Takezō Shinmen: I left home knowing I'd never go back. From this day on... I'm a vagabond.
— Vagabond, volume 1, chapter 6
A seinen manga about the legendary "sword saint" Musashi Miyamoto, said by many to be the greatest samurai of all time. Written and drawn by Takehiko Inoue, the author of the extremely popular Slam Dunk, this series boasts amazing artwork, an engrossing story, and some of the best Character Development seen not just in manga, but in any media.
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, Takezō Shinmen — a half-wild loner raised by the sword — and his only friend Matahachi Hon'iden. 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 Okō, who make a living by robbing corpses. After Takezō and Matahachi save the two women from the Tsujikaze gang, Matahachi decides to elope with Okō to Kyoto instead of returning home with Takezō to his fiancée, Otsū.
Osugi Hon'iden, Matahachi's mother, refuses to accept this, instead blaming Takezō for her son's absence, which leads to a village-wide hunt for Takezō (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 Otsū to track him down, knowing he'd lower his guard—and hung from a tree to think on his sins.
Unbeknownst to the villagers, the monk, the legendary Sōhō Takuan, frees Takezō after a few days, rechristens him as Musashi Miyamoto, and sends him off on the journey that changes him into a Living Legend and, eventually, the figure we know today.
This series contains examples of:
- Adaptation Title Change: The manga is based on the novel Musashi.
- Alliterative Name: Musashi Miyamoto.
- Ito Ittosai.
- Anti-Hero: Musashi starts out a completely self-centered Glory Seeker, although he starts to grow out of it as he realizes the futility of being the greatest swordsman, and the value of human life.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Gion Toji starts out as a more conceited and bloodthirsty Foil to Musashi. After meeting stronger fighters, this doesn't last.
- Art Evolution: Actually starts in Slam Dunk, but the art, though terrific to begin with, becomes more complex and detailed.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Takezō and Kojirō do this at the Battle of Sekigahara, though both of them probably forgot all about it.
- Badass Boast: "Invincible Swordsman Under The Heavens Ganryū Kojirō Sasaki", "Number One Martial Artist Under the Heavens Gonnosuke Musō"
- At least one villager spotting them travelling together ended up noticing the redundancy.
- Based on a True Story: More like based on what was based on a true story.
- Beard of Sorrow: When Gion Toji returns in the Yoshioka arc, he has one. Not surprisingly, his pride has been crushed and he is a shell of his former self.
- The Berserker: Musashi starts out as one, with some characters pointing out how he puts his entire life behind his attacks. This starts to change as he learns to be in control of himself, and becomes a stronger fighter
- Blood Knight: Musashi. Ittōsai Itō is even worse, and unlike Musashi, does not get his bloodlust tempered through Character Development.
- Big Brother Mentor: Musashi is this to Jōtarō at the earlier parts of the story, then to Iori in the latest ones.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: Musashi starts off as A Lighter Shade of Black against his opponents and mellows out with Character Development. Though despite that most of his foes are slightly worse, there are some instances where everyone's as dark a shade of gray as he is.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: if you only read Vagabond online, you'll get this eventually. Volumes 1 to 21 are scans of the official English language books, so the translations are of high quality and done by professionals. However, starting with volume 22 the chapters you can read online are scans from the Japanese books or from the Japanese magazine where Vagabond is serialized, with the translations done by amateurs. Though somewhat tolerable during the first volumes, later changes in translation teams make it progressively worse the more the story goes, to the point that the Post-Yoshioka arc is completely unintelligible and impossible to read (especially during the philosophical conversations between Takuan, Itakura, Kōetsu and Musashi, and in the scenes with the Hosokawa government officials). Luckily, the translation team that takes over at the Farming arc is much better, and the story becomes understandable again.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: A major focus of the story as Musashi and other characters strive to match morality with their pursuit of the way of the sword. Musashi uncovering and developing his own moral code as a swordsman is one of the central themes of the story, especially in the aftermath of his duels against the Yoshioka school.
- Cast of Snowflakes: Every character looks so different from the other in terms of body type and facial features that it's pretty much impossible to mistake one for the other.
- Character Development: Most notably for Musashi and Jisai, but subverted with Matahachi. A good argument could be made that watching the characters grow is the entire point of the series.
- Character Focus: The first arc featuring Kojirō took up about a third of the then-twenty volume series by the time it was done.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Musashi, who spent his childhood jumping around in the mountains swinging logs and a sword he found on a corpse.
- Along with having an incredible physical toughness allowing him to survive a ''lot'', a good bit of his survival is from being physically gifted.
- Even the legendary dual-wielding technique is partially due to this — when he first dual-wields in seeming desperation, his opponent is pleased to see Musashi seemingly splitting his strength between two blades and supposedly weakening himself... only for Musashi's one-handed strike to cleave through his sword. (Considering the surprise at this feat of strength, it's entirely possible that they had experience with others who'd tried to dual-wield without being as strong as Musashi.)
- Children Raise You: Jisai Kanemaki and Kojirō Sasaki.
- Combat Pragmatist: Musashi
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: Musashi and the Seventy.
- Contemplate Our Navels: Much of Musashi's growth from an immature glory hound to a true Warrior Poet takes place as part of his Inner Monologue. Philosophical themes, such as the nature of battle and the ideal state of the soul, are visited with increasing frequency.
- Dead Person Impersonation:
- How Kōhei Tsujikaze transformed into Baiken Shishido.
- Matahachi Hon'iden interprets that a dead man's name is Kojirō Sasaki and starts using that name. He later fights a bandit, who also intends to employ this scheme to become the 3rd Kojirō.
- Determinator: Musashi. Whether it's cutting people down, or growing rice paddies. If his mind is set on something, he will not stop until he achieves it.
- Disability Superpower: Kojirō Sasaki is portrayed as deaf here, which supposedly makes him an insanely skillful swordfighter due to being able to hear only his "inner voice".
- Distant Finale: Inoue made a special epilogue chapter for a 2008 manga exhibition showing an elderly Musashi's final moments, giving some closure to his story. However, this chapter hasn't received a proper release, but translated scans can be found online.
- Doomed by Canon: Most of Musashi's opponents, but specially Kojirō and the Yoshioka school, at least to readers with some knowledge on Musashi's real story.
- Eye Scream: Happens quite a few times throughout the series.
- Foil: several characters act like one for Musashi:
- To Matahachi. Matahachi is a hedonistic man who largely pursues temporary pleasures to fill the hollow void he's left in himself, constantly indulging in self-pity and fuming over the success of others, outright willing to steal other samurai's names in order to better his own lot in life—it's telling that it takes the death of his mother, as well as whole years of lying to her and nearly everyone around him to get him to start manning up. Musashi, on the other hand, relentlessly tries to better himself as a warrior without much concern for how others view him, willing to learn from every single misstep he makes while out on his quest and freely putting himself in less-than-ideal situations all to gain a better understanding of his swordsmanship and his place in the world.
- To Kojirō Sasaki. Kojirō's a happy-go-lucky Manchild who can easily win the love of an entire village within a day; Musashi's mature, aloof, gruff, and doesn't tend to socialize at all (unless they happen to be particularly skilled swordsmen). Kojirō constantly goes after women without rest, while Musashi's fixated singularly on Otsū. Kojirō grew up loved by his father-figure and was treasured in his community, while Musashi grew up constantly being manhandled by his abusive father and ostracized by those who saw him as a "demon child." But both Kojirō and Musashi love using their swords in battle, are always restlessly searching for opponents to spar with all in the name of bettering their own skills, and are so deeply connected to the sword that the two of them can hold a conversation practically just by swinging sticks at each other in place of blades. Their passion for the sword is the one thing the two have in common.
- To Tōji Gion. At the start of the story they are both violent and bellicose swordsmen that only want to fight tough opponents. However, after Musashi loses against Inshun in their first fight, he starts looking for deeper things in life than just being the strongest in the world. On the contrary, Tōji after that very fight gets demoralized, thinking that it is impossible to achieve Inshun's level, and he becomes crazy and loses his path, eventually getting killed by Musashi during the Yoshioka arc. Tōji Gion is an example of what would have happened to Musashi if he didn't change his visions about life.
- To Baiken Shishido. Similarly to Tōji, Baiken is an example of what would have happened to Musashi if he didn't follow the light and instead chose to follow the downwards spiral of death.
- To Ittōsai Itō. Similarly to Tōji and Baiken, Ittōsai is an example of what could happen to Musashi in the future if he becomes an accomplished swordsman but remains extremely violent and without seeking spiritual growth.
- To Hyōgonosuke Yagyū. Both are stated to be very similar in terms of ability and understanding of the sword. The difference is that Hyōgonosuke likes to indulge in sex pleasures, while Musashi is strictly a Chaste Hero.
- To Jōtarō and Iori. Their enthusiasm on following the path of the sword and being his apprentices is a reminder of when he was a kid like them and wanted to live by the sword, but still was innocent and not tainted by the evilness of the world.
- To Sekishūsai Yagyū and In'ei Hōzōin. When the two old masters were young men, they were hotblooded and vehement like him. They started to change their ways after meeting the master Hidetsuna Ise no Kami Kami'izumi, who didn't even need a weapon to fight because he was one with earth and heaven. The two old masters are an example of what would Musashi become if he follows the right path in life.
- Foregone Conclusion: If you've read this page, you know what happens when Musashi duels Kojirō, which hasn't happened in the manga yet.
- Friendly Enemy: Kojirō and Musashi. Bordered on
Ho Yay at times, what with them thinking about each other at odd moments and all. - Gentle Giant: A downplayed case in Denshichirō Yoshioka, although he shows enough signs that by the time his rematch with Musashi starts, he comes off as the more sympathetic figure. (It helps that despite expelling his "third brother" Ryōhei Ueda for trying to protect him, he also stipulated that if he were to die, that Ryōhei was to be reinstated and succeed him in leading the school.)
- Hot-Blooded: Musashi's defining element in his early parts.
- Informed Attribute: Hyōgonosuke Yagyū is said to be a natural genius born with a gift for the sword, but we never get to see him in a real fight.
- Ink-Suit Mangaka: the monk Takuan is the manga's author, Takehiko Inoue, inserted in the story! Seriously, look how he was drawn
with quite a resemblance to Inoue. - Jidaigeki: Set in the very early days of the Edo Period. The very first panel of the series takes place during the aftermath of the Battle of Sekigahara.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Set during the twillight years of the Way of the Sword, it's followers despise firearms, weapons that take no skill or effort to manuever.
- Kick Them While They Are Down: Subverted in Musashi's rematch with Inshun. At first it looks like Musashi was pounding the unconscious Inshun with his wooden sword, but from another perspective we see that he was just hitting the ground next to Inshun in manic celebration of his victory.
- Lack of Empathy: as a big part of the manga deals about the customs and beliefs of Feudal Japan, a great deal of Character Development lies on how the characters, at the start little more than glory-seeker swordsmen that only care about fight and being famous, progressively start to care about people. The biggest example is in the protagonist Musashi. Jisai is also referred to have been numb to others, previously to his fall from grace when he was defeated by one of his students. Antagonists like Inshun and Baiken are also shown to have lack of empathy as one of their fatal flaws.
- Living Legend: at the start of the story, some characters are already famous as experts in their field:
- Sōhō Takuan, In'ei Hōzōin, Sekishūsai Yagyū, Jisai Kanemaki, Ittōsai Itō, Sadakore, Kōetsu Hon'ami, Katsushige Itakura, Tadaoki Hosokawa, Magoshirō Ujīe.
- Musashi Miyamoto, Seijūrō Yoshioka, Inshun Hōzōin, Hyōgonosuke Yagyū, Baiken Shishido, Kojirō Sasaki.
- Magic Realism: There are a few spirits here and there who sort of interact with the characters.
- Manchild: Kojirō, surprisingly enough.
- Martial Pacifist: The old master characters, Hōzōin In'ei, and especially Yagyū Sekishūsai, along with their own master Kam'Izumi Ise no Kami, who believe that the ultimate mastery of the Way of the Sword is being One With Heaven and Earth, in which case No Sword is needed.
- Takuan is a bit of one, an itinerant monk who can solve most problems with words,but he's not afraid to get his hands a little dirty if he has to.
- Musashi eventually develops into one. He starts seeking to escape the cycle of killing and violence and finds strategies to end fights without bloodshed.
- Meaningful Rename:
- Takezō Shinmen is renamed Musashi Miyamoto by Takuan: "Musashi" is an alternate reading of the Japanese characters of "Takezō", and Miyamoto due to Musashi's birthplace being the Miyamoto village.
- In a flashback, the baby Mataichi is adopted by the childless Osugi Hon'iden to have a heir, she renames him Matahachi, with the hope that his horizons will expand, just like the "hachi" character.
- In a flashback, the boy Shinnosuke Mitsuda witnesses his parents being murdered and is adopted by In'ei Hōzōin who, using the first character of his name, renames him Inshun.
- Mook Chivalry: Sometimes justified; would truly honorable samurai gang up on you? Yes, if they're the Yoshioka school, but in their defense, they tried the honest way first and failed horrendously—they were desperate at that point.
- Ironically, they failed at the ganging up the because they still had the chivalric mentality and overall retained an individual warrior mentality — allowing Musashi to fight "one against one, seventy times." The only group of them to (almost) succeed in contrast "got it," but hesitated at the fateful moment when their leader held Musashi down for his men to drive their swords through them both. As it happened, they hesitated so long that Musashi broke the neck of the squad leader and got up.
- Not Afraid to Die: Played with. While Musashi does learn to accept that he may die in a fight, he also learns the value of his own life and other's, and not to throw away his life recklessly.
- Played straight with characters like Sasaki Kojiro and Ito Ittosai, who live by the sword and aren't afraid to lay down their lives for battle.
- Oh, Crap!: the face that numerous fighters put when they realize they are going to die and that they made a big mistake getting on Musashi's way.
- Old Master: quite a few characters, fighter and non-fighter alike, have elements of this in the manga:
- Sōhō Takuan, Munisai Shinmen, Kempō Yoshioka, In'ei Hōzōin, Sekishūsai Yagyū, Hidetsuna Ise no Kami Kami'izumi, Jisai Kanemaki, Ittōsai Itō, Sadakore, Kōetsu Hon'ami, Kakubē Iwama, Katsushige Itakura, the wood carver father, Iori's father, Tadaoki Hosokawa, Magoshirō Ujīe, Shūsaku.
- One-Man Army: Musashi cuts down more than 70 highly trained and nationally respected Yoshioka swordsmen. Basically the entire school. And that's after he took out their leader, nominally the best of them, at the start of the battle, by diving right into their center. This single-handedly catapults him to a national figure.
- Only Sane Man: Uncle Gon is the only one in the Hon'iden family that can put up with their crap...
- Out of the Inferno: Played with in the fight against the villain Yūgetsusai Fudō, who first steps out of his house because it's on fire, then goes back in again because he forgot his sword, only to walk out as described in the trope.
- The Perils of Being the Best: The manga spends a lot of time exploring this theme. Any swordsman who makes a name for himself becomes a target for every glory seeking wannabe around. The psychological weight of constantly being attacked and constantly having to kill takes a frightful toll on several figures. Examples include Munisai Shinmen, who became unhinged and paranoid to the point where he treats even his young son as a competitor looking to overthrow him, and Baiken Shishidō, who goes from being a Blood Knight to becoming so completely burned out on fighting and killing after he was challenged by many samurai that when he is defeated and maimed so that he cannot duel again he is thankful for being maimed, etc. Musashi himself only barely avoids this, and only because he realizes the pitfalls of the trope and he tries really hard to avoid being a slave to his reputation after he becomes a national figure, even when that means avoiding challenges and living as a peasant and farmer for a time.
- Really Gets Around: Matahachi, Seijūrō, Hyōgonosuke and Kojirō.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni
- Musashi and Kojirō. Variation in that Kojirō, while calmer than Musashi, is also much more cheerful.
- Musashi's entire character arc is about undergoing a transition from the impulsive, Hot-Blooded, Blood Knight version of himself as a youngster, (definite Red Oni) into a calmer, more philosophical, more caring man who is saddened by a life of violence and killing and starts looking for ways to avoid needless death.
- The Yoshioka brothers consist of the bigger, more impulsive, and physically fearsome but kinder Denshichirō, and the superior, Brilliant, but Lazy, pint sized Aloof Big Brother Seijūrō.
- For a brief time, Blood Knight supreme Ittōsai Itō formed such a pair with Kojirō, which only lasted until he tried putting Kojirō through a version of sink or swim training, and Kojirō responded by not only besting Ittōsai in a duel but also cutting off his right hand so that only the ring and pinky fingers remain, forever leaving it unable to hold a sword.
- Scenery Porn: Where to begin? This is the manga equivalent of calligraphy.
- Screaming Warrior: Hoo boy. This trope is extremely plentiful throughout the series, although it's pointed out several times that the fighter who is screaming is usually trying to fight off their own fear, (and probably lessening their ability to fight effectively because they're causing their entire body to tighten up) while the fighter who is calm usually has the upper hand.
- Stiff Upper Lip: Ueda. His trademark attitude is smoking his pipe and ponder. He is introduced this way when Musashi first comes to the Yoshioka dojo and is killing many disciples. But this attitude becomes truly evident during the Battle of Ichijōji, when he is seriously wounded with half of his face cut and he rests under a tree, calmly smoking his trademark pipe while ravens flock to eat his flesh.
- The Storyteller: Eventually it's revealed that the story of the manga is told entirely by an elder Matahachi, who incidentally charges for every story.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: When Musashi and Seijūrō duel, both of them think "What's the worst that could happen", followed by a mental image of being cut in half.
- The Ace: a few characters in the story are stated to be natural geniuses blessed with an innate gift with the weapons:
- Seijūrō Yoshioka
- Inshun Hōzōin
- Hyōgonosuke Yagyū
- Kojirō Sasaki
- Musashi Miyamoto
- Munisai Shinmen
- Kempō Yoshioka
- In'ei Hōzōin
- Sekishūsai Yagyū
- Hidetsuna Ise no Kami Kami'izumi
- Baiken Shishido
- Jisai Kanemaki
- Ittōsai Itō
- Yūgetsusai Fudō
- Sadakore
- Koun Igaya
- Tadaoki Hosokawa
- Magoshirō Ujīe
- The Epic: how the legend of the greatest swordsman ever in Japan, Miyamoto Musashi, was forged. The manga is an adaption from the novel Musashi, itself one of the greatest epics in the history of Japanese literature.
- Title Drop: when at the start of the story, Takezō tells Matahachi, Okō and Akemi that he will become a vagabond, Wandering the Earth and challenging strong fighters.
- To Be a Master: Musashi's inital motivation is to be the greatest swordsman, Invincible Under the Sun. As he encounters old masters like In'ei and Yagyu, he becomes motivated to understand them and reach their level.
- Translation Train Wreck: related to the "Blind Idiot" Translation mentioned above, online scanlations done by amateurs are plagued with this. It starts to become troublesome in the last parts of the Second Yoshioka arc, when Yoichi, Ueda and others of the Ten Swords ponder why the Battle of Ichijōji is being lost. But it becomes particularly egregious in the Post-Yoshioka arc, where scenes such as the philosophical talk between Takuan and Kōetsu, or the intrigues of the Hosokawa clan, are translation train wrecks. Ironically, the hiatus that Inoue had at the end of the Post-Yoshioka arc was helpful, because it was long enough for another amateur translation team to take over, and when the Farming arc starts the story is intelligible again.
- Tranquil Fury: In one instance, while Kojirō is visiting a prostitute, another client that fell in love with her (Kōhei Tsujikaze) walks in and starts berating and abusing her, and ends up killing her pet frog. Kojirō confronts the man with a calm, flat expression on his face (contrasted with his usual joyous expression), and cuts him open with a tsubame gaeshi in a blink of the eye.
- True Companions: The Yoshioka swordsmen very much had this going on.
- Vagabond Buddies: as expected in a work with that title.
- Takezō and Matahachi
- Musashi and Jōtarō
- Osugi Hon'iden and uncle Gon
- Otsū and Jōtarō
- Kojirō, Ittōsai and Gonnosuke
- Musashi, Iori and Toyozaemon
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Musashi existed. Takuan existed. Kojiro might have existed. Other than that, it's pretty much all made up.
- Walking the Earth: Obviosly, for a series called Vagabond. Our protagonist Musashi is a Rōnin wandering the land of Japan seeking out opponents.
- War Arc: as a manga based on the lifes and deeds of historical Japanese martial artists, Vagabond is bound to have war arcs.
- In the beginning, the series' setting is the aftermath of the Battle of Sekigahara (a turning point in Japanese history), and the story deals with how the main characters, who fought for the losing side and have survived, must fight their way out from the battlefield.
- During the Kojirō arc, the story eventually returns to the time of the Battle of Sekigahara, but this time in a lengthier way: the characters are put in the time of the prelude, then in the battlefield proper, and then in the aftermath where they must carry out survival missions under heavy hostility from mobs of angry peasants.
- The Second Yoshioka arc deals with the large-scale conflicts between Musashi Miyamoto and the Yoshioka clan when Musashi returns to Kyoto after 1 year. The arc reaches its climax in the Battle of Ichijōji: Musashi's epic solo battle against 70 Yoshioka sword fighters!
- Wham Episode: there's a lot of wham chapters in Vagabond.
- Ch.1 produced a wham effect in the Japanese readers when it was first published: many that flocked to see Takehiko Inoue's new series were shocked to see that it was a significant depart from his previous light-hearted series (Slam Dunk). Right from the very start of the series, Vagabond shows brutal images where Takezō savagely kills some soldiers.
- Ch.7 is a big wham moment that changes the course of the series and the way people see the character of Matahachi. Up until that moment, readers see Takezō and Matahachi as kinda samurai buddies going on adventures together. However, in that chapter, when Takezō enters a house to fight against a group bandits, Matahachi doesn't join him—he stays outside having sex with Okō, and abandons his friend. Things will never be the same again for Matahachi.
- In-story, Musashi has his personal wham moments whenever he receives words that hit a nerve on him: "you killed them and ended everything for them" (Takuan), "only when you are strong you understand true strength" (In'ei), "invincible is just a word" (Sekishūsai), "I'm done with the spiral of death" (Baiken).
- Ch.50 has somewhat of a delayed wham effect, as over the course of the chapter it is revealed through flashbacks that Musashi, which is the main character, ran away from the fight of the previous chapters—an extremely rare plot twist in any media.
- Ch.72 delves in some flashbacks that expand in Inshun's backstory, everything goes as usual until suddenly it puts an explicit rape scene that comes out of nowhere and that catches you off-guard.
- Ch.78 ends with Matahachi (now calling himself "Kojirō Sasaki") affirming that "one day, Kojirō will defeat Musashi"—such an arrogant attitude surprises and enrages the readers, to the point that in some websites that chapter has even more comments than Ch.1.
- Ch.110 shows Uncle Gon's death, a very wham moment for readers—while it's true that so far the series had shown many deaths, they were all from low-level mooks, nameless bandits, villains and the like. Uncle Gon's death, however, is the first death from a character that is a "good guy" and that readers have grown to like.
- Ch.116 reveals that Baiken Shishido (the imposing chain-and-sickle warrior) is actually Kōhei Tsujikaze.
- Ch.117 ends in a wham fashion, revealing that Baiken's master is actually the little girl Rindō.
- Ch.126, which deals with Kōhei's backstory, has the award for the whamest chapter in all the series. Readers just don't understand what the fuck they just seen. Wanna know how fucked up the chapter is?... it has a scene that shows that Tenma Tsujikaze was a deranged, pedophile, incestuous rapist.
- Ch.131 reveals that kid Kojirō is deaf, something that completely catches readers off guard. The way Jisai reacts to this wham moment says it all.
- Ch.134 has a scene where Jisai violently slaps kid Kojirō, sending him flying across the room—for those that are sensible to seeing child mistreatment, the scene can be a total shock.
- Ch.163 has a scene that comes out of nowhere, where in the middle of a fight with swords and spears, a tanegashima archebus fires at Takezō. Up until that moment, there wasn't even a single panel in the whole series that showed firearms: it was strictly a swords, spears and white arms affair.
- The next chapters in the Kojirō arc deal with Sadakore's squad and are full of wham moments, as up until that moment the series kinda had an implicit Plot Armor for characters that had significant screen time and that weren't outright villains.
- The very first scene with Sadakore's squad is quite graphic and can catch readers off-guard: Sadakore's men were collecting the decapitated heads of their fallen enemies, and in that scene they take the heads out of the sacks and throw them away.
- Ch.190 shows not only that Musashi killed Seijūrō, but also that he brutally split his body in half. In-story, this acts as a wham moment for the Yoshioka and for all the people in Kyoto.
- Ch.197 has a scene where Mīke brutally beats Matahachi for using Kojirō's name. Even though Vagabond is a violent series (and that Matahachi is one of the most hated characters), the scene is quite shocking because Mīke is essentially using torture. Most killings in the series are quick and done in a single panel, but this is a whole different case: Mīke here is executing a slow, painful killing.
- In-story, in the aftermath of the Battle of Ichijōji, the whole country has a wham moment after receiving news that a man has singlehandedly killed 70 sword fighters of nationwide reputation.
- A flashback explains that Kōhei Tsujikaze had an in-story wham moment (coupled with Heroic BSoD) after being defeated by Kojirō.
- Ch.251 is delving with philosophical talks, when suddenly it ends with a scene that shows how the police arrests Musashi.
- Ch.281 is also one of the whamest chapters in the series. On the one hand, it shows that Ittōsai defeats Musashi, ending his win-streak. On the other hand, it shows that Sekishūsai dies.
- Ch.316 shows how Musashi bows down to the ground and asks a government official for help, in the middle of a winter famine that is killing the villagers. An unthinkable attitude for the proud and violent Takezō from 316 chapters ago. This is the biggest sign of the extent in which Musashi has gone through Character Development.
- Wooden Katanas Are Even Better: Musashi starts out only using a wooden sword, even opting to use a wooden practice sword when offered a real one in the Yoshioka dojo. Though later on in the series, he switches to a real blade.
- Younger Than They Look: Many say that Takehiko Inoue draws Musashi in a way that he looks older. At the start of the story, when he is 17 years old, he looks like he's in his late twenties, due to his long limbs, tall height and big muscular frame (the Real Life Musashi Miyamoto is also said to have been a strongly built man even at an early age). A little after, when he returns to Miyamoto village, he has let his facial hair grow and wears his hair loose, making him look like he is in his mid thirties. 30 volumes later, by the time he is in his late twenties, he looks like he is in his late fourties. That being said, Musashi's also noted by his fellow swordsmen for being considerably young for a man of his ambition and skill.
- Lampshaded by Akemi, who in chapter 2 says she thought he was 30 (he is 17).
- Justified because, in those times, people aged rapidly due to the harsh life and the lack of the technology complexity we have now.
