Shi: The Mark for Clashing Swords
Celebrating 30 Years of Conflicts
I’m sure people who follow comics might recognize this character from somewhere.
Her name is Ana Ishikawa, a Bugeisha of two worlds. In the 90s, her story made a few sensations with merchandise spanning the decades. In contrast to another character who debuted around the same time, Lady Death, Shi’s a challenge to the Bad Girl trend.
Despite her costume and goal of revenge, the “Shi Killer” is a character at odds with herself. She wishes to avenge her father and brother in the ways of a sohei, Japanese warrior monks. But Ana also keeps the Catholic teachings of her missionary mother close to her soul. These naturally put Ana’s identity in turmoil with her wants and needs. Which is what made her such a compelling character. So influential, that her creator Billy Tucci made a comeback with her nearly 30 years later.
Quick Disclaimer
Billy and his wife Deborah have been in on-and-off associations with certain people. They range from being way too enthusiastic, obnoxious, to outright offensive. I think Billy also said something during the #ComicsBrokeMe trend. Nothing bigoted, just didn’t fit with mourning a creator who died too young.
Does this mean I’m going to try and say something like Shi can be separated from Tucci?
I’ll ask a more important question: Does it matter?
If you think it does, feel free to ignore this.
But this is about the core of an inspirational story, not the personality who created it. So if you’re thinking: “Aw screw it! I don’t even need to give the Tucci’s my cash if I read this.” You know where to look.
Shi: The Cycle of Death
The original 12 issue series revolves around two things that Tucci seems to admire. One is Bushido, the other is the values in his Catholic upbringing. Even historically this is a relevant thing because it was a clash between traditional Japanese values taken to their extremes and Catholic influence that nearly wiped out the sohei. Or maybe that was just artistic liberty on Tucci’s part.
In any case, Ana had two influences after the deaths in her family. Her white American mother who taught her Catholic values and her Japanese grandfather who taught her the ways of the sohei. It’s in the latter that Ana would prepare herself in a campaign against her father and brother’s killer Masahiro Arashi, a yakuza hitman turned Oyabun. She does this carrying the coin Arashi dropped years ago with the Kanji “Shi” on it.
Stationed in California, Arashi owns a successful Japanese art gallery along with a unique work culture. I mean he gives all of his employees Japanese names and has them train in Budo. It’s basically an eccentric recruitment tool for American-based Yakuza. Although women might not be included since Ana works as the gallery’s director. Know your enemy and keep them close I suppose.
So once Ana starts her campaign and hurts Arashi’s empire, she comes into the moral gray areas of it all. Including a gang war that breaks out in reaction, Ana’s budding romance with a police detective, clashing with her friend Tomoe, and the depths of Arashi’s character.
Arashi: A Storm In Character
Arashi, despite being a killer with a lot of blood on his hands still values the life of his employees, treating them like family and mourning their deaths like a samurai. This caused Ana to question her crusade since she expected Arashi and his underlings to be remorseless. Worse, this made Ana feel like she wasn’t living up to her Catholic values.
Even Arashi was losing the faith of his followers. When they discovered him keeping secrets, they were ready to turn against him. Yet, he showed patience to their aggression. Revealing that he did not want his employees to go down his path, giving the same patience to Ana when she reveals herself as Shi.
Because wouldn’t you know it, Arashi reveals that Ana’s father would’ve killed him if not for Ana stopping him. But when her brother attacked Arashi, it set off his and his father’s deaths.
Ready to commit seppuku and failing, he decides to take responsibility for his part in this massacre and go to jail as the Shi killer. Thus, Ana keeps both of the values of her dual identity, vowing to step away from the cycle of death.
The Meme of Shi
Throughout the entire franchise, it becomes apparent that Shi is much more than an adopted identity. It’s almost a force that gets people to act out of loyalty to something bigger than themselves. Like all symbols they can change for better and for worse.
Ana in particular inherited Shi from different parties. Starting way back with Ana’s ancestor Yuri Ishikawa a.k.a. Tora no Shi. The name alone can mean killing the tiger inside. Hence why she is on the musha shugyo. It’s basically a warrior’s meditation journey based on monk pilgrimages, often as a way of improving skills and achieving enlightenment above the petty violence. Doesn’t mean you can’t duel against figures like Miyamoto Musashi to see how far you still have to go.
But Shi is also used by Ana’s biological mother, the crimelord Shikuru. It turned out that Shikuru sent Arashi to kill her ex-boyfriend and that the coin Arashi left behind is her calling card. In this way, Shi is meant to evoke terror and fear to enemies. It also caused Shikuru to influence Ana to be more like her when Ana uses the kanji in her war with Arashi.
Similarly, there are times when the Shi mantle is passed around or influence people. When Ana is thought to be dead, her friend Tomoe takes up the Shi identity and campaign in Ana’s honor. So does her boyfriend Peter DeNyse in his own way when hitmen target people important to him. Despite people telling him it’s not worth throwing your life away. Didn’t get the memo the second time either when his rampage landed him in the slammer. Even a psychologist got caught up in the urban legend of Shi after getting it out of Arashi, becoming a copycat killer. Now it looks like Ana and Peter’s daughter Hotaru is on her way to being Shi.
Like any symbols that change over time, the meaning behind them clash. This turmoil caused Ana to distance herself from a few things about herself: divorcing Peter after his rampage, trying to keep Hotaru from learning sohei martial arts, and focusing on her work in the art gallery. But one way or another Shi comes back to change Ana’s life. It’s up to Ana to choose what path Shi will take. Continue the cycle of violence that her mother brought to the name, or finding a way to make some kind of peace with it.
Shi Does Not Mean The End
What makes Shi so memorable and worth going back to is finding the strength to challenge your identity. Shi was definitely one of the 90s Bad Girls, but she was more introspective compared to most of them. No indulging in pointless violence and instead reflecting on the fallout. It helps that she’s more literary in execution, especially with the Haikus that come up. Plus the inner turmoil that comes with what makes Ana up and how it affects her relationships is always great to look back on. Especially since it seems to get better with age.
So thanks for coming to the end and as always remember to look between the panels.