#comicbook couples councelling podcast

[drawnaghht]

Samurai Rabbit trivia refs (+ name reminder)

just short post to say: Usagi is meant as his given name.

We don't know the lore or backstory for why Yuichi was picked as a surname

update from 6.01.2024: Candie Langdale, one of the showrunners for SR, confirmed that it is indeed Yuichi Usagi [surname][given name] and that they asked about Yuichi as a surname from both their japanese consultant and Stan.

the backstory is that they wanted to name him Usagi, but wanted to differentiate him from Miyamoto Usagi as well. They also wanted to honor the guy working at the karaoke bar they had been frequenting the past 12 years. Yuichi was considered based on these as a surname.

(read the reply in this post post by Freakova here: https://www.tumblr.com/freakova/738803294989860864/the-writers-of-samurai-rabbit-have-confirmed-that)

the show follows the same naming conventions as the comic, so [surname][given name] as in real-world japan, Gen introduces himself as Murakami Gennosuke in ep 4.

However, it mostly drops honorifics in the EN language original (but the honorifics are back for some characters in the JP dub)

You can use/do whatever you want in your own fanfic/versions but it's just good to know where the show is coming from

You can also use them in the same way as Stan and the show's crew do - Usagi when it's just about him, Yuichi when they also bring Miyamoto Usagi into the convo, or "our Usagi"/Yuichi and "Stan's Usagi/Miyamoto when talking about them both.

Whether Yuichi is meant as a namesake, a title, or just a very rare surname, the show itself has all the younger/ally characters call each other by first name, while older/enemy characters get called by their title+surname (w/ the exception of Lady Fuwa and Chizu, bc of the story arc there)

his own aunt calls him Usagi

both names are probably meant to be used in general, but in-world, everyone who becomes friends with him starts calling him Usagi, which is the name he prefers to introduce himself (see episode 1)

(lol this next part is a lil debunked now after the news from 6.01.2024 haha)

I have a suspicion that maybe that's what the name was for, like a consideration for the old fans and new viewers. Maybe it was intentional because the showrunners were aware how naming is tricky for this franchise (re: that 1987 TMNT re-named Miyamoto Usagi "Usagi Yojimbo" and most 87 fans still know him as that? the showrunners are old enough to have been in that audience) so maybe they intentionally looked for something that would sound good as both surname and given name (just another thought)

Anyway, since there's still confusion by fans abt it, here's some good general sources also just for those interested in learning more random trivia abt the show. But these are the sources I've used to refute for myself what older posts/tags claim: that there was no research and no respect in the show for Stan's original work or for Japanese culture. From these it seems like the opposite is true.

"Samurai Rabbit Facts" - this is a "# facts" video but provides a lot of interesting trivia from both the show and crew, as well as about Stan's involvement in the show. Fun stuff in general, like how Usagi's sandal features Stan's signature as a fun easter egg to characters they wanted to include but didn't have time to.

The Comicbook Couples Councelling podcast with Stan and Samurai Rabbit crew (youtube vers) - This interview features Stan and art director Khang Le talking about the characters and the art, while showrunners Candie and Doug Langdale answer burning questions about the storylines and writing the show as well as learning new things during pre-production and research. Both sides talk a bit about the challenges of adapting something as prolific as Usagi Yojimbo for a younger audience.

The 2021 SDCC @Home panel with Stan, crew and cast - LOTS of fun visuals and very informative on how the crew worked on the show when the first COVID lockdown happened.

The POPverse interview with Stan Sakai - This is a great interview about many of these same things in the other interviews, if you prefer reading rather than listening to interviews.

I have my old post abt Usagi's names and the connection to Senso (one of the main inspirations for the series) and i'm writing a new one, but I thought this shorter post might be useful. Plus, while writing longer essay-like things can be fun for me personally, the ultimate goal there is to provide some food-for-thought for other fans while being informative abt the show itself. Hope this helps!

(update 16.01: both of these are now slightly disproven I suppose since we know the real reason from co-showrunner Candie Langdale now since january 6th haha xD but - still keeping these as the theory is still interesting).

[aaghht]

so I'm browsing more of the tvtropes page and after seeing that and what I see ini both tumblr and twt tags, apparently I am the only one who reads any of the interviews with both Stan Sakai and the other crew and creators of this show. sdfsdfs why is that. i haven't caught up with all of the of comics but when it comes to what this show seems to be referencing and what the show is Actually referencing, apparently I know more than the average viewer or tvtropes user

for one thing, the series is based on the ideas and concepts established in Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo: Senso (at least two interviews reference this: Comicbook Couples Counceling podcast interview with Sakai and Popverse interview ) but if you watch the show, the references will be pretty obvious. it's like a professional fanfic. it's all really interesting to see as a story-writing artist myself. and there's reasons why it's a spinoff and not a direct adaptation. The crew did their best to include Sakai's original Miyamoto Usagi as much as they could as well, who they fave an interesting storyline to for the series.

sorta sad this show doesn't seem to have a fandom of it's own (enough to do the same thing ppl in other fandoms do - archive and collect info) but I suppose in the next 5-10 years as it usually goes for tv cartoons, we will see more fans scour the internet for info on the show and add things they find to wiki like sites like tvtropes.