The extraordinary journey of a long-eared Ronin – a review of the comic book “Usagi Yojimbo. The Beginning “vol. 2

It’s time to go home

Usagi Yojimbo. The beginning of vol. 2 contains three volumes that were published in 1992-1996: Lonely goat and goat , Kręgi , Gen. The volumes themselves are also divided into several smaller stories. They focus on the figure of the long-eared Ronin, Usagi, who wanders around the country after losing his master. The world presented perfectly reflects the charms of the Land of the Rising Sun, it can be seen in the characteristic architecture, clothes, but also specific customs and rituals. In this volume, Usagi will, for example, take on the task of retrieving samurai swords, face the demon guarding the bridge or take part in the kite festival. He has a lot of adventures and I must admit that their diversity amazes me, because each story contains a different message, characters with different characters and fascinating stories.

For example, the return to his hometown is full of interesting twists and can be moving. It not only makes Usagi aware, but also the readers, that there is no going back to some things and not everything can be changed, and when something is lost, it is not always possible to get it back. The story of a kite was presented from the perspective of three people: the sharper, Usagi and the kite maker. Not only is it an interesting story, and at times even funny, but also shows how much effort one man puts into creating such an inconspicuous and beautiful kite. General’s spiritnatomiast porusza kwestię japońskiej kultury, a konkretnie rytuału seppuku. Mnogość tematów i postaci jest zdumiewająca. Trudno mi wskazać jedną najlepszą opowieść, ale według mnie nie sposób zarazem wybrać choćby jedną historię, która byłaby gorsza od pozostałych. Każda ma swoje niezaprzeczalne zalety; nawet najkrótsza z nich, zatytułowana Gaki – wyróżnia się, bo w zabawny sposób pokazuje relacje między Usagim a jego mistrzem.

Bats, snakes, rhinos, goats …

The characters are also an undoubted advantage of this item. The main character himself is fascinating and it is simply impossible not to get involved in his adventures. Nevertheless, the strength of this volume is determined by supporting and episodic characters. Each of them is a story, a different personality. Even such an inferior sharp is remembered for a longer time. There are also people more important to the plot, such as Usagi’s friend, Gen, who is a bounty hunter – so the most important thing for him is profit, although he can also be kind. There are a lot of valuable characters in this volume, and thus we are faced with various dilemmas, such as the choice between the responsibilities of a samurai and the family.

The beauty of Japanese culture

The graphic design by Stan Sakai is phenomenal. You can see attention to detail here, and more importantly, the author skillfully captures the emotions that accompany the characters. It does not even have to show the general how the general is performing seppuku, it is enough for him to present his face, because it shows all the pain, effort and determination accompanying this ritual. It is worth noting that Stan Sakai avoids brutal scenes here. Although there are frames in which you can see cut heads, in most cases there are not even traces of cuts or blood. Instead, a skull characteristic of the killed character appears in the balloon. I must admit that it is an interesting procedure. Animal heroes also look great, we have some great ideas here, such as ninja bats. I can’t imagine this comic book being so good if instead of anthropomorphic animals there were humans. You can simply see that the author has carefully thought through everything, because this series is consistent and refined in every respect.

Beware, Gaki is attacking!

Of course, it is worth mentioning some minor imperfections at the end. Namely, although I like the way Stan Sakai depicts the deaths of individual characters, in some frames I miss not so much more brutality as even signs of cuts. After Usagi’s duel with a certain samurai, one can only see him falling dead after a few seconds, but it is not known how he was killed by the long-eared Ronin. Made one cut? Maybe a few? He aimed for the throat? It’s just a detail, but at times I missed a bit of blood. I can also stick to the story entitled The Bridgebecause there is no rain in some frames, although in the earlier ones you can see that it is raining hard. Moreover, I appreciate the fact that we find footnotes here explaining Japanese terms or referring us to earlier volumes, but unfortunately only in the latter case you can see asterisks in the text. I would like to know already while reading the dialogue that this particular term has been translated, and not only know about it when I go to the next page. Nevertheless, Usagi Yojimbo. The beginning of vol. 2 is a great comic book, basically without any major flaws – almost ideal for me. To sum up, we have brilliant stories here, wonderful graphics, intriguing heroes, and a decent release, so nothing else is needed to be happy.