Usagi Yojimbo Saga: Legends

The Usagi Yojimbo Saga: Legends by Stan Sakai
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Usagi Yojimbo Saga: Legends contains Space Usagi, Senso, and Yokai.

To be honest, I've been avoiding reading this volume for a while. The stories aren't part of the main saga and it's the last volume in Usagi Yojimbo Saga. While being stricken by the worst case of allergies yet this year, I finally bore down and read it.

Space Usagi started the trade and it was by far my least favorite Usagi Yojimbo story yet. It isn't terrible but doesn't feel a whole lot like the rest of the saga. Stan Sakai's art is as good as ever, though, and he gets to draw a wide variety of creatures. The creatures remind me of all the insectile monsters in Nausicaa, making me wonder if Sakai is a Miyazaki van.

Senso, the second story in the collection, is H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds set in Usagi's feudal Japan and a possible ending to the Usagi Yojimbo saga. The art is great and a lot of serious shit happens. There's also a great fight involving a Martian Tripod and a secret I don't want to reveal. There were some tragic elements to this story. It fit into the Usagi Yojimbo canon a lot better than Space Usagi but I can see why it's not an official part of the Saga.

Yokai was my favorite story in the collection by a wide margin. Usagi and Sasuke fight a bunch of monsters in a tale done in water colors by maestro Sakai. It could easily have fit into one of the other books.

With Usagi Yojimbo Saga: Legends, I'm all caught up on Usagi until Usagi Yojimbo Saga book 8 comes out in May. Not bad for a bunch of odds and ends but not essential. 3 out of 5 stars.

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