What can I say about Vagabond to explain it's greatness. I can say with complete certainty that this manga can be compared to masterpieces like the Mona Lisa. Before you start wondering why I say this, I will explain when I talk about the art.

Story

This manga is based on the masterpiece by Eiji Yoshikawa, about the life of the Japanese Sword saint Musashi Miyamoto a.k.a Shinmen Takezo who is the creater of the Niten Ichi-ryū (二天一流) in which you use your Katana and Wakizashi ( the short sword ). Whether all the things that are inscribed in this book are real or exaggerated, no one can tell, but this work shows you how important honor, being able to use a sword, and be the best is. The story in Vagabond is very deep, so probably not everyone will enjoy it to the fullest at the first read.

Art

Now we go to the part that has me completely Mesmerized. Takehiko Inoue is known as a mangaka who really puts everything into his art, but BY GOD, in Vagabond you are completely engulfed from the first couple of pages. You can really see what the characters feel, just by looking at their eyes and expression. People say that the eyes are the window to the soul, and damn they were right. The color pallet in this manga is exceptional, and how he uses I believe brushes for the color pages is insane. The designs of the characters are great, you can see in every panel their emotional state, which is not an easy thing to do and not everyone can do such a great job of it, only with pictures. So yeah, that's what I meant about it being close the Mona Lisa, because for me, and not only me, it has the best artwork in manga history.

Character

This manga is mostly about the character growth of the main characters, and if you read it from the start and get to where the manga is, you will be completely shocked at the growth of our main character Musashi due to the circumstances he has gotten himself into. There a lot of philosophical debates and question throuhout this masterpiece, and the most recurring one is the question of Being the best under heavens and what does it mean in reality, how do the people interpret this phrase. It is stunning to say the least how these questions are answered through certain events.

Enjoyment

I honestly can't get enough of this manga. The first thing that caught my eye was the Art, but when you get into the story as well, you have a lot of great time ahead of you by reading this. It is so deep, that probably some chapters would have to be read a lot more times than just once in order the grasp the complete meaning of the things that traspire and that are said.

Overall

Vagabond is a once in a lifetime experience. It makes you respect the people in it a lot, and the important thing is that these people really existed, whether the things in this manga happened for real or are exaggerated I don't know, but either way it is one hell of a masterpiece.