Let's see, Katsuichi Sensei, Chizu, Kitsune, Gen, Stray Dog, Jei San, and Inazuma all pop up in future stories as well.
Hopefully, that does not give too much away....
shaxper wrote:Here's a more specific question. Stan is obviously raising the bar with Grasscutter, taking Usagi to a whole new level. Obviously, every story from hereonin isn't going to be a Grasscutter, but is there a general sense that things just continue to get more complicated and interesting? From the stray bits I've heard about Jotoro, Tomoe and such, it sounds like more and more developments are coming into play in Usagi's life, complicating the previously simple format that shaped most Usagi stories (aside from Dragon Bellows, Circles and the like). Am I correct in assuming that and do you see that as an improvement?
Twenty years of continuity and history does add up. Stan has commented that he loves to use the shorter single issue stories as lead-ins to build up to what-ever the next epic length story will be. He also has claimed to have a mental road-map of all these epic stories somewhat planned out but that the short stories tend to be more spontaneous and are what end up pacing the ongoing story-line mainly. This definitely ties all the stories together into a more complete and cohesive continuing story.
As far as "complicated and interesting" is concerned, Usagi Yojimbo would not be the comic we all know and love if it was simple and boring. Considering the length of the individual "chapters" in the chronicles of Usagi's adventures, Stan does a fantastic job of adding to the general "continuity" of Usagi's world in a way which never interfers with his telling great stories.
I, personally, love it when Stan throws in that last little bit of information which suddenly highlights a plot twist which has been slowly building (or simmering) for the last two, five, or ten years. You read it, and after sitting there for ten minutes in awe, you think to yourself "I should have seen that coming!" or more ofter "Wow!"
Oh, another thing you get to look forward to is meeting the sister of Tomoe Ame!
Abayo....
