Vagabond: Miyamoto Musashi is one of the best samurai manga I have read!
The plot is set in late 16th century and it's about the life of a vagabond-samurai Miyamoto Musashi
The story is so frikkin realistic
The protagonist as usual, is an arrgoant determined and over-confident dude who's serious all the time. The type who wouldn't recongnize a joke if it danced naked in front of him singing "Halleluja!"
Ahem .. Yeah where was I?
Yeah and the combat is deadly!
It's almost like .. real life ..
Well whaddya expect, the manga's adapted from a novel of the same name

Summary
Growing up in the late 16th century Sengoku era Japan, Shinmen Takezo is shunned by the local villagers as a devil child due to his wild and violent nature. Running away from home with a fellow boy at age 17, Takezo joins the Toyotomi army to fight the Tokugawa clan at the battle of Sekigahara. However, the Tokugawa win a crushing victory, leading to nearly three hundred years of Shogunate rule. Takezo and his friend manage to survive the battle, and afterwards swear to do great things with their lives. But after their paths separate, Takezo becomes a wanted criminal, and must change his name and his nature in order to escape an ignoble death. Based on the book "Musashi" by Eiji Yoshikawa, Vagabond is a fictional retelling of the life of Miyamoto Musashi, often referred to as the "Sword Saint" - perhaps the most famous and successful of Japan's sword fighters.



For people who're suckers for ancient Japan - based stories do not miss this!
-Azeron
[Yeah, I'm back]

Its a really wonderful series and the guy is every bit as arrogant as your normal teen who has skill and confidence. The way the story develops and how he ends up changing himself is well done and you won't even get bored through the fillers because they add to the story rather than deviating from it. Too bad its on a hiatus. I'd have loved to finish it off.