Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Writer Wants an Usagi Yojimbo Crossover Series
The samurai rabbit has met the teenage turtles a few times in the past, and a writer for the franchise wants another meeting of these anthropomorphic brawlers.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made waves with their latest animated film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. The recent movie was such a success that a sequel is in the works and an animated series will arrive on Nickelodeon. While the Turtle Brothers have seen their fair share of crossovers in the past, with the likes of Batman and the Power Rangers, there has been one samurai rabbit that they've encountered a handful of times. A recent writer for the franchise confirmed that he wants to see another meet-up between the samurai and ninja.
Usagi Yojimbo first hit the scene in 1984 thanks to his initial comic book series, which has continued under the Dark Horse Comics' banner. Usagi and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles exist in different worlds, making a crossover between them normally meaning that either the turtle brothers or the samurai rabbit would have to some dimension hopping to facilitate the meet-up. In 1989, Usagi met the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in their original animated series, marking the first time that the samurai rabbit had hit the small screen. Usagi would return in the 2003 TMNT series, making the most appearances in any prior animated show. Finally, Usagi would return in the 2017 animated series with a computer-generated makeover.
Usagi x Turtles
In a recent interview with Cartoon Base, writer Ron Corcillo expressed an interest in seeing a new take on this familiar crossover. Corcillo was a writer for Rise of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which never had the opportunity to inject the samurai rabbit into its veins. Here's what Corcillo had to say when asked if he'd be down to create a new crossover, "Of course. Yojimbo crossovers are always fun. I could imagine one where his dimension has been overrun by the Krang, and he comes to our dimension to seek the Turtles' help because they're the only ones who have ever defeated the Krang."
Usagi Yojimbo's latest animated appearance arrived thanks to Netflix in Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles. Here's how the streaming service describes the recent series, "A teenage rabbit eager to become a true samurai teams up with his new warrior friends to protect their city from Yokai monsters, ninjas and evil aliens."