SPOILERS READ AFTER COMPLETING MANGA

Vagabond was a manga i had always heard about but never bothered to get into. One of those days i was out with my friends, headed into a bookshop and saw volume 1 of Vagabond. I had always heard great things so i thought “why not” and bought it.

I am forever grateful I did. Vagabond isn’t one of those mangas that you will soon forget about.

This may sound strange to say, since many of the fans dislike him but Matahachi was one of my favourites. Matahachi was the most human character in the story for me, and how relatable he is. I resonated with how he kept falling back into old habits despite wanting to change. His mums death and how he was crying about being weak has to be one of my favourite arcs in all of manga, especially with his suicide attempt, I felt that personally and it genuinely made me love his character even more. That whole scene where he was crying saying he was weak had my heart racing, it felt so intense because I really thought he would’ve done it.

Another part I loved was the Kojiro backstory, where he had just cut down the old man who was TAKING the fourteen year old girls. When Kojiro was getting bullied and he thought he was with friends was such a heartbreaking panel to read, but when he soon befriended Tenki, and how the two had planned to make their way to cut down the old man I felt like I was there from how beautiful the art was. I cannot express how perfect the Kojiro arc was, or how gorgeous the art style is. Kojiro’s father was written so well, his desperation to keep him safe, how he was so close to giving up and how Kojiro was pretty much a sign to keep going, oh I loved it. Before the time skip, the scene where they were asleep together, after finally having saved the people around them was so majestic.

Another thing I must bring up was how during Kojiro’s backstory it brought us back around the Chapter 1 with Takezō at the battle of Sekigahara. That was insanely good writing, something I would have never expected to see. In my personal opinion that was absolutely genius. The arc soon wraps up after fighting with Koun, (the dagger hidden in his bandages was so awesome icl). In my opinion that was the most fire backstory I’ve ever read.

In a way, I am eternally thankful for my friends inviting me out. Without them I probably would have never picked up this manga, it was the best £20 I’ve ever spent. The art style, the world building, the character arcs, and the fights, everything about it is a masterpiece. It is perfect, everything about it, and I know I keep using that word but there is no other way for me to describe what a masterpiece this is.