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awarmbowlofhomemadesoup · 1 year ago

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Unofficial Guide to Yuichi Usagi's Friends and Family

This is for the fanfic readers who want to read about Leoichi but aren't as familiar with Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles. Note that I'm not a diehard fan but I did watch the two seasons so here are my thoughts.

This post is also spoiler-y to the show and have referneces to the Usagi Yojimbo comics.

Gen

Samurai Rabbit's Gen vs Usagi Yojimbo's Gen

Samurai Rabbit's Gen is based on Usagi Yojimbo's Gen. UY Gen is a self-proclaimed best friend of Miyamoto and constantly has him paying for the food and drinks every time they meet in their separate journeys.

UY Gen is a bounty hunter who knows how to wield a sword but refuses to follow the samurai code because of daddy issues (his dad chose to be faithful to the samurai code over providing a good life for his wife and kid).

More on Samurai Rabbit's Gen

SR Gen is also a bounty hunter but the similarity stops there. He was once from a rich family until his mother chose to heal a wanted convict. This made the people of Neo Edo mad at her which brought down her hospital.

Gen, upon growing up, had to make the hard decision to sell their mansion to the shogun and live his life as a bounty hunter.

Similar to rottmnt Raph, he's the oldest brother and carries that energy to his friends. He has a sister, Yoshiko, who looks like him. But they both insist they look nothing alike.

Toshiko is more free-spirited than Gen, but in Gen's opinion, she's more reckless, which ends up with him cleaning up her mess.

They also have a family car called Ashibasha that is possessed by a yokai that enters into any neglected non-living object. They keep Ashibasha in slight disrepair since they got attached to the yokai possessing it.

Other Stuff I Can Remember about Samurai Rabbit's Gen

He fights with a pair of kaikishi weapon of studded metal clubs called kanabo. Its special abilities are not yet known.

He and his friends are all staying in his ancestral home that his sister bought back.

He's a hypochondriac who would overworry over a paper cut and is a frequent patient of the Neo Edo hospital (which used to belong to their mother) run by three Shiba Inus who like to stay silly despite the horrors.

He's also a germaphobe and one of his greatest challenges against the Machine is going through the sewer part of their ship.

Aside from being a bounty hunter, he's also a sign spinner.

He and his sister has a background on fixing mech.

He sometimes is the advisor to Usagi's naïveté. Like telling Usagi to read the situation first in their first meeting or when he told him that the birthday venue for Kitsune should be something she likes because Usagi kept showing fighting venues.

He knows how to be intimidating for his advantage but is actually a big softie like following Usagi's idea to be their Kaiksihi sensei even when it's going badly so as not to hurt his feelings.

Kitsune

Samurai Rabbit's Kitsune vs Usagi Yojimbo's Kitsune

SR Kitsune is based on UY Kitsune. UY Kitsune is a street performer who robs her audience. A friendship was formed when Miyamoto stole back his wallet from her at the end of the chapter.

Despite being a righteous stick-in-the-mud, Miyamoto does have a sense of humor and doesn't seem to hold it against her when she robbed him of his money pouch that made him washed the dishes in a restaurant he ate in.

More on Samurai Rabbit's Kitsune

SR Kitsune is a street performer too. But instead of tricks with a fan and a toy top, she does puppeteering. She's also easygoing and has the tendency to make casual remarks about her life that ranges from zany to kind of concerning.

Like never having a birthday party in her life because she's an orphan, or that her childhood friend is a puff of gas that smells of fermented soybeans that she assumes is a ghost.

Similar to Mikey, she's just as playful and carries an energy of lightheartedness. She's the glue that holds Chizu with the others while Chizu is busy being the leader of the Neko ninja clan.

Other Stuff I Can Remember about Samurai Rabbit's Kitsune

She fights with kaikishi weapons which is a pair of bladed fans called Tessen. Its special abilities is not yet known aside from being able to return to her like a boomerang when thrown.

Has gay energy with Chizu.

She has a habit of stealing stuff but is trying to rein it in since she has her friends now.

Became sisters with a deadly alien ai that adapted its personality to her own. Her little sister is named Kiyoko. In the Usagi Yojimbo comics, Kitsune also has adopted a street orphan named Kiyoko whom she taught how to steal stuff.

Able to pilot a giant mech because of her puppeteering skills. Someone give that girl a gundam.

Chizu

Samurai Rabbit's Chizu vs Usagi Yojimbo's Chizu

Yuichi's Chizu is based on another character in the Usagi Yojimbo comics. Miyamoto's Chizu is also a ninja. But Chizu's brother, Shingen, got to know and work together with Miyamoto first.

I'm not yet finished with the comics, but all I know is that Chizu's brother died but she has heard of the samurai that he has worked with.

She has trouble with the ninja clan accepting her as their leader, and at one point was told by another ninja leading the clan to marry him so that the ninjas would take her authority more seriously. She refused.

In the end, the other ninja died after he tried to kill her to overthrow her. She then forced a kiss on Miyamoto as thanks or something and then left. (Seriously, I can count three female characters that forced a kiss on Miyamoto.) Chizu is a possible love interest for Miyamoto in the series.

I haven't finished the comics. But after a quick scan in Wiki, I find out she also fails to lead her clan and became a fugitive.

More on Samurai Rabbit's Chizu

SR Chizu has something like a mother complex but a third secret thing with Neko ninja crew leader Lady Fuwa. She was kidnapped as a baby by Lady Fuwa and was trained to be a weapon alongside other cat orphans.

So she kinda has a "You raised us but you kidnapped us. You destroyed our childhood for your gain but I wouldn't be here if not for you. You lie and cheat and backstab including me but I don't want to kill you" complicated thing with her.

Despite ninjas being famous for deception, she's the most strait-laced character in the group.

She tried to be loyal to Lady Fuwa. But Yuichi, Gen, and Kitsune reminded her of her childhood friend that Lady Fuwa took away so that Chizu wouldn't have any other bonds but her. It was Kitsune who was most hurt by her betrayal and Chizu made every effort to make it up to her.

Similar to rottmnt Donnie, she has a dry sense of humor. But again, that's where the similarity stops. If Donnie has evil-scientist-vibes, I think Chizu needs to be reminded to get loose sometimes. Well, at least Kitsune's there to remind her.

She really tried to lead the clan to no crimes but she has so much to learn first. Her clan, with the exception of one who was still loyal to her, turned on her in favor of Lady Fuwa.

Other Stuff I Can Remember about Samurai Rabbit's Chizu

Chizu fights with a kaiksihi weapon bow and arrow, along with her ninja gear of throwing stars and wrist-mounted crossbows. She's also familiar on how to use the naginata (it's like the Japanese version of a polearm).

Is ship-teased with Usagi but it's probably a callback on the Usagi Yojimbo comics.

Has gay energy with Kitsune.

Is looked up to by Hana and the other ninja kittens.

Tetsujin

Based on a sunbear, Tetsujin is the last warrior and guardian of the mystical ki-stone aka Kaikishi warrior. He's the tech guy of the group and his form became that of a sci-fi ghost because of the ki-stone.

He and Lady Fuwa used to be together (which neither Usagi, Gen, Kitsune nor Chizu wants to hear about), but it turned out Lady Fuwa was just using him.

Yuichi Usagi's Aunt

Usagi's Aunt's name is not yet known despite two seasons. She's not based on the Usagi Yojimbo comics. She taught Usagi everything he knows about sword fighting.

Although there was an implication of war a long time ago, judging by Usagi's aunt's leg and ear prosthetics, and that Usagi's parents are nowhere to be seen, there doesn't seem to be any samurais in Neo Edo.

Did She Ever Give Usagi Formal Training on How to be a Samurai? I don't know.

I'm not sure if she has formally taught him how to be a samurai, aside from sword fighting, such as the samurais' philosophies, virtues, and principles. But Usagi once quoted her words about protecting those who need to be protected. So it's possible.

But unlike Miyamoto Usagi, Yuichi Usagi didn't follow the traditional path of being a samurai:

Miyamoto received his sword, Willowbranch, when he was acknowledged by his lord and future master, Lord Mifune, upon proving himself in a tournament.

For Yuichi Usagi, he was given his Aunt's sword, Edgewing, when he wanted to go out to the city. In the Usagi Yojimbo comics, the sword of a samurai is his soul. But it doesn't seem to be the case for Edgewing.

So maybe it's more informal? Since Yuichi Usagi seems to be the only samurai around, the samurai tradition may have become obsolete by the time Yuichi Usagi became Miyamoto Usagi's thousand-year descendant. Similar to how the samurai class was abolished in the late 1860s. But that's just my assumptions.

Did They Pass Down Katsuichi's Unique Style of Swordfighitng? I don't know either.

It is Katsuichi, Miyamoto's sensei, whom Miyamoto learned the way of the sword that had made him a great samurai. But it is not yet confirmed if Usagi's aunt learned the same style.

How does the Yuichi Line Connect to Miyamoto Usago? I don't know that either.

While Miyamoto Usagi is acknowledged as their ancestor, it didn't say in the show if Usagi and his Aunt came from the line of Miyamoto's paternal cousin, Yamamoto Yukichi, or from a descendant of (surname unknown) Jotaro, Miyamoto's son that was raised by his childhood love, Mariko, and childhood rival, Kenichi.

Hana and the other Ninja Orphan Kittens

In the Samurai Rabbit series, Hana and the other orphan ninjas are basically child soldiers. Chizu and Usagi rescued them and the orphans now lived a peaceful life with Usagi's aunt.

They still have a long way to go as they're still trying to get used to civilian life without looting or destroying property (as they did when Usagi and Gen took them on an outing).

Karasu-Tengu

Karasu-Tengu is the Master Yokai of all martial arts and also a nature yokai who doesn't like how Neo Edo had become because it destroyed a forest for it to become so big.

She was going to seclude herself into the deeper parts of the forests to protect and live in it. But Usagi figured out where to find her. She tried to shoo him away like how one would be whacking a slipper after a bug, Usagi fights her as he asks for her to be his sensei.

In the end, Usagi proved himself worthy, and they make a funny pair by how small and harmless Usagi looks like next to her -similar to Miaymoto and his sensei.