Usagi Yojimbo: Ten Thousand Plums #1: The Courage of the Plum

It’s Stan’s world, we just rent space as he continues to deal out great story after great story. Enter his latest adventure (a continuation in the series, but a great place to jump on), our hero and his companions (Gen and Yukichi) come upon a forest of the storied plums, but what they don’t know is what lurks beyond.

The harsh setting sees a mother and her sick child in dire need of warm shelter; however, accommodations aren’t coming easy. The citizens seem on edge and bereft of empathy. Meanwhile, our adventurers stumble upon the Shogun’s guards, and they have zero time for inquiries. Our heroes quickly clear their names of any malice but are shooed away like rodents in a barn. But why? What is the Shogun protecting? Is it just the plums? What lurks in the woods? and by chance, are they trying to contain it or are they waiting to unleash it? 

The appearance of the Shogun’s goons can’t be just great timing; something is in those woods and it’s not just plums! Then Thousand Plums #1 is a fabulous start to another great adventure with everyone’s favorite samurai. There’s a comfortableness in Sakai’s work that resonates from generation to generation, and  Ten Thousand Plums is not different.