Talk:Usagi Yojimbo

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mythical creatures[edit]

I would like to suggest that the link to "mythical creatures" in the second paragraph should point instead to the wikipedia entry for "oni." The "mythical creatures" article is concerned mostly with anglo-saxon fables such as dragons and griffons, etc. The article on oni, (and the article on "Japanese folklore") ties in much better with the contents of Usagi Yojimbo.-- JAVanfleet 00:57, 7 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

"Not furry"?[edit]

The idea of suggesting that Usagi is not a furry comic is ridiculous. The very first appearances of the character were in Albedo Anthropomorphics the very comic popularly associated with starting the furry comic book subgenre. If that does not establish Usagi as furry, nothing will. Kchishol1970

Per Kchishol1970, I'm unclear what kind of sources might be required to establish this work's presence in the genre beyond the fact that it started in Albedo Anthropomorphics. It didn't finish there, either; Radio Comix published The Art of Usagi Yojimbo, there's a role-playing game published by Sanguine Productions, who also put out Ironclaw/Jadeclaw and Albedo: Platinum Catalyst. Let's not forget Stan has won six Ursa Major Awards and was flown in as a guest of honour for Anthrocon 2004. GreenReaper (talk) 03:07, 9 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Well, for one thing, Sakai said that he doesn't consider his characters to be "furry", and there's no references to the comic as being a furry title on Google Books. WikiFur also states that Sakai isn't a "furry" - so, Wikipedia and WikiFur both need to get their stories straightened out and clarified. (Sugar Bear (talk) 08:36, 10 December 2009 (UTC))[reply]
There's no contradiction. There's a difference between "being a furry" and "creating work in the furry genre". WikiFur says he's not a furry because he's not. A lot of artists - even some that sell at furry conventions - don't consider themselves "furries", and that's fine, but if they create work aimed at adults that involve anthropomorphic animals, there's a good chance their work will fall into the furry genre. This is especially true when it is published by those publishing other furry works, and marketed at events catering to furries; it indicates that the same people appreciate it.
Whether the artist actually intended for this to happen is, in my view, a lesser factor. Consider an author who says "oh, I write stories involving people exploring space in starships, and sure, people who like Star Trek love my work - I've even attended their conventions as an honoured guest - but it's not sci-fi because I don't like to be associated with Trekkies". He says as much in the first paragraph of his con report, linked above.
I appreciate you would like more references, and I would at least like this issue to be more adequately documented - this is why I have not reverted your main-namespace edits - but please stop removing the WP:FURRY project tag from this page. Members of the WikiProject have and will continue to have something to contribute to this article due to the nature and origins of the work. It is not added to every work involving anthropomorphic animals, and if I didn't think it appropriate, I would remove it myself. GreenReaper (talk) 10:31, 10 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The line is really blurred, though. I never actually said that Usagi wasn't a furry comic, just that it isn't sourced and Stan Sakai said in a recent issue that he didn't consider his characters to be "furry". The description you mentioned - "work aimed at adults that involve anthropomorphic animals" is interesting, because this strip really isn't "aimed at adults", and it did receive a Parent's Choice Award. The fan art/story guidelines on the Usagi website also refer to the site as a "family site" and to keep it under PG-13. Maybe you mean dramatic or non-comedic? (Sugar Bear (talk) 08:30, 12 December 2009 (UTC))[reply]

Translation[edit]

Question: a japanese speaker told me that yojimbo has a somewhat "rough" connotation, perhaps more "enforcer" or "muscle" that straight "bodyguard". Also, a yojimbo would be sent out to do things, in addition to merely guarding their lord. Is it worth mentioning this in the article?

I don't think it is necesary to make such a note. The use of the word yojimbo here is primarially part of the title, and as such the exact translation is unimportant to the article in general. If you feel strongly that it should be cleared up, perhaps the best way would would be to link to the yojimbo article (however, there are no existing instances of the word in this article that would work well — I would suggest against making a single word in the title into a link). - The Rizz July 8, 2005 (UTC)

ISBNs[edit]

How important are the ISBN listings? To my eye, they just seem to clutter up the entire bottom half of the article, distracting from the content. - The Rizz

I agree with The Rizz. There is no need to have such information. It seems to be useless. I think it should be removed. - Moon5
I disagree. The ISBN numbers are a relevant fact for reference of the books. Specifically if a portion of the article references a book (i.e. a hint towards which book the reader was looking for) it is much more accurate to search for a book by ISBN versus the title which (especially when walking into a store to order the book) can retrieve an incorrect book. - WesHarinezumi (talk) 15:58, 5 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Dead Ninja Turtle[edit]

In the history, it is noted:

22:55, 22 Jun 2005 The Rizz (Removed Liftarn's vandalism)

Do we know that he's wrong? It did not appear to be vandalism to me, but I'm not familliar enough to know. (unsigned)

I'm quite familiar with the UY series, and while there may have been a dead ninja turtle in the background in an issue somewhere that I missed, I'm fairly certain there was no sherman tank (this would be out of place for a 17th century setting). Additionally, the edit stated "first episode" - this would indicate a TV series, and there has never been a Usagi TV series. So, on the whole, I am quite certain that the whole added comment was bogus. --The Rizz 00:23, June 23, 2005 (UTC)

Usagi Yojimbo vs. Miyamoto Usagi[edit]

I think we should split the article in two, one for the comic (Usagi Yojimbo) and one for the character (Miyamoto Usagi). -- VederJuda 14:49, 31 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Trivia[edit]

I think most, if not all the trivia should go, it's about the specific characters, and I think it should be moved to the pages of those characters, not the comic. -- VederJuda 01:22, 18 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Japanese book titles[edit]

The Japanese-language book titles were translations done by me for the Japanese-language Usagi Yojimbo Dojo site. While I have absolutely no objections to them being used on here, it be should noted that I had no input from Stan on many of the translations. Because of this, I don't really consider them "official". Evan1975 00:44, 6 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This seems to imply that there are official Japanese book translations released, which I'm not too sure of. 惑乱 分からん 13:58, 12 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]
There aren't. Evan1975 03:39, 16 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Japanese Transliteration[edit]

quote:
Literally "Rabbit Bodyguard," can be written うさぎ用心棒 or 兎用心棒 Usagi Yojimbo

兎用心棒 is the correct transliteration in kanji (ideograms), meaning "Rabbit Bodyguard". The correct romanized version would be Usagi Youjinbou or Usagi Yōjimbō.
うさぎ用心棒 is a mixture of a phonetic (hiragana) spelling of "Usagi" and the kanji for "Bodyguard" (yōjimbō)
Usually, the hiragana (phonetic) spelling would not be used, unless in elemenary school or if the pronounciation was unclear (in that case, small hiragana characters (furigana) would be added above the kanji ideogram.
Since in Japanese many words have the same pronounciation but different meanings, Kanji ideograms are used instead of hiragana.
If you still want to add a fully phonetic spelling, it would be うさぎようじんぼう.

I would do the edits myself, but I'd like to see a second opinion first. -- megA 14:09, 14 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This is not entirely true. There is quite a large number of Japanese words that have Kanji for them, but which are often (or even usually) written in hiragana by adults. Without an official translation (or a preferred spelling by Sakai) neither うさぎ用心棒 nor 兎用心棒 can definitively be called "correct" or "incorrect". For all we know, a publisher might decide the most impactful spelling would be ウサギようじんぼう---or even "USAGI YOJIMBO". Acidtoyman (talk) 09:51, 2 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Curiously, this site (in Japanese) uses both うさぎ用心棒 and 兎用心棒 on the same page. The Japanese wiki site, however, uses 兎用心棒. Acidtoyman (talk) 01:05, 7 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Which Hepburn do you like?[edit]

usagi yōjinbō !--The rules of modified Hepburn prescribe "n" in "yojibo!"--

Sorry for being traditional ;-) I was more concerned with pronunciation, so I chose m instead of the correct, but inaccurate n. -- megA 10:07, 7 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Does it matter? The (English translation?) book itself uses "m". Applejuicefool 16:46, 17 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The books are all written originally in English, and as far as I am aware have never been translated into Japanese. Thus, the "m" spelling as used in the books is the correct one. LordAmeth 15:10, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

History of Usagi Yojimbo[edit]

"Originally, Usagi and other characters in the series were going to be human in stories explicitly modeled after the life of Miyamoto Musashi." Where is this information from?

Stan Sakai has stated several times that Miyamoto Usagi was originally created as a supporting character in the "Tolkien-like" epic story originally conceived for Nilson Groundthumper, before either character evolved into anthropomorphic shape.

Yes, he (Stan Sakai) has also said that he had always wanted to do a series based on Miyamoto Musashi, but he has never mention (in any published interviews) any of the supporting characters appearing in Usagi Yojimbo being conceived originally in a pre-anthropomorphic shape.

-- (unsigned)

Dates[edit]

Could someone add some years for when this was first published etc, as I have no idea when this all happened. (unsigned)

A lot of people seem to refer to her as "Tomoe Ame," but Sakai's website says "Ame Tomoe". (unsigned)

That depends on whether you follow the Western (given name first, family name second) or Japanese (family name first, given name second) standard, apparently Tomoe is her given name, see http://www.usagiyojimbo.com/characters/tomoe.html. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 22:42, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Pics?[edit]

Does someone have scans? WhisperToMe (talk) 07:21, 9 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Look at this[edit]

Usagi Yojimbo in action?

Did Stan Sakai see Japanese works such as this before creating Usagi Yojimbo? (see image: Japanase traditional furrt art) Alex (talk) 08:56, 31 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Does it really matter? He has never stated that anything like them were influential on his creation of UY. His statements about the origin of UY point away from these works having had any influence on its creation. Unless and until Sakai states that they were, any inclusion in the article would just be speculation unsupported by any facts (and potentially in conflict with known facts). The Rizz (talk) 12:12, 8 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"Noodles" mini-series[edit]

Are Dark Horse issues 1-3 the "Noodles" mini-series? There is conflicting information on the Web whether it is or not. CFLeon (talk) 10:54, 3 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The current pic[edit]

How about one with just Usagi? Newcomers to the article will wonder who is Usagi, the wolf or the bunny? Lots42 (talk) 13:03, 16 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Done. But it is implied in the intro which says the title means "rabbit bodyguard". WTF (talk) 08:37, 6 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

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Film adaptation[edit]

Too bad this never received a movie adaptation Booger-mike (talk) 16:48, 19 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]


Issue 204[edit]

  • What issue is supposed to be the 204th issue in the series? The ongoing series number for Usagi Yojimbo v3 144 is issue 203. Usagi Yojimbo v3 145 is issue 211. Usagi Yojimbo: Senso 1-6 are issues 205-210. But what is issue 204?

-- Meteor — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.16.124.119 (talk) 18:02, 27 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The 204th issue in the series is Usagi Yojimbo Color Special #5: The Artist (July 2014). The inidicia has the usual "Number 204 in a series." --tronvillain (talk) 19:31, 1 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]