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drawnaghht · 8 months

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a reply to @freakova's tags on this post

#this would be a really nice ending honestly#cause YEAH why happened to his parents what gives they’re Usagi’s too#and the fact that auntie adopts the kids it shows how family can be found#+Yuichi know got lil sisters#He’s all about family (miyamoto and auntie) they could have explored it even further

same! would like to know more!!!

we never really touched on Usagi's backstory besides that his parents entrusted auntie with taking care of him, so I often wonder, if the show had been given a longer episode run, like maybe 30, 40, maybe even 26 instead of 20 - could we have seen more character backstories in general? Cuz there's also Kitsune, who's backstory we don't know at all, and then Gen and Toshiko, who we see explain their story a bit in bits and pieces through-out the 2 seasons. The fact that Usagi immediately goes back to his auntie, because he knows Hana would be safe from the ninja there, says a lot about how much he trusts his auntie. like the show makes it feel like he might actually be the most fleshed-out of all the characters, but his story is hidden almost as much as Kitsune's. I sorta get the reasoning there - their personalities already serve to tell their story a lot, Usagi is a big fan of his own ancestor and idolizes him, while Kitsune is a street-thief and grifter before we see Usagi bump into her puppet-cart and ruin her evening plans. The audience can get a lot of info out of just context-clues, but Kitsune and Usagi are also characters who are most easy to read at first, so we don't get their backstories really explored or opened the same way as Chizu or Gen, because, I can only guess, those stories don't seem to directly tie into the two larger arcs shown during the 10+10 episodes. But lol, would still like to know more, where are the activity books and character pages? a little side novel maybe? why did the age of flash games with extra info have to end before this show aired lol, if only Netflix spent money on that sort of stuff too, maybe we'd have more info besides just the shows on their own 😂😂😅

More theories and rambling below :D

My theory about Usagi's parents is that they died in one of the wars mentioned by some of the older characters in the show :) Cliche, I know! but it seems to sorta make sense. Could have been many other reasons too of course! Maybe they went to the city to find or do something related to the family business or history, but found their end somehow. One of my other theories is that there were gang wars in Neo Edo, around 10-14 years before the series starts. Maybe they found their end there? We don't even know how old his parents would have been, but judging by auntie's look and how she speaks and acts, maybe she's like, around 60-ish? she has raised her nephew for 15 years, meaning since she was around 45, so maybe her sister/brother would have been around 35-40 something when they died. I personally headcanon that it's his mom, who is the Miyamoto family member here, so maybe his dad really was a farmer by birth and thus, the family did not have a name anymore (they've always preferred staying in hiding after Miyamoto died) and that's why they gave him the name Yuichi Usagi with meaning... related to that earlier Senso-connected theory I had ^^;

The "big" wars, mentioned by Lady Fuwa and Armiral Nochi, being recent makes sense tho. bc even though a 1000 years have gone past and Edo (our real-world Tokyo) in this world has been able to embrace some more advanced tech (courtesy of the Ki-stone), perhaps even alien tech, depending on how you view what happened with Miyamoto Usagi in the show's past, some of the culture and tech has sort of stayed in the Edo period. This is mainly because the show creators and staff wanted to keep both Edo sensibilities as well as modern tech and create an interesting fusion on an artistic and story level. One of the older interviews from last year mentions that the crew was inspired by Stan's 2015 story Senso - that what if Edo got to take all that alien tech and use it for themselves? From one of Stan's answers in this 2022 Popverse interview:

"They took one of my stories – Senso, a miniseries I did where Martians invade feudal Japan – and wondered what if they took some of the technology they got from those Martians, how would it affect their society generations down the line?

That was the premise, with the story taking place in a city called Neo-Edo; with Edo being the old name for Tokyo, the capital of Japan. It also takes a lot from Japanese culture, such as vending machines, pachinko parlors, karaoke bars, and things like that. It integrated everything, the old and the new, and I’m quite happy about that."

So the wars would make sense to be more recent because to me, it seems that maybe with this tech, from a story-world level, they should be further along the line than having just flying cars and airships, right? But wars are one of those things that always and if Edo didn't have those outside influences that we had, maybe they wouldn't have some things, i.e. we don't see phones or trains on the show vs the phone boom we had in the 1980s in the real world and the hi-speed train rails japan is known for now. So they probably would have also missed out on the 60s Space Race between the US and the Soviet Union, which popularized the 1960s "space age aesthetic" for example, which is what we might think of when trying to remember 60s tech and fashion. So the show creates its own retrofuturism in trying to consider all these different elements.

(images from Flickr, Lehza Vintage)

(from The Rake, The Olympians)

I wonder if they even considered some cultural things that stuck and became popular before and after the US occupation, such as baseball Harley Davidsons and jazz - what would those be like in the world they created around the city of Neo Edo?

(from AnotherDesignBlog, Eiko Hanamura on League of Extraordinary Cosplayers, Sally the Witch on Wikipedia, 60s Vintage MENKO on eBay)

We see some semblances of what we could call western influences in how Gen installs new kitchenware in episode 5, how Kitsune looks like she could be a 1970s Harajuku girl, how Admiral Nochi and the Bat Squadron dress etc. It's an interesting balance throughout the show and thinking about it more just makes me more curious about it haha.

Maybe what happened with the Makkine a 1000 years ago is that a few sentries arrived with Kagehito's ship. Because of the surprise Kagehito expresses about the makkine warbotto self-replicating in the present (the s2 warbotto ep), we can surmise that they didn't back then, so they didn't replicate. Did they leave any ships? In the first season, Kagehito's ship is underground and covered by hundreds of years of rubble and rock. The Mogura Gang helping him then, actually find gold before they find his ship. So if any ships did come through with him those 1000 years ago, it seems that they did not "park" into the same place, or, likely that whatever happened, they were used up by locals.

The show is also quite fast-paced in reality, as we can see from how each episode jumps from POV to POV, or topic to topic and we get a lot of info in a short time, so to me it seems that the story crew REALLY crunched every bit of important info, story or jokes into the episodes, but just, didn't have more time to show or do anything about Usagi's parents.

lol what I'm doing to avoid more brainworms like this is to.... I guess continue writing my fanfic where I try to solve this (the main storyline from the comic i posted haha), but I also realized while writing this... I am waiting to see if I can get one of the new books coming out this or next year that bridges the stories/worlds between Yokai Hunter and Space Usagi, to see if there might be some new connections to be from there about Space Usagi in general, but maybe there could be something there nodding back to SR as well? maybe the new character is inspired by that or somehow bridges those things? lol a fan can hope ;D

#freakova #aghhtreplies #usagi chronicles #srtuc #yuichi usagi #srtuc kitsune #srtuc gen #srtuc toshiko #fan analysis #sorta?#aghht srtuc analysis #srtuc fan theory #long post #srtuc bat squadron #srtuc mogura gang #k half of this is just. sleepless rambles. not v good. but look at my graphics in this post!

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drawnaghht · 10 months

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Neo Edo, Ki-Stone and Kaikishi connections

another little wayward thought i've kept pushing back in my head to post about it another time: the way the connection between both our younger Usagi and the Ki-stone is pictured and then the original, older Usagi, how these things connect in the story and wordl. (Fanramble)

when Usagi first touches the Ki-Stone, he describes it as "like if you had a friend, who was lighting " and seems to be visibly fine after the Ki-stone pushes him away from the connection (or it seems more like; he's so taken aback to see Miyamoto Usagi in the same space as him, he just "wakes himself up from it" but doesn't look worser than usual).

But you'll notice that 1) his pursuers (newfound friends) + Spot are all ALSO lying on the ground, smoking from being zapped by the Ki-stone, and 2) Tetsujin who was touching Usagi on his shoulder to stop him is "not a ghost" - "transmuted into another plane of existence" - so basically we can say that as a kindness, the Ki-stone "transmuted" him instead of just killing him. So we can assume that usually touching the Ki-stone either kills or zaps the person.

But Usagi is basically fine, save for maybe feeling a bit hurt by the push-back onto the temple floor. Most of the next times he connects to the Ki-Stone again, it's by his yo-yo. Did the Ki-Stone, recognizing Usagi as a familiar rabbit, or even recognizing him as Miyamoto Usagi's descendany, know he would need this yoyo? Did she know Usagi could solve the 1000-year old problem delayed by Usagi's ancestor by killing the shogun and trapping all spirit-farers?

We also see in ep 6 "Nobody likes A Ninja", the ninja trying to list the Ki-Stone get zapped back as well. Side-note: we don't know if they just get a bit "burnt" like the main cast in ep 1, or if they're actually dead here after.

Whatever the case, the Ki-stone can't be touched directly without harm to the physical person. The way the fake scroll bait is used by the Neko Ninja also makes me think that Tetsujin, knowing that Fuwa would want to steal it, also made the scroll in a way he could punish the Neko Ninja a little, but without killing them (i know it's maybe not that important since they're technically enemies, but Tetsujin's whole outfit makes me thing that he'd approach it peacefull, or more with mischief that lethal harm in mind.)

In the same ep, Tetsujin also repeats the "Do not Touch the Ki-Stone" rule, also explaining why (magnetic pull of the earth - sidenote: that's why u can also see this magnets idea in how people in Neo Edo carry their weapons - magnets are everywhere in Neo Edo and that's how the cars and some of the appliances work for example)

As the series goes on, we see Usagi get gradually worser reactions after each time he has touched the Ki-stone. In ep 5, trapping Hakai, we see him step back and yell in pain, holding his eyes closed and covering them, staged in a way that makes it seem both the info and physical experience were tougher to experience. Trapping Sakuran in ep 6, he stands in shock and simply rolls down from not being able to stand on his own anymiore, lying down for a while when Tetsujin and Spot approach him. He says "That hurts a little more every time." At the end of the season, once he's seen the final scene with his ancestor, he holds his head again, but in slightly less pain. This could be explained how the whole city saw the scene and is "sharing the brainload", as we see everyone from Gen to the city police rubbing their heads in shock. Ironically, the only person to recover quickly from this is Lord Kogane (for humor, but this scene was genuinely funny with how it's a comment about history changing in a 1000 years)..

Anyway, this all to say that it's an interesting internal consistency within the show world x3 Usagi is the only one who survives touching the Ki-Stone, presumably bc of his connection to Miyamoto Usagi, who was able to also survive connecting to the stone and even cut it thanks to Willow Branch, his own personal weapon. I had a theory going in my head a while back that perhaps, despite him not having a legacy left after the murder of the fake shogun, what if the Ki-Stone decided to "save" Miyamoto Usagi somewhere? I probably forgot to post on it, but that first scene with Usagi and Usagi together in the white space of the Ki-Stone made me think. the older Usagi "wakes up" in a similar way, as if his spirit has been asleep for a 1000 years. We know he wasn't in the Ki-Stone like the Yokai, bc we see at the end of s1 that he survived that interaction + in s2 that he sent his sword away,.. but what if he had to send it for safe-keeping with his family not just because he was sure he would die and be captured, because he knew the sword would be needed later? "Willow Branch is a special sword" as he puts it in the ep 10 flashback. (and more abt this theory another time then)

At the end of the episode, we see that Yuichi connects to the Ki-Stone again, but this time, not to remember and not with his yoyo but to return Omurasaki to the Ki-Stone as it was the piece that his ancestor cut, was passed down instead of a sword, and now sit's on his auntie's Edgewing, at the pommel.

Maybe it was this connection to the Ki-Stone that also saved Usagi the first time? Whether it was the connection itself (having the sword with him, with the stone still spiritual/magical) or the Ki-Stone knowing that the piece was back in the city, and thus choosing Usagi based on it in the first ep. But the stone saw that he needed his own spirit weapong, and so it opened up the vault for Usagi to pick the most suited weapon for him. Again, I wonder how much the Ki-Stone in it's magic/spirit sentience actually foresaw or predicted some of this?

(I also find it interesting that the piece of Ki-Stone attached to Edgewing is named after the national butterfly of Japan, the Sasakia Charonda, or, ō-murasaki " (オオムラサキ - "great purple") - but all that for another time)

Giving the piece back the Ki-Stone throws Usagi back so far that he's actually left unconscious for a longer time, enough for the Ki-Stone to pulse with some sort of energy to close the big energy portal in the sky, go wireless and for his friends to basically finish fighting the rest of the warbotto.

Side-note: Like. he actually looked kinda dead in this scene and while being a longtime cartoon fan I knew it probably wouldn't last long, I was kinda convinced enough just to be like "no way. they're not gonna kill off a main character!" at it haha x3

Now, for the other times that Usagi touches it, he uses the yoyo, which basically seems to act as a conduit between his spirit and the Ki-Stone (which is basically a spirit-energy stone, going by the name), even tho he feels worse each time, he can still endure the memories and connection without bigger harm. Does this mean the other's in his orphan crew also get this ability with their Kaikishi weapons in s2? or is it special to just Usagi's yo-yo? It's also intersting that while both the Ki-Stone and the entire city feature magnet-related features as does the yo-yo (being able to connect to metal, but also spirits), it seems the other weapons do not have this ability. Except maybe Chizu's arrows, which she can change at will. Kitsune's new batlle fans can also disappear at will, matching her personality and skills, but the disappearing "woosh" energy also resembles the Ki-Stone itself, being purple. Gen's new war clubs can change size, but also connect into one big version which he is able to lift with ease, so that could also be a connection to the magnetic theme related to the Ki-Stone. Kinda wish we'd gotten more of the others or to see more of these weapons secondary skills, but alas, 10 eps is what we got.

But would this ability to connect to the Ki-Stone via weapons, mean that the others would also have more backstory and lore to explore if the show went on longer or even just for another season? More of those 2D cutscenes where characters remember or imagine something? What kind of story ideas did the writers and crew have simmering underneath all the stories they had to cut for time?

Also of note: While the rest seem to have standard features + super-natural ones which reflect their users + some hidden ability we don't know about, it might be that the yoyo also has one more secret ability?

Usagi's yoyo can act as a normal yoyo. When lit/glowing, it acts as a magnet and Yuichi can use it creatively in a lot of ways. It's nigh-indestructible, which seems like a feature that would be common to all Kaikishi weapons. It can capture anything magnetic and in episode 3, Possessions, we see it can also capture a yokai in place. Dare Mo, the yokai who takes auntie's appearance to fight Usagi, is surprised to see him sporting a Kaikishi weapon and begs him not to "use [his] weapon's power!"

So that has always made me wonder if there's more to it than what we see later? Because we see with ep 5, capturing Hakai, that if Usagi asks respectfully, the yoyo will "calm" the yokai into not struggling or resisting. It's about Usagi learning to respect and trust his weapon and learn to not jump into a fight all sword-crazy. But also, if it's part of it's spirit we could poetically state that it's about Usagi learning to trust and listen to his own soul as well.

In any case, this "calming" effect of the yoyo seems the most obvious third extra power, but I get the feel like there might more. (again, sorta wish we'd gotten to see more of the rest of the Kaikishi weapon's special powers x3) And then, if the other spirit weapons are not there for capturing yokai + we've already seen their secondary powers, what else could be there?

What's subtly interesting about Usagi's choice in the yo-yo, is that the Ki-Stone seems to have wanted to pick Chizu at first (she's the temple student and in reality an experienced fighter, but also, not being picked is a visual gag here), but then comically turns to Usagi, giving him the spotlight... but also making him react in a way that to me at least speaks that "that stone took his spirit-orb and sent it to the weapon door". We see him pick the yo-yo impulsively, but we also see. So it makes it feel like the Ki-Stone picked him deliberately, as if knowing he'd pick the yo-yo, instead of something sharp that could cut her, since we know that a sword is usually a samurai's spirit (and probably why in this show, Willow Branch was able to cut it at all).

In s2, after saving the city from the Makkine attack with his spirit-samurai form, granted to him by meditating while connected to the Ki-Stone by his yo-yo again, Usagi says that it's probably something he won't be doing again. It almost seems as if this drained all of Usagi's own spirit energy, and then some. The Ki-Stone gave him a boost upwards and he got some heavenly spirit-power to transform into a spirit-suit basically - with Usagi himself in the "heart" of the mech.

Interesting design. (I've made notes about this before). It's really cool! Also cool that it mirrors the end of UY: Senso in this way too. The show's showrunners and other creative staff were such big fans, they put something like this into the story, but it still makes sense internally.

also just because: of COURSE it ends with a bit mech vs kaiju fight!!!

he is much more like his ancestor than he thinks he is haha

sdfsdfs i love thinking abt the connections in this show x3

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drawnaghht · 1 year

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Chizu x Kitsune and why it's gay

lol i don't have a lot of energy to post but wanted to make a short fandom post anyway? I'll just briefly talk about the more memorable and emotionally important moments between these two :3

Spoilers for the entire series, but if you didn't notice stuff, might be good reminds on several things! This isn't really like a full analysis and it's not a full summary either. I just like this ship and although it seems unanimous that this is seen as a sapphic ship, I also think it's a bit underappreciated? Or perhaps it's just the show itself that needs more regard? I'm not here to defend the show or ship, just to detangle my thoughts on how their scenes together look like to my mind as a storyteller but also what the possible crew intentions could have been. This became kinda long.

So in the series, we as viewers see a lot of moments between Chizu and Kitsune that are about honesty. Or they just talk to each other and create meaningful connections with each other through these interactions. Even with smaller stuff, there's moments in each ep where they either look at each other, or to each other.

in ep 3, "Posessions" we see Usagi asking Kitsune had stolen things and Kitsune denying this about her. Then in a following scene, when she finds Chizu and asks her where she learned to fight if she just works at the temple, she admonishes Chizu for making up a bad lie for that. "You don't have to tell me the truth. But don't tell me a lie." This sounds like a very earnest moment. Like i don't have the brainspace to analyze it more right now but basically, "oh wow, there's something interesting there."

As an episode closing scene, we see Chizu exit the Murakami house/museum to go to a dark alleyway. There she meets the leader of the Neko Ninja crew (only mentioned in the 1st ep), Lady Fuwa. I love this scene for how creepy and scary it makes Fuwa ar first with her mask, but then sort of silly and laughable with her huge pom-pom head. I'm not sure if I'm reading it right, but it seems the intention was to make a dangerous but laughable villain/antagonist, almost like a Bond villain who looks ridiculous but could still kill you. Like it's obvious from this interaction that Fuwa only thinks about herself and her own goals and thinks in shallow goals (taking over Neo Edo via "controlling" the Ki-stone). Her ideas look silly from some distant point, but she still commands respect and fear with voice and demeanor.

There's the friendship candy moment/scene in ep 4, "Run Rabbit Run" and then Chizu's flashback of her trauma being raised in the Neko Ninja crew and losing her friend Kayo. Her friend gave her this same friendship candy to cheer her up, "Things will get better Chizu". I'll leave the Chizu PTSD analysis for another time bc I feel like I could probably do with reading up on the comic to also see what the inspiration for this all could have been (+ I'm just not up to write that much tonight). The point of the scene overall is to establish a stronger connection between the two main characters as well as show us the viewer a more fleshed-out reason for Chizu's background as a Neko Ninja. Someone who's high-ranking enough to go on a stealth mission into the temple housing the Ki-Stone which provides the entirety of Neo Edo its power. But also someone who really does not enjoy being a ninja or being dishonest. Someone who's a little unsure and incredibly lonely among her ninja kin.

The flashback is a reminder for Chizu that friendship is a luxury. I also feel we're meant to take it from here that both of them value friendships in similar but different ways. Or that friendship is something lacking for both but they see it slightly differently. Neither has had many friends before, or any at all (we find out later that Kitsune only had a "ghost friend" and presumably her puppets) but they express valuing their team members in different ways. Kitsune gives friendship candy to everyone, even Spot, while Chizu just tags along in the service of her own motives/plot while pretending she's too aloof and doesn't care enough to do anything more than fight yokai. But here when Kitsune says "aren't you gonna eat that" after Chizu leaves her startled PTSD flashback she just says, "Maybe one day" with a smile. So here we see a setup by the writers that this friendship candy is important for Chizu and that she wants to continue being a real friend of Kitsune, or at the least, have any real friends at all.

Chizu goes back to the dojo to exchange info and receive more instructions from Lady Fuwa. We have a small scene where after this, she shares a moment with a random Neko Ninja kid training in the dojo in the background. She takes her mask off, tired from the training and is immediately admonished by Lady Fuwa. This kid slightly resembles Kayo, Chizu's childhood friend. Same outfit, different cat fur pattern but similar colorscheme. A kindred spirit. (I actually have a little theory about this, but that's for later, maybe a short fanfic). We can see that unlike the other adults at the dojo, Chizu still has some compassion left despite her training.

We have a moment in "Run Rabbit Run" where it's subtly established that although we haven't seen much threat or action from the ninja, they're considered "bad actors" in the city. So much so that every other gang in the city is afraid of just Chizu on her own (without her friends knowing she's apart of this crew). To us the viewers they are a little unknown but it's implied that the entirety of the city fears them.

Then there's the big reveal scene at the end of ep 5, "Common Sensei"

Chizu's betrayal, the surprise from all her new friends, and a genuine expression of disbelief from Kitsune (the "no...")

And then at the start of the next episode, "Nobody Likes a Ninja" the focus is immediately on Kitsune, on the other end of Chizu pointing a hand-crossbow at her.

And you can see the hurt in Kitsune's eyes.

So here as viewers we can make the basic connection that this betrayal hurt more than anything else that night. And the entire one half a plot of the episode we spend with the two of them as Chizu tries to apologize or make up to Kitsune somehow.

The rest of the season is spent focusing on other characters and relationships and setting up season 2. A really important part of this is the rescue of Hana, one of the only kids who Chizu saw training in the Neko Ninja dojo who didn't really take to all the fighting and training to be spies and assassins. Hana essentially becomes like a little sister to both Chizu and Usagi through the handful of episodes she's in and is taken under the wing of Usagi's auntie, sent to safety at her farm away from the city.

Then in s2 we see how much time the crew spends together after the "world has been saved" from the big butterfly hand in the sky. We see Chizu and Kitsune acting like longer-time friends already as well as Kitsune raising a "little sister" now - Kiyoko. Basically the rest of the team finds confusing and weird at first but gets used to Kiyoko quickly. Chizu mainly expresses worry but goes along with this as slowly this "little sister" (to avoid too many spoilers) is treated more and more like the other smaller kids in their home. By season 2, Usagi and the other characters see Gen and Toshiko's house as a home and treat each other as basically family. Mostly they're all still close friends, but to Kitsune especially, this has now become family. While Chizu had an abusive childhood living and training under the Neko Ninja crew, Kitsune is portrayed as having been homeless and a street performer. So to her, having new friends she can not only trust her life with but also just spend nice peaceful times with, is mega-important. So in "The Fuzzy Pony" (s2, ep 3) we have the kids playing and Chizu and Kitsune talking about it, the latter commenting, "We have a nice little family going here."

In this same episode, while playing with Kiyoko, Usagi realizes that him and her share a birthday (bc of the happenings in the series' first ep) and how they could celebrate those together ("Joint birthday parties!!") Kitsune responds with how Kiyoko would like that and how she wants to give Kiyoko everything she never had, including birthdays. Gen and Usagi are surprised about this but Kitsune is completely non-chalant about it. ("Nah, I dunno when I was born. No birthday, no party, no biggie.") This sends Gen and Usagi on a big side-plot to organize a surprise birthday party for Kitsune.

After seeing Hana play with the other "kids" of the household, Chizu thinks about the rest of the Neko Ninja children and decides to save them as well, alone this time (Usagi was along the first time). Kitsune secretly comes along to this to support her (and also to see Chizu fight, to see some action in general). There's a really fun scene between them which I can't really summarize perfectly enough, you'd have to see it yourself. But the point is, Kitsune willingly came along on her own. "Hey. I'm an orphan and orphans help orphans. I'm not asking for your permission." And there's an understanding between them that they're going to do this together. and oh man it's so sweet, I wish someone posted this scene up on youtube cuz it's just so ougghghghhh it's so sweet!!!! aaa!!

When before in "Run Rabbit Run", Kitsune was more careful with fighting crowds of regular citizens or gang members with an impulsive and untrained Usagi, here with Chizu she feels confident and is also willing to tag along, even if the potential enemies are trained ninja. To cut the summary shorter. the kids don't believe them and think it's a loyalty-test from Fuwa.

In this episode, as a last-ditch effort to save the ninja kids, Chizu challenges Fuwa to a death match duel, for the leadership of the crew. Although Kitsune is threatened and captured here, to make her watch the match, she frees herself and gleefully cheers Chizu on, demanding a complete smackdown for Fuwa. I thought this was cute. Kitsune is so violent about this duel as an "audience member" but even before during Truly Chizu would be like the 85 % of Kitsune's impulse control (this is an old meme, look it up). Chizu wins in the end and Kitsune is elated, like in a "great, lets go home, we have so much to tell the others" kind of way, but Chizu stops her. Now that she's won and become Lady Chizu, she has to stay with the Neko Ninja crew. And Kitsune is devastated, what do you mean you won but can't come home??

"But that.... that would break up our family- I mean, our team" and ouuuhhhhh, this was heartbreaking to watch. I really love this ep for the character moments between these two, ouhghhh /sob

They say their goodbyes and hug. The quiet "come home when you can" is so bittersweet it made me want to cry. She goes to the birthday party, with a note saying she's supposed to meet her friends there, still pent up. Not so much from the dojo fight, but from fact that she's not going to see Chizu anymore. So much so that she attacks the birthday balloons almost cuts the surprise party guests with her fans. It's shown as really sad. Like you can see from Toshiko, Usagi and the staff member's faces that they weren't expecting this kind of reaction from this birthday girl.

But guess what? Chizu showed up at the party as "Ohayou Pony" as a surprise party gift for Kitsune's new birthday party! this was another sillier but also nice moment because you get to see the characters really happy despite the circumstances.

So after this episode, I definitely felt, "there's no way these two aren't at least girlfriends" and also, it genuinely felt like the status quo of the show was going to legitimately change. in the following episodes we actually do see Chizu a bit less, unless it's a life-threatening situation or we see her more with the Neko Ninja.

There are some smaller moments inbetween eps which you can see yourself if you watch the series cuz this psot is long enough already ^^; For example, in ep 15, Kitsune goes to tell Chizu of the whole invaders situations to get the ninja crew on their side and I find the way they look at each other or how Chizu huffs a laugh at Kitsune trying to lighten the mood really sweet if tiny moments altogether.

in ep 17 "Willow Branch" they get to use their new kaikishi weapons more and fight against ghosts. Chizu mis-calculates and accidentally almost takes a shot at Kitsune. For "levity" it only hits her eyelash, but Chizu is worried and embarrased all the same.

then in s2, ep 8 "The Chizu Stands Alone", where the ninja crew basically turns on Chizu, there's another interesting moment where there is one last ninja ("Fumiko") who is left with Chizu against all the turncoats, but then leaves (another thing to leave to my theory posts), only to return with an ally in turn. Kitsune with the newly-built mech that Tetsujin built. How did this ninja know to get Kitsune specifically? Yeah, okay, she is the only one who can pilot it, but still! This was nice too because we're shown how the two of them are walking home via the mech and talking about what happened. How Chizu felt like maybe she was making a difference but now feels like she didn't change anything about the ninja crew at all, but Kitsune reminds her that the kids are safe and that's actually a big thing. It's still about the orphans with these two and the ninja crew storyline.

There's also a nice moment in the finale ("Invasion!") where Chizu goes to help Kitsune out of her mech after it's damaged in the big fight. The rest of the scenes with them together are mostly focused on their little family team of 5 afterwards.

So yeah, just a little view at some of the moments I remember in the series that cemented the relationship as a pairing for me! You can comment and reblog with tags or comments if you noticed anything else as well :] A lot of these moments are really sold by some of the solid writing and the excellent acting by Shelby Rabara and Mallory Low as Kitsune and Chizu respectively.

Also, this is just something I saw on twitter, but one of the main writers, Jeffrey Reddick (who also wrote the series finale) also quote-retweetd some of the promo tweets about Usagi Chronicles. He has mainly been a horror writer so far, but the important thing for me that I noticed on his profile, is that Reddick is openly gay. Although there are probably always going to be queer members in cartoon crews, we don't ever actually know that for sure usually and speculating on stranger's identities is pointless beacause well, it's just a fun cartoon, I can sense queer vibes from it whether the crew themselves are queer or not. But I also feel like some of them being seen as openly queer makes it easier to see that some parts of a show could be intentionally written with queerness in mind.

So I do believe the slightly 90s style* queer-coding was no accident :D

*(or whatever we wanna call it - it feels a little older - "show don't tell")

Overall, this ship just feels really sapphic in an old pre-Steven Universe kind of way... like I would have totally un-knowingly shipped this as a kid before really knowing anything about myself or others or even words to use about it. Basically, they are a pair. do not separate. And I think it's sweet that it exists at all, bc it really is subtle. I know in online fandoms it can feel like we don't need this kind of storytelling since we have more openly queer cartoons too, but I think for the sake of even just variety alone, it's good to have this kind of lightly queercoded story-telling wrapped inside an action cartoon too next to everything else in the mix of both cartoon and general other media we have today. I also find that this way it is easier for future queer kids to realize this about their old favourite cartoon Usagi Chronicles that it was queer. .... In a kind of roundabout way? I'm thinking about situations where more openly queer cartoons like Steven Universe or Owl House would be banned in more conservative households. I knew a little cousin for example whose parents were very particular about the cartoons they let their kids watch and so more "high-energy" cartoons like cartoon network stuff was banned entirely. So I don't know if this would actually happen in real life, but this is just one scenario i'm thinking of.

Of course you can still interpret it as *only* friends too I suppose but you can't deny that they're important to each other in more ways. Like if this was a straight ship, we would be getting ship manifestos left and right. Or maybe fanfic. They'd be called the mom and dad of the family, etc. and although that's a simple way to put it, that also shows feels like proof of intention. The soundtrack also becomes beautiful and on-point whenever there are important scenes with them together, which just adds to the "it's queer" picture.

I'm sure I'll find a better way to write about this but right now I just wanted to list everything I remembered off the top of my head. They have so many of these sweet and everyday moments as well as heavier or more serious and plot-driven moments, it's so nice to see. Usagi Chronicles in general is a very character driven show and these two are the strongest characters in the cast. I only wish we had gotten more moments or flashbacks even with Kitsune, but I suppose she is the kind of character who wouldn't even need flashbacks. But that means she just stays mysterious until we find out more info about her (again, I know she's based on the ideas we have from the character Kitsune in the Usagi Yojimbo comic, but still. At least to me, she feels like a flesjed-out character in the cartoon show, so it would have been cool to see more of her and some other characters like Gen too. On the other side, looking at these episode summaries here, it does feel like the cast balances each other out nicely.

Anyway, leave me a comment if u liked this! Maybe I will do other analysis abt other parts of the series later when I feel like it :) I've been a bit sick the past two weeks so I haven't been in the mood to draw but I will probably still have a bit of energy to write some simpler things so who knows, might write on other Usagi Chronicles topics!

Happy Friend Day and Happy Valentines!

#chizu x kitsune #chizune #samurai rabbit the usagi chronicles #usagi chronicles #srtuc kitsune #srtuc chizu #they are both such important and fun characters tbh #long post #media analysis #but halfbaked #aghht srtuc posts #texty #this is almost 4k words omg haha

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drawnaghht · 11 months

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lord kogane doesn't know how to carry a blade

lol i never noticed it before but Lord Kogane apparently carries Usagi's sword the wrong way? like in ep 2 where the keisatsu are taking Usagi away to the station

Like earlier in the "funny photoshoot" sequence, he is carrying it the right way ("hanging" pose for the sword and scabbard, the blade pointed up, so it's possible to turn it over, unsheathe it and slash it in the same movement) but then when they're taking Usagi away, its the wrong way again ("up" but blade edge pointed down)

and again later when Usagi is arrested together with the others a second time.

which just leads me to believe he does not actually know how to properly hold and carry a sword - which honestly just makes sense cuz well, corrupt politician + self-centered prick so why would this character bother to learn the art of the sword x3

The tech in Neo Edo allows for swords and other kinds of weapons to be carried differently with specialized magnets, which I suspect are some kind of super-industrial grade derived from the alien tech they adapted after Miyamoto Usagi's time when the fake shogun was defeated. You can also see character designer Irineo Maramba's note on the magnets here, showing the idea behind the magnet tech. So I wonder also if he just put it on the wrong side + wrong way bc 1) he doesn't care 2) he doesn't know 3) for some reason, he just thinks this is whatever? like he feels comfortable enough with his keisatsu entourage, that he is not threatened by the existence of 1 criminal element. lol it's funny to think abt for how much of a bad ruler/politician he seems, he also does not really care about history unless it's about himself directly.

and here's how Usagi carries it, for comparison, at the end of the ep:

Even if samurai didn't really last into the Neo Edo future (something Gen mentions in ep 1), I can only guess that the show creators wanted to make sure the sword is handled properly despite the fantastical setting. so it's interesting to see this kind of detail in the show. Although it's also a possibility that because Kogane wasn't using the sword, he simply attached it to the right side, to make it harder to draw. All samurai were trained to handle the sword with their right hand and the only time they would wear it on the right side was when talking to another samurai, to show non-hostility. So maybe that was the case intead? lol in any case, to my un-trained eyes (been to one kendo demo), it looked incorrect for a moment.

interesting sources to read on this!:

Samurai Fashion Guide: Blade-up or Blade-down?

Tenshinryu Hyouho Battojutsu - art of drawing the sword

Proper way to wear a samurai sword

#lord kogane #lord kogane slander #srtuc #samurai rabbit #this is just based on what I learned from that one kendo demonstration in april 23 #aghht srtuc posts #yuichi usagi #neo edo #srtuc analysis #analysis #tho not quite

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drawnaghht · 1 year

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re-listening to "Samurai Rabbit with Stan Sakai & The Usagi Chronicles Creative Team"

This week I have been re-listening to one of the longer interviews with Stan Sakai, Khang Le and Candie and Doug Langdale and I found a youtube version of it with official subtitles!! I can finally understand what some of the parts actually were about compared to before x3

Should I post a link to this? or links to others? reblog or comment! you can probably find it yourself if you're curious.

Or would anyone be interested in like, a summary of those interviews?

I've posted links to that and other interviews before, but this is one of the most extensive ones imo, so I thought it would be nice to post the link that here separately.

One thing I see the collective fandom voice out is how they don't like that it's about a young rabbit and not a direct adaptation (it wasn't up to the crew, they were brought on after the decision) and this interview actually gives answer to that and many other questions I've seen fans talk about publicly both on here and on twitter. (Like why there aren't phones or screens for example.) There's a nice intro about this aspect as well, how two fans of the og comic feel about this show when about to interview the author himself and how the main creative leads are also big nerds about the Usagi Yojimbo comicbook series. Stan Sakai and Khang Le mainly talk about the art and adaptation, as well as story of the show, while Candie and Doug talk about the creative writing parts of the show. They even talk about the music a bit! Reccomended listening if you like the show! This was also recorded before the final 10 episodes aired so it's fun hearing them tease the 2nd season again.

What's nice is that the interviewers themselves (the Comicbook Couples Counseling podcast), are fans of Usagi Yojimbo as well so they are very well-versed in the comic series, so the questions they ask are also very relevant... but also respectful to both the creators and the comic and cartoon! So it's a nice interview to listen to, from a very creative and mature perspective imo.

Seeing fans from different sides of both the TMNT and Usagi fandoms voice different opinions based on assumptions of the show has been a bit frustrating to see (maybe much less so if I only look at fanart, but it's been both "older" and younger fans), so this has been refreshing to re-listen to because it really only looks at the show from creative and collaborative viewpoints vs what people seem to assume that Netflix shows are all about - money and profit and keeping up only some sort of live-wire.

I personally really think the show probably could have had a bigger "impact" with the story if it took some bigger risks, but at the same time, they did their best with what they were given in terms of budget, which I'm remembering again after listening to the creative ways they had to avoid some shots or how some storylines got cut. It's a very creative and easy-going show to me, even if it's not "the best" in terms of what people have come to expect from cartoon shows for kids now.

It's also really interesting to listen to the interview again with subtitles and getting some of the context better (like how the makkine and spaceships, there was a certain inspiration they we're looking at outside of comics - "Robot Carnival" - an animated film I was only vaguely aware of before).

I also found the artist who did the layouts and special poses for the 2D sequences, which was so cool to find! I'm so glad that the Samurai Rabbit crew and artists have been proud to post their work on the series so far as I found a few artists' portfolios/galleries and blogs last month as well. Not gonna repost those (that's obviously just rude without permission and no one wants to get in trouble for that) but it would be cool to share links to those too if people were interested x3

anyway, it's amazing this show exists at all, whatever anyone else thinks.

#samurai rabbit #Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast #yuichi usagi #stan sakai #samurai rabbit usagi chronicles #usagi chronicles #samurai rabbit netflix #aghht srtuc posts #aghht fantalk #you can blacklist either of those tags if you don't like my long posts :'D #long post #interview #analysis #srtuc interview

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