Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai
Simplicity has long been the hallmark of Sakai’s stories of a wandering rabbit samurai and his various trials throughout a flawlessly researched historical Japan. To help celebrate the comic-book series’ twenty-fifth year comes its first original graphic novel (and, unusually, in full color, too). The tale is a simple one: Usagi follows a tricky fox spirit into a demon-infested wood at the behest of a mother who has lost her child therein. Whereas Sakai’s narrative minimalism is deceptive over the course of the series—small events and intrigues form a much larger tapestry that produces an epic sweep—in this stand-alone tale, the simplicity makes for a story that is essentially one large fight scene. It’s a cool fight scene, to be sure, with the dogged samurai taking on a phantasmagoria of weird spirits and demons lifted from Japanese folklore and meeting up with an ancient demon hunter who holds the key to the story’s somewhat predictable twist. A light read elevated by Sakai’s gorgeous images and masterfully unfussy composition. Grades 4-7. --Jesse Karp