Vagabond: Volume 17

by Takehiko Inoue, based on the novel Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa, 190 pages

As Ittôsai observes, Kojirô fights all out with a group of similarly driven swordsmen on the same moonlit beach he has been retreating to for solitary practice since he was old enough to walk. In the process, he learns that it takes more than just passion and deadly skill to be a true warrior...or to stay alive.

The bulk of this volume deals with Kojirô's blow-by-blow education in the role of fear (and, so, respect) in battle. Some of those lessons are painful--and not just for him. The reader wants to protect and insulate him from pain as much as Kanemaki does. But like his father, the reader, too, must learn to let him grow up, though neither finds that easy to do.

Inoue's visual storytelling continues to impress. Kanemaki's tears wring the reader's heart just as his newly discovered pride lifts it, and Kojirô's expressive face conveys one emotion after another, from subtle curiosity to outright shock to excited determination. The young man may not be able to speak, and we may not be able to see into his head verbally, but he nevertheless communicates everything in his heart, as he does the moment he pauses to look over his shoulder as he leaves his father and the only world he's ever known--and has to brush away the tears welling up in his eyes before taking another step on his new journey.