Usagi Yojimbo #12: "Samurai"
This review was commissioned by @Bernkastel, @krinsbez, and @The Narrator.
It's been years. I've still got the omnibus edition sitting on my hard drive, untouched since then. At long last, the Bushido Bunny returns.
"Samurai" is the longest Usagi Yojimbo story so far. In fact, it's almost as long as all eleven of the previous episodes put together. This multi-chapter graphic novella fills in the rest of Usagi's backstory in between the little glimpses of his youth that previous stories afforded. With an idiosyncratic framing device to mix up the tone.
We open on present day Usagi (granted, I still think the previous 11 stories seem like they might be out of chronological order, but this one is explicitly after at least many of them) doing what he does best. This time, the dying body that collapses at his feet is that of an armed and armored warthog, with whom he appears to have fought a mutually agreed upon duel. Before Usagi can clean off his sword, a familiar and highly punchable face shows itself.
I don't know how Stan Sakai manages to draw such an emotive shit-eating grin on a freaking rhinoceros, but somehow he keeps on nailing it.
After Gennosuke has made sure that Usagi didn't kill the warthog over money, and surreptitiously helped himself to the porcine's wallet while Usagi lectured him about how looting bodies is beneath his knightly honor, Gen asks why he did kill him then. Seemingly because he just needs somebody to vent to, Usagi begins the story of how he came to replace that warthog - name of Gunichi - as the late Daimyo Mifune's top bodyguard, and how Gunichi subsequently betrayed their liege to Hikiji and sent Usagi on his ronin wanderings.
Seems like quite a few of Mifune's underlings were involved in that betrayal. But then, courting traitors in his rivals' camps seems to be Hikiji's entire schtick. So, at least for now, I'm willing to believe that this was less because Mifune was a shitty boss and more because Hikiji and his snek friend are just really, really good at turning people.
For some reason, Usagi starts his story way, way earlier than he needs to in order to explain his history with Gunichi. He really did need to vent, I guess, although the choice of Gen as the person for him to open up to like this is a strange one. I can see how it helps the story, since Gen is just the right character to interrupt Usagi's story to make sarcastic quips and ask deliberately dumb questions to get a rise out of him. He definitely made me chuckle a few times. But at the same time, I'm just thinking "would Usagi really be so unguarded toward the guy whose running gag is trying to screw him over all the time?" I dunno. Maybe the levity value of the interludes is worth the SoD issues.
Usagi starts with himself and childhood rival Kenichi heading off to a dojo by Usagi's magistrate father. Sending these two together, unescorted, seems like a very bad idea, but plenty of bad ideas get put into unquestioned practice in Usagi's world. Effing feudalism amirite? Imrite. On their way, they see an elderly lion being bullied by some sophomore swordsmen from the dojo. The lion keeps telling them to stop bullying him, and they don't stop. Seems like he's a washed up ex-rival of the dojo's founder, and the kiddies think that that means he needs bullying. After this altercation concludes in the manner you would expect it to conclude, Usagi decides that they should try and learn swordplay from the guy who just killed a bunch of the dojo's dudes instead of from the dojo that got its students killed by this one old man.
Kenichi points out that the old lion is clearly a master swordsman, whereas the punks he just dealt with were still novices. His style might not be better than the one they're learning, and he might not be a better teacher than their own master. Those are some pretty good points he makes there, but Usagi ignores them and goes chasing after the elderly lion begging for sword lessons. After a token resistance, Kenichi moves on to the dojo himself, clearly glad to be rid of Usagi if only for a short time.
The lion, Master Katsuichi, repeatedly tries to get rid of Usagi, telling him that he doesn't teach anymore, and that the sword is an ugly piece of metal whose practitioners are all idiots, but Usagi won't quit. So, finally, the old man does the thing that offbeat martial arts masters do with their determined apprentice-supplicants. You know the thing that I mean? You know, from all those movies? He does it. It doesn't matter which one you're thinking of. He does all of them.
He also insults Usagi by referring to him as a different type of insect in every other panel, which is lol.
Also true to form are the Katsuichi's ethical lessons to Usagi. It's the usual "peace through strength" aspect of bushido that the good guys in samurai stories tend to focus on. Like the physical training montage, it's pretty much a string of very well executed genre cliches. A good example of its kind, but you can still imagine pretty much all of its contents without looking at a single panel with one or two exceptions. The biggest standout example of the latter being when Katsuichi is teaching Usagi about the importance of restraint, and a bunch of thugs with a grudge against Usagi's father happen to choose that incredibly convenient moment to come over and start trying to bully them.
Usagi greatly irritates his master by antagonizing the thugs right back and daring them to strike when he has a master swordsman here to protect him. Thus goading them into making this physical when Katsuichi had been trying to deescalate. In the end, the leader of the gang (and the only trained combatant among them) ended up calling what he thought was Usagi's bluff and tries to force his sensei to do a William Tell thing with a pickled plum balanced on Usagi's nose. Which was pretty dumb of the guy, because it means he has to let Katsuichi draw his sword and take aim without interruption.
Afterward, Katchuitchi demonstrates that he did indeed have the skill to cleave the fruit off of Usagi's nose without scratching him. He just realized that by this point, things had escalated too far to avoid someone stabbing someone else, so the best time to strike would be when the baddies were most vulnerable. He makes sure Usagi knows that he's only still alive because he was willing to forgive his student's brashness in this instance and defend him; next time, he might not.
What's most interesting to me about this incident isn't the story itself, but what it suggests about Usagi. I previously wondered if the episodes in which he seems more hotheaded and trigger-happy might be set earlier in his career, and the way he's recounting this story makes me more sure of it. The patience, temperance, and preference for deterrence over glorious victory that his master taught him did not come naturally to Usagi. Even after completing his training and going off to become a samurai, he wasn't very consistent about practicing them. It's only many years later, after having some time to calm down and see the consequences of early mistakes, that he's really started living up to the ideals he was taught.
...
Anyway, this training arc as a whole would be relatively forgettable on its own. Like I said, it's well executed versions of all the cliches, but it's still all the cliches. What makes it stick in the memory is Gen interrupting Usagi's story every couple of pages to MST3K it.
As well as Usagi's increasingly barbed responses to Gen's responses.
Remember the significance of persimmons for these two. This guy just doesn't know how to not push it.
I can see why the author might have decided to err on the side of Usagi being too talkative with Scumbag Rhino in the name of getting to add these comic interludes. The sequence really wouldn't be the same without them.
...
After four years of training under Katsuichi, Usagi enrolls in a fencing tournament put on by the regional lord. It was by winning this tournament that Usagi received his masterwork katana and wakizashi. It was also how Usagi first came to the attention of Daimyo Mifune, who invited the champion to join his retinue as a titled samurai (it's safe to assume that Usagi's father being a dependably loyal vassal of Mifune's also did him some favors here). It was while receiving this invitation that Usagi also became acquainted with a certain warthog who served as Mifune's yojimbo at the time. Gunichi was the one who bore his lord's job offer to Usagi shortly after the tournament, and who gave Usagi an additional job interview (with actual swords this time, rather than the wooden ones they used in the tournament, to see if he did as well with those).
Like most of the experienced samurai who interacted with a young Usagi, Gunichi ended up complementing Usagi on his swordsmanship, but also warning him about where his inflexible pride and machismo might take him.
It seems like the story might be foreshadowing something, heh.
Also, their fight to the first blood is interrupted when they end up spotting some punks sneaking up on them through the bushes. Turns out that the dojo Usagi didn't end up going to *really* has a grudge against Katsuichi, and being bested at a tournament they themselves sponsored by Katsuichi's only student in decades was more butthurt than some of their yahoos could handle. I can see why Katsuichi might have spurned their own master at some point; the two obviously have very, very different ideas about the kind of culture to foster among their disciples.
Usagi and Gunichi end up blooding their swords on the punks rather than on each other. And quite a bit more lethally than they initially intended. Usagi's first ever kill was harder to deal with than he'd been expecting.
The foreshadowing of pride and refusal to take L's leading to ruin keeps getting laid on thicker and thicker. After impressing Mifune's top henchman and accepting the job offer that came with doing so, Usagi decided to go home and celebrate with his family for a bit before heading off to the castle and reporting for duty. On Usagi's way to his village, an innkeeper asks for his help getting rid of a belligerent drunk who's been terrorizing the place for the past several days. The belligerent drunk turns out to be someone Usagi knows.
Kenichi was the top of his class in the asshole-dojo. He was one of the final opponents Usagi defeated in the tournament. And, on account of his master's burning hatred for Usagi's master, Kenichi vowed that he'd defeat (and hopefully injure) Usagi in the tournament or else abandon his training and go home in disgrace. And, like Usagi, Kenichi is too proud and stubborn to take back a promise. Even if it was a really stupid promise.
I'm starting to predict that Usagi's unwillingness to stop showing off his skill all the time will ruffle a bunch of feathers at Mifune's court. Especially once he starts accepting and even actively pursuing promotions over much more experienced people. The kind of thing that might make someone a bit more receptive to the bribery of a rival lord than they'd otherwise be. Probably not a deciding factor in what happened next, but possibly a contributing factor. But I haven't yet read it to the end.
...
Meanwhile, in the present, Usagi takes a break in the story and lets Gennosuke lead him to a pub and start ordering sake on tab.
I wonder which side of the tracks the train will derail onto this time?
…
Kenichi has been languishing at this wayside thorp ever since his defeat in the tournament. He can't break his vow, he doesn't dare try to ask the daimyo for a job, and he's too ashamed to show his face back home either. The sake helps him express his predicament a bit more flavorfully than that, though.
Usagi, despite the amount of animus between the two of them, finds it in himself to be magnanimous and helps calm Kenichi down, sober him up, and convince him to get over it and make something of his silver medallist self. The QQ ends up being interrupted by pew pew, though; they recieve word of raiders moving through the area, and their home village is right in their path. Kenichi resolutely finishes sobering up, and the pair of tournament-winning samurabbits make haste.
Just look at these badass bunnies, though:
Silflay hrakka, motherfuckers.
The way the fisheye-ish view in this panel makes the grass twist around them, as if recoiling from the combined force they project, is perfect. And what the bloody hell is going on with the sky? A storm? A flying, upside-down mountain range? You're a crazy man, Stan Sakai, and you made it look super badass even if I have no idea what it is.
Usagi and Kenichi arrive home just as the bandits are piling the village's supply of food, goods, and attractive women onto a cart. Usagi's dad and his men at arms are trying to decide if they should opt to die in combat now instead of dying of starvation in a few weeks, because with an enemy force of this size it seems like it's either one or the other. Fortunately, the bandits have their hands literally and figuratively full when the two young swordsmen come up on them. Turns out that for all his bad attitude and slightly weaker swordsmanship, Kenichi might actually be a bit better than Usagi at tactical thinking.
Usagi rushes into the thick of things as is his fashion, and Kenichi immediately thinks to get on a rooftop and start sniping while the baddies are distracted. He picks his targets really well too, taking out the ones who had been crowding around Miyamoto Senior so that he his men can immediately start fighting back as well. It's a reminder of what we learned in the "Homecoming" story; Kenichi is a rabbit of many faults, but he still knows what he's doing.
The bandit chief tries to get away with his prize piece of loot, mutual love interest Mariko. Lol, of course. Fortunately for her, Kenichi is able to snipe the horse he's hauling her away on, and then Mariko manages to inject just a little bit of #feminism into this scenario by killing the prick with his own wakizashi while he's trying to grab her off the ground. Eh, every little bit helps.
Kenichi stays in the village, as it clearly needs more protection in these lawless, late Senkogu era times. Usagi, despire Mariko wishing they would both stay, goes off to join the retinue of Lord Mifune as planned. The eventual result of this being Kenichi and Mariko getting married and having a son. Kenichi took Usagi's advice, and found a way to make it work. Bending instead of pushing back and breaking.
As for Usagi himself, well...
I was wrong in my prediction; Usagi didn't get promoted over Gunichi the warthog. He got promoted to right under him, but not over him. The arc he does end up having in this origin story is...well, it's complicated, and a bit open to interpretation. You'll see what I mean in a bit. For now, look at how cute Usagi is helping look after Daimyo Mifune's children:
Unfortunately, the cuteness doesn't last long.
With the rise of the shogun, and the warring states era being slowly, reluctantly dragged to a halt, ambitious daimyos in the more distant parts of Japan started making Hail Mary attempts to grab their neighbours' lands and consolidate their hold on it before the new status quo set in. Two of those lords were Mifune and Hikiji. After an assassination attempt by the latter ended up taking the lives of the former's wife and son (Usagi and Gunichi were in a different part of the castle with Mifune himself at the time; hence, Mifune survived, but his family didn't), Mifune launched a retaliatory invasion of Hikiji's fief. This brings us full circle to the Battle of Adachigahara, which we already flashed back to in the prologue episode of Usagi Yojimbo.
Mifune has a bigger army, and a better strategic position. Unfortunately, he is blinded by vengeance, and insists on leading from the front in this offensive so that he can kill Hikiji himself even though his officers all recommend against it. He goes to the front, with Usagi and Gunichi riding at his sides. Because of this, when General Toda (the demon-mutant-to-be) and his forces spring their treachery, Mifune ends up caught in a deadly pincer.
He might have been able to eke out a win if he'd been back where his other generals all wanted him to be, but oh well. There's that pride again.
When it becomes apparent that they're all completely fucked, Gunichi turns to Usagi and tells him that they should abandon their lord and flee. Hikiji's forces aren't going to bother targeting a pair of runaway retainers when Mifune himself is in their sites. If they flee, they won't *really* be betraying Mifune, since his death is equally guaranteed in either case. They can still save their own lives though, so why shouldn't they?
Usagi can hardly believe that the honorable samurai who inducted him into their lord's service would even think of such a thing, much less propose it.
Gunichi tries slapping some sense into him, but to no avail. So in the end he just shrugs, grimly wishes Usagi luck, and vanishes into the chaos of the battlefield. Leaving us at the start of the last flashback to this battle we saw, with Usagi as Mifune's sole remaining bodyguard amidst a sea of enemies.
...
There's some brilliant ambiguity here.
We know that Usagi was able to survive the battle after all, and he even managed to run away with Mifune's head to prevent Hikiji from using it as a urinal bowl or something. That means that there was at least a *little bit* of margin for error. If Mifune had had two elite bodyguards instead of one, might that have made a difference? Might they have been able to get him away from the front line with his life after all? Even if they couldn't, perhaps they could both have survived their lord's death with their honor intact, as Usagi managed on his own?
On the other hand, maybe if Gunichi had stayed, the revenge-maddened Mifune would have refused to be pulled back and the enemy would have just pulled them in deeper. In that case, escape might have been impossible for either of the bodyguards once Mifune finally did go down. Maybe Usagi only lived because Gunichi let Mifune die before they were completely surrounded rather than afterward?
In either case, Gunichi wasn't at all the same kind of traitor as Toda, like I'd been expecting. There was no resentment between him and Usagi OR between him and their liege.
...
Back in the present, Usagi finishes telling Gen the parts we already knew. About how he buried Mifune's head somewhere out of sight, and slipped away from the battlefield and became a ronin, no longer believing himself fit to serve a lord after how he failed his previous one. The last time Usagi saw Gunichi, he swore that he'd kill him if he really did abandon their lord. And now, today, he finally made good on his oath.
Gen has been quieter than usual for the last leg of the story (aside from calling Usagi a cuck when he heard about Kenichi marrying Mariko, because of course he does lol). At the end, he asks Usagi how he feels about having finally killed the deserter. Usagi replies that he's not happy. In fact, he's so not happy about it that he doesn't even care to play any stupid gambits over who has to foot the sake bill this time; Gen can pay, or he can pay, whatever, he doesn't care right now. He just...wants to try to remember Gunichi as a good samurai, and as a friend.
Because he was. He was both of those things. He shouldn't have had to die.
But...Usagi swore an oath. So. Oh well.
Like I said, I feel like what this story is saying about Miyamoto Usagi as a character is somewhat open to interpretation. I don't know if my reading of it is the intended reading, but it's what I've got.
Usagi never completed his arc. Never learned his lesson. He heard it. He repeated it. He even got other people like Kenichi to learn it. But he, himself, never learned it. He was always lucky and/or skilful enough that he never had to.
He's aware of this. He knows he can't keep doing this forever. He knows that the longer he avoids having to face reality and let go of his pride, the worse things will be for himself and everyone around him. He knows he should learn. But he won't.
The character that interested me the most, in light of this, is Usagi's unnamed father, the village magistrate. In this story, we see him and his village being shaken down by bandits, and he's visibly considering whether he should go out in a blaze of glory putting up a doomed resistance if the alternative is starvation. In the end, his hesitation saves him, as it turns out he only needed to wait a few more minutes for Usagi and Kenichi to arrive. In a previous story, we saw him confronted with almost the exact same situation a few years later, when Hikiji's army rode into town. True, in this case there's an added factor of the extorter being a sworn enemy of his liege rather than simple brigands which might have made him more reluctant to comply, but still, same idea. This time, perhaps filled with undue optimism because of how things went down last time, he opted for defiance. And he died.
The village didn't end up starving, though. I mean, some people did. It was a terrible, hungry winter, and many people died. But not everyone. Some people were able to pull through, because - unlike Usagi's father, and unlike Usagi himself - replacement magistrate Kenichi had learned how to take the L.
We then see the same thing again a third time, several years after that in turn, when the mole-ninjas raided the town. And in that case, Kenichi combined his humility and his tactical acumen, surrendering for now with the full intention of chasing after the baddies and trying to save the situation later when they didn't have him at such a disadvantage. Some of his old pride did resurface with his reluctance to work with Usagi even though he needed him, but still, he overcame that too in pretty short order.
Would Usagi have been able to do these things?
The title of the story, "Samurai," is both because it tells how Usagi became a samurai, and because - at least to an extent - it asks the question of what a samurai even is. It sure seems like the only way to be a good samurai is to be willing to break the sacred ironbound rules rather than following them.
Of course, "sacred ironbound rules" isn't even actually accurate. The tenets of Bushido changed a lot over the centuries. But someone in Usagi's situation probably wouldn't realize that.
...
On a brighter note: seeing Usagi play with his liege's ill-fated son retroactively makes "Lone Rabbit and Child" more meaningful, on top of being cute. Looking at the way Usagi interacted with Geishu Noriyuke, and the satisfaction he took in protecting him from the same asshole who murdered the last cute kid Usagi was close with, well. It hits hard once you realize it.
Also, I double checked, and the assassins in both cases were Neko-Ninjas. In fact, Mifune realized it must have been Hikiji who sent the assassins specifically because these shinyanbi are frequent contractors of his. So, that's a nice continuity touch.
...
Finally, regarding the timeline that I've been wondering about. This story gives us at least a partial answer, but it's one that I have trouble squaring with the material.
Daimyo Mifune died two years ago, apparently.
I...okay, so, the Bounty Hunter 1-2 stories must take place before this one. The "Homecoming" one...well, Usagi probably knew about Kenichi marrying Mariko and having Jotaro before Mifune's death, so that story didn't neccessarily happen before this one. Which is good, because otherwise it would mean that Usagi's village has been threatened with starvation by raiders twice in the last three years (and three times in the last ten-ish), which is kind of silly even in a world like this one where bandits constantly spawn from behind trees like RPG mobs. And like...the first story, with the mutated General Toda, gave the strong impression that this had all happened a long time ago (and like...I have trouble imagining Toda's transformation happening in just two years, from its description), so the first story written IRL might be one of the last ones chronologically.
So, the Gennosuke stories are all early in Usagi's ronin career, and happen in the order of publication over the course of less than two years. For all the others, your guess is as good as mine.
That's "Samurai." There's more UY coming up in queue, so this will continue.
