Print Review: Vagabond volumes 1-6

Review Vagabond (volumes 1-6)Written by WarpshadowRating Excellent!

Vagabond is the action manga that should be read by everyone who loves or once loved shonen adventure manga as it at least to me is why people like stories like this and it doesn’t need any stupid flashy powers.

Takezo Shimon was known as the wild boy of his village. He was strong and undisciplined, but with a sense of bloodlust that made him something of an outcast. When he was seventeen he left his home village to join the army along with his friend Matahatchi. However they were on the losing side of the great battle of Sekigahara. His escape from the mop up forces and bandits that sacvenging from the battle is only the starting point of this telling of the life of the famous swordsman that is known throughout the centuries as Miyamoto Musashi.

It dawned on me while reading Vagabond that each genre of art has a basic assertion. In the case of adventure stories it is that important things about the human condition can be told through fighting. This manga is perhaps the clearest example of this assertion as this is a story that has visceral action scenes that doesn't use silly gimmicks like super techniques or tournament arcs. The setting of this manga is feudal Japan unvarnished by supernatural phenomena that is also one that is willing to show many side to society while . On top of this this manga has very well done artwork. If you like action or adventure stories at all then not reading Vagabond would be a mistake.