Usasgi Yojimbo: Senso

Usasgi Yojimbo: Senso
Released by: Dark Horse Comics
Released on: May 6th, 2015.
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Written and drawn, just as it has been for the last thirty years, by Stan Sakai, Usagi Yojimbo: Senso takes place “TWENTY YEARS IN HIS FUTURE, a great and terrible conflict promises to tear Miyamoto Usagi's world asunder. Once an unemployed ronin walking the warrior's pilgrimage, Usagi now fights as a general for Lord Noriyuki and the Geishu Clan, against the treacherous, power-hungry renegade Lord Hikiji.”

A splash page brings us up to speed as we witness the final battle between Hijiki and the Geishu Clan, the Shogun having learned of his treachery and ordered the Geishu clan to eliminate him. As Noriyuki's men fall under Hijiki's arrows, Lady Tomoe insists they push on and Usagi backs her, noting that General Gennosuke leads the reserves and that he can inspire loyalty in his troops like no other. As they bicker amongst themselves, Takenoko-Sensai shows up… with a fire breathing tank shaped like a turtle!

On the other side of the battlefield, Hijiki's reptilian forces decide to charge their cavalry onwards just as the Geishu Clan call in the reserves. Usagi turns his back on the fray, not out of cowardice but because Jotaro, his son, fights and he does not want to see him fall, particularly as he has not told the young man of their relationship. When Usagi hears the tide has turned he decides to watch just as Jotaro is impaled on an enemy spear. He takes Noriyuki's personal steed and heads into the battle, sword drawn and prepared to 'fight like a demon' - but will he get to his son in time? And what's that thing way up there in the sky?

The dead are many while those who survive retreat and fall back in line after what was obviously a chaotic battle. Usagi claws his way out from under the dust of war to search for Jotaro, his son, and he finds him though the younger rabbit is wounded, though thankfully not fatally. They return to Noriyuki's officers atop a hill where they stand, trying to figure out what exactly that giant thing that fell out of the sky is. They don't figure that their foe, Hijiki and the Geishu Clan, were the ones behind it - it's too foreign and when it fell, it killed his own warriors as well.

On the other side of the battlefield, Hijiki tells his men that if the object that fell is an emissary from the Gods then he should be the first to great it. He heads towards it and covertly tells his serpentine right hand man, Hebi, that this could be what he needs to take control of the country. As they get closer, something emerges, telescoping out of the object, and it lights up and disintegrates some of Hijiki's men. All but Hijiki himself are eliminated, though he is abducted. Noriyuki's clan simply watch - they do not know what they are up against though as night falls a female ninja named Horikawa moves in on the object and comes face to face with the tentacle beasts that inhabit it. She reports back to Takenoko, Usagi and the rest and tells them that these octopus-like creatures are building something but what exactly it is she does not know. She does, however, know one thing - they can be killed. Later, Tomoe urges Usagi to tell Jotaro the truth about their relationship as father and son but her husband, the surly Kubo-Sama, interrupts their talk.

The next morning the Noriyuki clan discover two massive towers that were erupted overnight and given that they just saw these 'things' obliterate Hijiki's men, they know that they cannot let the menace spread, even if that means using Takenoko-Sensai's tank, the one introduced in the first issue.

Usagi and company try their best to get everyone out of the town that the aliens have chosen for their initial attack, but as he sets out warning those who will listen an old enemy emerges only to be killed by the aliens before he can attack Usagi.

Meanwhile, in the field where all of this began, Takenoko and the elders try to decide if the ship that has landed is a god or a demon. Takenoko deduces that the ship belongs to one of the 'people of the heavens' and that it was sent as some sort of scouting expedition and that the next step is likely a full scale invasion. Fearing this, Jotaro and the rest of the soldiers charge towards the ship and soon find that it has unleashed another 'three walker' that quickly lays waste to many of their troops. They flee but call for the Neko Ninja to assist, one of whom will do just that and in the process find honor in death. When the 'three-walker' falls the samurai are able to quickly do away with the tentacled creatures inside and offer up the shell of the robot to Takenoko to study.

General Gennosuke and Jotaro head towards the crater to slay the rest of the creatures but find that they are not as defenseless outside of their robots as they first seemed…

Usagi and Tomoe lay in the ruins of the town just after the last rocket has pretty much demolished it. Amazingly, though beaten, they are not down nor gravely injured - they are, however, buried underneath the mess that resulted from the crash. They attempt to dig their way out but it's dangerous, things are falling down around them. With no one else around, they have a heart to heart about how Jotoro should have been 'their' son but since Tomoe was forced to marry Buichi that was not to be. Tomoe confesses she and Buichi are not in love, their marriage was simply a matter of political convenience to join their two clans, and she asks him if they make it out, if will he tell Jotaro he is his father.

They find their way through the rubble to an entrance into the rocket where they meet and attack its tentacle inhabitant. They head inside where hordes of the creatures await and though they are outnumbered the two samurai find that their foes are weak. Just as they're about to be overcome, however, Jotaro and Motokazu show up to help. Jotarao tells them of Gen's sacrifice from the last issue and updates them on the war above ground, still in progress.

Meanwhile, the serpentine Hebi hurries his forces to protect Black Sun Castle from the alien three-walkers at all costs and we learn what truly happened to Lord Hijiki.

After having survived the events that brought that issue to a close, Usagi and Tomoe do battle with the aliens and reunite with Jotaro while Lord Hebi kills Hikiji and is then executed himself by the aliens.

The aliens are now in the midst of rampaging across rural Japan and Akakage, the head of the Komori Ninja, stops Buichi Kubo from riding his horse across their territory. When one of Akakage's own scouts reports back to him with news that backs up Kubo's claims of an alien invasion, and then when he sees it with his own eyes, he changes his tune. He also sees many of his own warriors fall at the hands of the advanced alien technology and is then wounded in battle himself.

Kubo and Akakage then form an uneasy alliance - the ninja pledge no allegiance to the Shogun as the samurai do - and the ninja go off to deal with the vessel while Kubo sends Higa to report to the Shogun himself. The alliance proves effective against the alien towers, particularly when the Komori resort to kamikaze tactics! Days later the Shogun's vessel, Minister Hina, chastises the samurai elite for their failure to take down the one remaining 'three-walker' and he's even further displeased when he learns that the thing is quickly making its way to Edo. While all of this is going on, Usagi and the recently widowed Tomoe discuss more intimate and personal matters but are interrupted by the arrival of Jotaro, who informs them that the Lords have arrived and that they need their help… or at least, Noriyuki does.

The last issue starts off with a great splash page showing the devastation that the walkers have brought to Edo and the ensuing evacuation. Tomoe and Jotaro do their best to get everyone out and then meet up with Lord Noriyuki whose remaining forces launch an attack that allows the other two to escape.

And escape they do, they make it back to Dr. Takenoko's latest invention, the Usagi Gundam! Usagi volunteers to pilot it out of the castle and heads right on into battle with the walker but his lack of practice at the controls proves a problem. A massive brawl plays out across the city and they wind up getting dangerously close to the castle.

A fitting end to the series and one that delivers a seriously moving ending, this last issue of the Senso storyline does an excellent job of wrapping things up in a perfectly fitting way. How/if it will affect the continuity of the new ongoing Usagi Yojimbo series coming in May of 2015 remains to be seen but even looked at as a standalone storyline, possibly one that takes place out of the main continuity, this is impressive work. Sakai has always had a knack for making his 'funny animal' characters likeable and human enough to relate to. This story continues that tradition and the emotional ties that bind Usagi, Tomoe and Jotaro prove very effective and make up a large part of the story's success. Of course, the trademark humor (“eep!”) is still here, even when the series goes into darker territory, but it really is the characters you walk away from this one remembering.

Sakai's art hasn't changed much over the years, and that's okay by this fan. There's lots of great detail in every panel and in this issue in particular he really gets to let loose. Tons of action and 'big' panels illustrate the epic battle that takes up a lot of the issue's pages and the images impress. All in all, a great end to a series that started off strongly and kept up both the quality and the pace throughout its run.

This collected volume brings together all six issues of the series and also throws in a fun 'introduction' story entitled 'Usagi And Stan' in which creator and creation have an interesting chat about the premise for the Senso storyline. We also get some cover sketches, a black and white cover gallery (that does a fine job of showing off the detail in Sakai's awesome wraparound covers for this series), two pages of sketches showing off Sakai's art process and a biography for the man.