Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai

Usagi Yojimbo [兎用心棒] #OGN

by Stan Sakai

Yokai are the monsters, demons, and spirits of Japanese folklore, such as the shape-changing kitsune, the obakeneko demon cats, and the evil oni ogres. Usagi faces all these and more when a desperate woman begs for his help in finding her kidnapped husband. Tracing the abducted man to an old castle, Usagi finds the ruins haunted by creatures of Japanese legend and discovers that they are amassing for a great raid on the countryside! Fortunately, Usagi is joined by Sasuke the Demon Queller, who is also fighting to prevent the invasion, but things aren't always as they seem, especially when dealing with the supernatural!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Fiction, Japan, Horror, Historical Fiction

62 pages, Hardcover

First published November 4, 2009

About the author

Stan Sakai (Japanese: 坂井 スタンSakai Sutan; born May 25, 1953) is an artist who became known as an Eisner Award-winning comic book originator.

Born in Kyoto, Sakai grew up in Hawaii and studied fine arts at the University of Hawaii. He later attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He and his wife, Sharon, presently reside and work in Pasadena.

He began his career by lettering comic books (notably Groo the Wanderer by Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier) and became famous with the production of Usagi Yojimbo, the epic saga of Miyamoto Usagi, a samurai rabbit living in late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth-century Japan. First published in 1984, the comic continues to this day, with Sakai as the lone author and nearly-sole artist (Tom Luth serves as the main colorist on the series, and Sergio Aragonés has made two small contributions to the series: the story "Broken Ritual" is based on an idea by Aragonés, and he served as a guest inker for the black and white version of the story "Return to Adachi Plain" that is featured in the Volume 11 trade paper-back edition of Usagi Yojimbo). He also made a futuristic spin-off series Space Usagi. His favorite movie is Satomi Hakkenden (1959).

Reviews

[Chad]

Created for Usagi Yojimbo's silver anniversary Stan Sakai paints the full book in gorgeous watercolors. Just when you think Sakai's art can't get better, he does this. The story is a bit basic maybe. It's Usagi fighting demons for the most of it. It would make a good Halloween read actually. Those watercolors are breathtaking.

[Diz]

This Usagi Yojimbo tales features yokai, or traditional Japanese ghosts and monsters. It’s interesting to see the wide variety of creatures, but I feel that the story would have been tighter if it focused on one or two yokai rather than trying to show so many.

[Jonathan Maas]

Great tale, shows the Yokai well!

[Alex]

When you get this one don't expect the detailed style you're used to on the main series. Here Sakai plays with watercolors, the album is fully colored and it lacks the detailed pencils and inks of the B/W. Still it's an enjoyable story with a strong supernatural element that every Usagi fan would like to add to his reading experience.

Especially the Yokai are both funny and scarry with references to Japanese legends (and a lot of stuff added ofc). At the end there is a interesting interview of Stan about the 25th anniversary of the title and info about him trying watercolors on a full story, these personalised ones always help you connect with the creator.

[Quentin Wallace]

I have to admit up front that I am such a fan of Stan Sakai's art and writing, the Usagi Yojimbo character as well as just this series in general that I am not the most unbiased reviewer. That being said, this delivers what it promises. The art is painted watercolor and comes across a little more simplistic than some of Sakai's art but is gorgeous nonetheless. The story is pretty straightforward and based on Japanese folklore and while it's not the most intricate tale it's still very good with plenty of action, and there's even a twist although you may see this twist coming.

Overall if you're a fan of Sakai and/or Usagi Yojimbo this shouldn't disappoint.

[Yasemin Macar]

Japon yokai karakterleri gerçekten ilginç. Kitsune (dokuz kuyruklu tilki) dışında aklımda kalan pek olmuyor😅 Yokai yani ruhlar dünyayı ele geçirmeye çalışıyorlar ama kahramanımız Usagi tabiki buna izin vermiyor. Çizimlerini beğendim. Başka serileri varmış Türkçe bulabilirsem okuyacağım belki aklımda kalır o değişik ruhlar 😄

[Rituraj Kashyap]

3.5 stars

[Patricie Prokešová]

Grafický román o Yokai je zcela jinak kreslený než jsem zvyklá.
Opět v knihovně na blind a Miyamoto Usagi mile překvapil!

[Vojtěch]

Důkaz, že i 60 stránkový komiks může být někdy lepší než nějaká 300 stránková kniha. Super kresba, příběh měl spád a ty všemožný yokai byly super! Doporučuji :)

[Juho Pohjalainen]

Not one of Usagi's best. The monsters and creatures of Japanese folklore, many of whom could (and have!) easily carry an entire storyline, now mostly exist to be quickly named and then killed.

[Alex Sarll]

I imagine if you're already into Stan Sakai's work, an opportunity to see him work in watercolours and draw loads of different monsters from Japanese folklore is quite exciting. But I picked this up knowing nothing beyond the central character being a rabbit ronin, and assuming it would work as an introduction since Dark Horse were giving it away free alongside various first volumes. Which, for me at least, it really doesn't. The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons is a wonderful premise but, much like its Western equivalent(ish) the Wild Hunt, hardly a plot in itself, and the little bit of one Sakai builds around it is pretty minimal. Also, my intermittent disconnect from anthropomorphic animal stories clicked again, because if the 'people' are all part-animal anyway, then a lot of the demons aren't intuitively of a different order to them. Sure, a disembodied foot with an eye is still weird, but a kappa or a kitsune seems like they should fit right in.

[Komuniststar]

Usagi u boji nije mi do kraja lega, možda jer je očekivanje bilo preveliko, možda jer sam previše puta ugugla pojam da saznam nešto više.
Na stranu moj dojam u pitanju je fino izdanje, debel papir, dobre boje. Priča je jednostavna i dinamična. Možda koju stranicu preduga za tu jednostavnost. Prvih par stranica kao da je autoru trebalo da se ufura u lik.
Dodatak koji opisuje autorski put je izvrstan.

[Blindzider]

A "one-shot" story celebrating the 25th anniversary of Usagi Yojimbo. It contains much more action that usual, but it still has that "human" touch at the end. This is also the first time that Sakai colors the entire story and my first time seeing one colored. I have to say that I don't really like the coloring. The black and white version helps to keep the feeling that it takes place a long time ago as well as the idea that it's a black and white Kurosawa samurai film. I'd be interested to see it shaded with grey gradients to give it more depth though.

I haven't done the math/research, but I'm not sure with the collected volumes where exactly this takes place and when it was released.

[Václav]

Yokai je takové netradiční dílo v rámci Usagiho. Je to jeden příběh se spoustou strašidel a celý vybarvený vodovkami. Ty Usagimu moc sluší, takže si člověk pak povzdechne nad coloringem nových dílů pro IDW. Zároveň stan tady pracuje s průměrně menším počtem panelů na stránku, takže celý příběh se zdá mnohem dynamičtější a rychlejší. Vlastně to celé je skoro jako nějaký Usagiho horečnatý sen. Yokai je parádní, bohužel je to ale taková rychlá jednohubka, co ji má člověk hned za sebou.

[Noninuna]

Another gem that I found on Overdrive. The illustration is not too 'manga-style' while maintaining the Japanese elements in the story. It's a 'one-sitting' read and I didn't realize that it's been quite sometime since the comic had been published. It still read like a new fantasy!

[Wavieff]

hes so cute i love him. some great facial expressions here

[Carlos Eguren]

Crítica publicada originalmente en el blog.

«Qué noche más oscura… La clase de noche que llaman oborouki-yo, cuando los yokai merodean la tierra».

Es innegable la influencia que la cultura japonesa ha tenido en el cómic. Más allá del manga, las propias leyendas del país nipón son una rica fuente de historias. Los yokai forman parte de esta mitología; son criaturas fantasmagóricas del folclore japonés que fascinan a aquellos que las descubren. Estas apariciones suelen reunirse para realizar un desfile durante una noche de verano... Pero, ada cien años, durante esa madrugada, los yokai intentan conquistar el mundo de los vivos… Ese es el punto de partida de este cómic: Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai. Nos relata la historia de cómo el aguerrido Miyamoto Usagi, un guerrero japonés con aspecto de conejo, atraviesa un bosque durante la noche del desfile de los yokai. ¿Su misión? Recuperar a la hija de una mujer que llora amargamente tras que su pequeña la abandonase y se sumergiese en lo más profundo del bosque por culpa de un misterioso zorro. Usagi no duda en aceptar la misión, pero pronto se verá en medio de un épico enfrentamiento contra las fuerzas del mal, una batalla en la que contará con la ayuda de Sasuke el Somete Demonios.

Con la novela gráfica Yokai, el artista Stan Sakai celebraba el vigésimo quinto aniversario de su emblemática obra Usagi Yojimbo. Aparte de ser un homenaje a estos extraños seres fantasmales y un número que aunaba a los antiguos y los nuevos lectores, también suponía, después de décadas en blanco y negro, la publicación a color de una historia de Usagi de estas características. Puede que muchos lectores habituales temiesen que el paso al color fuese en detrimento de la calidad y, aunque el propio Sakai comenta cómo el uso del blanco y negro o el color cambia su técnica de dibujo, el resultado de Yokai es encomiable.

Continúa en el blog.

[Rick Ray]

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Usagi Yojimbo, Stan Sakai makes the first ever (and still only) graphic novel featuring the wandering ronin. Here, Miyamoto Usagi is joined by Sasuke, the Demon Queller, as the pair work to excise demons in the countryside. Sasuke has always been one of the more enigmatic characters in the wider cast of the series, and "Yokai" takes some time to flesh out his mysterious past a bit more.

The story itself is not something too different from a standard 1-2 issue arc of the main series, and a mostly average one at that too. Indeed, "Yokai" doesn't really feel like the celebration story it doesn't really stand out from the highpoints of the lengthy ongoing series. It really lacks the tight narrative style used in other Usagi adventures and never really feels like it developed anything significant in the mythos outside of some information on Sasuke's character.

The main differentiating factor here is that Sakai utilizes watercolors alongside his sharp lines which does result in a pretty unique look for a Usagi Yojimbo comic. I can't say I prefer Sakai's watercolors over the clean black and white look he typically uses, but they were pretty nice and a refreshing change for a one-off tale.

[J. Torres]

I love Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo series, and I really wanted to love this new original graphic novel celebrating the character's 25th anniversary. What's not to love about a fully painted samurai story pitting Usagi against all manner of monster from Japanese mythology and Sakai's imagination, right? I liked it but I didn't love it. There was something a little too familiar about the plot and too predictable about its outcome. My favorite Usagi stories are the ones with the unexpected twists or clever endings. But like I said, I liked this book overall. A good read.

[Kim Wong]

Gorgeous water colors and the return of Sasuke the Demon Queller make this another great addition to the Usagi collection.

[Reading For Sanity]

http://readingforsanity.blogspot.com/...

[寿理 宮本]

An amazing effort for the 25th anniversary of Usagi Yojimbo! It's frankly amazing that one person can singlehandedly* do all the writing and artwork for a series for so long!

The story is a "classic" ghost story, particularly for Usagi. Every one I can think of (admittedly, not many since the stories are generally slice-of-life other than they're talking animals) has the traditional paranormal elements with a "twist" ending, such as the person Usagi was helping was dead the whole time. My recent re-read of Mushishi informs me that this is *technically* horror, but it's so horror-lite that it's spooky but not as such scary, so it's great for readers who like a little horror but not a lot—par for the course with Usagi in general, which will show violence but (usually) in a nongraphic way, enough to get the point across without using explicit gore.

Obviously recommended for fans! Also fairly readable by itself for complete newcomers, despite maybe not knowing that Sasuke is a "Demon Queller"—it's so easy to pick up as you go that it will definitely make a fan out of you!

*I know he's had assistants come in on occasion, but THIS book is entirely Sakai, INCLUDING hand-painting every page!

[MechaComicReviews]

Usagi Yojimbo is by far my favorite comic series of all time. Each story has consequences, teaches a lesson, and is a setting for something unique in Japanese culture like the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons in Yokai.

Usagi and his friend Sasuke team up to stop yokai from taking over the world in this standalone tale. The story and art are a perfect symphony on the page. Sakai's sumptuous use of watercolor and his impeccable control of the medium by extracting stunning, vibrant, and multiple layers of color makes the art a true wonder to behold.

Sakai is a masterclass storyteller with a perfectly plotted graphic novel different from his normal comic issue pacing. The story is pure joy on the page with enough drama to worry if Usagi is going to survive. This is comics at their best.

[Beatrice Fox]

Amazing illustrations by Stan Sakai. I love his Usagi series and doing it in watercolor really ups the quality a notch. The story is typical of the series. My biggest problem with it is that the sequence where he sees all the monsters, he names each one of them as he kills it. Kind of like a weird electric company or sesame street skit. I get that he is using a word not known to English speaking audience but saying it makes it awkward. Perhaps better to list them all at the beginning. He uses footnotes sometimes. Maybe that would have been better than him saying each one. The colors are great! The story is good. But what REALLY makes this book wonderful is the interview with Sakai at the back of the book. It's great reading about his process and his progress through the years.

[Mathew]

A rare Sakai color work, this book is great. A bright and super dynamic color scheme had me worried at first but the work pulls together and offers some great contrasts and pops a few details that may have otherwise remained hidden. At the end of the book there is also a overview of how the book was colored which was a very nice insight and more complex than I anticipated.
The story is fun and offers a great variety of classic Japanese Monsters and Yokai with a decent ghost story vibe. My only complaint is that the Yokai are all "bad guys" Which I personally think is a cheapening of the vast number of unique personalities and quirky weirdness that these fellas have (yes, I love them)
Still the story is complete and is a quick and fun thematic read.

[The Wintermute System]

Just beautiful: the writing is simple in many ways, not much prose, and not purple at all. The illustrations aren't complex in the way that I think of with most comics, but rather with the depth of the watercolors.

And yet, it's a perfect story for me: a quick, light read, that treads into fantasy and horror without being horrific.

A nice palate cleanser, but this is a re-read - and I knew it would be. And it still didn't manage to fail. Usagi Yojimbo is sent to find a missing daughter, stolen by a kitsune, runs into his old friend, and finds out there is more, much more, to the story he was told about the girl he's searching for.

[Emmy]

Disappointing as far as Usagi Yojimbo goes. I felt like this story was far too short, and tried to pad itself with a lot of colorful monsters and eye-catching visuals. I mean, about 50% of the book can be summed up as Usagi going "Oh no! Here's a [insert Japanese monster here]!" and "Oh no! Here's a [insert name of another Japanese monster here]!"

The illustrations were lovely, though, and I really enjoyed seeing the comic in color. Although, I still think I prefer my rabbit ronin in black and white.

[Cale]

While it's great to see Usagi in color, I read a digital copy of this which didn't do the art service (especially the full spreads), so I didn't get to enjoy it in all of its splendor. The story is pretty thin, basically setting up an excuse for a panoply of antagonist demons to show off the art and color; the rationale is pretty weak, although it does give one of Usagi's secondary characters a chance to share some insights into his life and past. It's a nice quick read full of action, but is shallow in comparison to most of the Usagi Yojimbo series.

[Vickey]

A standalone short story where Usagi faces hordes of varied yokai (Japanese demons) one dark and spooky night. As usual, amazingly detailed art that's highlighted by some beautiful watercolour work. Only 4 stars because the story is a bit simple, but it would be a good intro to UY for those who've not read it before.

[Seriousstepan]

The graphic part and the theme of this book are all right, but the story is too short and simple to make a proper book. This story would make a lot more sense if it was part of a bigger short-story book.