4 out of 5

Following up on last month’s oddball “where’s Usagi?” cliffhanger, Kyuri rewinds a bit to the middle of the storm, our rabbit ronin taken away from his helpy duties by the threat of a kappa, which has whisked away a villager.  Kappas shouldn’t be anything new to Usagi fans (I don’t think), but they’re still a fun bit of Japanese lore: the turtle demon with the bowled-out head which contains water; if spilled – and I feel like I’ve heard different variations on this – the demon is then subservient to you.  They also like cucumbers quite a bit, a.k.a. kyrui.  The anthropomorphic fun is always intriguing when it slips into lore, and though the essential structure of this tale is typical of the series, as always, Sakai throws in some wonderful twists and dodges to the plot which define it as an Usagi book.

The art maintains that post-Senso rawness to it, and because we’re dealing with quite the devious foe, Stan really lets loose with a sense of fury bristling through the art, filtering it into the actions of the characters: there’s a particularly brutal attack upon Usagi that matches the tone of the story but, visually, feels rather risque for Stan.  It’s not distasteful at all; it’s exciting seeing him explore new borders of the book.

I’m mean and I’m only knocking this a star for a panel where Usagi narrates his plans to himself out loud, steps away from the kappa.  The out-loud explanation isn’t new to the book, but normally Sakai masks things in thought bubbles if the other character shouldn’t hear it.  This was an odd flub where it seemed rather humorous for the character to be talking so plainly about his attack while attacking.