I definitely agree with the comment below. Stylistically Vagabond is rather accomplished, but Inoue's characters lack a humane aspect. Not that it's not there, but it doesn't feel real. They act almost like robots, who have had emotions programmed into them.
Now I'm not saying this is a bad manga, but I feel that its status is exaggerated.

I know I am going to get nasty messages for this statement but this series just doesn't bring me to my knees. I think the art is violent, raw and beautiful and at the beginning I had sympathy for the characters but then I lost it. I started to not care what happened, there was no feeling of anticipation. The series could have ended with our hero impaled on a tree and I would not have blinked. The fact that I did not fall entire fall this manga leaves me wondering why, the story line is the type I like and the art is beautiful, I should rightly love it! I think perhaps some aspect of the delivery is lacking for me, perhaps the way the manga goes from character to character or is so disjointed or something. What ever the reason after the first 4 volumes I felt no emotional response to the characters whatsoever. I should have some feeling or response, even if it is not affection. I merely didn't care enough to hate it.
Someone commented on the manga feeling 'real and accurate' above but while the manga style is less stylized than many other type there was still a certain feeling of unreality to the manga. I think this feeling of unreality is also part of my lack of reponse to this on an emotional level. If I can't believe in the characters I can't feel anything for them perhaps.
As this mangaka's work is beautiful artistically I hope he can improve his delivery also.

If you're just looking for sword fights, and don't like deep thinking or philosophy, save yourself the trouble.
Anywho, art's rad, realistically rad with some water paintings thrown in here and there; easy-to-follow action scenes won't have you wondering what's going on in the middle of a fight; plus good mix of adventure, philosophy, action and even a smidgen of romance. The way you're led through his life in these (currently) three-hundred chapters is such a beautiful gradient of his sort of metamorphism from beast to enlightened-- super Kafkaesque. I love this. The differing perspectives (Musashi, Kojiro, Matahachi) take a while to get used to, but once you do it's really quite something. Really sort of contextualizes the roles and lives of the three even more, and helps you appreciate them and this great piece of work even more.

... Last updated on December 7th, 2011, 9:34pm

This manga is just so great . When i 1st read this manga . i knew right away it's inoue's.The art and the story are awesome . the battle scenes are good.I would have given it a 10 if there wasn't a man called Mushashi in real life

... Last updated on September 15th, 2009, 5:55am

The action is pretty good, (though i think the choreography could still use improvement), and the story is even better, as well as the philosophical side. It could easily be the best seinen manga out there,

Seriously, sometimes I wonder what people expect in a picture-carried story about a man who dedicated his whole life to the way of the sword.
This is a story about THE one person who revolutionized sword techniques, starting off as a wild brute with nothing but anger and hatred inside (the problem with his father - very much the number one Freud theory) pushing and fighting his way through his darkest feelings to become the somewhat genius swordsman he later was.
Killing people comes with mastering a weapon build to do just this and Inoue Takehiko did an awfully great job trying to show us modern people what living for the art of killing and fighting must have meant.
Musashi grows into a man and an artist and Inoue lets us be a part of his struggling, with all of these hallucination-scenes and wandering of the mind as well as pure technique and hardship.
Fighting 70 men in a ridiculous effort to save himself from being followed and killed in the dark, while knowing that this will most likely make his life even harder (revenge and such), is a truly unnerving way of showing a situation with no possible peaceful solution. There is no way of getting out of this situation alive and well and thus he chooses alive.
Scenes like these almost tore my heart out, imagining the pain, exhaustion and distress.
Definitely the best read about the meaning of martial-art I know.
And the art is just breathtaking. Someone wrote a comment about the scenery and realistic ancient culture, I second that.
For someone who can take realistic thoughts and is interested in the overall topic, this is a must-read.

... Last updated on May 11th, 2009, 2:43pm

I don't know why I love Takehiko Inoue's work so much. Maybe it's because of the character development. Maybe it's because of the magnificent and mesmerizing artwork. Maybe, it's because... of the overflowing and havoc-wrecking emotion that fixes your attention on the action... and the drama... I recommend this to anyone who liked Slam Dunk.

The drawing is technically very good. In fact, everything from the characters, backgrounds, tones, etc., are accurately depicted and very well-constructed. In fact, I feel that the scenery is rather gorgeous and same for certain depictions of certain characters. However, at times, I feel like the art has sacrificed the ability to emote in favour of technicality.

The story is intriguing. I'm sure I've read a simpler version before but never has it been told and etched out in such detail. The conflicts, the various motives and lives of the entire cast is depicted and written with care. And the historical settings are very well-done, from the buildings to the food, to the clothings and behaviours of the people. (In fact, the story feels very historically realistic as opposed to an interpretation from a 21st century viewpoint.) And the action scenes are fairly cool too as even the varying sword techniques are depicted accurately and interestingly in terms of art and writing.

However, such an in-depth, panel-intensive approach to storytelling is not without risks when considering the immense cast involved as the series is what? Probably halfway through the total intended story arcs. This is further complicated by the philosophical aspects. Though interesting as they lend an introspective layer to this series, the author seems bent on repeating them so it adds on even more pages to an already lengthy saga.

And to me, the final blow is that by focusing too much on action and bloodshed at times, the writer has diminished the characterisation of Musashi by making him seem too murderous when he fights for other purposes. Yes, I understand the need to depict the blood-thirsty era of the samurai ages but without constant narration or other forms of storytelling techniques, it's hard to seriously and properly maintain the layers of his character or of the other cast. In contrast, I feel that Cesare, Historie and Vinland Saga do a much better job of preserving characterisation while depicting a story amidst blood-drenched histories. That is: showing the characters to be capable of extreme violence while not allowing the bloodthirst to overshadow the storytelling.

... Last updated on April 25th, 2009, 3:22am

The art is amazing. The storyline is amazing. This manga is amazing. I don't think Otsū and Musashi will develop a relationship, he's "The way of the sword" all the way. But I don't want her with Musashi's childhood friend either >.< He's a coward and a jerk.

I read this religiously, buy the books, and rate it a ten based on the art alone. The drawing is just plain amazing.

The story is alright. It's usually a dozen chapters of gritty sword fights followed by a dozen chapters of Musashi moping around and philosophizing while he heals/trains. I like a good samurai disemboweling as much as the next girl, but I think I'm missing the point of a lot of the way of the sword stuff. Oddly, I like the side stories about Kojiro and Musashi's childhood friend better than the main story a lot of the time.