Tomoe Ame
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Tomoe Ame is an important supporting character in the anthropomorphic comic book, Usagi Yojimbo loosely based on the famous female samurai, Tomoe Gozen.
She is a samurai of the Geishu clan and serves as Lord Noriyuki's personal bodyguard and closest advisor.
As a kitten, she was trained by her father out of admiration for her extraordinary skill with the katana and she fulfilled that hope as she excelled with the weapon. In fact, she had an early altercation in her youth with Miyamoto Usagi where he childishly picked a fight and paid for it when she defeated him, but Tomoe still found him cute. However, when she was older and despite being a superior fighter than her brother, her father bluntly told her that she could not succeed him at the head of his martial art school, but was to be a courtesan in his daimyo's court for political advantage. This crushing blow extended to before her appointment as she now was forbidden to spar with her brother to avoid embarrassing him although she was still allowed to find some solace practicing in solitude.
On the day of her presentation to the court, an official Tomoe's father suspected of treachery realized Tomoe's secret role and advised his lord that she be assigned to the woman's wing exclusively. Once assigned, Tomoe proved ill suited to the traditional servant tasks with clumsy accidents. Although she still practiced with her sword, her immediate superior ordered her to stop, but the Daimyo's wife overheard and had Tomoe assigned as a guard of the wing.
This proved most fortituous as the suspected official one night let in a company of the Neko Ninja to assassinate the household. During the incident, Tomoe's unit was attacked, but Tomoe slew the ninja and took his sword as she rushed to protect the Lady. She found the Lady and her son, Noriyuki, besieged by ninja and about to be overwhelmed. With a battlecry, Tomoe attacked the assailants and defeated them with a fury that left the Lady awestruck. As a result, the deeply impressed Lady immediately assigned Tomoe as personal bodyguard to her son, a privileged position she still holds.
When Noriyuki's father died, the young panda lord was escorted to the main family palace with Tomoe among his guards. Unfortunately, the Neko Ninja attacked and killed most of the retainers except for Tomoe. Together, she and her lord fled and eventually met Myamoto Usagi for the first time, at least to Tomoe and Usagi's recollection, and he was instrumental in helping the pair to their destination safely. This adventure was the first of many adventures Tomoe and Usagi would have together in which a strong friendship developed.
Recently, the pair has started to share fleeting moments that suggest a deeper love that both are only now willing to admit. In particular in Vol. 3, #89, Tomoe, after some disturbing dreams, requests Usagi's company for the remainder of the night although the exact nature of that company is not revealed. Furthermore, Stan Sakai noted the stories in the early Fantagraphics Books color specials, in which Usagi and Tomoe shared adventures together were to be chronically placed between #89 and #90.
However at present, Lord Noriyuki has been persuaded by a hostile advisor to arrange for Tomoe to be married, despite the fact that she expressed no such desire to him. Tomoe's initial reaction to this imposition, and Usagi's, has not been depicted yet. However, in #93, the pair partake in a traditional tea ceremony ritual that ends with the pair obviously gripped with a quietly bleak attitude as Usagi departs the Geishu province with a quiet farewell from a distance to Tomoe. As Sakai revealed that the marriage arrangements to a neighboring and unsightly lord will be an underlying plot thread for the future, the question of whether Tomoe will be freed from this painful obligation remains unresolved for now.
[edit] Trivia
- Tomoe Ame's name is unusual in that it is the only one in the series that is given name first-family name last. In keeping with Japanese custom, it would normally be read as "Ame Tomoe"; however, Stan Sakai named the character after a candy he once liked as a child called "Tomoe Ame" (similar to Botan Rice Candy).
- Tomoe Ame also appeared in the 2003 TMNT cartoon, in the episode The Real World, Part 1.
- Tomoe is one of the most popular characters with fans of the book with many requesting she and Usagi become romantically involved. Stan Sakai has been largely non-committal on this request, but has teased readers with suggestions of such a relationship developing.
