shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Feb 14, 2016 10:29:16 GMT -5
All Things Space Usagi! So I'm re-reading the series right now and am convinced, more than ever, that it's my favorite Usagi series. It lacks much of the superior artistry and balance that comes from a master honing his craft over thirty continues years of publication, but does so much right with the limited time it's given! So I wanted to create a space just for the discussion of Space Usagi. Thoughts on Vol. 1: I just re-read vol. 1 #1-3 and loved it more than ever. I love how it begins with a premise and world largely new (though there are so many elements of Usagi's life that are there, just...differently) but then unexpectedly veers towards the very familiar by the close with the twist ending to #3! I love the action, the visual concepts of a futuristic world based upon feudal Japan (almost makes me wonder if Space Usagi will prove to be as much an imaginary story told by the real Usagi as Senso was an imaginary story told by Space Usagi!), and the characterization of Space Usagi, who is, at heart, exactly like his ancestor, yet shaped differently by very different life events. That last part particularly intrigues me. Both Usagis lost their lords, but this one managed to save the offspring, and that necessarily gives his life a different meaning afterward. Usagi has always had an amazing relationship with children -- it was almost his karma for a later ancestor (or perhaps reincarnation) to be able to reconcile the loss of his lord in this way. It's interesting too that, while this makes Space Usagi's world a bit cheerier and brighter than that of the original Usagi, he's also about to go on and face much more profound losses than his ancestor in the next volumes. An interesting contrast. So, throughout all of history, is Usagi just fated to always fight for the underdog? Maybe he's an agent of karma, and whenever a profound wrong is committed, fate finds a way for a Usagi to be there. Two other notes: 1. It did not occur to me in issues #1 and #2 that this Usagi didn't have the scar. I love how that was done meaningfully in #3 (though by the traitor instead of the overarching bad guy this time). I'm not sure I was aware the arc over Usagi's eye was a scar until "Return of Adachi Plain" (which had not yet been published by this point), as Stan often also uses it as an expressive eyebrow. It makes me wonder if Stan had always intended for it to be a scar and if, perhaps, this was most fans' first awareness that it was a scar. I'm curious to hear others' thoughts. 2. Can someone explain to me how Space Usagi came to be? I'd always assumed it was just a whim of Stan's, but more recently I've learned about the cartoon pilot (I cannot find a date for when it was produced), and then there's the mystery of Space Usagi being published by Mirage while Usagi was still at Fantagraph. Was this all originally just a push to get Usagi to be the next Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Ever since seeing the pilot, I've regretted that I didn't have that cartoon and an ensuing toyline as part of my childhood. It would have been amazing, especially as I was both a TMNT nut and a sci-fi geek. I adored Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars, but I would have enjoyed this rabbit and his sci-fi world a whole lot more. Okay, I've talked enough. Feel free to respond to my thoughts or throw out your own about Space Usagi! |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Feb 14, 2016 11:18:36 GMT -5
Thoughts on Volume 2 #1
- While I've always preferred Usagi in black and white, Space Usagi works so much better in color!
- It makes so much more sense for Usagi and Gen to initially meet on opposite sides. What a great first meeting for them! And Usagi was the one to cut off his horn -- feels like a more light-hearted revisiting of the Zato Ino conflict.
- Is "Rhogen" a play on "Rogaine" or something? Maybe more like "Rogue - en".
- That opening, with the story of the cosmic turtles, harshly contrasted with what is done with their bodies, was both gorgeous and deeply upsetting. Well done.
- When I read these volumes the first time around, I definitely missed a lot. I'd always treated Space Usagi as an ancillary project -- a fun departure that wasn't really central to what was happening in Usagi. Only in hindsight do I see how much was being done here first; even just the first appearances of Dr. Takenoko and Lady Ryoko, who wouldn't work their ways into the main Usagi series for several years yet! I also talked about the reveal with Usagi's scar in the previous volume (I'm really not sure readers knew that was a scar until that point), and it now occurs to me that the first two Space Usagi volumes coincide with my least favorite stretch in regular Usagi continuity. They were issues I didn't so much dislike as they were stories that failed to really draw me in. It beginning to seem to me like Stan was pouring his heart and imagination into these stories instead.
Man, I love this series!
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Feb 14, 2016 11:57:15 GMT -5
Thoughts on vol. 2 #2
Masterpiece.
When I first read this series, I explored it as an afterthought and didn't give much consideration to either the when or the why of its production. I'd always assumed, as the stories and artwork felt a bit simpler, that it was produced earlier on in Usagi's existence than it was. I now begin to understand that this series was working to achieve several goals at the same time, and understanding those goals helps me to better appreciate the series:
Goal 1: Launch a cartoon series. For that reason, the art appears a little more "cartoony", Usagi and his allies a little more anthropomorphically cute than usual (but it's subtle), and the storyline and characters a little simpler. Toady, in particular, strikes me as the kind of subordinate evil character perfectly designed to fit an early 1990s cartoon series.
Goal 2: Make art. In spite of (or, perhaps, in contrast to) some of the simplifications this series offers, there's true cinematic genius at work in the pacing and framing of the story, from the constant abrupt returns to the death of Ryoko (each time offering a little more insight) to jumping between scenes with the word "Infiltrator" threading the cut together.
Goal 3: Sell a toyline. It's subtle, but it's effective. When Usagi and crew leap out into space in those space suits, I was ready to rush to the stores and buy those figures. Somehow, Goal 1 and 2, as well as careful consideration of character and vehicle designs, makes this a brilliantly effective toy commercial. This issue made me instantly nostalgic for a toy series that never actually existed. I felt the yearning the way I did when, as a child, I'd watch those old cartoons and then beg my mother for a trip to Toys R Us sometime soon.
Goal 4: Homages. Star Wars, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, it's all so lovingly done, and the finished product is in no way a lame satire of the original concepts nor an empty doppleganger. I find it just as entertaining as the source material it borrows from.
I didn't think I could love Space Usagi more upon a second reading, but wow. WOW.
Note: If Stan regretted bringing humans into Usagi's world when he depicted Lord Hikji in flashback all those years earlier, why does Iyorga appear to be human?
Note: I never would have realized the informant from the regular series was a toad without having read this story.
Note: Why is the "empress" helping to conspire against one of her own lords? Couldn't she have just ordered whatever she wanted from Usagi's Lord? Or is this the empress of another nation? It's been so long since I read this series, and I don't recall the answer.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Feb 14, 2016 12:35:43 GMT -5
Thoughts on vol. 2 #3
Well I was already prepared for the emotional climax of this issue. Regrettably, it just can't hit with the same magnitude the second time. Still, I understood the idea of this issue and, perhaps by extension, some of the idea of the entire series, a lot better this time.
"Just as the melting snow flows into the stream, the streams flow into the river, and the rivers into the seas, so, too, do our lives flow one into the other. From the oceans to the clouds and back down into the peaks...so, too, is life's unending cycle."
""We'll meet again, Tomoeh. I pray next time our karma will be more favorable."
So that's it, then. This is a version of the real Usagi, the real Tomoe, the real Gen, etc, repeatedly playing out their roles across history until they get them right. Usagi didn't lose his clan this time in face of a similar treachery, and while his karma with Tomoe was not favorable this time around, we'll learn in Senso that it finally is right with Mariko. After all, that was her big line to Usagi at the end of Circles, wasn't it?
So wow. I really understand this series now and why it's so much more than a fun off-shoot story or a simple pitch for a cartoon series and toy line.
Of course, I'm also left to wonder, if there was still an attempt to see this produced as a kids' cartoon series at this point, how could Stan be killing off main characters, let alone having Usagi shoot villains square through the head? I've always loved that Stan has never felt the need to hold back in depicting the violence and brutality of Usagi's age on the comic book page, but mainstream cartoon series were very different. The ninja turtles never once actually hurt anyone other than robots with their weapons. I'm not sure what they would have done if they'd actually succeeded in fighting Shredder since neither side would actually be allowed to hurt the other. So I guess maybe the comic would have worked more like the core TMNT comic -- a little deeper and darker than the cartoon for the more dedicated fans?
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Feb 14, 2016 13:47:20 GMT -5
Vol. 3 So many cool concepts -- the bug world, the treasure that WAS the treasure's defense, etc! I get the sense that the cartoon/toy line were already dead in the water by this point and that this story was just for the fun of it. The art no longer attempts to be cartoony in any respect, and nothing about the story or characters felt cartoony either. Even just the idea of introducing an entirely different antagonist really doesn't suit the cartoon storytelling format. So this one felt very different, but also very imaginative. I still prefer Space Usagi in color, and I really enjoyed the feel of it being a flagship for a nostalgic franchise (even if that franchise never happened). The second volume had me dreaming of action figures and playsets, even while being moved by a poignant story that was masterfully plotted and immersed in the trappings of great cinema of the past. I enjoyed that balance immensely and hope that, should Stan return to Space Usagi (as has been hinted), it will return to some of this once again. No, the Space Usagi franchise definitely did not feel complete here. There's so much more story to tell, and I truly hope Stan will!  Oh, and I want Komori Ninja in the next storyline! What would those guys look like when equipped with future tech?? |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Feb 14, 2016 14:53:06 GMT -5
The animation is great in that cartoon, but man was Usagi's voice jarring! It's hard to describe how I feel Usagi's voice should sound when I read it, but it's definitely a lot softer than what it was in that clip.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Feb 14, 2016 15:00:45 GMT -5
The animation is great in that cartoon, but man was Usagi's voice jarring! It's hard to describe how I feel Usagi's voice should sound when I read it, but it's definitely a lot softer than what it was in that clip. Yes, the voices were definitely off. In my mind, Usagi's voice is relatively high and soft. It matches his cartoony/innocent looking expression when there is no drama at hand. Then, when he is in a dire moment, and his face grows more serious, he speaks at the lower range of his soft/high voice, which is commanding but also reflects what his less learned opponents always see in him -- a guy who doesn't appear so tough, but who is also deadly serious. If it were 1992 again, I'd probably have Brian Tochi voice him. Brian was the voice of Leonardo in the 1990 TMNT movie and Bunji from the Bionic Six, and he was also Toshiro from Revenge of the Nerds. He had a high, unthreatening voice, but he could find that serious range with it too. Tochi's voice in Bionic Six: He's Bunji, the character with the bandana. You get the best samples of his voice starting around 4:25 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Feb 14, 2016 15:18:42 GMT -5
Leo's voice definitely fits better with what I hear in my head. And on another note I had never heard of the Bionic Six but that looks fantastic!
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Feb 14, 2016 15:21:40 GMT -5
Leo's voice definitely fits better with what I hear in my head. And on another note I had never heard of the Bionic Six but that looks fantastic! I was a massive fan in second grade. It didn't last long, but the show wasn't afraid to go a little deeper than most of the other stuff being peddled to kids at the time. Some dark dark episodes, cool sci-fi concepts, and several episodes like this one that took an active interest in Japanese history. It was still an ultra campy show to be sure, but it had a lot that made it special too. I still have all the toys, I own all the episodes, and a personal convention highlight of all time for me was meeting Brian Tochi a few years back at Motor City Comicon. He was incredibly nice and seemed pretty surprised to learn that anyone remembered that show  |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Feb 14, 2016 15:32:05 GMT -5
Leo's voice definitely fits better with what I hear in my head. And on another note I had never heard of the Bionic Six but that looks fantastic! I was a massive fan in second grade. It didn't last long, but the show wasn't afraid to go a little deeper than most of the other stuff being peddled to kids at the time. Some dark dark episodes, cool sci-fi concepts, and several episodes like this one that took an active interest in Japanese history. It was still an ultra campy show to be sure, but it had a lot that made it special too. I still have all the toys, I own all the episodes, and a personal convention highlight of all time for me was meeting Brian Tochi a few years back at Motor City Comicon. He was incredibly nice and seemed pretty surprised to learn that anyone remembered that show That's pretty awesome, I always love meeting more obscure pop-culture figures like that as it often leads to great conversations at cons. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2016 16:11:55 GMT -5
The animation is great in that cartoon, but man was Usagi's voice jarring! It's hard to describe how I feel Usagi's voice should sound when I read it, but it's definitely a lot softer than what it was in that clip. I feel the same!! Usagi's voice shocked me. Definitely did not fit what I heard in my head either. But I still want that cartoon in my life. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Feb 14, 2016 16:16:25 GMT -5
The animation is great in that cartoon, but man was Usagi's voice jarring! It's hard to describe how I feel Usagi's voice should sound when I read it, but it's definitely a lot softer than what it was in that clip. I feel the same!! Usagi's voice shocked me. Definitely did not fit what I heard in my head either. But I still want that cartoon in my life. Ha, yeah me too. I love all those old Fred Wolf cartoons. |
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Post by String on Feb 14, 2016 18:01:04 GMT -5
Leo's voice definitely fits better with what I hear in my head. And on another note I had never heard of the Bionic Six but that looks fantastic! I was a massive fan in second grade. It didn't last long, but the show wasn't afraid to go a little deeper than most of the other stuff being peddled to kids at the time. Some dark dark episodes, cool sci-fi concepts, and several episodes like this one that took an active interest in Japanese history. It was still an ultra campy show to be sure, but it had a lot that made it special too. I still have all the toys, I own all the episodes, and a personal convention highlight of all time for me was meeting Brian Tochi a few years back at Motor City Comicon. He was incredibly nice and seemed pretty surprised to learn that anyone remembered that show Hoho, Bionic Six! That was a great cartoon though I remember little of any actual episodes. But the characters, the family aspect, the tech, evil Doctor Scarab!, the catchy theme song, I loved it. For me, it's right up there with Mighty Orbots as one of those classic forgotten animated gems. Though I never knew they had an action figure line. How many figures did they have? All six of the family at least? |
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Post by String on Feb 14, 2016 18:07:09 GMT -5
I love Space Usagi, probably my all-time favorite Usagi story. When I got my trade of the series, I about read it in one whole day, it was THAT good. There are some differences but overall, the adaption of the concepts and social structures of ancient Japan into a sci-fi tech world was really engaging. Plus, the emotional drama and tragedy made more of an impact on me as a reader.
It's kinda strange really, but I waited so long to finally get a copy of this and it ends up being my favorite. Which is why I was ecstatic over the ending of Senso, a perfect ending that left you smiling (and wondering) all at the same time.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Feb 14, 2016 18:14:36 GMT -5
I was a massive fan in second grade. It didn't last long, but the show wasn't afraid to go a little deeper than most of the other stuff being peddled to kids at the time. Some dark dark episodes, cool sci-fi concepts, and several episodes like this one that took an active interest in Japanese history. It was still an ultra campy show to be sure, but it had a lot that made it special too. I still have all the toys, I own all the episodes, and a personal convention highlight of all time for me was meeting Brian Tochi a few years back at Motor City Comicon. He was incredibly nice and seemed pretty surprised to learn that anyone remembered that show Hoho, Bionic Six! That was a great cartoon though I remember little of any actual episodes. But the characters, the family aspect, the tech, evil Doctor Scarab!, the catchy theme song, I loved it. You can find low quality versions of the episodes on Youtube: www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bionic+sixNow there's one I've never heard of. Please enlighten! They made the entire family, FLUFFY, the MULES van, a dune buggy and motorcycle that both transformed into combat modes and could launch out of the van, all six of the villains, two "laser thrones," and a secret laboratory playset that saw a very very limited release (I've seen exactly five anywhere ever, including ebay -- and I own one of them  )    The figures were made of heavy diecast and had bionic limbs that would "glow" when held near light. For the villains, only their scareb gems would glow. There was an unproduced series II, but it was very unremarkable. I always wanted to see the jet and Professor Sharp get made. |
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