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VAGABOND VIZBIG ED GN VOL 02 (MR) (C: 1-0-0): Enlightenment VIZBIG Edition: Volume 2 (Vagabond (VIZBIG Edition))

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Matahachi isn't given much time in this omnibus but when he is, he steals the identity of a famous swordsman, that of Sasaki. Overall, I enjoyed the character development in Musashi, he seems to be more of a human and less of a demon, especially since the mountains were his only mentors, and that was a nice touch. He finds a new sensei to train under and now his goal is apparently to defeat Inshun. Miyamoto's heart did grow softer especially after he defeated the Yoshioka clan. I'm not even sure who set it on fire yet. As the first samurai manga I am currently reading, Vagabond by Takehiko Inoue has become an instant favourite based on reading the first volume, which has already done a lot in establishing the life-changing transition from Takezō Shinmen to Musashi Miyamoto, whose goal in life is to become invincible under the sun. But can you do the same with novels and comic books? As someone who labeled a shelf action even I would struggle with singling out a significant number of fight scenes from books as capital-G Great. There are several authors I've read and admired who when the time came in their story for an action setpiece it came across as merely serviceable more often than not. And I don't think any less of them for it because it's damn hard to create the visuals and motion that is necessary to a good fight scene with mere words. The closest literary equivalent would be every time an author describes the current location of their characters, but when it comes to scenery the author doesn't have to worry about the flow and pacing of their writing nearly as much they need to when it comes to describing a sword fight, or a shootout, or a wizard duel, or a battle between two armies. The successor to the Hōzōin spear style, Inshun, has his own issues. He’s a natural combat genius who has never known “fear”, or had a truly serious challenge to his skills until now. Thus his growth has stalled; Inshun must learn how to deal with defeat to become stronger. His multi-chapter duel with Musashi is the centerpiece of this volume. I will admit that it initially took me a while to regain my footing in the ongoing narrative, and remember all the characters sufficiently, but once I got past that, the story seemed an improvement via accumulation in comparison to the previous volume. I would not say that the character of Miyamoto Musashi has yet gained any true depth – he still comes across as rather flat – but the character gallery around him is starting to make up for it. Also, while there is still a lot of violence (one fight seems to be going on for an near endless number of chapters) there is much less carnage in this volume. And perhaps it allows hints of character growth for Musashi as well.

During their time together, the monk dissects Musashi’s biggest dilemma, which is his desire to be with his childhood friend Otsū, who is now off on her own journey. Considering that Musashi is the main character of this series, Inoue is also interested to give every character their own narrative, including faces who we thought we never see again, such as Matahachi’s horrid mother Osugi. Following Musashi’s numerous battles with other warriors, we even get to see their side in the larger narrative as they are preparing to take down the eponymous vagabond. If the high point for Miyomoto Mashashi in the first volume was his declaration that he was going to become invincible under the sun, his low point was almost being beaten to death in a duel before being rescued by his long suffering friend Matahatchi.

Table of Contents

At seventeen years of age, Miyamoto Musashi—still known by his childhood name, Shinmen Takezō—was a wild young brute just setting out along the way of the sword.

There are no stakes. The action scenes, though well drawn, feel tedious because the end goal is just "Mushashi feels stronger." The historical setting has almost no bearing on the story. This could have been any figjt manga where the main character just wants to get stronger. Only even those (even something as thin as dragon ball z) have some semblance of a plot. That'd all be frustrating enough, but the very foundation of vagabond is flawed. When I heard it's a fantastical take on a real life master samurai, i was immediately hooked. I was looking forward to the historical, grounded setting, and maybe a political plot Mushashi gets swept up in. But nah. It's just Mushashi going from enemy to enemy trying to get "stronger." That's his sole goal.

The art is stellar, but much of the credit for the plot and characterization must go to Eiji Yoshikawa, author of the novel this manga is an adaptation of. It kept me thinking and rereading to fully encompass what Takehiko Inoue was conveying, it was beautiful I loved every minute of it ! While fight scenes in film and animation require infinitely more exhaustive time, effort, and manpower to create they have one all-important advantage over comics and literature when it comes to action: motion. Again with Volume 5, it was astounding. The humanity and resilience displayed was astonishing. It was by far my favourite volume so far, as we delve right into human consciousness and morality, these aspects captivated my attention and began rewiring the neurones in my brain !

Chapters not yet in volume format [ ] These chapters have yet to be published in a tankōbon volume. Matahachi’s on the run because of the arson thing, and a chance encounter allows him to also reinvent himself as the respected warrior Sasaki Kojirō. His sections of the story are tragicomedy, as he keeps having good intentions, but the flaws in his character prevent him from following through in a crisis, and we watch him make excuse after excuse for doing less than he ought.There’s a lot of violence in this volume, some of it quite bloody. There’s also a brief sex scene with female nudity–this is a “mature readers” title. It's difficult to rate these incredible anthologies as individual volumes when they so clearly function in tandem with the other installments. It's one huge, epic story and to rate one over the other is like favoring a chapter of a novel over the others. They all work together evenly and effectively to create a stunning piece of art. Although this has been marketed as a seinen manga, in which the demographic is young adult men, I feel like Vagabond has in common with shōnen manga as not only Musashi’s arc of being the strongest is not far off from Goku in Dragon Ball, but also the action plays a crucial part in both storytelling and characterisation. The major set-piece of this volume is when we arrive at the Hōzōin-ryū school of spearmanship, where Musashi fights Inshun Hōzōin, the second-generation master of the Hōzōin spear technique. Devoting seven chapters to this one fight, it is a masterclass of action, in that it’s not just a case of hitting one another, but also strategy and what the two fighters are feeling.

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