Technically, this is a well put together book. The problem, for me, is that it never rises above adequate. It has a very basic narrative structure where we meet the main character in the future and he is hounded into telling the reasons why he is so sad in present time. The rest of the issue is his story. And it’s…a classic samurai story. It’s not poorly told. Sakai’s art, once you realize there will be no rabbits or rhinos showing up, is consistent with his other work.

In order to make a classic story compelling, you have to add something to it. Even something as simple as, say, making the main character a rabbit instead of a human. That one alteration in the expected samurai story made me read the first 25 trade paperbacks of Usagi Yojimbo, even though I’m not a huge fan of samurai stories.

There’s no rabbit here. I’m not suggesting an actual rabbit character, but there needs to be something different. And there just isn’t. If you’re someone who loves samurai stories, this will probably be fine. But, for me, the best part of this book was the tree on the title page. After that, everything felt familiar, in the most tepid of ways.