[MINOR SPOILER WARNING]


I don’t like to use too often the word “perfection”, since in my belief, from the common use of it, the word itself might tend to lose it's valor, and of course, very few manga can correlate with that word in particular.

However, “perfection” is a word that absolutely fits this manga, Vagabond is beyond great, from every aspect you may look at it, it is usually regarded as a Martial Arts/Combat Seinen, but the story goes much more deep than that.

Duels and battles, even though are astonishing, are just one aspect of this fantastic work by Inoue sensei, that one aspect leds you to a variety of profound thoughts involving philosophical themes, it makes you to seriously reflect on yourself as a person as you get deeper in the story, you get attach in the characters mind throughout their own journey.

The development of the main character through the series is amazingly well written by the author, and as he gets closer on his goal of becoming “Invincible under the Heavens” through the way of the sword, makes him wonder on every step he takes as if questioning if that’s what he really wants, “What is true strength?".

A key point on his development in which he gets to another level of maturity is after the Battle of Ichijoji-Sagarimatsu, where he slaughters the remaining members of the Yoshioka clan, that battle, is the best one that I’ve read in any manga, no unnecessary dialogs, no forced power ups by the protagonist, no flashbacks to interrupt the pace of the battle, just a guy swinging his sword to the best of his skill, cutting down foe after foe while on a "mushin" state of mind. What Inoue draw on this was taken out of perfection, it makes the reader mind get completely immerse in the battle scenes where you almost feel you're "in the zone" just like Musashi.

Regarding the Art of the manga, it feels like is drawn by angels, Takehiko Inoue might be the greatest mangaka ever when it comes to the art, as he has already demonstrated in his different works; the art is definitely one of Vagabond’s most impressive aspects, you might get goosebumps just by looking at some of the panels, I personally even just stared at some of the panels for minutes just to appreciate how beautiful they are in it’s entirety.

I could expand myself much more on what this makes this work fascinating but I think I’d never end, so you should discover by yourself once you embark on this journey.

To end this, I just would like to let you know that even thought it’s currently on hiatus, Vagabond is an absolute masterpiece among great manga and a top contender (if not the champion) for the title of the “best manga of all time”.