This feels like a turning point of some sort for Musashi. He's still on his quest to battle the greatest fighters in the land in his quest to become invincible, but the face off with the master of Yagyu is quite different than that of his battle with Inshun previously. In addition the character designs are are all very similar. Couple that with names I can't remember and it can be hard to distinguish who they are talking about or who I am even looking at. I understand it's historical but having the characters look and dress the same often with similar hair styles becomes monotonous and difficult to follow. Art - the art continues to be good. The line art and hatching techniques are ones that tend to make everything looks sort of dirty and dark and muddled to me. It's not as clean or as defined as some of my favorite manga. It does give it a unique look that can really work, but overall I feel it takes away clarity and adds a style I don't personally find appealing.

What sets Vagabond from other samurai-genre manga that I have read (Lone Wolf and Cub, Demon Slayer and Rurouni Kenshin) are these intimate, personal and philosophical battles between strong individuals. Nothing is loud and epic in scope, no over-the-top techniques, no grandiose spectacles of rivalries. Just quiet battles. And Takehiko Inoue lets us see through all these in his work. We are in there to experience it all. And the value that you can take away from Vagabond is deeper than popcorn entertainment, but something deeper than that.

Table of Contents

Dialogue - seems like a good translation, the dialogue is readable and appears to gel well with the intended vibe, setting, and characters. I feel much like Musashi when he first discovers Yagyū's invincibility, I want to revisit not only this volume but the whole series throughout my own spiritual journey and keep growing as the characters in this series do. Also Otsū is amazing and I'm clapping in joy right now Matahachi's That said - some of the fights look astounding - particularly the fight the ended book 5 when the surrogate father was facing off against the half naked drunk. And another excellent artistic moment was Musashi's fight against the school disciples. The way the art flows often completely without words or dialogue - reminds me of visual poetry. It guides your eye very well and the panel layout is almost uniformly excellent. I think this is the saving grace of the series for me. It often can have almost full chapters with no dialogue and still be exciting and visually guide your eye in a pleasing way. It's like taking in a poem - simple, graceful, and elegant.

He reunites with Otsu who he clearly has feelings for but realises that he could be cut down at any time and it would be unfair to once again leave her alone, the same goes for his young prone-to-crying disciple Jotaro. So he sets off alone, with the two of them trailing behind, unwilling to let him go.This volume is gracious, it is simplicity and perplexity, yet it bares no complexity, it's just that, potential. This is why I love Inoue's work he's a true sculptor, an artist, his work is helping me evolve as Musashi is. Sekishūsai's sequence in this volume was unbeatable, so grand !

The volume opens with the continuation of Musashi vs the Yagyu disciples wherein he shows his new confidence and mastery learned from his battles with the Hozoin as he attempts to fight his way to the renowned Sekishusai who, unbeknownst to Musashi, lies ill under the nursing hand of Otsu. Despite being a favourite of the master of the Yagyu and finally having found something apporaching a family in her new community Otsu finds herself discontented as she pines for Takezo and recalls her old life with sadness. As is becoming a common trope in the story Otsu proves to be both an unwitting and a purposeful distraction to Musashi in his contest against the Yagyu, nearly costing him his life. Otsu and Musashi have a bittersweet reunion in which Otsu discovers an inner strength in the midst of her longing and Musashi sees that for all of his devotion to the way of the sword he still has even deeper longings. Musashi finally reaches Sekishusai, again facing off against a master in an unconventional battle of wills, and (yet again) comes face to face with his unpreparedness. The ghost of his vengeful and violent father comes to haunt him and show the dichotomy between his initial belief in strength and conquest above all vs the inner strength and peace of the true masters he is beginning to face. The bestial nature and raw strength of Musashi is once again shown to be inadequate to true mastery of the sword. Musashi moves on leaving Otsu and Jotaro to follow in the wake of his search for another challenge.