Usagi Yojimbo: “the Dragon Bellow Conspiracy” (part 1 of 3)

I'm ashamed to admit that for most of the (very long) time this was in queue, I thought it was titled the Dragon Below Conspiracy. Missed an L. Anyway, conspiracy named for a dragon with intimidating characteristics.

This story is a culmination of most of the preceding material, bringing multiple plot threads together and involving a whole host of recurring characters who previously hadn't interacted. It also, in the way it involves said characters, suggests that at least most of the Usagi Yojimbo stories up to this point are indeed written in chronological order. That still feels off to me, both in terms of how Usagi is characterized from episode to episode and with the framing of his old liege's death, but at this point it's hard to interpret it any other way.

As a much bigger story, "Dragon Bellow" is also much longer than any of the previous Usagi Yojimbo titles, clocking in at a full 150 pages. Basically a graphic novel unto itself.


"The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy" opens on the aftermath of a spy mission gone awry. Tomoe, sworn sword of Geishu Noriyuki, was sent to investigate suspicious activity at the castle of the neighbouring lord Tamakuro under the cover of a diplomatic visit. Tamakuro was never all that friendly with the Geishus, and he's known to get along well with Hikiji, so suspicious activity in his domicile is worth looking into. At first Tomoe handles the job pretty well, charming Daimyo Tamakuro into thinking Noriyuki is really interested in mending relations and then having her men get his guards drunk and distracted with party games while she pokes around in the sketchy warehouse. Her host insisted it was full of building materials, and at first Tomoe does find big stacks of roof tiles. However, the roof tiles are all made of lead, and of a size that would be easy to quickly melt down again. Also, under them there's a giant pile of guns.

Firearms saw a lot of field use in the Sengoku era, but they fell in prominence after the Tokugawas established their new order and pitched battles were replaced by small-scale feudal skirmishes. Most daimyo kept a good supply of them and trained troops in their use through the Edo period, but it was very rare for one to invest so heavily in them, let alone in secret. So, there's no way in hell that Tamakuro isn't plotting something.

In fact it's an obvious enough approach for an author to take for a "something must be up" hook in a story set in Tokugawa Japan that I've seen at least two other pieces of samurai fiction by totally different creators do the exact same thing, heh.

Anyway, it just so happens that Tomoe's wasn't the only spy mission being conducted against Tamakuro that night, though. While investigating the warehouse, she and a neko-ninja stumble into each other, and both believe the other to have caught them. It turns out that despite their historic alliance, this particular plot of Tamakuro's has absolutely nothing to do with Hikiji. Hikiji got suspicious of the guy at the same time and for the same reasons that Noriyuki did, and sent some of his kitty ninjas to do by stealth what Tomoe was sent to do by trickery. And they end up fucking each other over when the noise of the fight alerts Tamakuro's own underlings.

Well, the same factors that make Hikiji's own ambitions potentially viable also pretty much guarantee that he won't be the only one thinking along those lines. You don't just need to overthrow the shogunate before it consolidates its power; you also need to beat all the other wise guys who think they'll be the one to overthrow the shogunate before it consolidates its power. Sudden but inevitable betrayal, curses, etc.

Tomoe lost all her men while fighting her way free of the castle, and then only managed to ride a little ways before being overtaken and captured by Tamakuro's own riders. Meanwhile, while most of the nyanjas got killed by either Tomoe or the guards, at least one managed to escape and start booking it back to the hidden compound up in the mountains near Hikiji territory that the neko-ninjas are based out of. Tamakuro immediately sends forces after him as well, with orders to kill the kitty if he hasn't gotten home yet, or to kill ALL the kitties if he has to prevent them from passing the intelligence on to their patron.

Anyway, that's the prologue that establishes why - as he's trudging across a rainy night-time prairie - Usagi sees a group of horsemen hurrying to Castle Tamakuro with Tomoe tied up.

On one hand, I'm starting to get annoyed at how often Tomoe needs Usagi to rescue or bail her out.

On the other hand, the only other recurring battle-buddy that Usagi's had so far is Gennosuke. And Gen needing saving wouldn't work as a plot hook, because Usagi would just laugh and keep on walking. So, maybe it's not a sexism thing.

Speaking of Gen, he's out wandering the same rainy night searching for his current target: Blind Ino. The wooden-nosed swordspig and his new pet dinofrog are still meandering along in search of a place where nothing will piss Ino off and add to his already outstanding criminal record. Gen is close enough to start picking up the trail of corpses, while also being very amusingly himself.

He even bullies those monkey cabbage-peddlers whose lives are miserable enough as it is. Scumbag rhino is, despite being a hero to young orphans, a scumbag.

Our final POV character to be introduced in the first chapter is one who only joined the cast one story ago, and who I hadn't been expecting to see again already. Shinjen the shinyabi. His leg seems to have mostly healed by now, but he's not in good spirits after failing in his sword-stealing mission, and half-expects Hikiji to have him killed for such a humiliating loss.

However, while Daimyo Hikiji is ruthless, and more than willing to throw hapless underlings under the bus to protect his own power and reputation, he's also too pragmatic to execute anyone unless he gains something from doing so, and in this case he doesn't. In a meeting with Hikiji's right-hand-reptile Hebi, Shinjen is given a chance to make up for his failure by dealing with a new situation that's popped up: find out what happened to those other kitties who got sent to spy on Daimyo Tamakuro, and also find out what he's up to if they haven't.

This scene also reveals that Shinjen isn't just an unusually skilled member of the neko-ninja clan. He's also its current leader.

Surprised that he's doing solo theft missions, in that case. But then, stealing a valuable artifact meant for the shogun out of the fingers of a major daimyo is a pretty prestigious act of thievery, so maybe it's not so surprising.

...I wonder if that other leader who Noriyuke killed in the "Lone Rabbit and Child" story was the previous chief? In that case, Shinjen has only just taken on the mantle himself.

On one hand, I wonder how many of their kashiras Usagi And Friends are going to go through. On the other, for this story at least it seems more likely for them to make a grudging short-termed alliance against Tamakuro, so that will have to wait for at least a little while.

In a geographically confusing development, Usagi - in pursuing the riders back toward Tamakuro's citadel - ends up passing right by the neko ninja village. I thought that was supposed to be up in the mountains in no-man's-land near Hikiji's territory, no? Anyway, Tamakuro's army has already come and gone from here, which is why Usagi is drawn to the place by the vast number of crows flocking around it. The confrontation, well...as we've established, ninjas aren't meant for open combat.

It's eventually revealed that this isn't the actual neko-ninja compound. Just an outpost that they have in the adjacent lowlands. Presumably, the main base would have been able to put up at least a *little* more of a fight, even if it wouldn't have won.

On the other hand...we just saw Tamakuro and his lackeys talk about how a ninja escaped back toward their mountain base. So, it seems like Tamakuro's own forces should know that this isn't where their main compound is, and not been able to mistake this for it.

Yeah, I'm not sure. Maybe a writer oversight? Not a huge deal, since the story works just fine if you change a couple of words in that earlier conversation, but it jumped out at me.

Anyway, Usagi finishes moving the bodies inside and walks away. Just barely in time for Shinjen - as he returns here to see if there's been any more word before going on his new mission - to see him, and thus get the wrong idea.

Honestly, this whole next little subplot that follows could have just been cut out. I know, it's a genre convention for a misunderstanding to result in one or more battles between the hero and antihero before they team up against the villain, but the execution here feels almost like padding. Shinjen catches up to Usagi, they fight, Shinjen gets repelled, and then Shinjen learns the truth before their next meeting. So, the misunderstanding and subsequent battle don't change the status quo or advance the plot at all. And Shinjen and Usagi were already enemies, so it doesn't provide any enemies-to-allies drama fuel that they didn't already have.

That said, there's some cool art as they fight by this big waterfall.

So, that much is nice I guess.

I guess one purpose this battle does serve is establishing Shinjen's badass credentials. We've already seen him hold Usagi off more successfully than most people can even with a wounded leg. When he's healthy, they're almost evenly matched. The last story demonstrated that Usagi could have been a good ninja in another life, and this one makes it clear that Shinjen could have been a good samurai.

Overall though, yeah, it's just pretty-looking filler.

After repelling the confused cat, Usagi finishes tracking the hoofprints to their destination. And, remember the complaint I made in "Silk Fair," about villains needing to play the heel all the time instead of getting to be pragmatic and canny? Well, here I got my wish! Daimyo Tamakuro needs men to wield those firearms he's been amassing, and ronin like Usagi are exactly the sort of people one would logically turn to in such a situation.

Maybe the longer-form story made the author feel more confident in his ability to establish the bad guy's badness without him needing to go out of his way to be mean to the protagonist. Or else, maybe he just saves the competent, rational villainy for major story arcs like this one, and has the baddies in the shorts act more like comedy villains.

Anyway, Usagi sees an opportunity to learn what's going on and hopefully rescue Tomoe if they're still holding her. A little bit of subterfuge and a lot of sword has him passing the entrance exam and enlisting in Tamakuro's army.

Meanwhile, Blind Ino finds some nice hot springs for himself and spot to play in, and some hot girls end up sharing it with them.

And Gen miserably trudges through the rain in search of him.

Splitting it here.