Beyond Metal: Usagi Yojimbo

 

  

SWITCH TO PL 

Stan Sakai is a multiple Eisner Award winner for creating an outstanding graphic novel (an intellectual term for a comic book). This seems a bit jarring, with the fact that he also won the award for the best "cartoonist" in the past – I mention this deliberately, as this term is considered an insult, as so-called cartoons (in this newspaper strips kind of way) are generally considered an inferior form of art. But then again, so are comics, which have been fighting for over half of a century to earn their rightful place among the "real" art, a spot they are notoriously being denied from. Sakai has managed to achieve this feat, and he belongs to a tiny group, which makes it all the more remarkable, especially if you take into the account, that his work is anything but typical.

For some reasons unknown (is Sakai a furry?), the author presents the characters as anthropomorphic animals. This gives a wrong impression of a comic being targeted to kids, which, I shall warn you, is far from the truth. This is also why I initially felt "meh" a little bit about it,, and I do admit that this stylistic choice requires a bit of a tolerance. However, the rewards greatly outweigh any reservations one might have, and one could even say that this makes the comic unique overall. After all, it's rare to see adorable, charming animals slashing each other to death with swords.

Stan Sakai, a Japanese man who grew up in Hawaii and learned about his native culture largely through literature and films, but also has endured many personal tragedies, and hardships, but just like his famous rabbit hero, he never gave up and continues to fight.

Finally then, Stan Sakai - the creator of the one of the longest-running series "Usagi Yojimbo" (Rabbit Guard), to which he holds 100% of the ownership, and which was created in the 1980s during the rise of  the so-called "Indie Comics," i.e. the independent / underground scene that was a response to the more corporate Marvel / DC comics.

 

Obviously, the character is inspired by Kurosawa's samurai cinema. As mentioned before, Sakai grew up in the US of A, so his understanding of his culture was automatically filtered through the Anglo-Saxon lens, who were the primary audience for Kurosawa's work, in contrast to the Japanese people themselves, whose national sensibility favors the works of Yasujirō Ozu, whose films were characterized by slow, lazy shots, were full of naturalism, and reverence for nature, as well as featured depictions of ordinary, everyday life.

 

The truth about samurai stories is that they grab the gaijins more than Nipponese. But that's what makes them such a great export: despite cultural differences, samurai aren't really that different from knights, and therefore, their sense of honor, chivalry, and principles are universal, and thus easy to understand and admire.

 

And Miyamoto Usagi is exactly such character. A crystal-clear, honest to the bone, and excessively honorable samurai, without flaws, without sins, guided by morality, even if it requires sometimes breaking social norms and rules (which average reader will consider stupid anyway). Almost a male Mary Sue. His personal struggle and origins are of little importance, because in most of the stories, Usagi serves as a backdrop, or perhaps, a deus ex machina, for what Sakai actually wants to tell the readers - tales of greedy loan sharks, yakuza, scheming feudal lords, ruthless spies, and even more terrifying demons. Evil is always punished and defeated, though not always in an obvious way. 

 

So what then makes this series so beloved and adored (including by me)? I mentioned the two Japanese directors earlier for a reason. Sakai combines Kurosawa's dynamic action Ozu's idyllic landscapes and casual portrayal of Japan. Despite the black and white colors, you can feel every drop of rain, the encompassing chill of snow, and the scent of the spring flowers. The comic's art takes a life of their own, as if it was oblivious to the reader and what was happening within each frame. As a result, one can easily immerse themself in this world, and quite difficult to leave.

Secondly, although Usagi himself is a rather dull and uninteresting person, he surrounds himself with a cast of colorful characters who, to some extent, fulfill many archetypal roles. A "honest" thief; a demonic and possessed swordsman fulfilling a mission given to him by the gods; a vulgar and dirty bounty hunter  / mendicant with a heart of gold; a naive and good-natured feudal lord; a detective inspired by Columbo himself; a blind swordsman who can be quick and ruthless; and a samurai woman who must choose between the duty and her heart, and so on and so forth...

 

There is, of course, an ongoing plot that form time to time moves forward, but Sakai himself seems to be reluctant to move forward with it, preferring more to focus on one-and-done stories in the acts max. Despite of that, the comic never bored me nor irritated me. The narrative is much stronger than any potential shortcomings.

While we're approaching the end of this post, I realized that I haven't mentioned the crucial matter. Usagi owes much of its popularity to his guest appearances in another independent franchise, the famous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, both comics and cartoons. In recent years, the creator has managed to monetize his work somewhat, which resulted in an animated series and a game, albeit honestly, I'm not sure if I should recommend them to anyone, as they're not exactly top-tier works.

From the publishing side, Usagi's home has changed over the decades. From the TPB point of view, the years 1987-1996 belonged to the pretentious Fantagraphics (7 volumes), 1997-2019 to the elite Dark Horse (26 volumes), during 2020-2023 there was a short affair with IDW (mere 5 volumes). Since 2024, our favorite rabbit's adventures returned to Dark Horse's fold (3 volumes as of 2025), and I hope it stays that way.

Is it worth reading? Is Pope a Catholic? You damn right you should! So, put on a kimono, pour yourself a glass of sake, settle down comfortably on a futon, and enjoy a delicious literature.