5 out of 5

Usagi, you dang beautiful rabbit.

Usagi tales follow fairly predictable cycles, but as the bunches of fans who’ve been supporting this (mostly) one-man act for years can attest, creator Stan Sakai has a very flowing way of storytelling that enriches the predictableness; that is, the feelings you get from a story always feel fresh and new.  No idea how he does it, but on some level it’s the simplicity of the book which allows for approaching very basic emotional states with a pure – as in unfiltered – mindset.  It’s akin to meditation, especially evident when the material turns to what could be considered darker topics, such as in this issue.  That the story that emerges from Usagi accompanying a mother and son on a hike up a mountain – dealing with the usual brigands, stopping for food, appreciating the view – can sift through some bleaker concepts with the same type of mindfulness Sakai generally employs is why we love this rabbit.  It should also be mentioned that this is one of those rare (and special) Usagi tales to catch me out – that I didn’t actual know where it was going this time.

The linework is finer than Sakai’s recently sketchier style, excepting a talking heads sequence against a hatched background which feels very sparse and loose.  The backgrounds are also meticulously detailed where Sakai occasionally goes for broader strokes.  There’s an “art assistance” credit to Jennifer Kagawa, which makes me wonder what her part was in this.  Did she take over backgrounds, or inking, accounting for these refinings?  Did she work on the looser pages?  Or is it a less defined role?  The book looks fantastic either way (the pages I mentioned do seem out of place, though), and though I’d been digging the looser art, its tightness in this issue matched the tone.