Usagi Yojimbo is one of the best series on the Polish market. Here are seven reasons why you should read the story of the long-eared Ronin.
Drawing Japan in light form
Feudal Japan appears relatively rarely in Western comics. The more it is worth appreciating the craftsmanship with which Sakai presents it. The author creates the world presented with great care. He knows very well how to compose frames and arrange drawings on the boards, so that the story has the right atmosphere and pace. He perfectly controls his cartoon style and is able to choose elements that are worth emphasizing and simplify or omit the less important ones. This makes his stories credible and emotional, despite the fact that their heroes are anthropomorphic animals.
“Usagi Yojimbo” – a fragment of the comic book frame in color
Scenario inspirations
Saka differentiates individual episodes in terms of content and mood. He efficiently moves from comedy, through adventure, thriller and horror stories, to drama and moral historical story. He is often inspired by cinema, literature, comics, and above all, the culture and history of Japan. Miyamoto Usagi’s name is a reference to the famous swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, and the title of the series is Japanese for “rabbit adjutant” and a tribute to the film Yojimbo Akira Kurosawa.
On her way, Usagi meets a blind swordsman inspired by Zatoichi, a character of a warrior with a child referring to the manga Lone Wolf and a Puppy, as well as various Japanese ghosts and monsters. The idea to transfer Wells’s War of the Worlds to feudal Japan resulted in the Senso miniseries . On the other hand, Usagi in space, a comic book about a distant descendant of a long-eared Ronin, was an excuse for the author to draw a large number of his beloved dinosaurs.
