Animals in UY Universe

[jabba359]

Ah, got it.

[Joesha]

Lord Hikiji is supposed to be the only human right? fitting for the ultimate baddie.

Which I wonder why. He is the only human in that world, how did he got there? Is he from another universe?

[Stan Sakai]

Lord Hikiji is supposed to be the only human right? fitting for the ultimate baddie.

Which I wonder why. He is the only human in that world, how did he got there? Is he from another universe?

Hikiji is a holdover from my original plan to do a series on The Adventures of Nilson Groundthumper. It was to have been a 2,000 page story revolving around Nilson and Hermy, which also featured Usagi as one of the heroes. It basically told the story of the fall of the anthromorphs and the rise of the humans. It would explain why there are animal-animals and "human"-animals. Hikiji was to have been the leader of the humans, and Nilson the leader of the animals.

However, all that changed once I finished my first Usagi solo story.

[Joesha]

Thank you Mr Sakai.

Would love to see more creatures in the book. More gorillas, crocs, animal of other continent representing another cultures.

[leonid]

It would explain why there are animal-animals and "human"-animals.

any plan to explain this in an Usagi story?

[Joesha]

It would explain why there are animal-animals and "human"-animals.

any plan to explain this in an Usagi story?

That would be a new story venture!! Usagi would face more challengers and threats.

[Lobster Johnson]

Thank you Mr Sakai.

Would love to see more creatures in the book. More gorillas, crocs, animal of other continent representing another cultures.

A gorilla shows up in the background of The Kite Story. He's tossing a boulder at Usagi. I never noticed this until Maka pointed it out.
That was a neat thing to include in the background.

[Slashuur]

I always thought Jei was a wolf. On Sasuke's bio on the website, he's listed as a fox.
I have no idea what Sanshobo and Ishida are.

I remember reading somewhere that Sanshobo is a bear. Not sure though.

[Chopalong Slashity]

I always thought Jei was a wolf.

Wikipedia agrees with you and now I guess I have been wrong all this time!

I figure now I should have noticed sooner as any time a fox-character in the series bares their fangs it's twin rows of sharp but small teeth whereas Jei just has these...Like, twin rows of immaculate railroad spikes in his mouth.

Also his schnoz is too blunt to be a fox.

[jabba359]

Hikiji is a holdover from my original plan to do a series on The Adventures of Nilson Groundthumper. It was to have been a 2,000 page story revolving around Nilson and Hermy, which also featured Usagi as one of the heroes. It basically told the story of the fall of the anthromorphs and the rise of the humans. It would explain why there are animal-animals and "human"-animals. Hikiji was to have been the leader of the humans, and Nilson the leader of the animals.

I'd love to see this story, or at least some of the concepts, fleshed out, as it relates to one of my favorite pages of dialog in the entire series, where Michelangelo questions the Usagiverse:



So, my questions are:

1. Not to get too personal , but have we ever found out if Usagi (or Gen) have tails?

2. How do the human-animals feel about their non-humanoid counterparts? For instance, it's been established that there are foxes in both the traditional sense as well as human-animal foxes such as Sasuke or Kitsune. Would they, for instance, feel a closer kinship to the traditional fox than any of the other animal-animals? If we go off of Gen's indignant reply, "Who are you calling an 'animal'", then perhaps we can assume that the human-animal characters don't recognize themselves as being similar to the animal-animals?

[maichan]

Hikiji is a holdover from my original plan to do a series on The Adventures of Nilson Groundthumper. It was to have been a 2,000 page story revolving around Nilson and Hermy, which also featured Usagi as one of the heroes. It basically told the story of the fall of the anthromorphs and the rise of the humans. It would explain why there are animal-animals and "human"-animals. Hikiji was to have been the leader of the humans, and Nilson the leader of the animals.

I'd love to see this story, or at least some of the concepts, fleshed out, as it relates to one of my favorite pages of dialog in the entire series, where Michelangelo questions the Usagiverse:


So, my questions are:

1. Not to get too personal , but have we ever found out if Usagi (or Gen) have tails?

2. How do the human-animals feel about their non-humanoid counterparts? For instance, it's been established that there are foxes in both the traditional sense as well as human-animal foxes such as Sasuke or Kitsune. Would they, for instance, feel a closer kinship to the traditional fox than any of the other animal-animals? If we go off of Gen's indignant reply, "Who are you calling an 'animal'", then perhaps we can assume that the human-animal characters don't recognize themselves as being similar to the animal-animals?

Hmm... this makes a good topic for discussion with countless possibilities.

I guess all we can do is speculate, as the only one that really knows is Stan, the grand creator.

I like to think of it as an alternate universe, where, as Uasagi puts it "...we are creations of the Gods, as are all things around us..."
The Japanese pantheon is much different than our modern western view, and without being a scholar in the matter, I think it fits with Usagi's world. The way I look at it is, it is just a fact that the people resemble animals, and humans don't exist at all.

The subject of tails is interesting. Maybe that is the difference between animals and people? Rabbits and rhinos have small tails, so it's easy to dismiss that Usagi or Gen might have them, but for characters based on cats and foxes, the presence of a tail would be quite obvious, and I don't think we've ever seen Tomoe, or Chizu, or Kitsune with a tail.

[Maka]

In one of the sketchbooks, Stan discusses with Sergio about tails in Usagi. And he has a skunk story after.

I was going to send in a letter to the editor (no time, so far) about the last kappa issue saying, "I see the Kappa all have tails. So can we assume that all characters in Usagi have tails too."

Of course, kappa are haunts. So my statement doesn't prove anything. But I thought it would be a fun discuss for the letter pages. Just need to find time to send in a letter. Peace, maka

[go]

"BRIAN HEATER: I’m sure there are certain places you wouldn’t go with him. Certain lines you don’t cross.

STAN SAKAI: Oh yeah. People occasionally ask me, “does Usagi have a tail?” I have no idea. I never picture Usagi naked!

BRIAN HEATER: Is that a question that may be answered some day?

STAN SAKAI: Oh, I don’t know. I don’t even want to go in that direction."

http://usagiyojimbo.com/forum3/viewtopi ... %3F#p46739

[Lobster Johnson]

In one of the sketchbooks, Stan discusses with Sergio about tails in Usagi. And he has a skunk story after.

I was going to send in a letter to the editor (no time, so far) about the last kappa issue saying, "I see the Kappa all have tails. So can we assume that all characters in Usagi have tails too."

Of course, kappa are haunts. So my statement doesn't prove anything. But I thought it would be a fun discuss for the letter pages. Just need to find time to send in a letter. Peace, maka

The skunk story is great! I know it's not technically in canon, but I always laugh at the ending.

[jabba359]

What animal is Mariko? Is she a cat?