3 out of 5

I realize Usagi Yojimbo is rarely the title we read for massive, complex, interconnected, twisty-turny tales, and if anything, the relative simplicity of most stories is one of its charms. Still, when the spin for a story is pretty much clear from the opening page, and that spin is such that it likely renders what you’re reading as – plot-wise – unimportant, charming or no… it’s a bit of a bummer.

Such is the case with this Space Usagi one-shot, which I guess was published as a lead-in to Dark Horse’s color republishing of the SU series, and in that frame… was can sort of understand it’s major flaw: that it’s not a Space Usagi tale.

That’s the opening page bummer: as soon as we kick things off with classic Usagi, unless you’re truly brand new to SU, it’s an automatic clue that we’re likely reading something not real, like a dream sequence or somesuch. And if you are new to SU, and perhaps are assuming this is some kind of setup for space adventures, Usagi’s video gamey hunt of some yokai on each subsequent floor of a building will disabuse you of that notion, as clearly – this is the story: Sakai drawing yokai and fight sequences.

Set aside from all of that, Yokai Hunter is fun, and features really fantastically loose art from Stan, and fantastically graded colors from Emi Fujii. As a oner, it’s still pretty soft on story, but that is the positive flip-side to the setup, as you know that’s going to be the gist early on, and can just enjoy the flow and look of the pages.