involved for a bit. Everything is going great until Jotaro enters the picture with news as to the death of his father Kenichi. We find out that Kenichi and many others in Usagi's village were killed at the hands of Lord Hikiji (just like Usagi's father).

Usagi, of course, as the honorable samurai, decides it would be in Jotaro's best interest to take Kenichi's place as his father, all the while not telling him (maybe Jotaro finds this out on hisown somehow). He also decides to return to the village to help restore his home town. This means Usagi leaves Tomoe for his Village (not for Mariko just yet though)... for honor and all that. Jotaro declares vengeance against Lord Hikiji, of whom we find is attempting another assassination against Noriyuki. Eventually we lead up to a full-scale war, with the final battle at Adachi Plain, and Usagi joining the Geishu Clan to bring the Dark Lord down. During this last battle, Usagi, making his way to Hikiji to avenge Kenichi's death, is taken out by an arrow (flesh wound only). Hikiji dismounts and heads to Usagi to finish him off personally. The sword almost lands on Usagi as Tomoe comes riding up and lops off Hikiji's head (Gozen-style). They battle off the rest of Hikiji's forces (who are now demoralized with the death of their Lord). The two confront each other, have some discussions and such...and decide what is best to do.. Usagi returns to his Village and Jotaro, and in subsequent months/years gets back together with Mariko for whatever reasons... Tomoe, in her grief at losing Usagi, decides to leave the service of Lord Noriyuki to become a nun, thus completing the homage to Tomoe Gozen.

Just a small idea I had. Probably won't work because Jotaro would most likely be a grown man in the service of a Daimyo by then, but I couldn't resist...

Hi Crazy Quokka,

I see you are from Germany. You obviously read the American editions of Usagi, but there are also German editions. Hopefully, I'll be able to visit your country, though not this year.

While in Norway, I did a presentation for a group of children. I illustrated the "Musicians of Bremen" while a storyteller told the tale (in Norwegian). Is this the city of Bremen that you live in? Just curious.

Hi Todd,

Good story, Todd. Has great potential, and I love drawing those huge battles with armor and everything. But, unfortunately, not the direction I'm taking the story.

Hi Stan,

Yes, I'm from THAT Bremen. (560.000 inhabitants, second biggest Harbor-Town in Germany)
The link should lead to a photo of the statue of the "Stadtmusikanten" (=city-musicians) of which many pictures are taken by tourists:

http://www.stud.uni-goettingen.de/~s275 ... sert).jpeg

I started reading the American editions in the time, Carlsen had stopped publishing and Schwarzer Turm hadn't started, and so I keep reading them in the original to improve my English and because I enjoy it even more, to read them in English. And of course the lettering is outstanding in the original.

Bremen? Cool! I remember about 14-15 years ago watching a cartoon made for the Spanish public TV about the 4 musicians of Bremen. I used to enjoy that show, along with some Italo-japanese productions made on the 70's-80's which were aired around that time (Sherlock Hound, Dartacan, and many more). Then anime started gaining momentum first with Dr.Slump and afterwards with the Dragon Ball craze. Good ol' nostalgia . If you want to check out how the Musicians of Bremen ("Los trotamúsicos") looked like, check out this link (there were many more shows that I liked).

Todd: your idea sounds sweet! Big battles are always great to look at (on the comic books, obviously ).

Guten tag Quokka, wie geht's?!

Ich habe durch bremen gefahren ins jahr 2000, es ist ein sehr nett stadt. Ausgezeichnet essen und trinken, aber ich hat hamburg am lieber.

Das ist nur fur die reperbahn. Nyah! It's a joke, a joke I tell ya! I kid you not!... er actually I guess I do!


How's my deutsch? I learned from watching Iptv. When I went there everyone just smiled at me. Some rather nice people I thought, really.