Yuichi Usagi Character Design & Reference

Another samurai rabbit design, this time being Yuichi Usagi, known as Miyamoto's descendant in the Usagi Chronicles (but his uncle in my fanon). These references are awesome since I can go back and make more outfits or alternative looks and styles later when I think of them, but having a base to work with is always good no matter what project. Doing this kind of art also relieves me of my other projects, especially when I get to think about how these characters interact with each other and in the universe I throw them into. For example, Yuichi is usually very serious about missions and results, he just shows it in a funny, not-so-serious way. He thinks it's all easy, that he won't get hurt, and that all he has to do is beat stuff up better than they can beat him up. It can sound "un-serious" but it's more naivety and not knowing about real consequences yet. In my fanon, he's the exact same way, except instead of having characters like Gen, Kitsune, Chizu, his Auntie, Chikabuma, or Tetsujin around him to cover his mistakes or point out that he's going about it all wrong, he only has Shuji. If you don't remember, Shuji wants to be just like Yuichi, but he's aware of his brother's patterns and has no choice but to be upfront and honest about how to handle things. I imagine if Yuichi has a hard time being grounded by 3, 4, 6 people, then no doubt he has problems listening to his one and only younger brother-- but here's the difference. He KNOWS how the world works here. He knows what happens to people who don't fight back, he knows what happens to people who DO fight back, and he knows what happens to people when he's the aggressor. He's not any smarter or thoughtful in my fanon, he's not even more experienced, but you know what? He didn't grow up isolated on his Auntie's farm, with the impossible dream of becoming the greatest samurai rabbit the world has ever seen considering his ancestor was accused of traitorous acts against the shogun. He grew up in the harrowing Hidden City, surrounded by Battle Nexus enthusiasts and fanatics, surrounded by big buff Yokai dripping acid out of their mouths, surrounded by media influences, and surrounded by danger. The only place that is safe in the Hidden City is whenever he is with his brother, wherever that is. Yuichi, in this fanon, has had so much more exposure to what the world is without even seeing or knowing about the topside. He doesn't fight any differently, he doesn't act any differently, he just gets it. He knows that there is always a possibility of dying-- or worse, being captured for Big Mama's Battle Nexus and being forced to fight endless battles "for glory". That's not the life of a Samurai.

And yet, that's the hand he gets dealt. Some time after Shuji and his wife Mizuki have their firstborn child, Yuichi takes Shuji out for a brotherly outing, and they're both kidnapped and forced to fight in the Nexus. This timeline comes after the greatest BN champion, Lou Jitsu, so don't worry, there are no plot holes. Miyamoto (Shuji's son / Yuichi's nephew) would be around the same age as Raph. The reasoning for this is that Big Mama was desperate to have her arena filled, so she sought out different Yokai in the city and set her eyes on a pair of skilled samurai rabbits. Of course, white rabbit yokai fighters would be an excellent underdog story, if they made it to the end, that is.

So there's some story, backstory, frontstory, story-story. I have two more Usagi designs and then many outfits to come in the future I'm sure, but instead of posting a million variations of the same character, I can just come back and edit these posts to include new images, so I will update these accordingly when I get to that stage. In the meantime, please enjoy the design and feel free to share your own thoughts or theories on these guys!