Usagi Yojimbo: Difference between revisions

Usagi is often associated with the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]], thanks in part to several crossovers between different incarnations of the properties, and the friendship between Sakai and the Turtles creators. This has permitted Usagi to appear on the screen in both ''TMNT'' cartoons as a recurring character, culminating in an episode set in Usagi's world--theworld—the closest thing yet to an ''Usagi'' animated series. ''Usagi Yojimbo'' was also published by Eastman and Laird's Mirage Studios for a time, before moving on to [[Dark Horse Comics]].

* [[Alternate Continuity]]: Usagi's cartoon incarnations. Also, some stories have had changes made between the comic and graphic novel collections -- suchcollections—such as Usagi <s>kissing</s> hugging Kinuko after [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20111122223713/http://usagiyojimbo.com/casl/letters/volume3/uyletter_16.html a reader pointed out] that kissing was a courtesan's trick imported by foreigners.

* [[Bounty Hunter]]: Gennosuke, Inukai, countless extras, and -- occasionally -- Usagiand—occasionally—Usagi.

** In "Blade of the Gods", Jei pins Usagi's sleeve to the wall. Usagi's response? "He's pinned my sleeve!" Take note that he says this out loud. This has happened so many times over the years that it's an apparent personality quirk. <ref> Usagi, awakening to find spiders crawling on his face, brushes them off quickly: "Gah! Spider on my face!"</ref>

* [[Disability Superpower]]: Zato Ino, "The Blind Swordspig", who can "see" things thanks to his sense of smell -- asmell—a common trait of the blind being the heightening of their other senses.

* [[Furry Confusion]]: The world is populated with [[Funny Animal|Funny Animals]]s of most species. Horses, lizards (tokage), birds, fish, and insects are excepted to minimize potential [[Squick]] value.

* [[He Who Must Not Be Seen]]: Hikiji as the sole human, something Sakai later regretted doing. {{spoiler|Jesus on the crucifix -- lion, lamb, human, or something else entirely?}} Also, foreigners -- eitherforeigners—either the unseen [[Ruritania|Ruritanians]]ns are some family other than mammalian, or ethnicity and nationality just depends on your [[Wig, Dress, Accent]]. Either option has enough [[Anvilicious]] [[Unfortunate Implications]] to cause a plot implosion.

* [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters]]: The main villain, the shadowy Lord Hikiji, is a human in a world otherwise populated by anthropomorphic animals; the only ''other'' human-looking character with a speaking part {{spoiler|is really a flesh-eating monster}}.

** It should be noted none of the main characters (and few of the minor characters) have seen Hikiji's true face, nor has his species -- somethingspecies—something that Sakai later regretted showing -- beenshowing—been pinpointed as the reason for his evil.

*** Inconclusive -- thereInconclusive—there's too much shadow, although potentially lion since the shape of his head is vaguely similar to the [[Lion King]] Musical's logo.

* [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo]]: [[Sergio Aragones]]' ''[[Groo the Wanderer|Groo]]'' and characters from Mark Crilley's ''Akiko'' have appeared as background characters from time to time-- thetime—the former may in fact count as a [[Yuppie Couple]]. Also [[The Sandman|Morpheus]] shows up in line for noodles in the short story 'Noodles.' (As do Jei and Keiko.)

* [[Medieval Japan]]: Practically identical, besides the [[Funny Animal|Funny Animals]]s. And magic and creatures of myth are ''real''. (albeit not an everyday thing)

* [[Shout-Out]]: Many characters are [[Shout-Out|shout outs]] to [[Jidai Geki|Chanbara]] heroes -- theheroes—the Lone Goat and Kid is a nod to the [[Lone Wolf and Cub]], Zato-Ino the blind masseur pig is a thinly-veiled version of Zatoichi, Lord Mifune references the actor [[Toshiro Mifune]], and so on.

** In addition to a ton of ''[[Star Wars]]'' shout-outs in ''Space Usagi'', the Bugg Planet is a shout-out to ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind|Nausicaa]]''.

*** Not to mention that one swordfight of Usagi's is an almost exact adaptation of the first-bokken-then-swords duel from ''[[Seven Samurai]]''.

* [[Short Cuts Make Long Delays]]: Gen is prone to offer this to Usagi when they're travellingtraveling together, and Usagi follows. They end up in a predicament. Every single time, Usagi yells at Gen during or afterwards: "You and your shortcuts!"

* [[Shown Their Work]]: Stan Sakai may research some aspect of ancient Japanese life, from pottery to seaweed farming orto geishasgeisha, and render it lovingly on the page or describe it in detail in the afterwords. In fact, Sakai's research and presentation of this stuff is so on the money that he won a Parent's Choice Award for the comic's educational value.

* [[The Farmer and the Viper]]: Jei-san to a hapless fisherman. He even [[Lampshade|lampshadeslampshade]]s it.

* [[The Unfavorite]] / [[Bastard Bastard]]: {{spoiler|Noriko. She's shunted to her aunt's after her mom dies because her uncle is actually her biological father (mom and aunt are sisters). Aunty doesn't like her very much and then bio-dad straight-up tells her he'll never accept her as his daughter, so she kills him and poisons her "step" father for being weak. She reveals all of this to her The Favorite cousin Tomoe while beating her to the ground (on top of having worked a day in Noriko's mine). For Noriko, it's a ''very satisfying'' beating.}}

* [[Trick Dialogue]]: In trying to get out of the rain, Usagi came across the swordswoman Inazuma telling her life's story to some of her friends. By the time she is finished, the rain has let up, so Inazuma bids them farewell and heads out. Usagi makes an aside about the story to one of the "friends"... only to discover that all four of them are dead -- bountydead—bounty hunters who had been trying unsuccessfully to kill Inazuma.

* [[Walking the Earth]]: Usagi travels the shogyusha -- theshogyusha—the warrior's path.