Revenge of the Blood Princess

[lookatyouhacker]

Recently, I chatted with Stan Sakai and he said,

Tomoe will be back, though. I don't know when.

Well, I want to talk to you guys about one of the various reasons I'd like to see Tomoe again; so that we'd have more stories with Noriko as the villain. Throughout the Treasure of the Mother of Mountains storyline, Noriko established herself as a badass villain, and a vengeful, spiteful, and maniacal sadist. I think she might actually be Usagi Yojimbo's best baddie, in my opinion, probably moreso than Jei. She's almost like a female version of The Joker but without the comedy routine, like the deadly prank toys and the fatal laughing gas. I have several ideas on what kinds of stories she could be featured in but I'm not going to state them because Stan Sakai said this:

Legally, I am prevented from reading story suggestions. Not because they may conflict with planned story lines but because they may actually be very similar and I don't want to be accused of stealing plots or storylines.

But I will say this: They all pretty much depict Noriko as more evil than she was in the Treasure of the Mother of Mountains arc and considering how evil she was in that, that's quite the accomplishment. Bottom line, I hope that whenever Tomoe finally comes back, we get to see more of Noriko as well, and therefore more of just how deliciously evil she is.

[estee]

Well I always like seeing characters reappear in Usagi, regardless of how obscure.

The Blood Princess' return would be great to see, simply for the opportunity of seeing her duel either Usagi or Tomoe.

Or even both at the same time a la Darth Maul.

[Maka]

The character I’m interested in seeing return is Sakura. Does her brother really exist?

I’m not as interested in Noriko. But if she does return, I hope we learn more about her beyond her hatefulness. I like how Stan’s characters have their nature but also can be complex, like us real people. Peace, maka

[lookatyouhacker]

Well I always like seeing characters reappear in Usagi, regardless of how obscure.

The Blood Princess' return would be great to see, simply for the opportunity of seeing her duel either Usagi or Tomoe.

Or even both at the same time a la Darth Maul.

Well, I personally prefer the "both at the same time" idea because while Usagi is the main character, Tomoe has the connection with Noriko, so both needs would be satisfied at once if Sakai had them both fight her at once. In particular, I would love it if it played out exactly like the recent fight in RWBY Volume 6 between Blake + Yang and Adam Taurus. I hope Stan Sakai makes an epic fight exactly like that. Only replace Blake with Tomoe, Yang with Usagi, and Adam with Noriko.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7zV5_P9q7w

[lookatyouhacker]

The character I’m interested in seeing return is Sakura. Does her brother really exist?

I’m not as interested in Noriko. But if she does return, I hope we learn more about her beyond her hatefulness. I like how Stan’s characters have their nature but also can be complex, like us real people. Peace, maka

If Yuuki Terumi didn't need depth beyond his sadism and spite, why should Noriko? But yes, I think Sakura should make a return too. And so does Eshbaal according to his descriptions of the fanart he drew of her.

[estee]

The character I’m interested in seeing return is Sakura. Does her brother really exist?

I’m not as interested in Noriko. But if she does return, I hope we learn more about her beyond her hatefulness. I like how Stan’s characters have their nature but also can be complex, like us real people. Peace, maka

Another compelling story would be Sakura crossing paths with Kitsune.

[lookatyouhacker]

However, I think Sakura coming back should be a separate topic onto itself. So, back to Noriko. Recently, in addition to reading Usagi Yojimbo, I've also been playing BlazBlue, and the villain of that game, Yuuki Terumi, and to a lesser extent, his alter ego/partner-in-crime Hazama, are actually very similar, in my opinion, to Noriko.

• 1. Both characters are absolute sadists who opt to brutally humiliate their opponents after defeating them. They even kick their foes while they are down. (That's Hazama too.)
  2. All three characters take great pleasure in being pure evil. In fact, Noriko calls herself the Blood Princess while Terumi calls himself the God of Destruction and Hazama calls himself the Shadowy Serpent Fang.
  3. Both of these villains hate their sisters and devote so much of their effort into treating them with absolute spite. (Hazama has no sister)
  4. Yuuki Terumi cut off Ragna the Bloodedge's hand, which Noriko threatened to do to Usagi.
  5. Noriko's taunting of Tomoe Ame and Terumi's or rather Hazama's taunting of Noel Vermillion led to both Noel and Tomoe breaking down crying and feeling despair.
  6. Whenever things don't go their way, both Noriko and Terumi throw temper tantrums. (Definetly not Hazama)

[lookatyouhacker]

One thing that makes me want Stan Sakai to bring Noriko back is her backstory. Stan himself described as "tragic" in his notes for the Treasure of the Mother of Mountains arc, but he left so much of it open to interpretation. For example, she mentioned that her mother a.k.a Tomoe's aunt, Haruko, died but how she died isn't explained. And while her illigetimate birth really is why Tomoe's father, Tatsutaro, wouldn't acknowledge her as his daughter due to the scandal that would cause, but I suspect that her cruelty and sadism made him not want to acknowledge her as his niece either. TVTropes.org said that she had homicidal tendencies since childhood, and I can't help but wonder of they contributed to why Tomoe's parents hated and shunned her.

[estee]

I kinda want her to be cruel because she likes it.

No trauma in her life. No abuse or outside stimulus that 'pushed' her into being cruel.

She's simply a sadistic psychopath. Like Hannibal Lecter. She's does terrible things cuz she can. Simple. Direct.

And then we watch as how normal society reacts to her actions.

[lookatyouhacker]

Well, TVTropes.org said that she "had sadistic tendencies since childhood" and I think that might have contributed to why she was hated and shunned by Tomoe's parents, as that might have actually been an example of normal society reacting to her behavior. In fact, being hated by Tomoe's parents could potentially be a result of Noriko's cruelty, rather than the cause of it. Noriko did say that she was hated by Tomoe's mother, and I think a great reason why would be because of how much Noriko has brutally bullied Tomoe during their sparring matches. How would you like it if that were the case, estee.

[lookatyouhacker]

I kinda want her to be cruel because she likes it.

No trauma in her life. No abuse or outside stimulus that 'pushed' her into being cruel.

She's simply a sadistic psychopath. Like Hannibal Lecter. She's does terrible things cuz she can. Simple. Direct.

And then we watch as how normal society reacts to her actions.

I think it's possible that Tomoe's mother's hatred of Noriko was just an example of normal society reacting to her actions. I suspect that she didn't even know about her illigitimate birth and hated her just for bullying Tomoe. I think it would be great if that were the case here.

[lookatyouhacker]

And about Horikawa's animosities towards Tomoe? I'd love to see Noriko attempt to use them to her twisted advantage.

[lookatyouhacker]

I have so many ideas for stories involving Noriko, but after sharing one with Stan Sakai himself, he said this:

Thank you for your enthusiasm but, legally, I am prevented from reading story suggestions. Not because they may conflict with planned story lines but because they may actually be very similar and I don't want to be accused of stealing plots or storylines.

Thank you, though.

Which means, I shouldn't post my ideas for any of those stories, as tempting as that may be, because I want to protect him from accusations of plagirism. But I have a whole truckload of them. Trust me.

[lookatyouhacker]

Looks like estee is gonna get his/her wish of Noriko being just plain rotten to the core with no redeeming qualities. Back when Volume 3's 89th issue came out, there was a thread dedicated to it, and on it, Ben, who has a picture of Noriko in his avatar by the way, said this.

Noriko always seemed to be a hateful person, as Tomoe's flashbacks indicate. But was she really "born" evil? Even the brutal rejection Noriko suffered by her father doesn't give a strong enough motivation for her almost blind hatred - not only for Tomoe, but for everything.

Yeah. Not to mention that Tatsutaro had a valid reason for rejecting her. I mean, there's no way in hell that he'd want to accept a sadistic bully as a member of his family.

[lookatyouhacker]

The character I’m interested in seeing return is Sakura. Does her brother really exist?

If he does, is his name Toya?