Vagabond: Volume 19

by Takehiko Inoue, based on the novel Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa, 194 pages

As the surviving soldiers, and anyone else foolish enough to be in the area, try to make their way home from the battlefield at Sekigahara, they find that their ordeal is not yet over. Wandering mobs of local peasants, whose land and livelihoods have been sacrificed in the name of war, are scouring the countryside looking for stragglers on whom to vent all their frustration and misery. In the chaos, Kojirô gets separated from Ittôsai and Musô and must fight for his life alone.

Oh, poor Kojirô! He doesn't even understand what's going on except that people he doesn't know are trying to kill him. And the poor soldiers! Haven't they suffered enough already? And the poor peasants! They've been used and abused and thrown away by those with power. Arg. Inoue makes you feel sorry for everyone, even as they lunge for each other's throats.