3 out of 5

I don’t know why I never felt like Usagi was at “home” at IDW; perhaps some kind of radial effect of also not feeling like the Turtles are home there. We gained some great colorists at that publisher – Hi-Fi carries over to Sakai’s return to Dark Horse – and we made some good story progress, with cousin Yukichi fully part of the narrative for a long time and the story hasn’t stopped between then and now, and I’m not going to claim like there’s actual distinct differences in this issue versus one published a few months ago at the other, but familiarity, bias, whatever: the book feels at home. Is it a grand return? Nah, it’s business as usual, and maybe even a bit more tedious than that, since Jei doesn’t really feel like an event villain anymore. I do wish Stan had played out the central concept of this arc longer, as it is pretty clever – Usagi and Yukichi run afoul of a demon; Jei just happens to be around; both villains want the rabbit ronin and so enemy of my enemy and etc. – but regardless, when the clash happens, it’s a fun and frantic bit of always well-choreographed action.

I can go back and forth on this one, such as wishing Jei’s flute-playing companion had more to do, or picking at how the bandits that are also tossed in here feel a bit unnecessary, and are truly just fodder; however, the book moves at a good pace, and even if this is fairly normal Usagi territory, as has been established by Stan a million times: an average Usagi book is a damn good book.

The fifth part of this is tangential, as our duo have a post-fight fight with a town full of baddies. I’m curious if DH is going to be grouping everything into these “arcs,” while Stan might end up inserting one-shots into those arcs anyway… I guess we’ll say.

Many happy returns, UY; it’s truly like you never left.