Manga Review - Blade of the Immortal

Title: Blade of the Immortal
Manga-ka: Hiroaki Samura
Licensed by: Dark Horse
Serialized in: Afternoon
Number of Volumes: 18 and counting
Genre: Seinen

Having killed a hundred innocent officers and previously employed by a corrupt warlord, Manji’s now a man with a price on his head. While on the run he mistakenly kills his brother-in-law and subsequently drives his sister mad. With this burden and his sinful past on his shoulders he encounters an old woman who infects him with the Kessenchu, bloodworms that can repair the body and in effect granting the host immortality. Having been granted this unexpected gift, Manji vows to kill a thousand evil men to atone for his past sins.

Manji’s vow is more of a subplot to what can essentially be considered as the real plot of Blade of the Immortal, Rin and her story. Blade of the Immortal is essentially a tale of revenge. The itto-ryu is a sword school linked only by its incredibly strong members who are bent on uniting all dojos throughout Japan, by defeating them all. Unfortunately, they come across the dojo of Rin’s parents, who end up being killed before her eyes. Vowing revenge on the itto-ryu but not strong enough on her own, sixteen year old Rin enlists the aid of Manji as her bodyguard as she sets out to kill each and every itto-ryu member in Japan.

What makes Blade of the Immortal so unique and so different from other samurai manga out there is the setting it takes place in. This is an incredibly stylish and vibrant Japan that Hiroaki Samura has laid out, a Japan where every samurai dresses in an outlandish kimono and brandishes an equally outlandish weapon. The samurai here aren’t restricted to the traditional garments, Japanese swords, and formalities that other mangas tend to showcase because in Blade of the Immortal, Samura isn’t trying to portray a realistic Japan, his Japan is also a harsh and corrupt place, like the slums of New York, except a few centuries too early. Here most samurai rarely abide by a code of honor. Its kill or be killed and they’ll take whatever advantage they can get, as long as they stay alive. The rich imagination Samura infuses into his manga really gives the characters life and makes them all the more identifiable. They are populated throughout Blade of the Immortal and are all unique and have distinct personalities, such as the swordsmen Giichi, with his string-tied sunglasses and his long range circular blades, Magatsu with his crazy hairdo, and Manji who seems to impossibly conceal more than ten different blades inside his one piece kimono. The grittiness of this harsh Japan results in a visceral blood fest where combatants prefer to slowly hack their opponents to pieces rather than giving them a swift and clean death since the arm of the law seems to prefer to let its more malicious citizens dispatch each other instead. Samura seems to enjoy creating twisted torture scenes and characters withering in pain, but they lend a great deal to the backbone and feel of Blade of the Immortal that help define this samurai manga from most others of its kind. The grittiness though is balanced by the colorfulness (which you get a sense of from the covers) and sheer vibrancy of the creativity that is strewn throughout the manga. It’s a dangerous place, but it’s oh so psychedelic.

It helps that the art in Blade of Immortal is simply beautiful to behold. Hiroaki Samura seems to use a combination of pages containing rough sketches and other pages that end up being inked beautifully. His raw penciling style lends a rough and rugged feel to the action in his fight scenes and to his male characters, while at the same time being able to portray his females in clean and elegantly smooth lines. The whole manga feels like his own personal sketchbook linked together by a story and you could practically spend hours marveling at the beautiful panels he creates.

The only qualm about Blade of the Immortal might be that it’s only skin deep. You don’t have to think too hard to figure this drama out so if you’re looking for the next Monster, this isn’t it. What you do get though is an incredibly drawn manga with characters that look like they received makeovers by a mob of Shinjuku girls and grizzly action that blends in perfectly with its revenge themed plot. There are so many great samurai mangas out there but Blade of the Immortal can definitely be considered as one a cut above the rest.

Manga Review - Smuggler

Title: Smuggler
Manga-ka: Shohei Tanabe
Licensed by: Tokyopop
Serialized in: Afternoon
Number of Volumes: 1
Genre: Seinen

In his professional debut work Smuggler, Shôhei Manabe takes the readers into Japan's underground world of organized crime. Inhabitated by Yakuza thugs, professional corpse carriers, Chinese killers and many more bizarre characters, the world of Smuggler is both scary and fascinating at the same time. But what happens to people like you and me, who-without wanting it-suddenly get pulled in into that shadow world?

Kunita owes a lot of money and he doesn’t have enough to pay it back. So to pay his dues he’s introduced to a money lender who pairs Kunita up with Joe and Pops, a pair of transporters who dump corpses and deliver goods to the various mob groups in Japan. Together Kunita is thrust into the shadow of Japan, the underground world of organized crime, a world he might never be able to escape from.

The underground world of organized crime, it’s a recurring theme in Manabe’s work that’s first introduced in Smuggler. His interest for the topic is clearly evident to the reader right from the beginning pages as a mob boss lashes out the true purpose of being a Yakuza to his subordinates. The organizational setup of Manabe’s world of organized crime is also realistically portrayed here. From the lowly clean up workers who leave nary a trace behind to the simple but equally important work of the corpse transporters, facets of the network of organized crime that are usually behind the scenes are given equal share of the spotlight here in Manabe’s vision of the underground world. With the attention to detail intact, Manabe adds in his own visionary flair as well. From the pristine black suits that all the Japanese yakuza wear, along with their elaborate tattoos, to the monk-like white dresses that the Chinese mafia uses, each aspect of this world is clearly identifiable. Smuggler also gives off a hint of the supernatural that becomes more evident in his latter works. Here the role goes to the aptly named assassins “Spine” and “Guts”, both who seem to be beyond human physical limitations in terms of abilities. Manabe’s blend of hierarchical realism, Hollywood like artistic style and a slight tinge of the supernatural make Manabe one of the more promising new manga-ka’s in Japan, and what makes Smuggler such a joy to read.

Using the underground world of organized crime wouldn’t be of much use as a theme if Manabe wasn’t able to make it atmospherically frightening. But in Smuggler Manabe manages to create some truly terrifying scenes that are all aided by the sinister cast of characters. Here, almost everyone belonging to one of the organized mobs in Smuggler gives off a cold, ruthless exterior that dangerously clashes when confronted by someone similar. And subsequently trust doesn’t go very far either. Smuggler's bloody violence is rooted deep in the betrayals and behind-the-scenes plots that are thoroughly displayed in the volume. On the outside the underground world of Smuggler portrays a cold, heartless existence that seems to contain never ending violence and despair. If this were true Smuggler would seem so dreary and depressing that one wouldn’t be able to find a speck of enjoyment out of it. But instead Manabe manages to give his characters a faint hint of compassion and sympathy, though deep down it may be. You get a sense that these cold exteriors the characters portray are just shells of themselves, shells not that they want to wear, but have to, or else they’d get eaten alive in the “kill or be killed” world of Smuggler. As the volume progresses Manabe peels away parts of the shells to certain characters. You start to understand that some of the characters do care for each other, that some of them contemplate on their own murderous actions, and while others turn out to be sniveling babies once cracked. In essence Manabe gives these characters a sense of humanity, a soul, but doesn’t go overboard as to result in a cliché or sappy message. Instead, the reader never fully gets to go into the minds of the characters, but it manages to convey the message where you get the sense that deep down, these people are good people who just happened to get stuck in a world they can’t get out of.

Manabe’s art also lends a great deal to the personality of Smuggler’s story. The rough and sketchy feel of the panels goes well with the gritty and grimy feel of the underground world. The characters are drawn almost the opposite of Japanese anime stereotypes with smaller eyes and larger mouths, but Manabe is still visually able to express his characters just as well, although some expressions seem to come off more as blank stares. The abrasive and vulgar dialogue of Smuggler matches well with the rude and twisted characters the story employs. Overall Manabe’s artwork and storytelling prowess is a perfect fit when matched together with his interest in organized crime.

Sometimes you don’t need a 30 plus volume epic to get your name out there. Sometimes all it takes is one incredible volume to get people to stand up and notice you, and that’s what Shohei Manabe has done. The one volume length works well for a manga like Smuggler. It keeps the pacing tight and its message clear. Don’t feel like investing the time needed to delve into a long manga that people are raving about? Get the same satisfaction out of Smuggler for a fraction of the time needed. Short stories don’t get much better than this. A must read for any manga fan. Smuggler was recently licensed by Tokyopop and will be released early next year.

Manga Review - GantZ

GantZ - by Oku Hiroya



Ah Gantz, I can honestly say that reading GantZ is a guilty pleasure for me. And for Oku it's probably a guilty pleasure for him too. I could see how he decided to come up with the premise for this manga.

"Hmmm, shit, what should my next manga be about..."
"Dinosaurs? Vampires? Aliens? Hot nude chicks?"
"Oh fuck it, I'll do em all!"

Yes that's right, this manga has every possible cliche imaginable from every form of entertainment out there. Dinosaurs, vampires, aliens, hot nude chicks, buddhas, Japanese idols, violence, sex, lara croft, the ring, loli, pandas, and everything you could ever imagine is in GantZ (yes there are pandas). And Oku doesn't even try to hide it. There's this character that looks EXACTLY like Lara Croft and the main character gets to bang her which I'd bet money on is straight out of one Oku's sick fantasies. Every few chapters I read I'll look up from the monitor and think "What the fuck? VAMPIRES?" But somehow it works, somehow it manages to stay away from being stupid and makes it at least plausible in a way that keeps the reader reading. Since you probably think I'm fucking crazy by now I better at least try and put up a decent summary of what it's about which didn't go too well when I advised my cousin that he should read it.

"Hey man, you should read Gantz, it's pretty cool."
"What's it about?"
"Uhh...... I dunno."

(Trust me, anyone who's read this manga, has to think twice before writing down what GantZ is about.)

But luckily for me and my high school education, I've managed to gather my thoughts and filter them as hard as a could into a little tale that goes like this...

GantZ is about the story of Kei and his friend Masaru, who in the first chapter immediately die by getting run over by a train, but are then mysteriously and inexplicably transported to a room with a bunch of other people that died that same day and are ordered by a black ball called GantZ to go outside and kill some aliens that will earn them points and allow them to go free once they get 100 points.

By now your thinking, "wow that sounds just fucking stupid", and your right!

Some of the scenes in GantZ are also just crazy surreal. I didn't know Japanese mangakas had any guts until I saw Oku write about one of the characters dressing up as a black gangster and walking through the streets of Tokyo going on a killing spree killing everything in his sight with a pair of Uzi's. Talk about black stereotypes.

Other things I like about GantZ include the fact that when on their missions there's usually the first wave of badguys the characters have to face, and then there's a miniboss of sorts, and finally the big bad boss to finish it off. Straight out of a videogame. Pretty cool.

The aliens and monsters are also all uniquely and creatively designed. Some of them include an alien onion kid who keeps offering people onions and not so coincidentally, smells like one too. There's also incredibly muscular faeries that work together by pulling your arms out and long-necked dinosaurs that can flail their heads around faster than the eye can see. I couldn't make this shit up even if I tried. GantZ is THAT fucked up.

Another thing about GantZ is, don't get too attached to any of the characters, because Oku seems to love getting his characters killed. GantZ has so many characters just come and go it seems like a neverending house party where strangers just enter and leave after getting piss drunk and trashing the house. So without further adieu I give you the characters of GantZ (ok, 3% of them). Also I did not alter the images below, they are straight from the manga. Seriously!

Kurono




Another one of those mangas where the main character is a typical horny little asshole high school student. Only giving a shit about himself instead of others and regularly mentally undressing females nearby, Kurono's life is similar to 90% of Japan's youth until a chance encounter with his old friend Masaru turns out to be his last, as he gets run over by a subway train but somehow miraculously survives and gets placed in a room with masaru and a black ball called GantZ. Not much too say about him. Characters in GantZ don't seem to be as important as in other mangas. Maybe cause they don't last more than a few chapters? Hmmm.....

Masaru




The goody two shoes character you see in alot of animes and mangas where the person is always helping out those around him like some kind of modern day saint. Too bad for him the homeless drunk guy he drags off the subway tracks gets himself and his friend killed. That'll teach those good samaritans. Even after he's transported to GantZ's room he puts himself on the line to protect the others as they fight the aliens GantZ sends them to eliminate. Due to his unselfish nature he becomes the unofficial leader everytime GantZ sends them on a mission but his obsession with helping everyone he encounters leads to numerous crying scenes when he fails to protect someone. For some strange reason though early in his childhood he transferred himself to a real ghetto high school filled with gangsters and bullies to try and prove himself as being able to help people. There he plays chess with the wieners of the school and beats up the troublemakers, like any normal person would! Though he seems like a nice guy, I have to say Masaru fights pretty dishonorably to win. One time a faggot bully (literally) challenged Masaru to a fight but Masaru cheated by beating the crap out of him (again literally) while the faggot was still taking a shit inside the toilet.

Proof:



Yea, so I'm on the fence with this guy. He helps people but he doesn't even know how to fight a fair fight.

Kishimoto aka titz




The first well endowed chick (yes, thankfully, there is more than one) we see in GantZ is Kishimoto, and what an entrance she makes! Gets warped to GantZ's room butt naked as she apparently died while taking a hot bath. Her role in the manga seems to be to just appear in gratuitous shots and positions that would make even Arnold Schwarzenegger blush. While Kurono spends most of his time mentally undressing her, Kishimoto is more intent on reeling in Masaru. Too bad for Kishimoto that all Masaru thinks about is taking care of his little brother and putting up with his whiny complaints of wanting steak for dinner. Now in GantZ each person gets a suit that grants them such things as increased strength, higher jumping and immunity from bullets before they go on a mission. The catch is that these things are skin tight and are obviously intentionally done by Oku in another one of his fantasies to display the females in excrutiating positions as they try to fit themselves inside. Just another example of sexist views in manga and boy do I love it!

Nishi



My favorite character in GantZ is Nishi. This guy is one sneaky little bastard. Apparently he's been in GantZ hella long already but everytime new contestants come he acts like someone who just got there as well. Apart from being a liar, he stays away from everyone else and when the alien is on the verge of being killed he comes in and kills it himself thus stealing all the points. I love this guy! His knowledge of GantZ and the stuff that goes on there makes him incredibly cocky and he'd rather work alone than as a team.

The art in GantZ is very easy on the eyes and something almost everyone can agree on. It's the most easily accessible because of its resemblance to standard anime or whatever views of Japanese animation people have. It's not "weird" like Taiyo Matsumoto's stuff or any of those other "unique" art styles that people just don't know how to appreciate so the art is probably the last thing you have to worry about if you ever want to start reading this crazy manga.

GantZ doesn't require much thinking on the reader's part and there's tons of gore and action so anyone wanting to read a manga but don't want their brain doing too much work should read GantZ. It's just good fun and if you can swallow all the movie and fantasy references then you'll be dreaming happy dreams of angry karate buddha statues and contact lens wearing vampires that take pictures with their cellphones.

Random facts about GantZ:

To get information out of GantZ (there's actually some kind of unconcious man inside the black ball), you stick your finger into his ear.

Every chapter cover features one of the women in poses that would even make Ryan Seacrest pop a boner (cause... you know... he's gay and all).

GantZ can be found at http://www.stoptazmo.com/gantz/ but is also scanlated by the good folks at http://www.omanga.net
Yes! Every single chapter in http download! Now you have no excuse not to read it.

And with that I leave you all with this:



I bet this one pic would convince more people to read GantZ than my review ever could.

Manga Review - Freesia by Jiro Matsumoto

Manga Review - Freesia by Jiro Matsumoto



Set in an alternate Japanese society where war, inadequate police, and overcrowded prisons have caused the government to legalize retaliatory killings, acts of vengeance where people who have killed your loved can be dealt with through self or hired means, the story revolves around Kano, a young man who works for one of these firms specializing in retaliatory killings.

Freesia is one of those mangas that revolves around the human psyche a lot and the motives and causes of it. In terms of Freesia, Matsumoto uses the bleak, dreary, and grim alternate society of Japan as his main driving force to showcase the extreme behaviors and acts that the characters go through which wouldn't have been nearly as effective if done in a mirrored setting of today's Japan. In Freesia's Japan though, the country is basically a shithole. Caught up in the middle of a war which the reader never really gets to learn more about, the government is focused on winning it at all costs and thus citizens are being actively recruited to become soldiers. This has caused fewer means of law enforcement, and on top of the overcrowded prisons possibly as a result of the war, the government has passed a law allowing retaliatory killings for people who have had their loved ones killed. While the law allows oneself to go through with their act of vengeance themselves, others decide go to one of the firms belonging to the new industry that the Vengeance act law has allowed to create. In these firms, hitmen can be hired to do the work for you.

As mentioned above, Matsumoto's Japan is basically a bleak and grim shithole reeking with the stench of corruption. He portrays this to the reader throughout the whole manga (5 volumes I've read so far) through such things as rampant acts of rape and other demeaning sex acts, women that are continually abused physically or mentally, corrupt politicians, looting, unsolved murders, and the usual spizzaz. A lot of the corruption is shown through the firm Kano (the main character) works for which can safely be said, is probably a representation of almost all the firms in the so called retaliatory killings industry. The so called rules and guidelines book involving the Vengeance act law is regularly disregarded and is more of a show than anything. By this Matsumoto implies that the hitmen rarely obey most of the clauses and safety protocols which they are supposed to obey while the firms try to hide this from the public with the help of some greedy politicians who have a lot to gain in hand by supporting these firms. The bodyguards that the government assigns to a potential victim of a retaliatory killing (like a lawyer assigned to you in a case) almost always betray their client and gives away their position without any protection in exchange for some measly money. This helps the firms get the job completed at an almost 100% success rate and just makes them even more attractive in luring potential customers by showcasing to them that the job does indeed get done.

The strongest asset of Freesia though is probably the cast of characters. The main character and the supporting cast are all incredibly complex and have motives brought up from their dark pasts. Some of these characters include:



Kano-
Kano the main character is a young man slowly going down the path of what seems like a mental breakdown. Though in the beginning he seems to be only slightly cuckoo in the head, due to his unwelcoming nature and the fact that he talks to himself a lot, he progresses into areas of disturbing mental fragility, where he continuously mumbles certain phrases, locks himself inside storage dens, forgets what he's supposed to be doing, and regularly converses with characters he's recently slain. All this was probably caused by a combination of his brutal childhood and his secret training with a military program intent on breeding assassins. Now he works for Higuchi in one of the retaliatory killing firms because of his exceptional assassination skills although his mental instability causes unending problems for his fellow hitmen.



Higuchi-
Higuchi is the female in charge of finding clients and new hitmen recruits for the firm she works for. On the outside she oozes confidence that has developed into an assurance that no one messes with her. She struts around with a certain flair and has a way with dealing with practically everyone. She seems to hold a lot of power and respect but on the inside she's incredibly fragile, haunted by a rape early in her life and becomes almost paranoid when reminded of it such as when she had her hair pulled in a restaurant. Higuchi seems to have ulterior motives and plays a big role in Kano's life because of past meetings they've had and memories of Kano only she seems to know.



Mizoguchi-
Mizoguchi is the veteran hitman assigned to show Kano and Yamada (the rookies he's training) how things are done and the reader soon finds out that he's a total asshole. Constantly abusing his wife and well versed in the corruption of the Vengeance act industry, he symbolizes everything wrong now that this alternate society of Japan has inadvertently created. He's paranoid about being on top of everything and everyone which the reader sees through his continual references of describing himself as a "hunter" and everyone else a "zebra". He strives to keep this power and authority through brutal acts of violence when he's on the job and holds no respect for anyone except himself. When Kano joins the firm he is immediately agitated by him as Kano seems to have no fear or any regard for him at all except for business purposes. Also Kano's constant "camouflage" seems to drive Mizoguchi nuts. As a result he constantly threatens to kill Kano and plots his "accidental" death as he sees him as a deterrent to his aura of fear he has been so used to spreading around him.

The art in Freesia is wonderfully done and reminds me of the sketchy feel from Blame!. The covers especially struck me as exceptionally beautiful. Each volume cover features one of the main characters giving off an eerie stare as crows dance around the page on a background of red, black, and white. Crows seem to have an important role in Freesia and usually appear in great numbers when Kano's around, helping to give the manga an added sense of brooding atmosphere that Freesia seems to be chock full off.

Anyone looking for a manga that combines brutal violence, psychological bantering, and fucked up characters living in an even more fucked up city would certainly do good by reading Freesia. At 5 volumes so far it's short enough to be consumed in one go but long enough to keep you satisfied till the end.

Freesia is scanlated by Omanga and can be found on http://www.omanga.net

Vagabond (Kojiro Arc) - Review

Vagabond - Takehiko Inoue



Up to its currently published volume, Vagabond has been about the lives of Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro, the two swordsman destined to cross paths. While both stories have been equally excellent, Kojiro's arc has become my personal favorite. Reading Vagabond made me realize that Musashi and Kojiro are much like Ying and Yang, total opposites but intertwined in the grand scale of things. In a way resembling the contrast between Gutts and Griffith in Berserk, Musashi is a demon-like, waiting to pick a fight with anyone to prove himself as being invincible under the sun while Kojiro is graceful and subtle, willing to practice alone day and night to perfect his skills. The paths both men take to achieve godlike status as a swordsman also take alternate routes. Musashi starts off as reckless, untamed like a beast, secluded from everyone around him, but through the guidance of several people he learns to suppress the wild beast within and focus his strengths in a more calm and poised state to fight his opponents. Kojiro on the other hand spends much of his early life as a relaxed and serene person, content with mastering his stroke alone continuously and patiently training with his master. He then goes through an awakening, being brought open to the feelings of fear and desperation his second master puts him through, he learns to bring out a killer instinct within himself to slaughter his enemies mercilessly and awaken his true talent.

When Takehiko Inoue created Kojiro's story he decided to make him deaf. At first while I read this arc I thought it as just a cheap surprise gimmick to add in an element to the story that might seem interesting but serve no real purpose in the end. By volume 20 Inoue-san proved me wrong and showed me that Kojiro's deafness was more than just a cheap muse. For one, even though Kojiro was deaf Inoue-san didn't set the story through the eyes and thoughts of Kojiro, we never really get to understand what he's feeling or thinking, only through his visual expressions. Instead, it's the surrounding characters and cast that carry the story, it is they that try to explain to the reader what Kojiro is thinking and feeling and additionally it brings even more character development to these secondary characters themselves. It makes the surrounding cast of Kojiro's arc that much stronger through such individuals as Kanemaki Jisai (Kojiro's first master), Ito Ittosai (his second master and my personal favorite character in the series), Mussou Gonnosuke (Kojiro's traveling partner), and others. While it may be hard to think that the life's story of someone can be so good when all the protagonist yells out is "ahhh!", it allows the reader to go into Kojiro's head and understand his life through the thoughts of those around him. While Musashi was raised and trained through exterior factors, the elements and environment around him such as the mountains and his opponents, Kojiro's deafness allowed him to develop through interior factors, to practice and train himself from within, to listen to his own body, and to find the answers he needed the same way. But Kojiro only became whole and a dominant swordsman through his experience in the mountains and the opponents that he fought against there. Musashi in the same way only became complete and an even greater swordsman through calming himself and listening to his own body.

Although the arc is about Kojiro my favorite character has to be Ito Ittosai, the prodigy samurai who beat his own master and went off to create his own school of sword fighting before mysteriously disappearing and deciding to travel around Japan. Headstrong, brash, and unwavering, Ittosai can only be explained as the "bad ass" samurai who can kick your ass and takes shit from no one. Towering over his opponents, his intensity gives even the most confident of samurai chills running down the back of their necks. Though he may seem fearless on the outside his life can only be described as a tortured and conflicted one. From the comments that characters make and the small bits of history that Inoue-san has put in, it can be safe to say that Ittosai's life has been a struggle. Stories mention of rumors that Ittosai made his students slaughter each other. How he could have opened his own school and taught students is a bit perplexing considering that all he says now to disciples who want to train under him is "become me". This can only mean that something happened to him along the way during his life, a growing sadness or discontent that finally spilled over and triggered something in his head to abandon everyone and everything that made him successful. Although he might seem conflicted inside, the life he has led and the choices he has made have resulted in a cruel and heartless way he has of doing things that puts everyone around him in danger. He lead Kojiro to the battle of Sekihagara, and subsequently abandoned him in the mountains teeming with peasants bearing hatred at the consequences of the war. Though this was to teach him some of the fundamental realities of life, Ittosai lends no compassion or sympathy along the way. In the end it all serves a purpose for Ittosai's sick and twisted hope of making Kojiro one of the strongest samurai ever in the hope that he survives and comes back to face him once again not as a fellow disciple, but as an enemy.

Sometime during the arc Inoue-san decided to change to a brush to do his drawings rather than a standard manga pen. The end results have been astounding and have only made him even more famous as having some of the best art to ever appear in a manga. Now instead of a page consisting of panels of lines coming together to form pictures, each page consists of panels of brushstrokes coming together to form paintings. There's something so poetic now in each page that almost seems to jump out and brings each panel to life, reminding me of a person practicing Japanese calligraphy, precise strokes coming together to form words and endowing them with character. The art in vagabond is undoubtedly one of the best in the entire medium today.

There is not much information regarding Kojiro and his life in the annals of Japanese history but even so Inoue-san has managed to weave together a story so captivating and stunning. As a result Vagabond is an incredible adaptation of the popular novel the manga is based on and even if you don't like stories about men with swords, the art alone is worth the price.