Sunday Story Ratings #74: Usagi Yojimbo Book 5.3: Blood Wings

Usagi Yojimbo Book 5: Lone Goat and Kid: 3. Blood Wings by Stan Sakai

Originally published April 1990 in Usagi Yojimbo Volume 1, Issue 21 and June 1990 in Usagi Yojimbo Volume 1, Issue 22; this edition August 1992, July, 2008 printing

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books

 

M

Not recommended for persons under 15 years of age, but no legal restrictions

(V, L)

Violence {M}

Minor Coarse Language {G}

 

Representations

Gender:

Significant characters male, women in the village in background or to-be-protected roles.

Sex:

Only implicit in the existence of children.

Race & Ethnicity:

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

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

None noticed.

Awards

None found

Notes

At some point prior to this story I realised the signifier of character death is a thought bubble showing the skull and crossbones, but I hadn't remarked on the convention until seeing it here reminded me.

Continuity story, referencing events from the extended plot-line in the collection prior to this, which I could not get hold of.

Since the menace of the story is bat ninjas, there must be Batman references. "Man, what a dark night!" and a few panels later "Holy flying furball! It's bats, man!" (the latter of which is why I marked for G-rated coarse language).

20131029

The Blacklist S01E01 “Pilot”. Standard introductory structure, does a fair job at weaving in backstory info on the characters without coming across too infodumpy. Probably leaning a bit heavy on the character-emotion weight.

S01E02 “The Freelancer”. Necessary preamble of realism before working relationship of characters falls into its stable pattern. Puts much in mind of shows like Covert Affairs where the story weaves both backward and forward doing its best to tease secrets from the female lead's past and significant male romantic relationship while not actually revealing anything if it can get away with that. Watching as personal drama rather than crime or spy fiction, will see if that changes.

Doctor Who “A Christmas Carol”. Uses the device of the Doctor being inspired by the Dickens story to justify using it as a template. Favourite part is the fish. Rest of the story is a bit contrived and meh.

Realised yesterday if I am planning on moving to the USA I should stop buying physical books. The cost of shipping any I do have from here to there will probably match for most of them the cost of buying those books over again. Plus I've got such a huge backlog I'm unlikely to run out of things to read before I move.

Archer S03E08 “Drift Problem”. I love this show but wouldn't recommend it to most people. Mostly about a group of spies being awful to each other and sometimes incidentally good at their job.

Library was busier than yesterday. Had much less time for my self-assigned shelf redistributing project. Basically just shuffling the books around in one section so that they are approximately evenly distributed on the shelves, instead of some being mostly empty and others being packed tight. So, busy. Also the wind blew a tree branch down on someone's car in the afternoon, which required a lot of fuss.

I think I want to make a go at NaNoWriMo again this year. Can't be a serious attempt, as I will have school to muddle through, but maybe I can manage a burst of something.

David Attenborough's First Life, Episode 2 “Conquest”. This was educational and nifty to watch.

Dalziel and Pascoe Series 5 Episode 1, “A Sweeter Lazarus”. Found this show hard to follow and unfulfilling when the ABC recently began airing it from the beginning, but it has grown on me hugely. Quite fond of the playfulness and little details that are left for the audience to pick up on and interpret. Main thing to be bothered by is Dalziel as the senior officer is very much of the politically incorrect sort, and despite the 'coming through when needed' and being supportive in action, he says plenty that is cringeworthy at best. Not that Pascoe as the junior member of the partnership is much better when it comes to marital stuff.

This is an interesting one, with getting a statement from a homeless woman (to establish a lack of foul play on Pascoe's part) turning into the mystery of a girl murdered 19 years and resurrected, despite a confession and conviction from the supposed murderer. I like that unexpected turn, though hopefully they don't ignore- well I suppose they don't need to ignore the multiple murder case they were investigating, as the killer's killed himself early on. Convenient that. Lets them focus on the twist. Complaints: not sure it isn't a bit too convenient overall; there is one short animation sequence which I think comes out as lying to the viewer.

Dalziel and Pascoe Series 5 Episode 2 “Cunning Old Fox”. Rather go to bed, as I've an early shift tomorrow and want sleep, but I'm backlogged and there's only an hour left in which this is available. Can't rely on it being resurrected like the previous one was, for which I'd missed the first available window.

Opens with a fox hunt but presumably that is not all there is to the title. Here we find that Dalziel is opposed to fox-hunting as barbaric, and thus conflict when he is called to investigate hunt-saboteurs on the death of a hunter tossed from a horse.

Surprised to see Dalziel doing a lot of cooking, as he's taken Pascoe in and there are a few home meal scenes - previously he'd seemed inclined to eat out whenever possible, but here he seems both capable and proud.

Kept falling asleep through the episode. Usual level of quality, another awkwardly contrived bit with a photo near the end tho.

Irony ending with the killer chased down by police through wood and field as if he were a fox hunted.