The content explores the profound journey of Miyamoto Musashi, as depicted in the manga Vagabond, focusing on his evolution from a violent warrior seeking strength to a man pursuing self-mastery and inner peace. It also highlights the exceptional artistry of Takehiko Inoue, the manga's creator.
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I want you to take a moment and step back and just look over all the anime, manga,
and movies that you've watched over your entire life.
You'd actually realize that a lot of them built their stories around this one theme.
Is it the one that's still standing at the end of a fight?
Or the one that goes down in battle, giving it their all?
Is it the one that has no enemies?
Or the one that's in pursuit of perfection?
Many chase after this question. Some fail to reach an answer.
But I think I might have found it.
Shinmen Takezo is a brat who loves to fight.
It's his sole purpose in life, to be strong.
The villagers call him a beast, a demon.
An unsightly creature that lives in the woods, detached from the rest.
His mother abandoned him and his father never saw him as his son.
But he is strong.
He cut down his first opponent at the age of 13 and went to war four years later.
The war ended in defeat with many of his comrades dead.
But still...Takezo survived.
So when word spreads that the beast is alive and is up and running, killing the guards.
The village grew furious.
Every one of them was out to get him.
They tried ambushing him, but it's no use.
He defeats the captain and everyone in his way.
And as he was fleeing, he met a monk that called him-
Takezo was stunned.
What buffoonery hath this man spoken?
In the end, when the whole village failed to capture one boy,
it was the monk, the great Takuan that got him.
And also a girl.
He was hung to dry, slowly awaiting his death.
Demanding his life be ended instead of being humiliated as such.
The girl sneakily feeds him during the night.
I love these two, but...
it was time to put him down.
Death is no stranger to a warrior.
Each one of them awaits their honorable end.
"Die knowing you have lived your life to the fullest."
"Announce it to the world!" Takuan says before slicing Takezo's head off.
But he couldn't.
He couldn't say that he led a fulfilling life.
It was all led by violence and loneliness.
He was no beast, he was not strong, just blinded.
Blinded by darkness that he doesn't see the light.
But then again...
And in the spring of his 21st year...
Shinmen Takezo was reborn as the renowned Japanese swordsman,
Everything you'll see in this story is loosely based on the real life of Miyamoto Musashi.
How he won his first duel at the age of 13.
How he's never lost a fight in his long record of duels.
How he never once bathed himself because he was afraid of being attacked (???)
He's a figure in the pursuit of perfection,
both in swordsmanship and in consciousness.
They named a dojo after him,
and he wrote a book while he was retired in a cave.
Why is he constipated?
He should look more like this.
or this,
or this.
Takehiko Inoue is the author behind Vagabond but...
to call him an author is an understatement.
This man's an artist.
You'll find pages of these hyper-realistic drawings.
Like those tourist paintings that scam people for a lot of money.
Except you're getting all your money's worth with this one.
It feels like they're looking at you,
almost as if they're alive.
The same goes with the fights.
Inoue draws these badass panels that capture the essence of the fight.
One look and you'd know who's won.
Another tells you he's putting it all on the line.
One more and you find out just how strong Musashi really is.
These aren't just drawings.
These are works of art that transcend the confined borders of a manga.
I don't know much about art and I don't know what's the pinnacle of beauty,
but this...
looks like perfection to me.
Then you add a lil color to it.
When I say Takehiko Inoue is an artist,
I mean he's Japanese da Vinci.
Apart from drawing these astonishing pieces of monochrome art,
sometimes you'll have entire panels colored by the man himself.
I mean, just look at this. Just how far can he take it?
The colored artwork was so good that he even published a separate book focusing solely on the illustrations,
showing how much effort went into those few color spreads.
Is that not enough?
How about Inoue hand-painted every volume cover that was in the manga?
Not good enough for you?
How about Inoue hosting an entire exhibition showcasing his 140 paintings on the manga himself?
Still not enough?
How about Inoue painting a 26 ft mural of Miyamoto Musashi in just 3 days?
This is absurd.
At what point does it stop being a manga and just becomes an art gallery?
Literally every chapter has at least one panel that just makes you pause and take in every little detail.
Forget one panel.
The first page of every chapter leaves you mesmerized.
It makes your jaw drop. It makes you in awe.
It makes you question what a man can do with a brush and paper.
I think the beauty of Vagabond lies in its nomadic nature.
I mean...
Musashi sets out on a journey to be "the strongest under the heavens."
"The invincible under the sun."
He met a lot of people along the way, and each left an impact on his pursuit.
This is the brilliance of Inoue as a writer.
Every one of these faces doesn't feel like they're just passing by.
Instead, they're etched as a part of the story.
Some of their stories may stay with you even longer than the protagonist's.
not this guy tho
Matahachi is Musashi's childhood friend.
They both left the village to make a name for themselves.
But you'll quickly learn that he's the most worthless piece of shit you'll ever see.
Unlike Musashi, who's dead set on being the strongest
and even head dives into a fight against 10 men,
Matahachi's a 🐱
A coward that hides in the face of fear.
He drowns in lust and is every bit pathetic.
You're going to hate this guy, but...
Matahachi's the realest matafaka in here.
If 10 people were put in this story, 9 of them would end up like Matahachi.
And then there's his mom.
Oh don't get me started with this old hag.
I hated these two characters.
But when I pause and put myself in their shoes,
I realized how human they are.
Selfish and self-centered, yes,
but so is all of us.
Matahachi was someone born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
He didn't need to go to war or take up a sword.
He just had to live the life that his mother had worked so hard to prepare for him.
Get married, have kids, and lead a normal life.
That's it.
But he doesn't want that.
He seeks out his own purpose in life and ventures off into the battlefield with a single spear.
And Granny here is just a cranky old lady that holds grudges,
but she's a real one, she really is.
Her son is rumored to have gone off with another woman, never to return home,
and is out there proudly using the name of a disabled swordsman as if it was his.
And deep down, though she knew all of that.
Regardless of the lies, regardless of how shameful and despicable her* son might be,
her love never changes.
She defends him till her death.
It's ugly but...
beautiful.
Vagabond is not an all serious manga filled with bloodshed and violence.
Even Musashi's character has a bit of humor in him.
You can see the funny expressions he makes sometimes.
It might not seem much,
but that gives him character.
There was a scene where Musashi was about to turn in after a long day,
and just as he was about to doze off...
he woke up,
started slashing,
and then went back to sleep.
These moments add character to Musashi.
It's what makes you love the guy.
The subtle humor takes all the seriousness away from the story and lets you enjoy it in a much lighter tone.
There's even a little romance between Musashi and the girl.
I love these two.
Of all the people who see Musashi as a beast,
only she sees him for who he truly is.
You just want them to be together, but...
it's a yearning for connection that he keeps putting off in favor of his path.
A man's inability to love and a woman's unwavering affection.
One searching for purpose, another for belonging.
No words, just emotions.
It's simply...
beautiful.
Being a mangaka sucks.
If I had to post a video every week,
I would be shitting out slop and quality would be all over the place.
It's tough, meeting deadlines and upholding standards.
Inoue would spend days just sketching out the storyboard for one chapter.
And there's only 7 days in a week.
He would go over and over the story until it feels right.
He's not just thinking about plot progression.
He obsesses over theme, rhythm, and emotional resonance.
He believes that if the story doesn't have life, then no amount of beautiful drawings will ever save it.
He puts so much thought into it that with each passing week,
it plunges him further and further down into darkness.
This panel of Musashi saying he wants to pray
made him crash out and almost gave up drawing it.
This is one panel.
It doesn't even take up the whole page.
It's just a segment and yet so much thought was poured into it.
If you've never seen this behind the scenes footage, you would have no idea how much he struggled with this.
Now, what about the hundreds of panels before that that weren't caught on camera?
Was he struggling as much as well?
What was going through his head when he drew these?
I then realized how much I've taken the art for granted.
So, from then on, I start to pay really close attention to every little detail
drawn in each and every panel.
The character's expressions.
How much thought was put into every stroke.
Sometimes a small panel can say so much.
I start to appreciate the story and artwork even more.
But sadly...
-would be the last chapter of the manga ever published,
and Vagabond would go on indefinite hiatus till this day.
Inoue had lost clarity about what he wanted to express through Musashi.
In 2008, 7 years before the manga's hiatus,
Inoue hosted "The LAST Manga Exhibition."
This was foreshadowing.
Before the manga even approached its conclusion,
Inoue was already searching for closure.
It was an exhibition that kind of serves as an epilogue
where we see the older Musashi and the rest of the crew.
These weren't prints of existing pages.
These were new and original artwork crafted by Inoue himself.
This is the closest thing to an ending that we'll ever get.
So, even though the manga has not technically ended,
I feel that Inoue has long made peace with the story and how it's finished.
I don't know about you, but that...
makes me feel like praying.
At its heart, Vagabond isn't a story about killing or victory.
It's about self-mastery.
You see this cold, brute character matured into someone much more grounded.
Musashi's entire journey revolves around refining himself,
physically, mentally, and spiritually,
to the point of absolute perfection.
He is obsessed with becoming invincible, only to realize it isn't something you achieve,
but something you understand.
Instead of chasing the broad title of invincibility,
Musashi eventually comes to understand himself.
Young Musashi believes strength means violence and victory.
That if he can defeat everyone, he'll transcend humanity and reach the invincible state of being.
His entire identity revolves around fearlessness and bloodshed.
But as the story progresses, his duels leave him isolated.
Every time he wins, he feels further away from his goal
and further away from humanity itself.
The pursuit of perfection can destroy or liberate you.
That goes to Musashi, Inoue, or anyone that's on that path.
Being strong isn't about how many lives you can take, but whether you can carry the weight of those you've killed.
Only later does Musashi realize that true strength lies in restraint and humility.
It's not about conquering others, but about conquering oneself.
One's ego, fears and desires.
Suddenly, the concept of strength becomes spiritual.
He learns that "to live is harder than to kill."
"To forgive is harder than to win."
And "to accept one's weakness is the strongest act of all."
Strength is an endless process, not a state of being.
It's a pursuit of harmony with oneself and the world.
Well...
"To be strong is to be at peace with yourself."
And that is truly...
beautiful.
Hello there.
Thank you for watching till the end.
I hope you enjoyed.
I also hope you know that this video
IS EDITED TO SHITTTTT
Copyright is like James Doakes
and I'm Dexter Morgan.
He's just always up my ass.
I had to move mountains to put this video out without getting claimed,
which means the edits are cut short,
the music sound non-existent,
and it's just not the best version that I want to put out.
BUT
The original uncut version is up on my Patreon.
The better,
uncut,
unfiltered,
early access,
music used and much more for just...
Anyways, I post all the good stuff on there.
You can expect the best versions of every one of my videos.
The edits are longer,
the music goes harder,
and you'll get your name etched at the end of my videos.
how cool
;)
So if you wanna support me and my work,
you know where to go.
Until then, imdanjo and im sleep deprived.
Bye.
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