It was announced this time last year that Netflix and Gaumont Animation would be teaming up to produce Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles, a CGI animated series based on creator Stan Sakai‘s iconic sword-wielding rabbit, Usagi Yojimbo. Today during Stan Sakai and the Usagi Chronicles Comic-Con@Home panel, a first look as well as the voice cast for the animated series were revealed.
As previously announced, Samurai Rabbit will follow Yuichi Usagi (voiced by Darren Barnet), a descendant of Miyamoto Usagi, in the far future. Joining Yuichi are a ragtag team of misfit heroes including the street performer and thief fox Kitsune (Shelby Rabara), the rhino bounty hunter Gen (Aleks Le), and the cat kunoichi Chizu (Mallory Low). Also along for the journey is Spot, Yuichi’s pet tokage, dinosaur-like lizards featured in the original comics.
The plot of the series will focus on Yuichi after he accidentally releases the yokai demons his ancestor trapped in the Ki Stone, a mystical crystal that powers the city of Neo Edo.
As Sakai teased, though the animated series focuses on the descendants of the Usagi Yojimbo characters, the original Miyamoti Usagi will be making appearances in the new animated series in a new twist. Sequences featuring Miyamoti or characters’ past history will be rendered in 2D.
Obviously, characters in Usagi Yojimbo have repeatedly appeared in guest appearances in various iterations of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. However, this is the first time that that Sakai’s iconic character has headlined their own series since first appearing in print in 1984. It’s been a long time coming but definitely worth the wait!
Towards the end of the panel, the a 2D seqence and a CGI test were shown. You can see it and the whole panel below.
Stay tuned for release date details as they become available.
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