Sunday Story Ratings #66: Usagi Yojimbo Book 3.3: Return of the Blind Swordspig by Stan Sakai

Usagi Yojimbo Book 3: The Wanderer's Road: 3. Return of the Blind Swordspig by Stan Sakai

Originally published July 1988 Fantagraphics Books in Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 1 Issue 9; this edition August 2010

Fantagraphics Books

 

PG

Parental Guidance recommended for audiences under 15 years of age

(V, D)

Violence {PG)

Drug Use (G) {Tea}

 

Representations

Gender:

Only male characters, and a tokagé (Spot) of unknown gender.

Sex:

No presence.

Race & Ethnicity:

Characters are all anthropomorphic animals in a culturally Japanese (Edo period) setting.

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

Zato-Ino is blind, but has developed a disability superpower in his sense of smell to compensate. He even has an entry on TVTropes' Blind Weapon Master page. Also thanks to his previous encounter with Usagi, his preternatural sense of smell is provided by a wooden prosthetic nose. 

Awards

None found 

Notes

This one is a bit more continuity-heavy than the previous two, referencing not only Spot's origin story in The Tower, but also featuring the reappearance of Zato-Ino and his one-sided grudge against Usagi. Fortunately I read his first appearance in Book 1, but there is a small recap in this story for those that don't know it. 

Found this story a bit sad, both through Zato-Ino's lonely-surly characterisation and insistence on hostility toward Usagi, and because this is the last story in which Usagi and Spot journey together.

Zato-Ino is almost certainly based on that other blind masseuse swordsman character, Zatoichi.

Sunday Story Ratings #67: Usagi Yojimbo Book 3.4: Blade of the Gods

Usagi Yojimbo Book 3: The Wanderer's Road: 4. Blade of the Gods by Stan Sakai

Originally published July 1988?* Fantagraphics Books in Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 1 Issue 10; this edition August 2010

Fantagraphics Books

 

{*official website says July 1987, but that would be a year prior to the preceding issues, although if 1987 that would put it in the same month as the previous issue too.}

 

PG

Parental Guidance recommended for audiences under 15 years of age

(V, H)

Violence (PG)

Supernatural Themes (no weight)

 

Representations

Gender:

Only male characters present.

Sex:

No presence

Race & Ethnicity:

Characters are all anthropomorphic animals in a culturally Japanese (Edo period) setting.

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

Villain of this episode regarded as mad by others.

Awards

None found

Notes

Usagi seeks shelter from a storm with Jei, who turns out to believe he is chosen by the gods to execute the evil - and who seems to conclude sooner or later that all who cross his path are evil. The resolution is ambiguous. Mostly a fight episode but I believe there are to be long-term repercussions; it is left uncertain whether Jei is indeed supernaturally guided or protected.