The veteran mangaka Takehiko Inoue(Slam Dunk) brings another canonical work to the manga world. Vagabond based off of The Book of Five Rings, tells the tale of the legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi. Amidst the clamoring swords, and spurts of blood, there lies a deeper and more satisfying existential quest, that Musashi slowly begins to unravel. Inoue punctuates this journey with deliberate pacing, and beautiful watercolor paintings; the likes of which I have rarely seen of the hundreds of manga I have read.


My favorite part of this manga is the character growth for Musashi, from an selfish boy, to enlightened master swordsman.

The story, art, character, come together to make Vagabond a high standard for all Seinen manga.

You will find little ecchi, or standard j-rpg characters here. Only the broken fingers, flying severed heads, and liters upon liters of blood.

Happy Reading :)