Friday, September 30, 2011

Vagabond: Volume 25

by Takehiko Inoue, based on the novel Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa, 200 pages

Musashi faces off against DenshichirĂ´...and then faces the resolute, injured pride of the entire Yoshioka school.

So wonderful, this series. As the duel plays out, the reader watches with rapt attention, despite having known the outcome before Musashi even set foot in Kyoto. The reunions of this arc, whether overt or subtle, between friends or foes or kindred strangers, have all pulled at the reader's heartstrings and developed the already-believable (however superhuman they may appear) characters even further. Musashi's brief reconnection with Matahachi is particularly moving, with the marked contrast in their unequal growth suddenly, painfully obvious to both of them. Matahachi is so broken. The reader longs for someone to fix him, though she knows he must fix himself. She's just not sure that he can, and that hurts even more.

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