Review by Karl Verhoven

So far the Vagabond of the title, Miyamoto Musashi, has been equal to almost any swordsman he’s encountered despite using a wooden sword, but has been warned that unless he can control his innate bloodthirstiness he risks his life with every combat. Vagabond Vol. 4 ended with his winning a battle being watched by a deadly swordsman Gion Tōji, who’s been tracking Musahi in the hope of challenging him.

There is a skirmish, but it’s more of a tease on the part of Takehiro Inoue, who has other matters in mind. Musashi remains headstrong, and uncertain how talented he is when compared to the greatest swordsmen, and equal challenges are available from those who don’t even use a sword.

Inoue’s primary artistic style is attractively thin-lined black and white art with grey wash to provide depth, but he’ll occasionally vary that. Rougher charcol styled pages are sometimes used during intense combat and some chapters begin in colour. These are intended as a bonus attraction, but are strangely weak, often in muted colour and lacking the definition of the linework, so their relative scarcity is welcome.

While action packed and tense, the primary purpose of this volume is to reinforce to Musashi that while his inner rage may be a massive strength, it’s ultimately a weakness. The person intending to reinforce this is Inshun, “the second generation master of the Hōzōin Spear Technique” who’s a very confident sort of monk, constantly curious and smiling. “You’re not going to give up?”, asks Inshun. “I have to kill you, don’t I?” he wearily answers his own question. Absolute mastery versus primal force occupies the majority of this volume, and so dazzlingly are the sequences drawn that one forgets Musashi is using a wooden sword and Inshun a stick with tightly woven fabric at each end.

Given Vagabond is Musashi’s journey, we know he’s not going to die, so is it conceivable he can defeat the second generation master of the Hōzōin Spear Technique?

As the original volumes of Vagabond are hard to come by now, this is best experienced as part of the second VizBig Edition where it’s combined with Vagabond Vol. 6.