Goodnow (see previous post) has a second article about Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai that’s also worth a read. Sakai doesn’t regard Usagi Yojimbo as manga, she writes, but as more of an American-style comic about a Japanese subject. What’s the difference?
“It’s like what the Supreme Court says about pornography: I can’t define it,” Sakai joked, “but I know it when I see it. It’s more the pacing of a story. You know how a story has a beginning, middle and end? (Manga) tend to concentrate more on the middle, and sometimes the end is non-existent, almost.”
It is hard to imagine that anyone has an end in sight for some of the longer manga series.
Special bonus fact:
The birth of Usagi coincided with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles craze of the mid-’80s, and a lot of cross-pollination occurred between the two comics. Usagi even appeared on the original “Turtles” animated series and was a Commodore 64 game character.
