History Manga / Vagabond

* BlackAndGrayMorality: Musashi starts off as ALighterShadeOfBlack against his opponents and mellows out with CharacterDevelopment. Though despite that most of his foes are slightly worse, there are some instances of everyone being as [[EvilVsEvil dark]] [[GrayAndGrayMorality gray]] as he is.

* GentleGiant: Yoshioka Denshichiro, to such an extent that that at his second, final duel with Musashi he comes off as the more sympathetic figure. (It helps that despite expelling his "third brother" Ueda Ryohei for trying to protect him, he also stipulated that if he were to die, that Ryohei was to be reinstated ''and'' succeed him in leading the school.)

* {{Grey And Grey Morality}}

* AManisNotaVirgin: Averted. While there are examples of powerful characters in the series such as Ittosai getting laid, Musashi is still a virgin and an incredibly badass paragon of masculinity and spiritual enlightenment. Matahachi, on the other hand, has slept around with plenty of women but this is portayed as a result of him being weak-willed and giving into fleeting pleasures as opposed to doing something meaningful with his life.

** A certain degree of BlueAndOrangeMorality is in play as abandoning the duels with Denschichiro and the rest of the Yoshiokas might have let them live, but horribly disheartened and dishonored by the fact that he had taken pity on them. The actual battle is portrayed as Musashi's way of thanking them for the strength he gained (as everything he experienced stemmed from the year's time he was granted by Denshichiro to become stronger after their first duel) by seeing his battle with them all the way through to the end.

A {{seinen}} manga about the legendary "[[MasterSwordsman sword saint]]" MiyamotoMusashi, said by many to be the greatest samurai of all time. Written and drawn by Takehiko Inoue, the author of the extremely popular ''Manga/SlamDunk'', this series boasts amazing artwork, an engrossing story, and some of the best CharacterDevelopment seen not just in manga, but in any media.

* MiyamotoMusashi: the main character.

* {{Blood Knight}}: Musashi

The story itself is based on the novel ''Musashi'', a semi-historical fictional account of Musashi's life. So while the series is firmly rooted in truth, artistic liberties were definitely taken.

The story starts with two 17-year-olds, Shinmen Takezo -- a half-wild loner raised by the sword -- and his only friend Hon'iden Matahachi. Having fought on the losing side at the Battle of Sekigahara, the young men struggle to survive until they're rescued by a girl named Akemi and her mother Oko, who make a living by robbing corpses. After Takezo and Matahachi save the two women from the Tsujikaze gang, Matahachi decides to go to Kyoto with Oko instead of returning home with Takezo to his fiancée, Otsu.

Matahachi's mother refuses to accept this, instead blaming Takezo for her son's absence, which leads to a village-wide hunt for Takezo, not helped by his inhuman aggression and tendency to beat men to death with sticks. He's eventually captured by a monk using cheap tricks--namely convincing Otsu to track him down, knowing he'd lower his guard--and hung from a tree for days to think on his sins.

Unbeknownst to the villagers, the monk, the legendary Takuan Soho, eventually frees Takezo, rechristens him, and sends him off on the journey that changes him into a LivingLegend and, eventually, the figure we know today.

* {{Blood Knight}} (Musashi)

The story starts with two 17-year-olds, Shinmen Takezo -- a half-wild loner raised by the sword -- and his only friend Hon'iden Matahachi, amongst the few survivors of the Battle of Sekigahara. After fighting to survive in the wilderness, they're rescued by a young girl named Akemi and her mother Oko, who make a living by robbing corpses from battlefields of their weapons and armor. After Takezo and Matahachi save the two women from the Tsujikaze gang, Matahachi decides to go to Kyoto with Oko instead of returning home with Takezo to his fiancée, Otsu.

* BackToBackBadasses: Takezo and [[spoiler:Kojiro]] do this at the battle of Sekigahara, though both of them probably forgot all about it.

The story starts with two 17-year-olds, Shinmen Takezo -- a half-wild loner raised by the sword -- and his best friend Hon'iden Matahachi, amongst the few survivors of the Battle of Sekigahara. After fighting to survive in the wilderness, they're rescued by a young girl named Akemi and her mother Oko, who make a living by robbing corpses from battlefields of their weapons and armor. After Takezo and Matahachi save the two women from the Tsujikaze gang, Matahachi decides to go to Kyoto with Oko instead of returning home with Takezo to his fiancée, Otsu.

[[caption-width-right:365:''Think only about your art.'']]

A {{seinen}} manga about the legendary "sword saint" MiyamotoMusashi, said by many to be the greatest samurai of all time. Written and drawn by Takehiko Inoue, the author of the extremely popular ''Manga/SlamDunk'', this series boasts amazing artwork, an engrossing story, and some of the best CharacterDevelopment seen not just in manga, but in any media period.

The story itself is based on the novel ''Musashi'', a semi-historical fictional account of Musashi's life. So while the series is heavily rooted in true stories, it should hardly be taken as too true, as artistic liberties were definitely taken.

The story starts with two 17-year-olds, Shinmen Takezo and Hon'iden Matahachi, amongst the few survivors of the Battle of Sekigahara. After trekking through mud and forests fighting to survive, they're rescued by a young girl named Akemi and her mother, who make a living by robbing corpses from battles of their weapons and armor. After Takezo and Matahachi save the two women from The Tsujikaze gang, Matahachi decides to stay with Oko instead of going back home with Takezo to his fiancée, Otsu.

Matahachi's mother refuses to accept this, instead blaming Takezo for her son not coming home--which leads to a village-wide hunt for Takezo, not helped by his inhuman rage and tendency to beat men to death with sticks. He's eventually captured by a monk using cheap tricks--namely using Otsu to track him down, knowing he'd lower his guard--and hung from a tree for days.

Unbeknownst to the village population, the monk, the legendary Takuan Soho, eventually frees him, rechristens him (by giving a different reading for the kanji of his first name and replacing his surname with the name of his village), and sends him off on the journey that changes him into the [[MiyamotoMusashi figure we know today]].

[[caption-width-right:369:''Think only about your art.'']]

* ArtEvolution: Actually starts in ''SlamDunk,'' but the art, though terrific to begin with, becomes more complex and detailed.

Matahachi's mother refuses to accept this, instead blaming Takezo for her son not coming home--which leads to a village-wide hunt for Takezo, not helped by his inhuman rage and tendency to beat men to death with sticks. He's eventually captured by a monk using cheap tricks--namely using Otsu to track him down, knowing he'd lower his guard--and hung by the waist off of a tree branch for days.

The monk, now legendary Takuan Soho, eventually frees him unbeknownst to the village population, rechristens him by giving a different reading for the kanji of his first name and replaces his surname with the name of his village, and sends him off on the journey that changes him into the [[MiyamotoMusashi figure we know today]].

The story starts with two 17-year-olds, Shinmen Takezo and Hon'iden Matahachi, among the very few survivors of the battle of Sekigahara. After trekking through mud and forests trying to survive, they're rescued by a young girl named Akemi and her mother, who make a living by robbing corpses from battles of their weapons and armor. After Takezo and Matahachi save the two women from The Tsujikaze gang, Matahachi decides to stay with Oko instead of going back home with Takezo to his fiancée, Otsu.

A {{seinen}} manga about the legendary "sword saint" MiyamotoMusashi, said to be the greatest samurai of all time by many. Written and drawn by Takehiko Inoue, the author of the extremely popular ''SlamDunk'', this series boasts amazing artwork, an engrossing story, and some of the best CharacterDevelopment seen not just in manga, but in any media period.

A seinen manga about the legendary "sword saint" MiyamotoMusashi, said to be the greatest samurai of all time by many. Written and drawn by Takehiko Inoue, the author of the extremely popular ''SlamDunk'', this series boasts amazing artwork, an engrossing story, and some of the best CharacterDevelopment seen not just in manga, but in any media period.

* {{Nakama}}: The Yoshioka swordsmen ''very'' much had this going on.

* GentleGiant: Yoshioka Denshichiro, to such an extent that that at his second, final duel with Musashi he comes off as the more sympathetic figure.
** It is not hard for Yoshiokas to be more sympathetic compared to Musashi. [[DesignatedHero After all, he killed them all]] [[ValuesDissonance for personal glory.]]

* TheStoryteller: Eventually it's revealed that [[the story of the manga is told entirely by an elder Matahachi, who incidentally charges for every story.]]

** It is not hard for Yoshiokas to be more sympathetic compared to Musashi. [[WhatTheHellHero After all, he killed them all for personal glory.]]