Stan Sakai’s Usagi the ‘Samurai Rabbit’ gets the spotlight on Netflix

With news of numerous Netflix series getting the ax recently, it’d be wise to watch, rewatch and urge others to try the shows you’d like to see stick around.

A personal choice (and a show all four of my kids enjoy): The new animated series, “Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles” takes inspiration from Stan Sakai’s acclaimed comic book series, “Usagi Yojimbo.”

The new show, aimed at kids ages 7 and up, focuses on Yuichi Usagi, a teenage descendent of Sakai’s original rabbit ronin, Miyamoto Usagi, and his quest to fight Yokai (supernatural entities from Japanese folklore) and become a famed samurai.

Sakai’s “Usagi” comics, which began in the ’80s and still run to this day, mostly focus on the Edo period of Japanese history, replacing humans with talking animals and featuring stories inspired by folk tales and history. There’s quite a bit of murder in those comics, so it makes sense that the series on Netflix finds a more family-friendly entry point for younger audiences.

“Samurai Rabbit” opens with Yuichi Usagi (and his pet lizard/dinosaur-thing Spot, yeep, yeep!) moving from his aunt’s farm to the big city, where he quickly makes trouble with various street gangs (including a batch of creatures who snap their paws like they’re in a production of “West Side Story”). Hoping to become a samurai without the help of an experienced sensei, Usagi fumbles into inadvertently releasing hundreds of Yokai, including a giant, bug-looking one who hopes to take control of the city.

Usagi at least makes a few unlikely friends, including bounty hunter rhino Gen (inspired by the original Usagi’s go-to ally), ninja-with-secrets Chizu and thief-with-a-heart-of-gold Kitsune. Together they wrangle various Yokai while Usagi tries to disprove the infamous stories about his namesake descendent.

With a colorful CGI palette, “Samurai Rabbit” mixes traditional Japanese design and cultural elements with futuristic upgrades in the form of flying trolleys and various gadgets, called robottos. The series also intercuts some 2D animation when showing flashbacks and visions of the OG Usagi.

While the animation is mostly crisp, the show’s numerous action sequences can be somewhat uneven with slower, clunkier swordplay and unmemorable fight choreography. It could be that the characters’ combat inexperience factors into that approach, and the show’s Y7 rating rightfully limits the physical impact of all the sharp, pointy things.

Still, the series would benefit from more dynamic battles. By comparison, the OG Usagi’s guest appearances in various “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” animated series, and most notably the 2012-era Nickelodeon CGI series, demonstrates how much more potential there is for better anthropomorphic animal combat.

That complaint aside, this first season of “Samurai Rabbit” mixes solid humor and character development, with Usagi and his allies each getting some compelling backstories. The adversaries are fun too, with a combination of bizarre comic relief-type baddies and more formidable antagonists. Each of the 10 episodes contain their own mini-conflict while still building a satisfying season arc.

Fans of “Usagi” might take a passing glance at “Samurai Rabbit” and think it’s not close enough to what they love about the comics. However, Sakai, while not a writer on the series, is involved as an executive producer, and the show quickly establishes itself as its own thing while still honoring the origins of the characters and comic universe.

The entire first season of “Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles” is streaming on Netflix.

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Tyler Wilson is a member of the International Press Academy and has been writing about movies and pop culture for Inland Northwest publications since 2000, including a regular column in The Press since 2006. He can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.”