Review by Karl Verhoven

This VizBig edition differs from all previous volumes for Miyamoto Musashi’s absence over two-thirds of the book. Don’t worry as Takehiko Inoue will rapidly have you wrapped up in his alternate storyline.

Before that we continue with the conflict set up in VizBig Edition 4. Musashi has been looking for a fighter with a considerable reputation named Shishido Baiken and found him, except instead of a stranger it’s someone he knows well. Inoue rolls out the tragic story of how old enemy Tsujikaze Kōhei took on the identity and has become the carer for a young girl.

Kōhei’s has always failed to control his anger, and that inevitably plays a part. Inoue loves an extended sequence of combatants sizing each other up in the manner of a Sergio Leone Western, and plays it out again here in what was Vagabond Vol. 13 in smaller paperback form. However, he ensures the actual battle departs from the formula of previous material by being astonishingly brief and followed by two epilogue chapters concentrating on Kōhei. With all of that going on it seems Inoue forgot a definitive ending was required, and it’s only later in the series when something approaching it is supplied.

The remaining two thirds of the book switches location to a small seaside community and a middle-aged man considered a hermit being taunted by the local youths. “From the looks of him he won’t be around much longer anyway” is their damning assessment. This is former swordsman Kanemaki Jisai, now a sorry state and a prime candidate for the redemption arc that develops. He’s brilliantly down at heel as drawn by Inoue, and although he doesn’t realise it at first, his salvation will come from raising the baby he rescues from the sea. Accompanying the baby is an extraordinarily long sword.

Kanemaki’s bond with Kojirō gradually brings him closer to the community, while Kojirō’s bond with the sword runs deeper than Kanemaki believes possible. Despite being deaf, or possibly due to the lack of distractions the condition ensures, by the age of nine Kojirō’s is talented with the sword, and over what was Vagabond Vol. 14 Inoue weaves a compelling story about a man reconsidering the values he’s held. By what was Vagabond Vol. 15 Inoue has set up a situation where it seems both parties are certain to fail, and spins out the tension over a masterfully told story.

Once again, Inoue’s amazing art is to drool over. While the talent drips from every page, so does the discipline. There’s never anywhere where it seems he’s in a hurry to reach what most artists would regard the more interesting scenes to draw. People, places and action are all secondary to a narrative mastery. It continues in VizBig Edition 6.