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The most overrated manga of all time.

First of all, I’m actually one that enjoys the series, however I can’t be denied that (unlike most of their fandom believes) the series is far from perfect. (although that also doesn’t mean that is terrible)

I’d try to be as impartial as I can, so I’ll start by mentioning some of the good and great stuff of the manga, and by that, we can’t review this without mentioning how awesome is the world building by Oda, truly is masterful, probably the best aspect of the series, since it’s adventure based, he does it in such a magnificent ... way that this series might have the best world building in all manga industry.

Another good aspect is that Oda has some good character treatment and this translates in good character development, in such a long story, he makes sures to give a good development not only for the main but sometimes even also for secondary characters.

The narrative structure of the series overall is where the problem start, if one were to look the bigger picture, the main story is really well made and everything is fully connected, the amount of details that the author establish in the story is something to be praised for, however, the pacing of the series is really terrible, I mean, it’s seriously bad, for example, with 700 manga chapters you still feel that the protagonist it’s too far to achieve his main goal and it even makes you feel that he’s not progressing as much, the way the story is presented can potentially become mentally draining for the reader, since some Arcs (like Alabasta, Skypea and Dressrosa) are unnecessary extended (even though I’m not sure if this is the author’s fault or the editor’s fault)

With what I just mention, it's also something negative that the nature of the majority of the Arcs are way too repetitive and tend to lose creativity by the author, for example, we know that the crew arrives at some random island or place, and that Luffy will fight the strongest antagonist, that Zoro will fight the second strongest enemy and that Sanji will fight the third strongest, and these tends to be a common thing within the manga, creating a never ending circle of the same thing.

Now regarding the battles and fighting abilities, lets just accept that almost all of the battles are mediocre and some of the ones who could have been great were “off screened” by the author (another negative aspect in which he sadly tends to usually rely), even though OP is more of an adventure-shonen than a battle-shonen, the battles are still and essential part of the story and the author disappoints in this department, since OP cannot compete to other shonen when it comes to the good overall building and details of battles, the fighting abilities are ok at best, nothing special, and the author does not employ to much brilliance during the course of the fights, there’s a evident lack of brilliance in strategy and tactics from the characters and their abilities when they are engage against each other.

Overall, it has some great moments but those are not enough to compensate the inconsistency of the series, which is highly overrated by their fandom, there a just so many things that could’ve been done better by the author (which reflects his lack of expertise in some areas), as a work this manga it’s far from the level of the top tier seinens, cannot even be put in the same room with the true masterpieces of the manga industry.

[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”.