Chop, chop and never stop.
Covering volumes 19 through 21, Vagabond Vizbig Edition Volume 7 continues the story of Sasaki Kojiro and Miyamoto Musashi’s lives as they follow the path of the sword. Following the battle of Sekigahara, Sasaki is chased by hunters and refugees looking for vengeance. He faces countless foes in his attempt to escape, all while starved and dehydrated. The volume concludes with Musashi’s continued onslaught against the Yoshioka Clan.
Highlights
The artwork in Vagabond might just be the best I’ve ever seen in a Manga before. Inoue’s use of shading is incredible and the detail present on each page is unmatched. In fact, it’s almost too detailed for black and white print. The sheer amount of lines and shading clutter some of the frames and due to the lack of color sometimes causes characters and objects to blend together. Inoue also does a great job drawing human characters and showing off their fluid and realistic movement.
Vagabond falls prey to several issues that made it difficult for me to enjoy it. From reading the inner flap of the book, I learned that Sasaki goes on to fight Musashi in the most famous duel in Japanese history. Knowing that, I knew he would never lose. So why does this manga devote a large amount of pages to introducing these new characters and providing long back stories for each of them, only to have them die shortly after by Sasaki’s hands? Across volumes 19 and 20 Sasaki fights a group of survivors that challenge him one after another and all of them repeat the scenario I mentioned above. It makes no sense to me. It’s action for the sake of action and I think that’s just poor storytelling.
Sasaki is portrayed as a deaf person. Normally that’s not something to pick at, but when they say he’s deaf and then he proceeds to groan an answer every time he’s asked a question, I have a problem with it. Furthermore, because he doesn’t speak, all the opponents he faces constantly monologue every move they both make towards each other. I don’t need the characters to tell me they are cutting each other with their swords; I’m seeing them do it already in the artwork. It’s a problem I’m finding in a lot of mangas I’ve been reading lately.
With all the above said, the story doesn’t really pick up until volume 21 where the story switches the focus onto Musashi. He’s a much more complex character. Not only can he speak, but his dialogue and interactions with other people offers a much deeper part of the story. His continued fight with Seijuro is the best part of the entire volume, but it comes too late to make a significant difference in the story.
Overall
Vagabond is a fantastic series, but this volume isn’t a testament to that. The artwork is amazing but the lack of any plot progression and the slice-repeat-slice mechanic in the first two volumes made this far worse than it could have been.
ComicsOnline gives Vagabond Vizbig Edition Volume 7 2.5 out of 5 immortal samurai.
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