| | |  | MANGA | Home » » » » Vagabond, Vol. 7 (VIZBIG Edition) | | | | | | | Description: | | R to L (Japanese Style). Historical tale of enlightenment by way of the sword - 3 volumes collected in 1! The Distant Ocean: In the aftermath of the bloody Battle of Sekigahara, Sasaki Kojirô, the man destined to be Musashi's opponent in the most famous duel in Japanese history, finds himself alone amidst desperate refugees and vicious hunters. Despite being pushed to his limits, Kojirô is far from daunted by his peril and instead thrives with an almost supernatural serenity. Driven by his macabre thirst for battle, Kojirô is transformed into the ultimate swordsman. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Takehiko Inoue | | Paperback:
| 640 pages | | Publisher:
| VIZ Media LLC | | Publication Date:
| April 20, 2010 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1421522810 | | Product Length:
| 8.62 inches | | Product Width:
| 6.1 inches | | Product Height:
| 1.57 inches | | Product Weight:
| 2.33 pounds | | Package Length:
| 8.6 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.8 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.7 inches | | Package Weight:
| 2.3 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 2 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 2 customer reviews )
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2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 GrippingOct 30, 2010
By setlib
This Vizbig v.7 contains "regular" volumes 19-21. Volumes 19-20 focus on Sasaki Kojiro who, in the aftermath of the battle of Sekigahara, is hunted down by peasants and soldiers alike. He defeats them all, transcending to a new level of passion and understanding in his swordsmanship. We see the concept repeatedly illustrated of samurai who far prefer dying a "good death" while fighting a worthy opponent to simply surviving a battle to live in disgrace.
Volume 21 turns the attention back to Miyamoto Musashi, who returns to Kyoto to face Yoshioka Denshichiro. Oko and Akemi (from volume 1) make very brief appearances, as does Matahachi/"Kojiro" and Otsu & Jotaro. But the bulk of this volume is dedicated to the relationship between the Yoshioka brothers, and a climactic battle in the end between Musashi and the beguiling Seijuro. Musashi has come a long way since Seijuro defeated him easily in volume 1, and we see Musashi draw on all the lessons he has learned in the past year to become a much more formidable opponent this time around.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 How to butcher a great bookFeb 04, 2012
By nysnowboard
What can I say? I loved the book so I hoped the illustrated version would do it justice. I realize that some poetic license is required to modernize some of the themes, but the manga version takes this too far. It almost seems that despite using the same characters, and some key plot anchors, the manga is a completely different story from the book. The over-arching theme in the book was that although Takezo was a murderous, raging beast in his early years, his natural fighting instincts and strength were unmatched. I actually can't remember one fight in the book where he truly loses. The manga has him losing,and living to fight another day, over and over again. Obviously they are setting him up for a vindication arc, but that is so far from the true spirit of the original story it actually ruins the entire manga for me. The original story does have him progressively improve, but the manga is taking cliche themes from other popular "hero" manga of the times and is totally bastardizing a truly epic storyline. This isn't Bleach or Naruto. This story is not supposed to be the tired cliche of hero loses to strong opponent, hero trains, hero ascends to next level, hero triumphs. His metamorphosis, in the original work, is from unrefined butcher, to sword saint. But invincible throughout the entire plot. His weaknesses are Otsu, Gram Hon'iden and Takuan, not every other fighter he meets along his path to glory (like the manga irritatingly portrays). On a scale of 0-10, with 10 being excellent: Artwork, 9. Storyline 4. Honoring the original work zero, an emphatic zero.
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