Michael: One of the most famous opening shots in film is the tracking shot that begins Orson Welles’ A Touch of Evil. But I mean, come on, what’s cooler than meeting him like this? Michael, how did you like this issue? I’m a big fan of Usagi Yojimbo, so any excuse to revisit the character or the world is going to be a slam dunk for me, but without knowing what to expect from this series, I could see where it’d be weird to not meet our main character for 17 pages. On the very next page, Sakai’s letters column spells out the historical context, further placing us ahead of the inspector and his ronin friend. Which of course means that when a dead samurai is wearing a cross around his neck, this too is “very complicated.” At the end of the issue, the mystery narrows for the reader in the same moments it broadens for our heroes. I love Ishida laughing off Usagi’s questions with a simple “their beliefs are very complicated.”
Usagi and Inspector Ishida are calling them “Kirishitans,” and their conversation pretty obviously reveals who they’re talking about while still holding Christians at arms-length. We learn about what motivated the riders at the same time Usagi does, though a western reader is likely to get ahead of our detective pretty quickly. I love seeing Usagi in this detective role, trying to piece together what went down in the first three-quarters of this issue. Then, 17 pages into the first issue, we finally meet our actual hero: Usagi Yojimbo. Cultural awareness is the best survival tool demonstrated in this issue. His pursuers end up thwarted by something very specific to that time and space. And it’s not complicated: he stumbles into a fabric dyers workshop, and knocks down the supports that are hanging the flags, banners and tapestries out to dry. While the samurai hoped to use the inherent confusion of the city to make their escape, the thief uses his actively knowledge to get away. The thief character is at home both between and within the buildings that make up the city. That’s when Sakai finally introduces us to an expert - not an expert in what’s going on, but an expert in the setting. It’s an anxiety-producing setting, made all the more stressful by the fact that both our samurai-hero characters end up dying trying to escape it. For the reader and the characters, it is a dense, non-navigable labyrinth. Sakai keeps his camera close to his characters, never giving the reader an opportunity to get above the rooftops to try to divine a path through the streets themselves. The setting here is so specific - a chase through the narrow streets and alleyways of an ancient Japanese city. As is common practice for Sakai, those are the details that bring 16th century Japan to life. Robbed of the context of why these riders are in such a hurry - a question that Sakai even puts in the mouths of the city guard - we are left to find meaning in the other details on the page. There’s an incredibly exciting dynamic right from the beginning, steeped in mystery, but heavy in detail. They are pursued by small band of riders who reject the idea that they can even be hassled. Two riders approach the city gates, and the guards hassle them for their papers before letting them through the door. Writer and artist Stan Sakai introduces us to this story from a place of relative ambiguity. Usagi Yojimbo: The Hidden 1 takes the exact opposite route, making damn sure that the East is familiar and the West is exotic. For whatever argument you can make for Anderson’s reverence of the language and the culture (to say nothing of employing a bunch of Japanese actors and film folk), there’s no denying that the Japanese-ness of Isle of Dogs is meant to be novel and out of the ordinary.
A note tells us early on that barks and translated into English, but Japanese will remain untranslated (unless when done diegetically). The dogs that we follow around, who are the heroes of this story, are all voiced, speaking English, by white American actors.
It’s cute, moody and starkly graphic - it fulfills the promise made by the phrase “Directed by Wes Anderson.” But the film also has a weird relationship with its setting: the Japanese language and and culture represent the alien in its own country. Patrick: I saw the new Wes Anderson movie, Isle of Dogs, this weekend. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!
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