previously: >>153357521
too bad usagi never learned an arrow-deflecting technique
>>153371751El Goblino!(El Creaturo!)
>>153371814I know it's part of the joke but creatura is a female word...
>>153371696As a whole, this is my least favorite arc when it comes to both art and color quality. The story is ok and the bird tengu are fantastic.
>>153371751>Do samurai encroach on another's privacy?Don't ask questions you already know the answer to.
>>153371871I must agree that, for a "war", it felt incredibly small scale.
>>153371895Not so loud. Sojo's hungover.
yep- they're furries
>>153371926Where's Sasuke when you need him?
remember, just because you're a demigod doesn't mean you have to be above prejudices like racism.
>>153372000Sojobo the voyeur
>>153371871Crazy, I always liked this story best of the IDW run. I liked seeing Sojobo again and the bird tengu are indeed great.
>>153371696Who are you and what have you done to Muderanon?
>>153372116These last few storytimes really have Usagi feeling like he's at a place where he doesn't mind death taking him
>>153372028>>153372019We joke about his meddling but Usagi is genuinely a good dude.
>>153372194HOLY FUCKING ENTER
>>153372194>female tengu>no long noseI’m mildly disappointed
>>153372063The story's alright, feels a bit small like Murder mentioned >>153371914, but there's nothing outright bad with the plot.My problem is the astounding number of art errors (like Sojobo's hand regrowing), lazy backgrounds, horrible gradients used everywhere on a previously unimaginable scale and VERY dull colors (with the notable exception of the bird tengu). Oh, and half the named cast is colored like an uncooked sausage.
>>153372140Resolve in the face of certain death.
>>153371914I think the tengu are just few in number. That's usually how it goes, the advantage of mankind is in numbers and that's how they displace the supernatural even though the individual creatures are stronger.
>>153372295>>153372287It must be uncomfortable as fuck to wear those shoes
>>153372287Sojobo regrows his hand
>>153372308Fun fact: they're literally called tengu geta.
>>153372000>I read the storytimes Usagi.
>>153372046>>153372057Oh my God look at these little dudes They're amazing They even got little swords...
>>153372332Blue Eyes White Rabbit
>>153372373Wait a minute, did you just summon a bunch of samurai in one turn?
>>153372211https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgtv8PWdeIQ
>>153372424>>153372428https://youtu.be/3JWTaaS7LdU?si=FjnJRbGDq-as-wSJ&t=189rip tengu girl
>jizo statues: 241
now, prepare yourselves:
!!!
>>153372470>You are an honorary tengu to me, my mortalligga.
>>153372470The scarf on the Jizo is the same color as the body! Lazy sons of bitches!
>>153372498How does everyone feel about this art style?
>>153372361Cute Nozomi is cute>>153372370>Top panelThis is where the fish live.
>>153371981He felt into a momentarily coma after destroying an entire colony of giant man eating mantises, Shoki is counting that as this decade's lunch break
>>153372510putting aside the implications a guest artis brings, I think it's pretty good.
>>153372564>>153372574So I guess they really committed to Mifune not being a tiger anymore.
>>153372564https://youtu.be/Xq6D2YHnHNc?si=BwijPpTSWYLCdWIV&t=7Y-yeah, I'm sure it means nothing, I'm sure Stan is fine...
>>153372609Holy shit.
>>153372638release the tokage
personally it's one of my favorite IDW stories. coincidentally, it's pretty short.
>>153372672cool story idky I thought this would be Usagi vs Hebi lol
ENTER https://youtu.be/AW-xkaeukEs
>>153372694Oof... I see that Usagi and the first thing I can think is >What a beautiful Duwang
>>153372694>usagi, but orange
>jizo statues: 242
>jizo statues: 243is it the same jizo colored wrong, or a different one? we may never know...
>dat green glazenow this is customer service
>>153372233the weirder part is that she has a cat nose
>>153372415Taken before his time, Goodbye Buichi, Rest in Power.
>jizo statues: 244
>>153372948Oh wow, consequences!
>jizo statues: 245
>>153372373Anon, I swear to kami of the pond...
>>153372609Wat?
when he was introduced, I disliked yukichi for being a blatant narrative device and having anime eyes syndrome. but since then he's grown on me, he's surprisingly entertaining as we'll see.
here's the explanations to all those pineapples, anon.
>>153372923>Instructor instructing his students to seek medical care at this facilityhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVxjanRhq7o
this is it for today, see you tomorrow.
>>153372672Is this ever followed up on? >>153372742>usagi instinctively grabbing his sword when someone recognizes himToo many over ambitious samurai thugs have made him paranoid
>>153373049Behold. The birth of the McDojo. >>153373074The eyes are really fucking bad I won't deny it. But I do like him as a character so far.
>>153372784Blue>>153372886Green>>153372900Orange
>>153372968>Usagi, its your cousin! Let's go bowling!
>>153373074I don't dislike Yukichi but I don't remember him adding much outside of being Usagi's player 2.
>>153372510Stan's inking has overall been the weakest part of the art of this comic, at least after the first couple stories. There's a reason to it- he does rougher inking so that he works faster so he can do more pages, it makes sense- but it does mean seeing someone else get to come in and do more polished inking is a treat (even if I'm unsure what the deal is with the smiling flowers)
>>153372866>the Grilled Radish sword schoolThese kaniggaz can't be worth anything. They sound blunt.
>>153372732>if Jei turned left instead of right, he'd bump into Usagi
>>153373074Usagi having a naïve junior is interesting, but I really can't see much we get out of him we weren't already with Jotaro. Or theoretically, Motokazu.
>>153373074>anime eyes syndromeI don't know, Stan's drawn people like that before but usually that's in emotional scenes or with his female characters. Actually, Yukichi is pretty feminine overall. Maybe he's a she? Is this the real usagi bowl end game instead of Tomoe?
>>153373191Don't worry, I counted.>EYES CHANGING COLOR FOR NO REASON: 183>COUNTING ONLY USAGI: 55>COUNTING ONLY YUKICHi: 47>MISTAKE(S) ON THE COVER: 25>OTHER WEIRD COLORING MISTAKES/CHANGES: 12
>>153373164Thanks for posting, Murder!
>>153373187At least he isn't plotting people's murder to stay in business. Yet.
>>153372367WOULD YOU A CROW?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmE7uZmjQDk
>>153372233Pretty sure that's accurate to the folklore
>>153373354>Actually, Yukichi is pretty feminine overall. Maybe he's a she? That is a common fan theory, yes. We don't have a payoff on what his whole deal is yet.
>>153373245That's probably in part because most of the stories with him so far have been introducing him to the rest of the reoccuring cast. Once we get through those there will probably be some stories centered more on fleshing out his character and giving him plenty of feudal japan moments.
>>153373395Yukichi debuted around the same time as this show, right?
>>153372361I made this the lewd edit of Lady Nozomi years ago.
>>153371725Last year or a couple years ago I played with the notion of remastering these stories to remove their colour. The couple panels in this story where there's a gradation to indicate a flashback were a barrier in getting the linework right, but tried it again now and eh, decent enough result
>>153371880An antelope or goat samurai skull
>>153373433Provided no twists and turns of behind the scenes fuckery, Yukichi seems to be pretty directly a response to the show, yes. Best guess I can make is that it's just a matter of Stan wanting to feel ownership of the character of Yuichi (and maybe getting the name wrong?) from the Netflix show, since he's not an Usagi unlike Space Usagi.
>>153372866>Lowest form of riff raffOh, your father's in?
>>153372892She looks like a color corrected Chizu in goofy shoes.
>>153372194Why does she wear the mask?
>>153372900Been a minute since the last "Abandon Thread" crop, but Stan's still got it.
>>153373354>>153373414Neither Wherewhen nor Kaito support that theory, but it's a fun one.
>>153373520>I'VE GOT SPECIAL EYES
>>153373443You just blew my mind. It would be insane to re-read those issues in b&w.
>>153372194Nozomi is sexo
>>153372694It starts. I do not care for cousin oriver
>>153372645Those are some tiny Tokage
>>153373245If Usagi does need a full time travel buddy Gen would work far better
She needs more fan arts
>>153373536The funny thing is, nothing was changed in this fantastic fanart, only eyelashes were added.
>>153373520That's like saying Senso is the canon ending.
>>153371708It said Tom Luth in the last one
>>153373074For a bit I thought Yukichi was a girl due to the eyes and slender frame. Thought it be a Mulan or Anne Bonney kind of situation.
>>153372919Wel it's a embarassing loss but surely their sensei will take a moment ton treat this as a learn experi>>153372923>>153372929God damn it.
>>153372526That should be hermitage, as in the dwelling of a hermit, shouldn't it?
>>153372591At least the colorist did. :(
>>153373043>You lived your whole life in a sword school>You do bkt know how much the WORLD can be so treacherous and deceitful! Usagi, have you seen these sword schools?
>>153372937>you will join me on this thouroughly dishonorable mission and if you fail to comport yourselves with honor I will kill youKafkatrap feudal style.
>>153373049>Your options are naked elitism or McDojoNo wonder Katsuichi went indie.
>>153373695It's a Hebitage now, a dwelling of snakes!
>>153373728I mean it's the same design Stan used for the first IDW run. Even if he was just inking it in he'd have had stripes right? And the colorist would go around it?Mifune is just a boring ass Cat dude.
>>153373395I like how she just smacks him on the ass with her sword
>>153371914Im not sure how to get my point across but I expect it to be small-scale since the belligerents are supernatural. Assume the story is set in europe with knight Usagi and the belligerents being two factions of fae folk, itd make sense for it to be hidden and shrouded from mortal eyes
>>153372029>I was there that day Usagi. I laughed at your ink mustache. Until I laughed no more.
Spent this week catching up after being abroad for the two before, my last update was back in storytime 19 so here are the totals for the last 18 threads>+1 Rhino>+2 Pandas>+5 Pigs>+1 Monkey>+2 Beavers>+2 Rats>+2 Weasels>+1 Hippo>+1 Skunk (counting the debatably canon Sukanku story)>New Total: 99 If the numbers seem incongruous it's because I subtracted six from the total by disqualifying any wolves I've counted so far since they're another ambiguous case that's hard to tell apart from all the dogs, foxes, and even cats, picrel is an especially frustrating recurring design so I threw up my hands and decided to just count them as some kind of mangy stray dogNotably, there have been no characters who meet my criteria in the IDW run, which means I may not even break triple digits by the time we're done with the series.
Book 37458 Usagis (16709 total)744 Panels (33836 total)No Nekos (1308 total)No Komori (203 total)No Mogura (37 total)No Ninjas of the Dark Light (4 total)No Zō Ninja (1 total)155 Yukichis (155 total)A brand new count today! I've been waiting for our favorite cousin, since he shows up near the end and is therefore easier to count than the rest of the main cast. Since I'm not sure he'll hit a prominent thousandth mark like Usagi, I'll do his by 100s.>>153373624I still support this idea. Go for it Stan!!
>>153372089I fully expected Yaban to just kill his minion for displaying cowardice or some bullshito so this is a genuine surprise
>>153374032Aren't you counting the fly (Hae Ninja?) who tricked Usagi into killing Stan Sakai back in the Hell Screen volume?
>>153372029
>>153374027Don't say never just yet!You have to count the different alien species in space Usagi!
>>153373619Homecoming was his last arc and he retired from comics for good. I think that unfortunate line on Mariko's face broke him.
>>153374027Welcome back! You were missed.Did you count both male versions of Jei? They are 100% wolves.
>>153372574So is the black circle with five smaller ones on his sleeve a clan mon? Looks like a paw print for a bear or panda
>>153374511>So is the black circle with five smaller ones on his sleeve a clan mon?Yes, monst likely. It seems to be a variant of the Hikiji mon, because we've seen it before in scenes connected to Adachigara.
>>153374027I think that's an aardvark.
>>153374032>155 YukichisOh my, oh my, oh my.
>>153372968Is this the first time since the flashback that it's acknowledged that Hijiki killed Usagi's father?
>>153374511I was thinking it was a metal bit.
>>153373166>usagi instinctively grabbing his sword when someone recognizes himHe reaches for it twice, once when the kid runs up to him, then he lets go when he sees the kid's not threatening him, and then he reaches again when the kid knows who he is.Paranoid, but probably warranted, because this is feudal Japan, after all.
>>153374698Stan! Give me a Yukichi spinoff drawn by a horny fujo and my life is yours!
>>153373354exactly, yukichi never turns them off
>>153374311I think I'll save myself the headache and not count aliens for the same reason I haven't been counting yokai or ninja turtles>>153374506As I said, I decided to start skipping wolves, but if you want to know the specifics I believe we're on three non-bigtitty-catgirl Jei's, from there you can debatably count Jizonobu and whatshisname who became the current Jei, and there were two background characters early on who are typical cartoon wolves, bringing us to 5 or 7 characters who are definitely probably maybe wolves, just as a rough estimate>>153374602I can kinda see it, but at this point I don't expect Stan to be too adventurous his background animals so in ambiguous cases like this I go with the simplest explanation, but to be honest a lot of my decisions are sort of spur of the moment, maybe next year I can try counting these guys as aardvarks, I'm already thinking about going back for goats and maybe even bunnies.
>>153374032It's not just anime eyes, Yukichi has enormous eyes compared to everyone else.
>>153371696was too late to mention in last thread but i like the mariko design changes a lother more defined ears make her look a ton better
>>153371791shiny tokage
The great part about this annual storytime is it lasts long enough to bridge the month between issues of Kaito.
>>153371880
>>153374939Anon is right, it is an aardvark, drawn in a somewhat classic cartoony style Stan would definetly know. See pic.
>>153371773>He Laughed.
>>153374511>>153374549It is 100% elbow armor, as anon >>153374776 says.
>>153372510looks pretty great to me
>>153373455Stan was pretty hands-on and involved with Samurai Rabbit as I recall. Like it or not that is the animated version that has the Sakai stamp of approval. Now I'm sure there was some executive meddling at some point, but it's not like Netflix wrested control of the entire IP away from him. That said, Yukichi is definitely, I don't know, "brand synergy" or something? And this >>153372609 weird ass story probably is too since Samurai Rabbit is TV-Y7 yokai quelling with light cosmic horror, and this particular issue is so out of place with everything in Usagi the comic so far.
>>153372629top panel would've been much better with either motion lines or no sound bubbles
>>153372656>ha got you!>nuh uh! you missed>yeah huh!>nuh uh>...
>>153375480Oh yeah, not contradicting that. With that said, seeing how Stan's done other spinoffs and licensed stuff, odds are even if he approved of everything in the Netflix show, he still feels it's not quite HIS Usagi Yojimbo; and thus Yukichi is him going "but see, this new protagonist is mine too". That said, entirely my guess, as I said. For all I know Stan came up with Yukichi/Yuichi first and the show's adapting that.
>>153372100>A samurai with a visible injury is disgracedLegit? I knew bushido was crazy but not in this particular way.
>>153373023>Fencing school sword autists stop immediately to witness the duel, hardened yojimbo dumbstruck that people would just stop fighting to go do something else
>>153373074>>153373330Anon a few years ago now mentioned that Yukichi is like Galahad to Usagi's more world-weary and somewhat more cynical Lancelot and that made me like Yukichi a lot more.
>>153375559Dunno if it's legit or not, I'm sure Enmanon will give context, but for what it's worth we are later told within this story that the tengu have an even stricter sense of honour than usual for the setting, so maybe that's it
>>153371751Usagi finally decided to take care of unfinished business.
>>153372954yukichi got some big fucking eyes
>>153371773>gets hit by a rock once>decides to risk everything for more power
>>153374757i think sohikiji killing his dad really doesn't matter to usagi at all it seems, the mifune stuff was a much bigger deallike he didn't got to his dad's grave to ask for release
>>153374757Hijiki's really behind everything, isn't he?
>>153371781>>153371791>>153371796Weirdly nonchalant for a guy itching to cut off Usagi's hand.
>>153374757>>153375786JIGOKU
>>153375149It's a fairly common stock design in the later chapters of the series and while some may well be aardvarks others of this "archetype" could very easily be dogs, wolves, or rats, which makes it a bit too ambiguous for me also I'm too lazy to go back and count which ones might also be aardvarks but if people disagree with my reasoning I could add a 1-ish Aardvark to the total.
>>153375761this is a flashback bit, pre-rock. It's easy to forget it, yeah- something like different borders or colouring would've helped separate the flashback sequence from the present
>>153375559I don't know if it's just a chambara convention, but I've heard/read in some mangos that facial scars were a sign of low skills and therefore, marks of dishonor.But yeah, Enma will probably let us know if that was just bullshit or if there was something to it.
>>153374757Since the flashback in the IDW era, yes. It's brought up very early on in the series as a whole, when Usagi comes back to his village for the first time and Mariko tells him to get the fuck on, he says he's going to pray at his father's grave, and then he wanders off. His nonchalant attitude at his own biological father's death, vs the 'death' of his father figure Katsuichi-sensei and his other father figure Lord Mifune is something we've discussed in years past.
>>153373074I've come to like yukichi a lot more as wellthough being 100% the "is actually girl" theory/cope I think has had a big hand in thatseriously considering doing a smutfic with "him" and usagi now t b h
>>153372727Blue & orange contrast, ready for the movie poster.
>>153375799No, that's Hikiji's brother/body double. They take turns leading their clan while the other one fucks anthro women
>>153371831>Usagi in that last panel
>>153375613I don't know that I accept or agree with that. There just hasn't been any real change to Usagi's outlook since he showed up and worldliness aside Usagi is not un Galahad himself.
>>153371868So this threat has been dangling over Usagi's head all this time? That's kind of hilarious.
>>153371890They're rat creatures. They have an affinity for quiche.
>>153371895SQUID GAMES!!
>>153376009>There just hasn't been any real change to Usagi's outlookReally, anon? No bigly change whatsoever? You can't think of one giant ass defining character development arc that Usagi's constantly going through that might mark his as somewhat disillusioned even if he still maintains an overall optimistic and hopeful outlook on life, ala Lancelot, vs Yukichi's more sheltered but by the same token more pure and noble spirit?
>>153376058MONSTERS DON'T EAT QUICHE!
>>153376091Usagi's change a lot but none of his change was a result of Yukichi and we don't really need a more naive rabbit to showcase how different they are. Usagi has don't plenty of that on his own.
>>153375794One more hand one less hand what does it matter for a swordman.
>>153371805Usagi is sumerged in samurai coolaid.
>>153371949They can talk?!
>>153376139THEY CAN SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!
>>153371868How many times has Usagi almost lost that hand?
>>153372453Rip
>>153376111>none of his change was a result of YukichiWhich is besides the point.>we don't really need a more naive rabbit to showcase how different they areThat's your opinion and honestly I don't really disagree, a lot of this is just Travels With Jotaro 2 Twink Cousin Boogaloo, but like I wrote, the Galahad/Lancelot comparison made me enjoy Cousin Oliver more. Your own mileage will vary.
>>153371984Oh NOW we're using "tengu" as term? Whatever happened to "mountain goblin", Stan?
>>153375559On its face it sounds about right. If you’re getting scraped up with a shit ton of cuts and scars one would infer you likely aren’t skilled enough to protect yourself. Though disgraced is a bit harsh
>>153372694Enter cousin Oribu.
>>153372000Usagi EVERYONE knows at this point.
>>153376195People probably spammed this to Stan's Email.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIp6_0kct_U
>>153376195>mountain goblinSOUL>tenguSOULESS
>>153372046They look like they're ready to teach an elephant how to fly.
>>153376193>Which is besides the point.It's exactly the point because we don't need a wide eyed innocent tagging along to show how much Usagi has changed.
>>153372000Who doesn't know at this point?
>>153373354>>153373414Nah. He is too animal like, Females on Usagi are more human woman that Animal, Kitsune being the only one who do looks like a fox.
>>153376349>>153372000
>>153373443Looks very good, back in the B&W days the flashbacks would be more squigly and sketchy. So is a blessing Stan got lazy.
>>153375928Consider this though. What if Yukichi isn't a girl, but he does moan like one?
>>153376373
>>153376195STAAAAAAAAAAN
>>153376419
>>153372907Some of the choices on how to depict eyes have been very bizarre lately.
>>153376419ok i will consider itI consider it GAY
Look I'm just saying the less you know about what Nobunaga and Ranmaru got up the better off you'll be.
>>153375559>>153375627>>153375876Appreciate your confidence in old mate Enmanon, lads. Okay so we all know by now that Bushido(™) is made-up 20th Century drivel backdated to Feudal Japan to give it the veneer of authenticity. If we're going to talk about Bushido we're basically talking about Warhammer lore and we can make up whatever we want. Any one statement is as legit as any other statement since it's all a pastiche of cliches and pop history anyway. I skimmed the Hakagure and Bushido: The Soul of Japan, and neither of them as far as I could tell made any mention of a visible wound being disgraceful. I also read some scholarly articles on samurai and bushido too and maybe, MAYBE there was some Literally Who (spits) Neo-Conf*cianist academic working for Edo who might have written some essay or commentary well into Pax Tokugawa, that could POSSIBLY have made mention about a visible wound being a sign of weakness, but honestly the most intriguing idea that I came upon during this little research excursion, irrelevant to anything about wounds or scars, was how much shame (haji 恥) and losing/gaining face came to define the samurai, resulting in all the Bushido Moments we see in the comic, because unlike the European aristocracy-warrior class, Japanese culture had an aristocracy that was separate from the warrior class (which evolved to become aristocratic in nature but never displaced the true aristocracy of Kyoto), and that aristocracy always looked down on the samurai as boorish. Their inescapable rustic-ness, combined with Shinto-Buddhist conceptions of ritual impurity from death and spilling blood meant that the samurai had to be 100% all in on preventing shame and losing face no matter what the cost, which is how we end up back at Bushido, coming around full circle. tl;dr - yeah I think this is just chambara convention
>>153371791they toasted that shit back then? crazy.
>>153376323Uh, yeah we do.>Source: Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 4 #21, IDW
>>153373245He doesn't play off of Usagi like Gen, there's no romantic tension like Tomo, and the student/master relationship has already been done much better with Jotaro. He doesn't even have an interesting personal conflict like Ikeda or Zato-Ino. He's... fine. Perfectly milquetoast and inoffensive, but adds nothing new to the dynamic. I don't mind his showing up but I would never thing twice about never seeing him again.
>>153372080An eye for a hand? Don't know if I'd call that an even trade.
>>153371696That's a weird looking tengu. I thought Tengu were birds not humans with long noses.
>>153372089>Fuck that one crow in particular
>>153372108First time I've ever heard a nose be described as "noble".
>>153376373Everyone knows
>>153376361That's just cat ladies not having a long snoot.
>>153376598They're both. The human ones are the highest tengu class, the bird ones are subordinate to them. https://youtu.be/2kbhxv9ZMzQ
>>153376598It bounces between winged humanoids, birds, and wolf dogs depending on the depiction. The nose, though, is pretty much a staple that symbolizes 'arrogance' in japanese media.
>>153374202Good catch, I'll add him to the list for tomorrow.>>153374698No shade on the Usagi line but imagine if 90% of the kawaii genes came from his dad's side of the family...
>>153376162El Goblino's fault for not taking care of his things.
>>153372108>Oy vey, ish dat a shekel I schmell?>Wait, no, ish da goy-hin>>153372124>these mountaintops were promised to us two thousand years ago
>>153376947cringe
>>153375559>>153376562Phunt Phact from earth extended lore; in 19th and 20th century Prussia it was the OPPOSITE; having scars meant you were willing to brave dangers to the point of injury (and of course you'd want them to be visible) which went to the point of fencing societies where, unlike modern Olympic fencing, the duelists stood close to each other and changing position was against the rules. A very unrealistic sword fight, but the real point was the inflict facial wounds on each other (they wore protective gear to prevent eye and nose injuries, but nothing else). These aristocratic men would respect others who also bore scars and it was meant to demonstrate to the regular soldiers they might lead into battle that their commander would share danger with them and to inspire by example.This is also the origin of the Anglo-American trope of the scarred villian, as the nuances of the situation were ignored in favor of hating German enemies in the World Wars, despite, in the case of WWII, the lack of real connection between the dueling societies and the Nazis (indeed the warrior aristocrats were distrusted for pre-dating National Socialism and having their own values and traditions).
>>153372207>why you hanging with this lowland bunny, hubbyGeez, cool it with the racism, lady.
>>153376562>bushido or bulllol
>>153376947First one was meh, second one was kek.
>>153376562>the Nishimura Shogun and his army of dog jani-shinsengumi have once again temporarily IP-banned me>I have no choice but to take my own life in protest
>>153372470I don't think I really like anything about the tengu war story.
>>153373877He looks more like a teddy bear.
>>153372194>flat-faceewww
>>153373558How the fuck are the snakes bigger than lizard-dogs? I thought the tokage were going to EAT the snakes, or make them flee for fear of it, but instead....???
>>153377001no, you're cringe!>>153377054yeah, I guess I was forcing the goy-hin pun too hard and the George Geezil impression wasn't really necessary.
>>153372510I've grown too fond of peak Sakai to like it all that much. It's ok I guess.
Welcome back to the death rattle tally! Here are the new scream found in today's storytime:>Aroo!: 1>Grrk!: 2>Grawk!: 1>Graa!: 1>Rah!: 1>Garr!: 1>Gulk!: 1>Grak!: 1See attachment for total cry so far. As always, if you have any questions about the count, feel free to ask.
>>153373877Mifune's head isn't really given stripes in earlier sequences either.
>>153372140The Duel at Kitanoji is generally accepted to be the point where Usagi breaks with Bushido (a process that began all the way back in Dragon Bellow) and therefore has a much weaker reason to keep going.Then after that I think it's been a gradual slide mentally ever since he left the Geishu lands, I think Bridge of Tears comes quite soon after that and more than anything that feels like one of Usagi's biggest failures I think, in his own eyes, combined with the death of Inazuma. There's a pretty gruelling period which is just Feudal Japan going at full-steam and I think that's why he spends a fair bit of time with Ishida because a friend lets him distract himself from his problems, then he's full on banished from Edo during the events of The Hidden and is isolated going into IDW.
>>153362453Hell yeah my nigga now we're talking>how aggressive was the shogunate with exploiting silver and gold mines Extremely aggressive. With the end of the Sengoku period, the peace in the land led to impactful advances in mining technology. "Sunpo-kiri" or survey mining to begin mining as a planned operation instead of digging until you hit something (Blood Princess needs to take notes), and related innovations like "kazebako" and "kazejogo" (wind boxes & wind funnels), as well as advanced in alloy smelting to achieve higher yields of refined gold/silver. And although this is before the Edo period, at Iwami and Ikuno mines, about 1/3rd of all silver IN THE WORLD that was produced was produced from these two mines during the 1550s.>and with importing precious metals from abroad? Equally as aggressive. Muh sankoku is a cope. All that silver was exported to China to buy tea, ceramics, silk, etc. Gold was also exported, especially to Korea to exchange for silver or vice-versa, depending on which way the market exchange rate was going at the time. In earlier times, I mean like pre-Sengoku, the export of Japanese gold to mainland China was a routine trade because the Japanese state then used Chinese minted copper coinage as currency. By the time of the Edo period, the shogunate had begun minting their own coinage out of precious metals (see Ishida's story about clan embezzlement and the silver bar), and some daimyo issued their own coinage as well from precious metals. The raw gold or silver came either from native mines, or from imported specie, gold more than silver. For example, there is documentation from European traders that 30,000 ducats worth of gold entered Nagasaki aboard a Chinese vessel bought by Osaka and Kyoto merchants for domestic use in 1591. And again in 1605, Ieyasu himself purchased 10,000 pieces of gold from Portuguese traders.Sources again in pic related.
>>153373187Thing is it's easy to only accept strong students, to accept weaker ones and improve them is more impressive.
>>153372194So uh... do you think Sojobo uses that nose when they...get busy?
>>153372207Girl's got zero chill.
>>153377857Aww yeah, there's that raw Feudal Japan facts I keep coming back for year after year!Could you give us a quick recap on what the shogunate tax policy was in early edo period, or during edo period in general.
>>153372211>"We? Who's we? Nintendo Wii?"
>>153376947Sir, the SinsFest thread is next door. Can someone made the virgin Tatsuya Ishida vs the Chad Stan Sakai?
>>153377157
>>153378359How far forward does she have to pull the mask till she can put it on?
>>153372664Usagi ruins a couple of poor peasants side gig ensuring the old man has to be abandoned in a mountain because the family doesn't have enough money to feed all of them during the winter. >>153372816>>153372825Yukishi is too "green".
>>153373049The guy is a jerk but what is the fucking point of a school that instead of teaching it just accept the naturally talented a calls it a day? A school is suppose to be a place to become better not a clubhouse of the elites.
>>153378030A couple of years ago someone compared this to the NFL and how they don't really improve the teams but instead buy the best players.
>>153373455Maybe is a She-Hulk kind of situation were he beats the show to the punch on the design so he can own it. For those who don't know what I'm talking about back when The Incredible Hulk had a TV show Stan Lee feared the TV studio would create a female Hulk in the same way they created the Bionic woman out of the Bionic man show and blocking Marvel from creating their own, so they created She-Hulk to beat the TV Studio to the punch in case the TV Network ever made a female Spin Off (which never actually happened)
>>153372829I don't know why this panel cracks me up so much, I think is Usagi's expression like carrying a stick is the weirdest behavior he has ever seen.
>>153373395Why did they turn our boy into a quirk chungus buffoon?
>>153373435>>153373582She was too good for this world.
>>153378548The idea appears to be to teach the talented to become great rather than teach the untalented to be mediocre.See also Usagi vs. Kenichi.
>>153373395How did this show made the Usagi so annoying and the Kitsune so good of a character?
>>153378087>a quick recap on what the shogunate tax policy was1/2It was retarded as fuck, the end.No, but their policy was 'keep them fed just enough that they're not starving and useless, but never so full that they ever become comfortable" as we all know by now. What this translated to in real terms is up for debate, actually, and there's some suggestion that the Tokugawa's own policy of keeping *everyone* not just the peasants in just-barely-above-starving-mode created some weird conditions that ultimately collapsed itself from the top-down. So we all know the shogunate was somewhat justifiably paranoid about rebellious daimyo's so they imposed rotational attendance and made the daimyo hole up all their samurai in a single castle town. This ended up removing the samurai from the villages that, through land tax and corvee labor, fed the coffers of the individual feudal domains and the larger Tokugawa state. The unintended side-effect of this was that land surveys became increasingly rarer and rarer as the years went on. And as an aside, one kind of hand-wavy reason why these chambara period pieces like Usagi always have towns overrun by criminal gangs and roads filled with bandits is because, true to life, the state simply wasn't there to keep the criminal elements in check. Back to tax policy though, so while on paper a village might be taxed upwards of 50% of their surveyed yields, what ended up happening as new farming innovations and peace in the land meant in real terms was that the actual tax that was paid became LOWER because PRODUCTIVITY went UP, even though on paper the peasants were still being taxed to near-starvation. And of course, no peasant is going to complain about that. He's going to go on and on about the horrible, mean, evil oppressive regime that's barely letting him eek out a living eating muddy barley mush and scavenged tokage ohhh samurai-sama please put away your blade have mercy on us poor ignorant peasants (wink).
>>153378087>>1533788152/2Now of course, this is a really optimistic take on things. The daimyo and samurai weren't that dumb, they were just sort of boxed in by social convention and legal forms themselves. You could never directly handle these matters or the shogun's metsuke would start sniffing around your domain, you had to go through the proper channels and intermediaries, and these were subject to corruption, graft, and bribery (which was also kind of built in, another money drain intentionally set up by the shogunate). So the taxable population did pay out, it's just that the money never made it to where it was meant to go. On top of that, famines, droughts, floods, and disease outbreaks were a common reality of life back then. These extenuating circumstances occasionally meant tax relief, but more often than not the tax rate stayed the same no matter what the real conditions on the ground was.That's where we get the infamous IKKI, the peasant rebellion. The kirishitan IKKI down in Shimabara, for example, actually started as a peasant revolt against crushing taxes. The religious stuff came later, alongside discontent ronin out of a job. More often than not though, the IKKI's that happened during this time period were between peasants and the ((((merchant)))) class. If the IKKI took aim at the samurai and daimyo, it was because they felt that the bushi class wasn't doing enough to maintain the "jinsei" (benevolent rule) of Neo-Confucianist doctrine that the shogunate was supposed to adhere to. So tl;dr on Feudal Japan taxes: pretty bad most of the time, not that bad all of the time though. Everyone's just too lost in the sauce (befuddled by bushido) to really make it work out equitably. Sources:The Land Tax in the Tokugawa Periodhttps://doi.org/10.2307/2941283IKKI: Peasant Uprisings In Japan.http://www.jstor.org/stable/44144020.
>>153378672It's like the executives said "people like Kung Fu Panda, can we make him a Kung Fu Panda? Do that!"
>>153378548Is he even that much of a jerk? He's a bit superficial and greedy but he also offered him a good teaching gig and didn't really begrudge him leaving.
>>153378690Kenichi is legitimately talented though, Usagi beat him but it was pretty close.
>>153378661They both look high
>>153373764The greater test of honor is serving a dishonorabl lord.>>153374202https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2RGmI8eQUQ
>>153376562.. isn't it a plot point in 47 Ronin?
>>153378359PEAKBEAK
>>153372866Yukichi's giant anime eyes are bugging the crap out of me
>>153378661he's realizing the impact he accidentally had on this rando's life
>>153379784Not so rando anymore.
>>153372228Aw man, I feel bad for this lil dude.
>>153372259That crow looks so disappointed he wasn't able to die.
>>153378359I want to kiss that nose
>>153379528She's got a natural 天蓋
>>153373305Good thing too, because he's replaced his spear with a bo and that's not good enough for the man he needs to kill to become a god
>>153372278Look at this smug motherfucker.
>>153379875Me whenever someone cuts me off in traffic on the commute to work>>153379898
>>153372325I guess he regained it after Usagi won back his position of the clan? Because he still had the hook all the way up to here >>153372287.
>>153379996i wonder why stan feels the need to have them say *smirk*really doesn't need too
>>153372325>>153380096Wait a sec, he gets the hook back here >>153372301. So it have just been an actual mistake on Stan's end.
>>153377736>banished from EdoIshida does not live in Edo. The comic is clear that he's the vassal of a Lord Yamahashi and we've established that this lord's lands must be somewhere around Bingo or thereabouts, as he's close to the Geishu lands.
>>153377857>about 1/3rd of all silver IN THE WORLD that was produced was produced from these two mines during the 1550sWait, WHAT? That's the period of the Spanish treasure galleons, hauling untold quantities of silver out of the South American mines. Are you fucking serious?
>>153380253>>about 1/3rd of all silver IN THE WORLD that was produced was produced from these two mines during the 1550sYeah, I kinda doubt this too.
>>153380096>>153380157He's just missing the hook in two nonconsecutive panels in two consecutive pages, yeah. Stan clearly just forgot, like with the one-handed guy in Te.
>>153375559>>153376562I would put it more about visible disability. And that sense of "uncleanness" about visible disability is still around to this day. Note that blindness is a different track. You're correct in that it's not mentioned at fucking all as a thing in my texts on bushido itself. Physical cleansilness, and perfection is linked somewhat to spiritual cleanliness. The heroes are good looking. The yokai are deformed. Sword saints are generally depicted as untouched bishonen, and physically perfect.. I wouldn't even call it chambara convention. Think about seeing chambara characters making fun of scars or insulting someone because of scars. You really don't see it. Maybe just a little to say that it's unappealing to women. Personally, my family would contextualize it as "your mother birthed you perfectly, and you did WHAT to your body", after an accident that required surgery. More shinto than buddhist. >Any one statement is as legit as any other statement since it's all a pastiche of cliches and pop history anyway. Some statements will cause ultranationalist porn stars to try to fly an airplane into your house though. We haven't seen that from Space Hulk fans...yet. t. Descendant of a hatamoto of a major clan, and my ancestors occasionally show up as minor characters in koei video games. >>153379433Sort of. To review. Lord Asano scars Lord Kira, and is put to death and his clan ended by the shogun. Now, on the bloody road of vengance, none of the 47 have ever SEEN lord Kira, but identify him because of the scar. >>153377018Right. The best winners win cleanly without getting scarred up. The idea that you would deliberately collect scars, rather than heal cleanly would be seen as nuts, but Japan liked shlagers and germans a lot in general...which had it's own complications.. Pic somewhat related. Date Masamune. He was one eyed, and seen as out of his goddam mind.
>>153372323>The only way a tengu can erase his dishonor is through death!Dude, you're about to fight in a fucking war. Just get your noble sacrifice there, damn.
>>153372349>"Oooh, juicy relationship gossip!"
>>153372361That second panel is unintentionally lewd.>>153373435Knew this board wouldn't disappoint.
>>153380446>Right. The best winners win cleanly without getting scarred up. The idea that you would deliberately collect scars, rather than heal cleanly would be seen as nutsWhile the scar-clubs was fencing, I think you could argue it was a response to firearm-dominated warfare when you'd have to march while getting shot at and there's not much you can do about it.
>>153378691They shaved the rough edges off of Cutesune, and made Yuichi a ROTTMNT character as opposed to a likable but mostly serious samurai.
>>153374698>himbo usagi>now twink usagiWonder what other usagi flavors are out there…
>>153380446>Some statements will cause ultranationalist porn stars to try to fly an airplane into your house though.KEK, what?
>>153372379Aw, such a sweet moment between them. Please don't die on me, PLEASE.
>>153372415RIP Buichi.
>>153372424>>153372428FUCK, I KNEW SHE WASN'T GOING TO MAKE IT, GODDAMMIT.
>>153372453There's no death balloon, she might be okay! Please, just let me have this.
>>153380902there's got to be an ugly bastard Usagi out there.
Anyone reading Kaito, last issue had an absolutely balls to the fucking wall reveal
I had to fix this anon's edit, so here's a v3_final_this_time_for_real version
>>153380902Try this.
>>153372233>>153373402Lmao it goes all the way back to the beggining
>>153372498>HebishimaOh shit, we're finally getting the bigass snake's origin?
>>153373027So Yukichi's a chick right, like everything about him is incredibly feminine and not in the usual way like an Irako Sengin type, dude is straight up girlish
>>153373074Dude does look like a fan fiction OC next to Usagi, even has the backstory for it
>>153373113Always good to see dead Neko Ninja
>>153381570Have a better image
>>153380446>The heroes are good looking. The yokai are deformed. Sword saints are generally depicted as untouched bishonen, and physically perfect.That's a good point. Some times the answer is just human nature.>More shinto than buddhist.There's some Confucian doctrine in there too. "Don't cut your hair. Don't get tattoos, only criminals get tattoos. Your body is a gift from your parents, don't disrespect your parents, etc.">>153380253>>153380283Take it up with Mr. Nagahara and Mr. Kozo. Could they be wrong? It's possible. Sources are not infallible, not even scholarly ones. But some times truth is stranger than fiction. Beggars guilds, etc.>>153380957>Does he know?https://www.utterlyinteresting.com/post/the-japanese-pornstar-and-ultranationalist-that-committed-kamikaze
>>153381716Kagemaru shut the fuck up.
>>153374411I blame the editorial for being asleep at the wheel. The gradients sucked but I could see how it could be excused in the name of saving time; a stray mark like that is clearly just a fuckup to be corrected before it goes to print.
>>153381470Which one? It was reveal after reveal after reveal. There is so much set up, I wish there were more than 5 issues because I'm afraid of them rushing things in final one.
>>153381517Awesome. One of my major pet peeve is that the Unabomber did not manage to tech people that the correct saying is>Wants to eat the cake and have it too
>>153372522
>>153374027It's a Tapir.
>>153375480>this particular issue is so out of place with everything in Usagi the comic so far.Bro sere you in a coma fornlast thread sith the puppet pals? Oborozuki? The Ghost Samurai story? The later ghost samurai story? Usagi committing a felony by stealing a sword and getting haunted? Grasscutter? Any given Jei appearance? Issue #1? Usagi's been fighting weirdo monsters since the beginning and Stan wears his kwaidan influences on his sleeve as proudly as his Chambara ones.
>>153379289No don't you get it?! IF ANYONE CAN LEARN TO FIGHT WITH A SWORD THEN SAMURAI ARE LESS SPECIAL!
>>153372555Hikiji?!
>>153375794That's just how things are. He's wants to cut off Usagi's hand not so much because of any personal desire, but because That's How The Things Is Done. Usagi was a fool who challenged an ageless demon swordsman to a duel. Hubris like that has only one answer.
>>153383486Gesundheit!
>>153372609This is some Sekiro shit.
>>153383390No, he's been dealing with yokai stuff pulled straight from mythology (quelling nue's, hannya's, etc), chambara stuff (freeing a town from the grips of an evil crimelord by giving them the ol' Spicy Sanjuro), and Feudal Japan stuff (a fucking rock). This is the first time we've seen this very contemporary and out of place kind of horror where someone is actively in the process of yokai-ification via possession by a snake god. Well I suppose Jei-san counts too since he's just a dumb pun on Jason.
>>153383681I dunno, man, the very first Usagi story was a guy turning into a giant monster because he was too evil. Possession by ghosts and shit has happened too.
>>153378815>>153378839Thank you Enma!Another thing I just started thinking about was.During Sengoku-period (late 1400s to early 1600s), what was the ultimate aim of the daimyo in that era? Were they just trying to get more land to become a more powerful Daimyo, were they aiming at becoming the next Shogun, or were there even ambitions of becoming a full blown king or even next emperor of Japan even?
>>153380217The presence of a Mint close nearby and Usagi visiting a bunraku theater soon after leaving suggests that Ishida's city is fairly close to Osaka. Bizen or Harima seems more likely and Yamahashi is more of a "same street" neighbor than a "next door" one.
>>153383323
>>153373074>I disliked yukichi for being a blatant narrative device and having anime eyes syndrome.I still dislike him for this, having Not Usagi around just doesnt really spark my interest.
>>153382037>https://www.utterlyinteresting.com/post/the-japanese-pornstar-and-ultranationalist-that-committed-kamikazeOhhhh, it was a *guy*. When I hear porn star I assume woman. Anyway, that guy he targeted is the guy with the sheep in his head in A Wild Sheep Chase!
>>153383937I still don't think that's a proper usage of the word "neighboring" when it comes to provinces and the like. When it comes to areas of land, "neighboring" means adjacent, bordering on one another.
>>153383971Welcome to the taxonomist hell.
>>153383937>close to OsakaI am trying SO HARD not to spoil some things.
>>153372597>"But I knew I had failed because of my cowardice"You sure it was that, and not because you were sliced up like a Thanksgiving turkey and barely able to survive?
>>153372609What the FUCK. Even for this series this is horrifying.
>>153372629How many fucking dieties are after Usagi's ass at this point?!
>>153372664Thanks a lot, dumbass. Now you've ruined the Tokage farmer's primary source of income.
>>153372672It's pretty great, if mostly for how utterly fucked and out of place it is with the rest of the series. It's a distinctly different kind of horror movie monster from Jei and I like that.
>>153372694How many samurai rabbits are in Japan anyway? You'd think Usagi would be unique but no, they pop up every now and then when you least expect it.
>>153372778A FUCKING TWIG.
>>153382861>Which one?Usagi using Grasscutter to finally put an end to Jei Might be a potential endgame to the series, might just be me jumping the gun
>>153372825Kid should be glad he didn't have Katsuichi as a teacher. He would've given him a nasty bump on his head that would take weeks to heal.
>>153384529Yes, that was insane. What also got me wasAND HERE COME CRAZY SPOILERS, DO NOT REVEAL UNLESS YOU MEAN IT, I AM WARNING YOUIshida working with Tomoe in Osaka police, Sasuke being still alive, Kaito's real name also being Miyamoto Usagi and so many beloved characters being dead in the final Jei fight flashback, including Stray Dog next to Gen and Kiyoko in Kitsune's arms with her face frozen in terror, that was horrifying.
>>153372856Always someone trying to start shit for jo reason.
>>153372866Fencing schools once again being a breeding ground for huge assholes.
>>153372886>keeping the swords in the hiltMan, Usagi's gone soft. He's really not interested in killing anyone who provokes him like he used to.
>>153372923>>153372929https://youtu.be/rFeVfwDvTyM?si=EMPuTt7iUBG6wSdj
>>153372948>saved Hikiji from assassination attempt>gets rewarded with being a bounty om his head Next time just let the bastard rot, Usagi.
>>153373000>we don't want no trouble!
>>153373015>these are students! We'll fight to stop them, not to kill!Lol. Lmao, even. Sure dude, lets just pretend you haven't single-handedly wiped out entire fencing schools on your own.
>>153373023I'll give their sensei this, at least he didn't wait until all of his students were dead before deciding to fight.
>>153373074For a first impression, I'd say he's pretty solid. He has a lot of the naive dumbassery that Usagi had early on but without the abrasive edge. In some ways he feels more childish than even Jotaro, but I wouldn't say that's a bad thing.
>>153373164Thanks OP. It's wild how consistently good this series is, even this far in.
>>153384774Shogun's emissary, not Hikiji DA MAN himself.
>>153372694Wasn't there a fan theory for a hot second that this was a crossdressing girl? It would at least make it a slightly more interesting character.
>>153372886>I do not like violenceYes, of course, Usagi. Famous pacifist, that's you.
Which historical figure would you like to see Usagi meet? Alternatively which funny animal series would be great to have Usagi crossover / appear in?
>>153385677I mean most of his kills are out of defensive from people attacking him, and even then he usually doesn’t take his sword out and just roughen’s them up a bit. He’s not looking for trouble, it’s that everyone brings trouble to him
>>153385935William Adams/John Blackthorne (John Blackwool)
