So, where do I start about this absolute jewel of a manga. Should I talk about the art, the story, the author or the main man mushashi himself. Everything in this manga was a perfect 10 baring just one thing that I personally wasn't very fond of, which I would talk about in the end.

The plot of the manga follows primarily Takezo aka Mushashi on his journey to become arguably the greatest swordsmen that ever lived. The story follows the trials and hardship he faced along the journey. The aspect of the story that I liked the most was the fact that the author stressed on the importance of mental growth to be stronger rather than purely focusing on the physical growth. Throughout the story Mushashi piece by piece put together the answer to his question, "What it meant to be truly strong?" unlike most of the manga wherein the MC just magically gets the answer during the fight. Also, another surprisingly great story was that of Mushashi's friend Matahachi. It was a side story but hell it was so good. The side story focused on the lazy and lost Matahachi and how he learnt to be kind and courageous.

Being a character driven story , the characters were of sublime importance. And herein where the manga truly excelled. Each character was extremely well written with their specific set of back stories, quirks, motivations and ambitions. Even though Mushashi was well written I personally felt that it was Matahachi who was the most well written and real character. He had dreams, he faltered, he got lost, he got angry, he started to hate himself though with time he picked himself up. Isn't it what happens in reality too? Most of us get lost in life when we don't know what to do next but in time and with different experiences we pick ourselves up and possibly go on the right track. Unlike mushashi who was exceptional in himself, most of the readers would relate more with more human characters like Matahchi and Otsu. Otsu too was pretty well written character. The only faulty character was Sasaki Koujiro in my opinion. He was deaf and mute, and honestly the most difficult character to write. Even though the author has done commendable work, yet something felt missing in him compared to other characters. Even after around 60 odd chapters dedicated to him I felt Sasaki didn't have any ambitions or growth of any kind. He was the most difficult to relate to, even though there have been other pretty well written characters who were differently abled. I for one felt Sasaki existed in the story just for Mushashi to have a strong opponent and nothing else.

The artwork was flawless wherein I or no one should have any complaints. Each panel was just a work of beauty, nothing short of what you would expect from Inoue sensei. It was by far the most beautifully drawn manga I have ever read.


What more can I say, I for one was blown away by this manga and was hooked. And when I say hooked I mean that I read about 100+ chapters a day which never happens. For all people reading this review stop reading this and do go read the manga. You will absolutely love it.