Vagabond

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: バガボンド

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 37

Chapters: 327

Status: On Hiatus

Published: Sep 3, 1998 to May 21, 2015

Genres: Action, Adventure, Award Winning

Themes: Historical, Samurai

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Morning

Authors: Inoue, Takehiko (Story & Art), Yoshikawa, Eiji (Story)

Statistics

Score: 9.25¹ (scored by 146,261 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #3²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #14

Members: 386,990

Favorites: 42,329

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9.25

Ranked #3Popularity #14Members 386,990

MangaMorningInoue, Takehiko (Story & Art), Yoshikawa, Eiji (Story)

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Volumes: /37

Chapters: /327

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Synopsis

In 16th-century Japan, Shinmen Takezou is a wild, rough young man, in both his appearance and his actions. His aggressive nature has won him the collective reproach and fear of his village, leading him and his best friend, Matahachi Honiden, to run away in search of something grander than provincial life. The pair enlist in the Toyotomi army, yearning for glory—but when the Toyotomi suffer a crushing defeat at the hands of the Tokugawa Clan at the Battle of Sekigahara, the friends barely make it out alive.

After the two are separated, Shinmen returns home on a self-appointed mission to notify the Hon'iden family of Matahachi's survival. He instead finds himself a wanted criminal, framed for his friend's supposed murder based on his history of violence. Upon being captured, he is strung up on a tree and left to die. An itinerant monk, the distinguished Takuan Soho, takes pity on the "devil child," secretly freeing Shinmen and christening him with a new name to avoid pursuit by the authorities: Musashi Miyamoto.

Vagabond is the fictitious retelling of the life of one of Japan's most renowned swordsmen, the "Sword Saint" Musashi Miyamoto—his rise from a swordsman with no desire other than to become "Invincible Under the Heavens" to an enlightened warrior who slowly learns of the importance of close friends, self-reflection, and life itself.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

In 2000, Vagabond won the Japan Media Arts Festival Manga Grand Prize and the 24th Kodansha Manga Award in the general category. The series won the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2002 and has had over 82 million copies sold worldwide.

Vagabond has been published in English by VIZ Media under the VIZ Signature imprint since April 5, 2002, and in large 3-in-1 omnibuses under the VIZBIG imprint since September 16, 2008. The English release got Takehiko Inoue a nomination for the Eisner Award in the Best Writer/Artist category in 2003. It also has been published in Brazilian Portuguese by Panini Comics/Planet Manga since February 2016.

More characters
Characters

Miyamoto, Musashi

Main

Sasaki, Kojirou

Main

Honiden, Matahachi

Main

Takuan, Soho

Supporting

Otsuu

Supporting

Inshun

Supporting

Kanemaki, Jisai

Supporting

Shishido, Baiken

Supporting

Itou, Ittousai

Supporting

Yoshioka, Seijuurou

Supporting

Reviews

May 27, 2024

whiteflame55

Recommended

Preliminary (327/327 eps)

Adventure stories, at least the ones that do it right, are more about the journey than the destination. Similarly, a great character arc isn't made great by how it ends - it matters more how the characters arrive at that point, and watching them grow can be the most fulfilling aspect, even if what we tend to remember best are the more seismic shifts.

Vagabond is a manga that focuses on the journey first and foremost. Musashi doesn't reach a destination, but he also doesn't have a specific endpoint he's aiming for... Well, I suppose that's not entirely accurate. Musashi spends much of the series wanting ... to become invincible under the sun, and strives for it constantly even when he struggles to understand why he'd go so far to achieve it. His history with his father and those around him certainly explains it, but what is interesting about Musashi is that he isn't solely (or even chiefly) the result of those influences. He's a person who struggles to balance the expectations of what he believes he must be with all the competing interests presented to him, whether those are romantic, duty-driven, or even upending his whole concept of what it means to be truly invincible.

But this story would only work so well if it was all about Musashi. The story takes long asides to follow Matahachi, someone who is having a very different journey of self-discovery as he tries to find the person he somehow successfully hides under layers of lies. It follows Otsu, a girl who is both entirely out of her depth when it comes to this world of powerful swordsmen, but also someone who understands the humanity of the people behind those swords better than most. It follows Jisai, a disgraced sword instructor who reluctantly cares for a small deaf child. That child, Kojirou, becomes one of the more interesting foils for Musashi as he grows.

And those are just some of the main cast. Other characters like Soho, Seijurou, Baiken, Ryouhei and Denshichiro function as their own foils to Musashi in distinct ways, both pushing him and learning from him. Several characters become essential mentors to him, seemingly living on as spirits in his mind. How Musashi treats his self-proclaimed students at various points across his journey tells us how much he has changed, and the fact that his journey sometimes meanders away from combat entirely to provide Musashi with something new and essential to appreciate showcases the author's willingness to test him in new and novel ways throughout.

I'm a sucker for great character development, and this series has it in spades. There's a reason this manga is so widely beloved despite its going on hiatus at such an awkward point: it is really more about the journey than the destination. Knowing how certain things will play out would be great, but I don't have to see that to love what we've gotten so far. Of course, it's also visually stunning, with tremendous detail and motion conveyed on its pages. It's a masterpiece, plain and simple.

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Gift

Dec 1, 2022

charoset

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (327/327 eps)

Vagabond is a strange case. It's hard to suggest a manga when I think the first third is mostly average despite the beautiful art. It sounds like a big commitment to say the first 90 chapters have little going on, but it's a fast read at the start, and I would almost recommend for some people to skip to 128 where it changes gears completely. But I got what I wanted out of the last third, one of those amazing philosophical deep dives into why someone is the way they are, though despite what most say, I really do think the start feels very superfluous.

It's ...

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Jun 17, 2020

YaAAbu

Not Recommended

Funny

Preliminary (327/327 eps)

disappointing manga
the end is not good , actually there are no end
the story was too simple and events are really few but he mange to write more than 300 chapter
maybe because of that scenes that take the whole page with few word , the repeating memories over and over , the art wasn't bad actually it is good but i am not the one who read 300 chapters with poor ideas for just "the art is good"
the story itself isn't bad if he present it in 50-100 chapter but all thing about money so let's waste much time for ...

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Poll: Vagabond Chapter 21 Discussion Madara22 - Nov 29, 2015	17 replies	by Lux_Vacui »» May 28, 1:36 PM
Question for chapter 232 and another question. SPOILERS!! Griffith_HoL - May 23	2 replies	by ExternalWorld »» May 23, 1:57 PM
Poll: Vagabond Chapter 200 Discussion Ranxomare - Feb 1, 2018	8 replies	by OtakuExplorer »» May 22, 3:56 PM
Poll: Vagabond Chapter 180 Discussion Mr_Shnb - Dec 12, 2016	9 replies	by OtakuExplorer »» May 22, 12:35 PM
Poll: Vagabond Chapter 327 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Interstice - May 24, 2015	106 replies	by bubba460z »» May 22, 12:36 AM

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