Seinen Vagabond by Inoue Takehiko

[Aquarius]

Re: Vagabond 300 Discussion

Mmm, I tried using an online translator on his online website, hoping to understand what's the last news (dated 6th December 2010). First sentence was "I'm quitting", but the following didn't seem to say the same, so I'm not sure.
If somebody can read Japanese, it'd be nice to sum up what Inoue has just written.

 

[natli]

Re: Vagabond 300 Discussion

Bad news. Inoue says he's burned out and Vagabond is on indefinite hiatus. As in, he'll start again when he'll get his inspiration back. Translation is here, under 7th Dec.

http://twitter.com/gottsuiiyan

 

[DrTopo]

Re: Vagabond 300 Discussion

Damn, that's terrible. I'm sure doing an intense serie like Vagabond takes a lot of energy. Hopefully he'll take the time he needs and come back strong to do a proper finish.
Vagabond is such a masterpiece, it would be a shame if the end is done quickly to get rid of it.

But he needs to finish it eventually. We'll wait.

 

[Kaiten]

Due to Vagabond going on indefinite hiatus with no clear time of return the forum is now closed. Please discuss in this thread.

 

[DrTopo]

Such a hard blow for the holidays.

Is there a way to receive a notice if the forum get revived? This way I don't have to check this thread every week for the rest of my life.

 

[Kaiten]

I don't think the forum will be. Based on Inoue's statement he has no plans to resume serialization in 2011. Best case scenario, he starts the final arc in the spring of 2012.

 

[baboysai]

wow, i just read the sad news.

Takehiko Inoue's a really great artist and writer, and he's quite a celebrity because of his works. So I guess it's a hard life too. Artists of his level has to feel the burn out at some point. He can't just risk his work and turn out half-assed story and drawings to finish something. He wants a masterpiece, and so he needs time with it and tread carefully. (and me as a reader, maybe you guys as well) need to be patient about it.

Of course the agony is a different thing. But hey, even I haven't lost all hope for [NANA] when Yazawa Ai got the carpal- Takehiko's healthy at least.

 

[Kaiten]

From his press release it sounded like losing interest is as big a reason for putting Vagabond on hold as his health. It really was a depressing statement.

 

[Roflkopt3r]

From his press release it sounded like losing interest is as big a reason for putting Vagabond on hold as his health. It really was a depressing statement.

Oh, that sounds big... very sad, he's a great artist and I really love Vagabond by now. The characters, arts and storytelling are awesome all together.

 

[baboysai]

exactly. He might feel that Vagabond is too important a work for him to continue if his heart is not in it. Like he probably needs "soul-searching" or something...

 

[goldb]

I feel so bummed out, but that's nothing compared to what he's going through right now...however long it takes, I just hope he doesn't give up on it.

 

[benelori]

Oh boy...just when I thought I'd resume the series...well, health and inspiration comes first...nobody wants a ruined story

 

[Duzy]

Wow. There were no updates on any of the mainstream manga reading sites so it felt like he was taking way too much time with the tankoubon release. And this... Is that the reason why Vagabond was dropped as one of the dedicated seinen forums on MH (or maybe it was never there, I'm not sure)?

 

[Roflkopt3r]

Wow. There were no updates on any of the mainstream manga reading sites so it felt like he was taking way too much time with the tankoubon release. And this... Is that the reason why Vagabond was dropped as one of the dedicated seinen forums on MH (or maybe it was never there, I'm not sure)?

Kaiten already clarified that:

Due to Vagabond going on indefinite hiatus with no clear time of return the forum is now closed. Please discuss in this thread.

Currently I just consider Vagabond as "finished" personally. Although I obviously hope that Inoue will continue next year at least

 

[baboysai]

He can't just leave it unfinished, kopta-san. Because he's published a lot of works off Vagabond. He's painted murals (local and international) and exhibited in art museums off of Vagabond art. And if he leaves it unfinished, I don't think he'd consider himself as a man.

He's the type that draws an epilogue on a school blackboard, for one. If he gets the inspiration going. That's why he just can't continue it if his mind was not in it 100%, because Vagabond has become too important for anybody who just even knows his name.

 

[Roflkopt3r]

Well, I hope you are right
However, it could well be that overcoming the current phase could take some years even. I think it's not rare amongst authors to make such long breaks when writing something very important. And I guess Vagabond could be considered Inoue's opus magnum, so it's extremely important then.
I hope he doesn't see himself as under pressure though

 

[Drmke]

I'm sure he'll finish it. This man always takes his sweet time with his manga. But maybe this will mean when it does come back we will get more than a rushed ending like it seemed like we were gonna get when he said it would be over by the end of 2010...

 

[Truefan21]

Why isn't there an anime of Vagabond I'd really like to see it.

 

[baboysai]

It might be hard to translate the art style to anime... and it would lose brilliance?

unless they do something really different with it like, watercolor splashes or something. In which case it'd probably be expensive

 

[Roflkopt3r]

I don't think it would make an anime nearly as impressive as the manga, they're doing fine sticking out of that

I recently (well, some weeks ago) re-read some of the later chapters, beginning with ch. 200, because I really rushed that part back then. So, when I read it for the first time I really couldn't quite grasp Musashi's developement in those parts.

What do you think about it? His talk about the spiral of killing and so on? Was it good? Bad, or perhaps too complex? Or did you, like I did during first time reading, more or less skip those parts because you can't read them as smoothly as the rest?

I gotta say that it really increased my opinion of Vagabond even further, when looking a little closer it really seemed very conclusive and nice. For example this quote when Musashi, after facing Ito Itosai, discovers how he is connected to the spiral of killing:

Fear. I summon blind rage to cover it up...
the prove of one's strength...
I summon my attachment to the illusion of beeing the strongest...
I summon my fear of losing that title...
Going around that endless cycle that is...
The spiral of killing, such as it is...