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 MangaChat: Vagabond
Written by Park Cooper
This week in MangaChat we look at Takehiko Inoue's Viz Media series VAGABOND, about the life of pretty much the most important samurai-type guy ever, Miyamoto Musashi. Park loves this series... Barb prefers Inoue's (Viz Signature) series about wheelchair basketball, REAL (although Park certainly likes that, too).
Barb Lien-Cooper: I guess I’ll start. It's funny, in a way. Vagabond was nominated for an Eisner. However, the manga I’d like to nominate for one is Real, by the same creator.
Park Cooper: Would you say that the main difference you have in enjoyment regarding the two involves Vagabond's pacing?
If so, I could understand. Like Hikaru in With The Light, creator Inoue certainly goes at his own pace.
Barb: Well, I foolishly came in late in the series, so I didn't know who anyone was.
So I got too confused to get into the series.
PC: Well, that's true, I, too, didn't think I would get into it when we tried out volume 9 or 10.
Barb: Plus, it just seemed like a lot of fighting to me.
PC: I had to back up to start with 1.
Barb: It's definitely something you have to read from the start, unlike a lot of other manga. Plus, you have to love samurai, and I was a little burnt out on sword books.
PC: Understood. What would you say was the main cause of your sword burnout? Kenshin?
Barb: I sort of had my fill after Kenshin, as much as I liked that anime.
PC: There you go. Well, I have to say, it's even a bit more sword-intensive than Kenshin, yes.
Barb: Plus, remember, I’m sort of burnt out on what I call Super-hero-y books.
You know, a battle manga that's all fight and not enough character development.
PC: I don't know how to defend Vagabond against the lots-of-fighting charge. It's almost impossible to defend against the pacing charge, but it feels like I should be able to defend it on the fighting charge. But I can't.
Vagabond does have a lot of fighting. But there is also character development. Well... for those who live.
Which is pretty much Musashi and his little female friend Otsu.
Barb: Heck, I even got burnt out on Naruto...and Hunter X Hunter because they were all about learning some OTHER superhero-y godlike skill and then fighting some other godlike being for 200 pages.
PC: His childhood friend (male) lives... but so far, never, ever seems to really learn anything.
Barb: I guess it's also because I’ve already seen the Toshiro Mifune films about the character.
PC: Right, Hunter x Hunter is a good example of being pacing-challenged, and I can't defend that either. You have to go with it in spite of that, or not.
Ah, now that's a good point too, actually.
Barb: Yeah...with Hunter, I just wanted to see if Gon found his dad.
PC: If Kenshin was a real guy and you saw the live-action version, you'd feel less need for his manga/anime.
I think Gon is gonna have a lonnnng way to go on that front.
Barb: And I suppose not being able to get into Lady Snowblood sort of told me to let go of Sword books for awhile.
With Naruto, I just suspected that the stuff was about to hit the fan and all the adults I liked were going to die.
PC: I understand. Well, we don't have to like the same things... it's more than enough for me that you just kind of respect Vagabond for what it is, and you do. It is, indeed, easier to love REAL.
Barb: Oh, yeah, I love Real. I need to take out an hour or two and read Volume Six.
The thing about Real is that I could actually re-read that series once it finishes. I can't think of a lot of manga series I can say that about. Maybe GTO....
PC: Yes. I’ve re-read Hunter, and Kare Kano. I haven't even actually reread Naruto yet...
except the one with Choji
Barb: I’m not judging. I love that our tastes differ a little. I’m just asking.
Oh, yeah, the one with Choji’s big fight, I did re-read. So why are you into Vagabond, anyway?
PC: I like that Vagabond is like Osamu Tezuka's BUDDHA (with more swords). It's extremely about Musashi’s spiritual development.
Barb: I re-read Fruits Basket a lot, even though usually, shoujo isn't my thing.
It's just such a complex series. I’d re-watch the anime, see something I hadn't noticed before, then re-read the manga.
Which the movies were sort of about....or it might just be that I really like Mr. Toshiro Mifune.
PC: There's this great scene, for example, where he hears a voice inside him telling him what to do in a fight, and he looks inside himself to see who that is, because it's sure not him... he's expecting to find his abusive-in-ways-that-haven't-been-fully-explained-yet dad (who was a weapon master himself)... but instead, it's the two old guys he met on his journey so far.
One was able to fend him off with a wooden backscratcher. In his sleep.
The second one was the one who set him up to beat his own pupil, the pupil who was so good he couldn't learn anymore, because he couldn't be afraid of anyone.
Barb: Oh, so it sort of goes to your basic Bruce Lee philosophy, that fighting isn't just about fighting, it's about philosophy and self-improvement, too.
PC: And when you see that his dad has left his psyche and that the two old geezers have taken up residence there instead you gasp because that's sooo important.
Yes it TOTALLY does. In volume 22 or so, Musashi finally starts muttering to himself about "hm, I see, the way of the sword is like fire, it's like this and this and so and so.... hm... this is pretty good stuff, I should write this down sometime..."
Barb: Yeah, kind of like in I’ll Be Seeing You where Giner Roger's voice started talking in Joseph Cotten's head instead of his fear-based inner voice.
PC: Yes, it's very like that, I just thought I’d let you say so instead of me...
Also, Musashi is known for whittling statues of the Buddha in his spare time. But in volume 20 or so he starts whittling... and they all come out as demons. And you're like "oh ho, so this is how he started out-- all tormented inside, but he's moving toward inner peace and balance."
Barb: Well, he did write all of this down, right? If I remember right, this guy in Vagabond, in real life, was a great swordsman and philosopher who wrote that important book....
What's its name again?
PC: Um... The Book of Five Rings, yes?
Barb: Yeah, that's the one. He's a big, big national hero in Japan, right? Miyamoto Musashi.
PC: Yes. So Inoue is being extremely cute and tease-y about this being his Young Indiana Jones chronicles of the greatest samurai ever.
Okay, maybe that's how I can explain the appeal. It's Japan's Young Indy Chronicles. except their guy actually existed.
Barb: Since he's a big name in Japan, no wonder the Ministry of Culture gave Vagabond that big manga award!
PC: Yeah, exactly.
Barb: It just blows my mind that Japan has a ministry that cares about manga. The idea that manga matters is just so cool. In America, you'd never see the National Endowment for the Arts or PBS give a rat's tail about comics.
PC: Art is important to culture, and culture is of national importance. Hm, I am going to go out on a limb and say that there's a patriotic love that actually comes into play. With Musashi I mean.
Yeah, here in America art has gotten caught in the struggle between liberal and conservative, I’d say.
Of course, it's also creator-owned, too. American writers of comics don't really get rich. They don't own the rights to the works with the widest pre-audience, and the creator-owned market is in dire straits.
Barb: Plus, community standards are different in Asia, which gives creators more freedom to grow.
Oh, that's right, a manga series is a creator's BABY.
PC: OOOOOOOH Erik from Viz just said: "Hi Park, Sure, I’ll be happy to send some Vagabond along. It's one of my all-time favorite series and I’m glad to know you're interested in it!" Darn right I’m interested in it, baby.
Barb: So there's not the alienation of a comic book writer writing someone else's piece of corporate property.
PC: Exactly! And so Japan is already trained to happily follow the creator to his or her next work.
If they don't DIE first. I’m looking at you, Naruto and HunterXHunter...
Barb: Even with bad manga series, you have the feeling that the creator CARES and isn't just doing it for profit.
PC: Of course they care! This is important to them more than to anyone-- it's their personal gamble!
Barb: It's funny; in comics, I don't follow creators that much. Instead, I follow stories.
PC: Which... is why I felt a little cold recently regarding Rose Hip Rose. It felt like, for one of the only times ever, a manga creator was purposely trying to come up with something kinda Hollywood.
Barb: Okay, Hunter is an exception because we both liked Yu Yu....
But I haven't picked up the new one from the creator of Fruits or Kenshin....
Mm. Gimmick is kind of Hollywoody too, in my opinion.
PC: Well the reason it's such an exception is because their series are so long! I can't believe Inoue did 100 volumes of Slam Dunk, 25 volumes of Vagabond, and is now apparently doing Vagabond and REAL simultaneously... and isn't 109 years old...
Barb: Yeah, that amazes me. He's just so good at what he does. And he just gets better and better.
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