Although presented as a fable, Usagi Yojimbo is an adventure story where characters could have been replaced by actual humans and nothing would be lost.

This volume containing three story arcs and several short stories is great. Although art is cartoonish (you wont see detailed characters like in [b:Blacksad|7342071|Blacksad (Blacksad, #1-3)|Juan Díaz Canales|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1548754692s/7342071.jpg|534073] for example) stories are very serious, people and characters actually die and Usagi is not a super-hero capable of getting out of every situation. Not once he is found at the mercy of his enemies or betrayed by his allies but with his cool demeanor and lightning fast swordsmanship he finally manages to succeed.

Regarding art as I said it is cartoonish but with great level of detail (after finding out that Stan Sakai worked on Groo comic it clicked because way of presentation is very similar - lots and lots of background details). There is no gore and blood but it is more than obvious when any of the characters on the panel die in battle.

Do note that all art is in black and white here (they say colored comics are great but did not have privilege to see them) but for me it is truly great.

If you are looking for sword-wielding-ronin-samurai stories do not look anywhere else. You are at the right place :)

Highly recommended. ( )

A great collection of stories, ranging from okay to good to great. Sakai seems to be pretty consistent in writing entertaining, occasionally informative stuff. The notes at the end were a nice addition, providing sources in Japanese history for his research and inspiration. ( )