These are more so just general thoughts I had and less about things that I liked or didn't like. They may seem more like criticisms or critiques but as stated above, this story hasn't reached it's conclusion just yet. So it would be harder to judge or critique as of right now vs once I have completed an arc. 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. Since they're primarily visual you would think that means comics would have an easier time of giving readers Great fight scenes... And yet I find it even more difficult to come up with any Great fight scenes from comics than I can from books. This is because its even more of a pain in the ass to maintain a kinetic flow and pace that a good fight scene needs with still images with word bubbles than it is with just words. If you're a good writer or storyteller there's at least a chance that the prose of your fight scene will have good rhythm and beats. Superhero comics are especially disappointing in this regard, and may explain why the writers and artists typically overcompensate with absurd feats for superheroes and super-villains. I'm a geeky male in my early twenties so I've seen my fair share of shonen anime, but the typical drawn out nature of most of the fights in the sub-genre have wiped out any desire of mine to see if the original manga versions of, say, Dragon Ball Z and Bleach have better paced fights (well, that, and their sheer daunting length). Before I reveal the reason why I decided to give the second volume of VIZBIG's edition of Vagabond 4 3/4 stars some caveats: I haven't read much manga period (looking to remedy that somewhat this year) and most of what I have read were rom-coms, and while I have read a lot of comics in the past two or so years the fact remains I only became a regular reader of graphic novels two or so years ago. Miyamoto Musashi is better at learning from his mistakes; while he is not the sharpest katana in the armory, he’s partially grasped the concept of critical thinking and examining his own mindset. Still has a long way to go before being the best swordsman in Japan though. I read and appreciated the first omnibus of Takehiko Inoue's samurai manga Vagabond late last year, but only got around to reading the second volume just now.

All in all I can now say I'm completely hooked, I love this series wholeheartedly and I'm super excited to see where it's heading !

I really liked Inshun, he reminds me of another warrior monk, Aang the Last Airbender. Both smile a lot, have bald heads can be terrifying when it comes to battle. Musashi decides he must face Inshun of the great Hozoin warrior monks, even though he barely survived his last duel it seems he really has his heart set on getting killed as efficiently as possible. Volume 6, The first half way great, I didn't love the end as much as I did the first half only because I despise Matahachi as a character but I believe that is the authors incentive. So I appreciate what Inoue has done to create conflict and drama in the plot. Nevertheless I loved it ! Volume 4, the introduction to Musashi's growth was intriguingly lovely, I loved the philosophical growth and seeing the barriers in which he was beginning to overcome.

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. 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 ! First, I noticed a severe decline in terms of dynamic and interesting characters this time around in Volume 2. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. It is what it is. Where in Volume 1 we had the aloof Takuan, the lazy, yet incrediblely gifted Seijuro, and his contrasting brother Denshichiro. This time around we were dealt Inshun and I'nei. Who...don't get me wrong are fine but they aren't anything to rave about. Inshun is Seijuro but with a spear/pole and I'nei is the most stereotypical 'sensei' character you could have. His motivations and character are fine. But I've seen it done a million times before. 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.If I have to be honest, despite the cool action sequences and the fact that Inoue tries to make it historically accurate, it has started to become rather repetitive. Miyamoto Musashi is a marvellous character and reminds me of both Goku from Dragon Ball and Naruto from the Naruto series. In these volumes, the demon within him isn't as evident as in the first omnibus but this is because he is distracted romantically, Otsu can't seem to steer clear of the corridors of his mind. This impacts his fighting and his general awareness of his surroundings, his instinct itself, has, in fact, a different vibe to it.

Musashi is distracted by thoughts of his other childhood friend, the lovely Otsu. She’s now the servant of a master of the Yagyu style of swordsmanship, who Yoshioka Denshichiro has come to train with in preparation for his next duel with Musashi. I enjoy Miyamoto, and for his age, he is very believable. I just find him to be overwhelmingly dull at times. He is so self absorbed with strength. That isn't enough to bring his character down to dull, but he has a childhood love interest that compels him to be 'distracted.' I'm guessing it was made to make his character more relatable, but I feel as if the cliche love interest doesn't do anything for me. It's just another thing Miyamoto has to go through. I was much more into the abusive relationship with his father but that has again been held absent and shrouded in intrigue.Real-life figure Miyamoto Musashi was the most celebrated samurai of all time. The quintessential warrior-philosopher, Musashi authored A Book of Five Rings, a classic treatise in the canon of world philosophy and military strategy. But the path to enlightenment is an endless journey, and to get there through violent means—by way of the sword—makes mere survival an even greater challenge. 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.