I’ve been in a mood for some manga and anime, as well as martial arts and samurai stuff, so I thought I’d get in on the manga Vagabond. I recently bought the first volume of the Viz Big Edition of the series (it contains essentially the first three volumes of the series).
Takehiko Inoue’s series is loosely based on the novel “Musashi” by Eiji Yoshikawa. Now, I’m a big fan of the legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, which is why I bought the volume of Vagabond. Unfortunately, for my tastes/expectations, this is a manga that is loosely based on a novel that is a fictionalized account of the life of one of my martial arts idols.
The book isn’t that bad. Inoue’s art is good, certainly. The sword fighting is done pretty well and I enjoy the martial arts side of the book, but the story seems lacking. The characterization isn’t all there. Perhaps the problem is that the character of Musashi is a work-in-progress, so maybe I need to read more of the series.
This first volume doesn’t make me want to run out and get the rest of the series, but I figure if I have some extra money (actually, a LOT of extra money; enough money that I feel I can waste some) eventually, I might pick up the next volume and give it an extra chance to engage me.
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