
Hey, that's something I wonder about. What I've seen so far has suggested that, while still an anthropomorphic story, the focus of Usagi Yojimbo has distanced itself from 'race' issues, so to speak. While we may have seen several humans in the beginning, and the animal characteristics of the cast were highly pronounced, nowadays, it's not so much an issue, and the distinction of who's a dog and who's a cat and who's a monkey is left entirely to the reader; it's simply overlooked in Usagi's world itself.
Big Boss Sakai is in San Diego, so I'm not expecting him to adress this, but all the same, I wonder if Hebi would be handled differently if he was introduced today, than he was when he was introduced so early on. He seems to tread upon all sorts of 'rules' in ways that simply wouldn't happen today... the very strong animal identity, the... tail. Eh, I hope one of you out there gets what I'm getting at.