The Usagi Chronicles Charts Its Own Course: Review

Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai has embraced the idea of expanding his comic e book saga to other mediums due to the fact practically the quite commencing.  From a computer video game for the duration of the Commodore64 era to a stage play a few many years in the past, the energy and clarity of Sakai’s storytelling eyesight have extensive impressed other people to assistance prolong that vision outside the house of comics.  There was a time when the notion that the titular Samurai Rabbit of this series is not the Usagi Yojimbo of the comedian textbooks would have been trigger for worry among the comic reserve fans, but that time is mostly past.  We reside in a earth wherever there are comedian ebook, movie, and television variations of a provided character residing their independent fictional lives all at the very same time, and the viewers not only understands but from time to time enthusiastically embraces the variances.  Netflix’s Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles season one establishes a new character in a new entire world which attracts inspiration from the Usagi Yojimbo of the comedian guides in a really immediate way.

The title character of Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles is Yuichi, a descendent of the warrior Miyamoto Usagi (the Usagi Yojimbo of the comedian publications).  Yuichi’s best desire is to turn into a genuine samurai, and he is periodically shown drawing inspiration to that end from Miyamoto Usagi by tapping into visions of his historic adventures which are depicted in an animated hand-drawn illustration style.  This is a neat product that clarifies how all this matches together: the futuristic CGI-animated world of Neo Edo drawing inspiration from the hand-drawn heritage of the initial.

Art Director Khang Le and the artwork office for this sequence have earned a large amount of credit for developing that futuristic environment of New Edo though supplying it some clearly historic stylistic roots.  This sensibility is bolstered by composer Aiko Fukushima‘s audio for the collection, which is a intelligent blend of standard and modern.  The creature and monster layouts from all over the period are an additional stand-out factor of the saga.  All of this serves as a perfectly-crafted system for the key figures, and the chemistry among Darren Barnet (Yuichi), Mallory Small (Chizu), Aleks Le (Gen), and Shelby Rabara (Kitsune) genuinely makes it all function. Yuki Matsuzaki, who to start with played Miyamoto Usagi in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 Tv collection), reprises that job for the historic flashbacks right here, calling the character “the single and the most considerable character I was questioned to participate in in my whole performing occupation.”

Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles is a collection designed for a new, more youthful audience.  Even though the violence is restrained, you can find continue to an abundance of motion and conflict, and there is a good deal in this article to maintain grownups and fans of the comedian guide invested in the story as very well.  The workforce behind the series has designed a globe worthy of the Stan Sakai comedian reserve saga that started in Albedo #2 in 1984.

https://www.youtube.com/observe?v=gdvg_6cID0o

Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles follows the teenage rabbit, Samurai Yuichi, descendent of the good warrior Miyamoto Usagi, on his epic quest to turn out to be a accurate samurai. But he isn’t by yourself! He prospects a ragtag crew of misfit heroes – like a roguish bounty hunter, a cunning ninja, an acrobatic pickpocket, and a trustworthy pet lizard – as he battles depth-charging moles, metal-tipped winged bats, and monsters from one more dimension, all in the pursuit to become the finest Samurai Usagi!

Gaumont’s Nicolas Atlan, Terry Kalagian, Sidonie Dumas, and Christophe Riandee also provide as executive producers alongside with Dim Horse’s Mike Richardson, Keith Goldberg, and Chris Tongue and Atomic Monster’s James Wan, Michael Very clear, and Rob Hackett. Mumbai-primarily based 88 Photos (Trollhunters, 3Beneath: Tales of Arcadia, Quick & Furious Spy Racers) has been named as the CGI animation studio.

Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles Year 1

---

Evaluation by Mark Seifert

---

7.5/10

A new saga made for a new viewers, Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles is worth of Stan Sakai’s source material.