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Vagabond Author Resumes Working On Manga Series

By Ishaan . November 5, 2011 . 12:00pm

Vagabond Author Resumes Working On Manga Series

Vagabond author, Takehiko Inoue, has resumed working on the series after a lengthy hiatus, he reported on Twitter recently.

 

A date for the manga’s return hasn’t yet been finalized, but Inoue says that he’ll keep fans updated, and that he’s consulting with his editors to find a pace that doesn’t compromise his health, which was the original reason he stopped working on the series.

 

Volume 33 of Vagabond was published in North America by Viz in October 2010.


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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Farid-Belkacemi/1073052585 Farid Belkacemi

    Good to know, I love the artist ! :)

  • http://twitter.com/#!/GuiltyRaioh ShinkaRaioh

    I seriously hope Vagabond is going to get finished before “something” happens, I know it’s selfish, but I couldn’t stand to have another Guin Saga. ;__;

  • LezardValeth

    Good to know I’ll be able to continue my journey with Musashi in the future. <3

    Hopefully everyone that reads manga has started reading or is up to date with Vagabond…..Especially Berserk fans.

  • aoihana

    I’m not a fan of the series, but it’s great to know that he’ll be resuming his work for his fans. Though, I hope that he’s fully recovered and it’s great that he realizes that he has to take it easy. 

    Speaking of which, I hope Ai Yazawa continues her work on NANA. I still haven’t lost hope!

    • Ereek

      I’m (futilely) hoping for X/1999, myself. Even incomplete, it’s still one of my favorite manga.

      • Exand

        With the subject matter of X, and how sensitive things have gotten especially in the last decade or so, I doubt Clamp will find a publisher that is willing to publish the last three books worth of chapters :(

        But I’d love to see the conclusion too.

    • http://myfigurecollection.net/collection/ashgail Ashgail

      Man, I know how depressing hiatuses can be. Luckily Ubell Blatt came out of a hiatus and I could enjoy the exciting tale once more.

  • Exand

    I thought for a split second he was going to go back to Slam Dunk… Sigh.

    • puchinri

      I thought he finished it? ouo;

      • Exand

        To this day, Slam Dunk’s still listed in the list of Shuukan Shonen Jump manga that hasn’t been completed yet. 

        • Aoshi00

          How was it not ended?   Even w/ an ending that’s rushed and sudden or one feels unsatisfactory, it indeed ended (premature or not during the manga’s run).  An uchikiri (打ち切り) does not mean a hiatus that would be picked up once again like Hunter x Hunter.  If you mean some kind of continuation, sequel, or a remake, that’s a different matter.  Shouhoku lost against Sannoh, Sakuragi sustained back injury and went into rehab, Shouhoku lost the chance to go to the nationals in Akagi’s final year, and that was the ending of Slam Dunk. Nobody thinks the story has not ended and Inoue would draw it again. Uchikiri means that near the end of the manga’s run, Jump tells the author we would give you 2 or 3 more weeks to wrap it up, usually due to the serial’s popularity winding down to make room for new manga.

          The Slam Dunk anime on the other hand ended much earlier than the manga and was not a full adaptation. After finishing Slam Dunk and Buzzer Beater I doubt he would go back to it again, not to mention Real is still ongoing, that is indeed not finished, like Vagabond that just stopped in the middle.

          • Exand

            I didn’t say anything about it not ending, I said it wasn’t completed yet.

            If you look at the publishing section for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump, Slam Dunk is listed as a title that has not been completed yet. Contrast that to a series like Dragonball which is listed as completed.

            And Slam dunk wasn’t cut by the publisher Shueisha (which btw is what uchikiri means…). Inoue-san himself requested the series finish off the way it did after the 山王 game because he felt he couldn’t draw anything that would rival the tension in that game.

            However, a while later Inoue-san revealed in another interview that he did have vague ideas behind what could potentially happen after the end of the manga (and after 10-days after). As to when / whether he would revisit it, he left it vague, and mentioned it would have to be after Vagabond and Real if it ever were to happen.

            That was, of course, a very long time ago and a lots happened since then (including his “health”). So when I saw this article, I thought for a second that he was going back to Slam Dunk.

          • Aoshi00

            It got an ending hence it was completed.  Many authors usually end their series when they feel like they don’t have much to talk about (Toriyama did but Toei feels like doing GT), or they got hurried by the publisher.  But afterwards, after years of drawing a story week after week, they are attached to their masterpiece and have lingering feelings for their work and want to continue it in some way.  Watsuki kept talking about how he wanted to do Hokkaido-hen after Jinchuu back then (Soujirou would be the main char, he did do a 6-page short for the Kenshin Kaden, or the short story Yahiko no Sakabatou), or Kurumada also wanted to do Tenkai-hen after Hades (it was an uchikiri because Kurumada would’ve wanted to draw more but Jump didn’t let him), which did happen in the form of a lackluster movie many years later.  If it was Inoue the author’s own wish to end Slam Dunk himself, then I do not see why anyone would still call it incomplete. any desire to do more or addt’l concept does not make any work incomplete..

            If it had an ending, then it was completed.  Unless they want to talk about how Miyagi becomes the next captain and the new Shouhoku w/o Akagi and Kogure would go on to become the national champion next year.  But that’s a “what if” continuation scenario.. I know he penned a short story in a mag.. I don’t remember it very clearly.. I was still in middle school to high school when I finished reading Slam Dunk from Shounen Jump back then..

            At any rate, I really don’t want to see any new Slam Dunk, it was a classic and it ended the way it did, not much need to revisit it.  For Vagabond, I just want him to put more effort into his art again, the art in the last 4-5 volumes were quite horrible like storyboarding roughs.. and it might be his health.. many readers thought he lost the desire to continue the story..

          • Exand

            Like I said before, you’re talking about something I didn’t even say…

            Complete and end are NOT the same thing!

            I said Slam Dunk as a series wasn’t complete, I never said it didn’t end. If you want a newer example, Gundam Seed had an ending. But the series was not complete because Gundam Seed Destiny came after it that continued the story. So yes, Gundam Seed ended. But it wasn’t complete.

            Inoue-san himself went back later and revealed he had ideas for continuing on with Slam Dunk and that he may revisit it in the future. That means while Slam Dunk ended, it is not complete…

            That’s not the same as Toriyama-san who wanted to stop drawing Dragonball way before the GT anime ever hit the airwaves. Toriyama-san didn’t want to do the Buu series or even the Cell series. Almost the entire Dragonball “Z” part (of the anime, since the manga was always just Dragonball) was something that Shueisha pushed him to do so he obliged in the manga, and thus was carried over in the anime. 

            And Watsuki-san, unlike Inoue-san, never mentioned going back to writing Rurouni Kenshin because he was never really that into the era that Rurouni Kenshin was based on. The ideas he mentioned (Soujiorou in the north) never came into fruition because he wanted to move on writing something that wasn’t based in the era RK was based in. So the series is both ended and complete. The whole reason he went on with RK was because the first yomikiri (the one with the Hiko look-alike and the Yahiko-look alike characters as the mains) was what got published first and the idea was refined and carried forward in RK. If you look at this later material, none of it is based in the time same era as RK. 

            As for Inoue-san and Slam Dunk, I doubt he will go back to it too. But as a fan of Slam Dunk, I wouldn’t mind seeing him try it. If it ends up sucking, well, I’ll just erase it from memory like I erased eps 1/2/3 of the prequels for Star Wars from my memory lol.

          • Aoshi00

            How could something that ended not be complete?  Who could decide a completed work to be not complete.  A sequel or continuation that came later doesn’t mean the original work was incomplete.  What is your definition of “complete” then?   The three original Star Wars movies ended and were completed as a trilogy, then Lucas many years later wanted to go back to add three more prequels, that does not mean the original trilogy was incomplete.  So now we have 6 movies, if he wants to do ep 7-9 in the future, or we have all these Star Wars related spin-offs, does that mean the SW universe is never complete?  Just like the original Gundam ended and was completed in 1979, then Zeta Gundam ended and was complete in 1985, and then double Zeta in 1986.  The fact that they kept adding more and more things to the same universe does not mean the original work was not complete.

            Slam Dunk manga ended, Dragonball manga ended, Kenshin manga ended.  They all ended and were completed (and also all these 3 titles have had the “complete ver” of the bigger sets released where the authors redrew the new cover arts).  It doesn’t matter whether the authors or the publisher want them to make a sequel or have an idea or desire to do something more, the story ended and is completed as is.  Something like X/1999 would be “incomplete” as it never rec’d an ending at all. Toriyama’s original intention does not change anything, the fact is he drew 42 volumes of Dragonball and that’s where the canon story ended and was completed by the author. Whether he wants to draw more or Toei continued w/ GT, that doesn’t make the original 42 volumes as incomplete, just like the 31 volumes of Slam Dunk was a completed manga w/ a proper ending.

            Watsuki specifically said he wanted to do Hokkaido-hen if he had a chance at the time, he did many sketches. By your logic, Kenshin was never completed despite it having an ending at vol. 28. He wasn’t into the era?  Are you kidding me, he was a huge Bakumatsu and Shinsengumi fan, he was a huge fan of that period and loved Shiba Ryoutarou’s Moeyo Ken novel, RK was not a fluke and if he didn’t like it he wouldn’t have drawn it for 5 1/2 years.  He did not continue to draw that period because all of his subsequent manga have a different setting, Bakumatsu, Wild West, Modern day Jpn mixed w/ Alchemy, and now Frankenstein in Europe.  But his manga are all fighting manga.  I don’t want my favorite manga artists to draw the same thing over and over, that’s what I like about Watsuki.  Like after Slam Dunk ended, Inoue did the online serial Buzzer Beater (basketball league in space, which did get adapted into 2 seasons of excellent anime years later), I was actually bored of his basketball manga, I wanted him to draw something else and be more diverse and not be a one trick pony, then he did Vagabond which is completely different, but he also drew Real, yet another basketball manga w/ handicapped players. So I think he’s done enough on basketball, let alone going back to Slam Dunk.

            I still don’t see how you can classify Slam Dunk as an incomplete work.  The manga was complete, but the anime was not a complete adaptation.  Just like the Dragon Quest Dai’s Adventure manga ended at vol. 36, but the anime ended at vol. 11, the manga was completed, but the anime was incomplete. 

            If by your definition that “something else could come later”, then no work could be ever called “complete”, because there’s always a chance for sequels to “expand” on something. This is the first time I’ve ever heard Slam Dunk manga referred to as an incomplete work, in the same line as something like Clamp’s X, which did not have an ending and was never completed.

            Slam Dunk Complete re-print set
            http://www.amazon.co.jp/SLAM-DUNK-%E5%85%A824%E5%B7%BB%E3%83%BB%E5%85%A8%E5%B7%BB%E3%82%BB%E3%83%83%E3%83%88-%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%97%E3%82%B3%E3%83%9F%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9-%E3%83%87%E3%83%A9%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9/dp/4088599012/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1321012446&sr=8-2

            Kenshin Complete reprint set
            http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%82%8B%E3%82%8D%E3%81%86%E3%81%AB%E5%89%A3%E5%BF%83-%E5%AE%8C%E5%85%A8%E7%89%88-%E5%85%A822%E5%B7%BB-%E5%AE%8C%E7%B5%90%E3%82%BB%E3%83%83%E3%83%88-%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%97%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B3%E3%83%9F%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9/dp/B002CZPN1W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1321012588&sr=8-2

            Dragonball Complete re-print set,
            http://www.amazon.co.jp/DRAGON-%E3%83%89%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B4%E3%83%B3%E3%83%9C%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB%EF%BC%89-%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%97%E3%82%B3%E3%83%9F%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9%E3%83%87%E3%83%A9%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9-%E3%83%9E%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B1%E3%83%83%E3%83%88%E3%83%97%E3%83%AC%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B9-%E3%82%B3%E3%83%9F%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%BB%E3%83%83%E3%83%88/dp/B002CZPL1E/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321012675&sr=1-3

  • Aoshi00

    I hope Inoue would put more effort into his drawing again.. the art has steadily gone downhill around vol. 27 or so.. after the fall of the Yoshioka School (Musashi vs 100).. the lowest in his career probably worse than his Buzzer Beater online short, I have never seen uglier and sketchier drawing from him (and I’m a big fan of him since Slam Dunk), by the time it got to vol. 31-33 I really lost interest because the art was so disappointingly bad (rough like story board) in addition to the story being really slow..  It was a pity because his art looked really good during the Kojirou arc it was breathtaking…. he was working on too much simultaneously anyway w/ Vagabond and Real… everyone just wanted him to get it over w/ if he didn’t have the heart to continue..

    For a lot of veteran artists who are more “burned out” so to speak, they usually move to monthly serialization instead of weekly like when they were in their prime.. If his health is not good, I would rather him just finish the Musashi-Kojirou final fight quickly wrapping it up at some point..

    • alastor3

      agree

  • puchinri

    That’s great news, and I really hope his health picks up and he feels better.

  • Shadow_Raskolnik

    I’m glad that the author is resuming this series, for a while I was afraid that something happened to him since we have heard very little.

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