I deeply love the first half. Characters I love are Musashi (obv), Kojiro and the priest (forgot his name tbh). I also like Inshun but he vanished as his battle with Musashi's done :'(. There's alot to learn from this manga. It teaches lots of values in life which is very relatable to me.
Art is amazing amazing and amazing. I was skeptical in semi-realism artstyle, but this hits different. I love Inoue's artstyle, just straight amazing. Paneling is also good, HOWEVER. I dislike the sex scenes here, most of them are Matahachi's doing and I hate him so he can just go away.
I put enjoyment at 7 because I enjoy Slam Dunk more than this manga. I got bored around flashback chapters while I never got bored of slam dunk after reading it for the fifth time :0.
ANYWAYS, amazing read.