Samurai Usagi by Teppei Fukushima

Nothing says 'Easter' like the word 'bunny' so I went found a Jump manga with that word in the title. I think it fits the theme very well, the main character looks like a rabbit, people are often wearing rabbit masks, and rabbits are just about everywhere. So happy holidays and enjoy your Spring Break, if you get one.












Samurai Usagi (Samurai Rabbit) by Teppei 

Fukushima




Genre: Shonen

Length: 8 Volumes - 68 Chapters and some extras

Art and story (c) Teppei Fukushima

            Art is quite cute, in fact that’s all it seems at first but that’s only because the two main characters are drawn that way, it in fact has an interesting set of characters coming and going at all times. That said, it is rough at the beginning in getting across feelings, but as it improves it doesn't stray very far from it's original look which is amazing. As it is set in the past, the clothing is all period (well, generally), and is given good detail and pattern. The backgrounds are basically there all the time, from my recollection, whether it is street shots or inside of houses. I've already mentioned the character designs being varied, but they are also pretty well done, though some are a little cliché, its obvious that it is done on purpose for it's genre of samurai type, and familiar characters of that type do appear here as homage, or perhaps a bit of parody, in any case it does not detract from the experience. I actually really liked the way wounds and blood smear were done, and the faces were very expressive even through beatings.

            Gosuke Udagawa is a low ranking bushi (samurai*) who became the head of his family when his father and his brother had to commit hara-kiri (also called seppuku, that is, ritual suicide*) because they shamed themselves and their family name over trivial things. Gosuke, only 15, decides that he will not go the way his father and brother have and sticks to keeping his head down and doing everything he can not to shame his family's name any further and thus having to end his own life, too. But things suddenly change when he finds himself married to the strangest girl who loves rabbits not because they are cute or because they taste good, but because they keep trying to reach the moon no matter what. Gosuke begins to think that perhaps, he should be like that, too, instead of trying to remain down where he has put himself. (*Here is info on all this interesting stuff in more detail if you are unfamiliar with samurai).

            I will admit freely that I had a really hard time beginning this manga, in fact I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it through it I was having such a hard time. There were a few too many Japanese terms, and my poor translations weren't helping me make sense of this manga with out a plot. I'm not an avid samurai genre fan, so the set up was a little confusing because the hierarchy back in the age this is set is actually full of a million rules, and I was having a some trouble setting all my ducks in a row for what I was actually going to be in for. It didn't help that while it is obviously meant to be a joke that his father and brother kill themselves, the humor didn't really come through for a while, and luckily the 'funny' of his situation wasn't really pushed so its sort of just put aside and things are moved on. The silly side grows stronger, though, as you move along and even reaching a 'laugh out loud' in several occasions. Of course, I made it though all the problems (and a bit of stomach flu that I think contributed to my lack of concentration at the beginning) and I found a manga that I can look back on fondly. Because, despite it's shaky start of barely strung together chapters, and not even in a gag manga type of way like Dragon Ball or similar slap stick shonen, finally at chapter four Samurai Usagi got intensely more understandable and while an entire plot may not have appeared at this point, it was a start. From there, it is a much smoother ride, and the author begins weaving in some of the unexplained or fixing some of the confusing points made in earlier chapters so you can get to actually learn about the characters; in fact is is very obviously deliberate character development, which can seem heavy handed but the characters are so strange its far from typical. Now, I can't say it isn't full of tropes and obvious shonen plot lines, but I can say that it is a lot different than you may expect. For example, there is of course lots of manly crying, due to manly misunderstandings but there is also plots about how an actual marriage between two fifteen-year-olds would work (just to clue you in, its all cute and no fornication). The action is problematic though, as samurai sword fights are typically really short due to being comprised of one hit wins, but the action ramps up very nicely to the point where it lasts chapters instead of pages and you get good meaty sequences of it, that is until it abruptly ends. And by 'abruptly ends' I mean the entire manga. I think it just wasn't getting appreciated and was canned, so the ending is frustratingly glossed over for a jump forward last chapter when it could have easily carried on with what it had been set up with for at least three more volumes. Still, I recommend this and will definitely read it again in the near future. For a manga filled with the same Bushido terminology and plots seen twice over, it also shows a part of the era I didn't really know about and in a well drawn, cute but manly way.

4/5 I'd love to give it a five but its cancellation and rough start make it impossible I'm afraid.