Usagi Yojimbo: Difference between revisions

* [[Author Avatar]]: Stan Sakai shows up as a character named Masa in the 141st issue of the Dark Horse run (and number 200 overall) as an artisan who dreamed that creating 200 small statues of a god will save his village from bandits that have taken over. With Usagi's help, the 200th being used upside the leader's head and a mudslide, the dream comes true. His character then states that he'll continue his work after reaching the milestone until he's unable to hold the tools of his trade.

* [[Backdoor Pilot]]: Usagi's guest shot on the original Ninja Turtles cartoon was supposed to be a set up for his own cartoon show, but the show was never made due to creative differences between Stan Sakai and Playmates. His appearance on the 2000's TMNT show carried no such aspirations; it was just a treat for the fans.

* [[Badass]]: Miyamoto Usagi.

* [[Badass Preacher]]: Sanshobo, who was a samurai until he took his vows. Priest Jizonobu was also a samurai and still an excellent fighter {{spoiler|before he became Jei}}.

* [[Crossover]]: The comic featured several early appearances by the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]], and Usagi is a [[Recurring Character]] in the TMNT cartoons.

* [[Cunning Like a Fox]]: Kitsune, [[Meaningful Name|literally]], Inspector Ishida, and Usagi. Jei's original body is an aversion, as he is literally a fox but is not so much "cunning" as he is "pants-shittingly terrifying"

* [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: Princess Kiku.

* [[Deliberate Values Dissonance]]: Invoked by the author in order to accurately portray the era and culture of the characters. Certain things considered right and honorable would be deemed harsh and cruel by modern standards. {{spoiler|A good example is Sanshobo, whose son commited suicide in order to make up for his father's perceived failure in not successfully rescuing his master's own son.}}

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

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: In the 2003 TMNT series, Chizu leading the Neko Ninja is made to resemble Karai leading the Foot Ninja.

* [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas]]: Subverted/inverted in "A Mother's Love". {{spoiler|Even moms love their bad sons, but sometimes they're just ''too'' bad... and ''must be stopped''.}}

* [[Evil Counterpart]]: Keiko is this to Kiyoko since they're both young girls with no family who become sidekicks of older characters. Keiko's companion is Jei while Kiyoko's is Kitsune. However, they (all) have never met.

* [[Eyepatch of Power]]: After losing his eye in the battle that makes Usagi think he's dead, Katsuichi Sensei covers it with a sword guard.

* [[Face Framed in Shadow]]: Lord Hikiji {{spoiler|and Jesus on the crucifix}}.

{{quote| "A ninja's duty in life... is death!" }}

* [[Family-Unfriendly Death]]: The cruel capture and murder of poor, innocent Noodles. His only friends are kept back by corrupt lawmen while the terrified [[Gentle Giant]] is tortured, then graphically run through with spears.

* [[Instant Expert]]: Inazuma had an "instant affinity" with swords after she was forced to become a performer and soon surpassed her samurai husband's skill.

* [[Jerkass Facade]]: Gen, Stray Dog.

** Also Inukai, who {{spoiler|regularly donates large part of his earned money to an orphanage and seems to genuinely enjoy it.}}

* [[Kick Them While They Are Down]]: Noriko to Tomoe (twice), Noriko to the laborers.

* [[Luke, You Are My Father]] Averted {{spoiler|Jotaro shouts this to Usagi, but he's too far away to hear}}

** {{spoiler|And they both know of Jotaro's true paternity, but they don't know that the other knows.}}

* [[Mature Animal Story]]

* [[Meaningful Echo]]: For a while, Usagi has a pet tokage he calls "Spot". Later, Jotaro befriends a tokage and names it "Spot", without prior knowledge of Usagi's. In the ''[[Space Usagi]]'' spin-off, Kiyoshi also names a tokage "Spot".

* [[Shout-Out]]: Many characters are [[Shout-Out|shout outs]] to [[Jidai Geki|Chanbara]] heroes -- 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.

** Jei's name is a shout out to the ''Friday the 13th'' film series. ("Jei-san")

*** Not to mention that one swordfight of Usagi 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 travelling together, and Usagi follows. They end up in a predicament. Every single time, Usagi yells at Gen during or afterwards: "You and your shortcuts!"

* [[The Drifter]]: Usagi, Gen, Stray Dog, assorted extras.

* [[The Faceless]]: Lord Hikiji, for the most part.

* [[The Resenter]]: Kenichi.

* [[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.}}

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

* [[Wax On, Wax Off]]

* [[Whip It Good]]: Sakura.

* [[Worthy Opponent]]: Captain Torame in "The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy". He's so [[My Master, Right or Wrong|loyal]], he'll stay with his lord even though he knows his plans are evil.