Usagi Yojimbo, Book 17: Duel at Kitanoji

In this collection, Usagi continues his journey to the appointment with his master where the fateful duel will be fought. On the way, he meets up with Lone Goat and Kit again, which is a delightful interlude. Eventually, he meets his master's challenger by chance and they decide to travel together. On the way, Usagi grows closer to the man but continues to urge him to not go through with the duel.

Eventually, Usagi, his master, his challenger, and his master's pupils reunite in a village under siege by bandits. All conflict must be put aside so that the bandits can be driven off. This gives Usagi a chance to bond with his secret son, although he continues to try to hide his paternity. At the end, the much anticipated duel is fought and show more Usagi's teacher comes out the victor. He decides to go on a religious pilgrimage to honor the man who he just killed. This leaves Usagi to travel with his son.

I loved this collection a lot. Sometimes these books are just magic. show less

An ongoing storyline about the swordmasters' duel gets concluded.

I had a lot of expectations for this one, and was kinda disappointed that the duel itself is super rushed at the end of the book. The volume fills more like filler, as the first couple issues are unrelated one-shots and the second half's main focus is a pretty generic "save the town from bandits" story. But mediocre Usagi is still great reading and the characters are all so fun.

The first half isn't as good as the second half, with "Crows" being the stand-out (multi-part) story but overall "Duel" is another solid entry.