For as long as I've been reading Usagi, young Jotaro has been a part of the story, and I've come to view him as one of my favorite elements of the series. Almost as long as I've been reading, I've known that Jotaro was secretly Usagi's son, and that Usagi knew but wasn't sure what to tell him. All of that comes to a head in this two-part story, which features a band of very interesting ninjas as antagonists and a truly heart-breaking and effective ending that will set Usagi off on something of a different path from the one I've been reading. These two issues contain everything Usagi Yojimbo is renowned for: Exceptional characterization, interesting examinations of Japanese culture and terrific action, all sprinkled with just the right touches of humor. It's a great payoff for a long-running story arc.
Most of this story is quite different from where it ends up. Indeed, it begins looking like another encounter with corruption, banditry and other perils of the era. Sakai does a terrific job in creating a band of four adversaries who are visually interesting, with weapons tricks and other things that set them apart, and yet they don't feel like a gimmick band. The familial bond between two of the characters helps in this regard (and serves as an interesting reflection of Usagi and Jotaro), as does the spite and arrogance that comes from the swordsman who will be Usagi's nemesis for the arc. Though these characters don't have a great deal of time for introduction, Sakai makes us feel like we've seen them for quite a while before the climactic battle, giving it a strong epic feeling.
There are several excellent action sequences in these two issues, most of them focusing on this band of villains. We see them in their performance roles, which provides some fun and a good hint of what's to come (nice subtle moment with the swordsman talking to the daughter about Usagi, paying off whether the reader notices it then or not), and then we see them doing their real jobs. Sakai convincingly portrays them as a deadly, efficient team, a true threat to the honorable samurai that Usagi and his band of fellow travelers represent.
This pays off in the second issue, wherein we see Usagi and his friends (and family) confront the band of assassins. Sakai gives over most of the issue to this confrontation, and gives each pair of characters several moments to shine. I confess that my favorite moment was seeing Usagi, who is usually a gentle soul, showing a stern, even angry, warrior's resolve. Close behind, however, was seeing Jotaro deal with his foe with the same fearless tenacity and imagination that has made him such a likable character, and seeing the dart-wielder meet his end was also a cool action moment.
However, for all that these two issues provide some of the best action I've seen in Usagi, what really pushed these into the realm of some of the favorite comics I've read in 2004 was the last eight pages, which resolves the Jotaro and Usagi story for now. Sakai reveals a pretty evil twist at the end, and delivers a tragedy worthy of Japanese legend, one that actually brought a tear of sympathy or two to my eye. I'll be curious to see Usagi walking his road truly alone again, something I really haven't seen, but I'm also really going to miss Jotaro, and expect that Sakai will revisit this relationship in future stories.
