Seinen Vagabond by Inoue Takehiko

[Yabe]

Re: Vagabond 253-254 Discussion / 255 Prediction Thread

I've been wondering... when they were playing with the sticks, Musashi said that if they had used real sword, they could both guess who would have won... Did he mean Kojiro? He admitted that Kojiro was further along the path than him.

I thought that Musashi meant Kojiro, though I don't think their skills were far from one another much. Considering after the moment Kojiro stroke his sword through Musashi's shoulder (regardless of the depth... but I don't think the hit's so deep seeing Kojiro's stick wasn't broken if I recall it right), Musashi prompty responded with his own one. It looked as if they're almost in each other's rank with Kojiro's a little superior I think.

Is the story on Musashi and Otsu relationship in these late chapters different from the original novel so much? I really like seeing her a lot I think she's fit to the type of a heroin in Inoue's idea with his other series though. The unpredictable personality, etc.

 

[DrTopo]

Re: Vagabond 253-254 Discussion / 255 Prediction Thread

yeah, I was also under the impression that he thought that Kojiro would have win.

If I recall correctly, Otsu was a bit more mellow and less unpredictable in the book. I don't think she did crazy things like fighting with guards to get Musashi out. One thing I remember and that was a big thing in their relationship... At one point Musashi gets horny and makes a move on Otsu. Otsu is scared and rejects Musashi. They both get confused (and Musashi is pretty annoyed) and then Otsu simply follow Musashi from a distance.

In the manga I like when Otsu played tough and showed the Yagyu's knife... mmm. feisty...

 

[宮本寶藏]

Re: Vagabond 253-254 Discussion / 255 Prediction Thread

While I agree with most of you folks regarding the brief sparring of Musashi and Kojiro... Somehow I felt that no one actually gave Musashi enough credit on that fight.

Is Kojiro better (perhaps just a bit) than Musashi during that time, I believe so. Even Musashi admitted to it in the dialogs that he regretted straying away from "The True Path" and that Kojiro was "The True Path".

The thing is... during the spar between the two, Kojiro took the initiative and slashed towards Takezo's right shoulder area with great speed. Takezo could not dodge the attack completely therefore had his arm cut off "hypothetically". But after receiving Kojiro's attack, he returned a swing towards Kojiro while both Kojiro's feet were in the air. Since Kojiro could not grasp the floor with his feet, he was unable to completely avoid Musashi's slash as well. That pretty much resulted in Kojiro's entire stomach/waist line carved open horizontally.

Kojiro was slightly more skilled, but Musashi is being very humble and not egotistic. Although he believes that Kojiro was probably going to win the real fight but we must not forget who it was that dealt the fatal blow. During the friendly wood stick spar, Takezo had his arm cut off, physically speaking, he could still continue to fight with one arm. He will most likely not "die" from a wound such as losing an arm. Now let's view Kojiro's wound, Musashi literally cut him open from side to side, that type of damage to the abdomen will most likely cause severe amount of internal bleeding and perhaps even the intestines should be falling out. I don't think Kojiro could continue the fight with that kind of wound.

Besides, in my own opinion, I believe the reason that Kojiro tried to pull out his sword and start a real fight was because he honestly believed that Musashi might have a chance of winning. Also, he didn't draw his sword because he noticed the day was getting dark. There were no "lamps" of any kind drawn in those pictures, it was probably not towards his advantage fighting in the failing light as he is deaf and relies on the ability to see clearly. Perhaps he could of fought well during nighttime but against a swordsman as skilled as Musashi, it was probably not a very good idea. I don't know, this is just how I thought of it.

 

[Homeless Ninja]

Re: Vagabond 253-254 Discussion / 255 Prediction Thread

Yes, the scene inferred Musashi would have won, and there's no reason to believe he didn't think so either by his words or actions. Musashi had just rediscovered his natural technique, thanks to Kojiro, and was then able to slice even further into the snowman than even Kojiro himself to that point. Then, in their "duel", Musashi lost a hand, but sliced Kojiro's stomach, meaning he would have won, as noted by Koetsu.

Also, even if Musashi thought Kojiro displayed superior technique, he probably would have been that much more aggressive in pursuit of a duel with him (like with Seijuro). As it was, Kojiro was the one who was intrigued, while Musashi was satisfied to let it go confidently, feeling he would have won.

Of course, things had changed again by morning when Kojiro one-upped Musashi by cutting the snowman's head completely in half with the stick. So, the point really wasn't that either was better or not, but that they pushed each other to improve, leaving the the question of who is, or could be, better up in the air. Which also explains why they're so preoccupied by each other after.

To sum up, Musashi thought he would have won at that time, but now neither of them is sure.

 

[eni]

Vagabond 255 Discussion / 256 Prediction Thread

Here we go with chapter 255!

Grab the RAW while it's hot at our Vagabond 255 RTS-thread.


As I'm not uptodate I can't introduce a new discussion for this thread, so please go ahead on your own this time

 

[Yabe]

Re: Vagabond 255 Discussion / 256 Prediction Thread

Any idea now who's the dude picking up the stick? (Heh, Kojiro did a frightening job approaching him that way). It looked as if he's able to do the -feel the true weight of the stick- thing like Musashi and Kojiro had done too.

 

[battle angel]

Re: Vagabond 255 Discussion / 256 Prediction Thread

page 6 CUTE MUSI-KUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!^/////////////////////^ I really miss inoue's superdeformed face (slam dunk).....oo the guy who is playing with the stick is yagyu?????...................I WANT THE MUSASHI MODEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW I CAN GET THIS!!!!!!!!????????????????????....

 

[Aquarius]

Re: Vagabond 255 Discussion / 256 Prediction Thread

Any idea now who's the dude picking up the stick? (Heh, Kojiro did a frightening job approaching him that way). It looked as if he's able to do the -feel the true weight of the stick- thing like Musashi and Kojiro had done too.

I doubt he's anyone important. He's certainly there with the man who came to see Koetsu to get his sword sharpened (previous chapter). One of them must be the lord while the other one is probably his weapons master. I'd say the man outside is the weapons master, that'd fit the novel relatively well.
Kojiro will probably beat him, and get hired as weapons master himself.

 

[Zaber]

Re: Vagabond 255 Discussion / 256 Prediction Thread

Longtime reader, firsttime poster

I think the man who is doing the little stickplay is from the Hosokawa clan. In the book, Kojiro is going to be a vassal of Hosokawa Tadaoki (real person btw.) as the chief weapon master in north Kyushu.

Sorry, if my english isn't understandible. I'm from germany and my language skills comes from bad movies

 

[Aqsa]

Re: Vagabond 255 Discussion / 256 Prediction Thread

256 sketches are up on Inoue's site. Check 'em.

 

[battle angel]

New pages added in volume 28

i put this new page because this page have been added in the new volume 28

Spoiler: scan pages

omg!!!!!!!! vaga is near to the end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....the scans and translations was mad by robert federer!!!

[Luckas]Edited thread title for easy understanding.[/Luckas]

 

[KaNx]

Vagabond 256-257 Discussion / 258 Prediction Thread

Chapters 256-257 are out, grab them at the RTS Thread here!

Discuss and predict the chapter here!

 

[Nami]

Re: New pages added in volume 28

Thanks for sharing.
You're referring to the last few pages of raw art? His sketches look really 'raw' urghh..but the finished product is just purfect.

p.s. added spoiler tags to the 1st half since it's scans?

 

[battle angel]

Re: Vagabond 256-257 Discussion / 258 Prediction Thread

oooooohhh it seems that takuan wasn't the perfect guy

 

[Aqsa]

Re: Vagabond 256-257 Discussion / 258 Prediction Thread

I just want to see Musashi walking again.

 

[Homeless Ninja]

Re: Vagabond 256-257 Discussion / 258 Prediction Thread

I'd like to read Musashi talking again. Why was Krizy told off for translating Vagabond when nobody else is right now?

 

[DrTopo]

Re: Vagabond 256-257 Discussion / 258 Prediction Thread

I concur. I just saw the thread where Krizy was kinda told to stop translating. That's too bad. She did a good job and I'm sure it could even make Strays job easier if part of the translation is done. Oh well... Patience my friends.

 

[zindryr]

Re: Vagabond 256-257 Discussion / 258 Prediction Thread

Not the place to discuss that, though certain people (one at least who is not in Strays anymore) were scolded for that little outburst. In any case, I apologized to her for them but she said that she's too busy to keep up with translating it anyway.

Regardless, Vagabond is at a real slow point right now. The fact that it isn't translated is probably a blessing so you can all take a long break and then read through the entire slow portion all at once. Granted I find it somewhat interesting, but I know people would get bored of it quickly (as they somehow got bored of Musashi fighting the Seventy Yoshioka).

 

[DrTopo]

Re: Vagabond 256-257 Discussion / 258 Prediction Thread

well, it's true it's nice to read more than one issue at the time, but I'm curious to know more about the discussion between Musashi and Takuan. When I first read Vagabond, I was dissapointed that Inoue had ommitted the period where Takezo become Musashi by being in confinement and reading many books like Sun Tzu's Art of War.
Now's a good time to go through that sort of retirement and psychological growth.
That part of Vagabond is just as interesting as the fighting.

People though the battle with the Yoshioka was too long but considering how epic that battle was, it was only normal that it took so many issues. It make sense when you look at the story as a whole. Plus so many things happened during that fight... Anyway, in our society of consomation, we are all looking forward to the final conflict.
But I want Inoue to keep going for another 10 years. I'll be happy to read a full volume on Musashi's attempt at farming or of him teaching calligraphy.

Thanks to everyone at Strays for the hard work and sorry if we're too impatient sometimes.

 

[Goji]

Re: Vagabond 256-257 Discussion / 258 Prediction Thread

I agree with DrTopo; Vagabond really is worth the wait! The psychological growth of Musashi is as much part of the story as his action-packed technical growth. He needs both of them to become a better swordsman.

And seeing as how the story flows, we'll have a few more years of Vagabond ahead of us, which is great! ^^