Current Episodes

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Well, this is a strange and bothersome trend, like 283 to 282, 285 has surfaced before 284...:???:

Anyway, I guess I'll use spoiler tags for those waiting on 284.

Ittosai has cleaned himself up a bit and is flashing back, we get to see Kojiro confront the old bastard after his battle with Koun, and there's even a Gonnosuke cameo... anyway, wow, when Ittosai said he wanted to fight Kojiro some day after he was more seasoned, I didn't think he meant like, the next day, but we'll see where this actually goes.
 
Damn, this sucks. He didn't even show the sketches for 285 yet, and it's already out?
Thanks for putting spoiler tags, I'll definitely wait for 284 this time. There's no rush, especially since Miura's taking a break! :troll:
 

Th3Branded0ne

I'll be back.
It kinda feels like the backwards episode of Seinfeld. Oh well, I can't control it, so might as well enjoy any Vagabond that comes out. I noticed that they put the title in English this time
Learning to smile
] I guess the guy who put up the episode did it, but it kinda looks like it's part of the episode itself. Anyways,
It was good to see Ittosai,Kojiro, and Gonnosuke again.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Eluvei said:
Damn, this sucks. He didn't even show the sketches for 285 yet, and it's already out?

Yeah, it's happened before where the episodes are out before the sketches are even up... usually it's a good thing though because we're getting the episodes fast, not in this case where only every other episode is arriving.

Eluvei said:
Thanks for putting spoiler tags, I'll definitely wait for 284 this time. There's no rush, especially since Miura's taking a break! :troll:

Yeah, I figure I'll leave them up until we see 284 or 286, whichever comes first. Though maybe I shouldn't expect 286, but 287 instead. :iva:

Th3Branded0ne said:
I noticed that they put the title in English this time
Learning to smile
] I guess the guy who made the episod did it, but it kinda looks like it's part of the raw itself.

Ah, good note, I noticed that as well but forgot to mention it. I personally think it's a part of the episode; assuming it is, there must have been some kind of policy shift. I'm certainly happy about it since it will make my job compiling them easier, and it's also interesting since it's technically an even more official source than Viz. I wonder if there will be discrepancies in their translations, or if Viz will just adopt whatever is put forth in the original episodes (depends more on if the presentation of the titles in the volumes also changes).



vol.gif


no_drafta.gif


no_draftb.gif

Sort of ironic. :guts:

Google translate gave me not one, but TWO wacky translations this time:

Inoue said:
But in wrestling with the big paper panels with a gimlet too confined to the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo ... buster! 2009.10.29 Takehiko Inoue (this does not Name)
Inoue said:
Is being confined to one's struggle with a huge paper on panel Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
But ... too buster!


2009.10.29
Takehiko Inoue
(This name is not)

BTW, we'll have plenty of time to wait for 284 to surface, since 286 isn't coming out until November 26th. Of all luck, once again, Inoue and Miura go on vacation together...

miurainoue.jpg
 
グリフィス said:
Google translate gave me not one, but TWO wacky translations this time

Oh man, "too buster"! Well, looks like he's having a hard time painting for that little exhibit or something.

グリフィス said:
BTW, we'll have plenty of time to wait for 284 to surface, since 286 isn't coming out until November 26th. Of all luck, once again, Inoue and Miura go on vacation together...

Hahaha, damn! They love going to the beach together! I hope we get 284 until they're back.
 
Th3Branded0ne said:
I noticed that they put the title in English this time
Learning to smile
] I guess the guy who put up the episode did it, but it kinda looks like it's part of the episode itself.
It would be very strange for someone to have done that themselves. I would wager the author just decided on a whim to put it in English. It's not unprecedented; chapter 268, "On the Edge of the Sword", was also in English. What's interesting is for 268 they had the furigana giving the phonetic reading, where as this time they didn't. I really wouldn't think that's a significant indication of whether or not it was done by the author though.

As was disused briefly before, there wasn't any meaning behind Matahachi calling Takezou/Musashi "Musashi" in 283. It was just an error (since fixed). A perhaps informative note: "Takezou" and "Musashi" are actually written identically in Kanji; the reading is just different (readings aren't given all that often). That's why his pseudonym is Musashi in the first place.

Also, apparently Volume 31 had a 6 extra pages for chapter 278.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Dante Julius said:
It would be very strange for the scanner to have done that themselves. I would wager the author just decided on a whim to put it in English. It's not unprecedented; chapter 268, "On the Edge of the Sword", was also in English. What's interesting is for 268 they had the furigana giving the phonetic reading, where as this time they didn't. I really wouldn't think that's a significant indication of whether or not it was done by the author though.

It's interesting that they'd change such a basic part of the publication for a couple of episodes, I wonder what the specific reasoning was, or if was just a whim as you said.

Dante Julius said:
As was disused briefly before, there wasn't any meaning behind Matahachi calling Takezou/Musashi "Musashi" in 283. It was just an error (since fixed).

Ah, thank you.

Dante Julius said:
A perhaps informative note: "Takezou" and "Musashi" are actually written identically in Kanji; the reading is just different (readings aren't given all that often). That's why his pseudonym is Musashi in the first place.

Yeah, I remember the fact about Musashi's name even came up in story on a couple of occasions, which was a nice way of Inoue to incorporate that information.

Dante Julius said:
Also, apparently Volume 31 had a 6 extra pages for chapter 278.

Thanks, I'll be sure to check out what those extra pages have to say.
 
Turns out I couldn't wait for 284 after all. Cool episode,
I'll be very surprised if it turns out Kojiro's the one that deformed Ito's hand. Also, he doesn't look like he's getting any better; actually, right before the flashback he kinda has that "last breath" look on his face. I hope Musashi finds him and helps him out or something.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Eluvei said:
Turns out I couldn't wait for 284 after all.

Yeah, it's been too long, a most annoying reoccurrance, and unlike last time, still no sign of it. So, I'm calling off spoiler tags.

Eluvei said:
Cool episode,
I'll be very surprised if it turns out Kojiro's the one that deformed Ito's hand. Also, he doesn't look like he's getting any better; actually, right before the flashback he kinda has that "last breath" look on his face. I hope Musashi finds him and helps him out or something.

Yeah, he does have that look, but I hope it's just the importance of the moment he's recalling. I also wouldn't expect
Kojiro
to be the one
that took off his fingers
, for one, the way the wound looks (though that's not totally reliable), and two, because he said to Musashi he's never gotten to face an opponent like him because they're always separated from him, so I'm wondering if that's going to happen again here. Perhaps
Kojiro
will only collapse like Guts when he first attacked Griffith. =)
Or, how tragic would it be if samurai hunters or more of their opposition from that battle arrived
and shot off Ittosai's fingers!
:magni:
 

Grail

Feel the funk blast
グリフィス said:
I also wouldn't expect Kojiro to be the one
that took off his fingers
, for one, the way the wound looks (though that's not totally reliable),
Definitely agree. It looks more like a burn, or some kind of gunshot wound, like you mentioned. The flesh around his arm and hand looks way too lumpy to be a clean cut from a sword (as far as I know, anyway :iva: ).

But the potential context of his wound is something that's had me wondering for a while now, particularly the fact that he's missing his thumb, index, and middle fingers, but still has his ring and pinkie fingers. If it was a gunshot wound, how could
Ittosai
avoid getting his whole hand blown off? There's also the question of whether he was holding a sword at the time.

... Oh, the suspense, it's killing me! :troll:
 
Yeah, you guys are right, it's very unlikely that Kojiro's responsible, the wound is way too ugly. Doesn't look like a cut, and especially not a cut Kojiro would give anyone. Plus, he looks half-dead while
Ittosai
is well rested and in perfect shape.

Anyway, on The Eastern Edge's latest blog post, gottsuiiyan posted two images which I believe are from 284, since they're not on my 285 scan and are certainly not from any previous chapters since Ittosai already has the wound Musashi gave him. He also mentions the Inn! Sweet!
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Grail said:
Definitely agree. It looks more like a burn, or some kind of gunshot wound, like you mentioned. The flesh around his arm and hand looks way too lumpy to be a clean cut from a sword (as far as I know, anyway :iva:).

Yeah, the only thing that gives me doubt is, as you mention below, we don't know the full context of it yet, one thing might have led to another, which could have started with a bad cut. Another factor to consider is sometimes the look of these wounds change as the story goes along, like Guts' wound on his chest, and a few of Musashi's scars as well (though, that's mostly superficial where a slightly diagonal line becomes horizontal =). Anyway, a cut that severe might not heal cleanly no matter what, though I think we all agree the simplest explanation for the shape and appearance of the scarring is a powder wound of some kind.

Grail said:
But the potential context of his wound is something that's had me wondering for a while now, particularly the fact that he's missing his thumb, index, and middle fingers, but still has his ring and pinkie fingers. If it was a gunshot wound, how could
Ittosai
avoid getting his whole hand blown off? There's also the question of whether he was holding a sword at the time.

... Oh, the suspense, it's killing me! :troll:

Yeah, like we don't know if this was all scarring from the wound, or if some of the treatment contributed to the look, like if he cauterized it. I think the gun shot idea can work if it hit a specific part of his hand, basically on the side where the index, middle and thumb all connect. Speaking of which though, looking at all the images of his hand, particularly on page 19 of 282, I'm not sure it's those three fingers that are missing, but possibly the thumb and the pinkie, along with either the index or ring.
At least in that scenario he kept the most important finger. :guts:

Eluvei said:
Yeah, you guys are right, it's very unlikely that Kojiro's responsible, the wound is way too ugly. Doesn't look like a cut, and especially not a cut Kojiro would give anyone. Plus, he looks half-dead while
Ittosai
is well rested and in perfect shape.

Yeah, that's what really makes me dubious about this, Kojiro should be totally spent and no match for Ittosai at that point in any case, plus what Ittosai already said about always being robbed of his worthy opponents. Anyway, if Kojiro managed to do that to him somehow, under these circumstances, that'd be incredible in every sense of the word.

Eluvei said:
Anyway, on The Eastern Edge's latest blog post, gottsuian posted two images which I believe are from 284, since they're not on my 285 scan and are certainly not from any previous chapters since Ittosai already has the wound Musashi gave him. He also mentions the Inn! Sweet!

Wow, that's awesome, beautiful artwork from 284, and he even gave the Inn a hearty plug! I'll have to send him a thank you, add him to the links, and am reinstating spoiler tags on these recent episodes, so it's not false advertising, since he complimented us specifically for that. :SK:
 

Grail

Feel the funk blast
グリフィス said:
Speaking of which though, looking at all the images of his hand, particularly on page 19 of 282, I'm not sure it's those three fingers that are missing, but possibly the thumb and the pinkie, along with either the index or ring.
At least in that scenario he kept the most important finger. :guts:
Interesting that you'd bring up that particular page, it wasn't one that I had spent a lot of time looking at with regards to
Ittosai's
finger placement. I had actually debated whether or not to bring up WHICH of his fingers are missing, but I felt pretty sure that it was the thumb, index and middle fingers that were gone after checking out page 18 of chapter 282 and, principally, the mangled hand's debut on page 6 of 281.

It seems the most definitive to me in the latter case (particularly the upper left panel), though I do see that the former example doesn't give you a good idea of what might be going on unless you already had an image in your head beforehand.

Either way, I can't help but wonder if Inoue's trying to torture us with this digit ambiguity on purpose, or if it's completely unintentional. :troll: I do hope it's the first case, so I won't feel so crazy for getting fixated on it.

グリフィス said:
Wow, that's awesome, beautiful artwork from 284, and he even gave the Inn a hearty plug! I'll have to send him a thank you, add him to the links, and am reinstating spoiler tags on these recent episodes, so it's not false advertising, since he complimented us specifically for that. :SK:
Haha, yeah, I read that bit at the end about spoiler tags and thought "whoops..." But I noticed you took care of the little spoiler snippet in my post, thanks! :guts:
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Grail said:
Interesting that you'd bring up that particular page, it wasn't one that I had spent a lot of time looking at with regards to
Ittosai's
finger placement. I had actually debated whether or not to bring up WHICH of his fingers are missing, but I felt pretty sure that it was the thumb, index and middle fingers that were gone after checking out page 19 of chapter 282 and, principally, the mangled hand's debut on page 8 of 281.

It seems the most definitive to me in the latter case (particularly the upper left panel), though I do see that the former example doesn't give you a good idea of what might be going on unless you already had an image in your head beforehand.

Yeah, 18 of 282 is the confusing one, the fingers look nearly identical, and even though we know there's a large chunk missing on the thumb side of his hand, in that picture it looks like there's possibly damage on the other side as well, even what could be two little stumps. Then again, it could just be his gross old hand. =)

Grail said:
Either way, I can't help but wonder if Inoue's trying to torture us with this digit ambiguity on purpose, or if it's completely unintentional. :troll: I do hope it's the first case, so I won't feel so crazy for getting fixated on it.

Yeah, we won't know for sure until we find out how it happened, and as I said before, wounds and their appearance can be inconsistent, even in series on the level of Vagabond or Berserk. Even having come up with it and the story behind it, Inoue himself probably isn't as fixated on the look of
Ittosai's
hand as we are. He should know, after all.... then again, look at Musashi's criss-cross forehead scar in volume 21; in the flash forward at the beginning of the volume, when Musashi is facing Den, it's not there, and then Seijuro gives it to him just 5 episodes later, and he obviously has it when we see him fight Den again. So, it wasn't planned, at least not that far ahead, and while this is kind of the opposite, we're starting with the scar and we'll see where it came from later, it just goes to show how quickly things can turn in the mind of Inoue.
I wouldn't bet on it, but maybe he's still wondering what happened to the hand too? :iva:

Grail said:
Haha, yeah, I read that bit at the end about spoiler tags and thought "whoops..." But I noticed you took care of the little spoiler snippet in my post, thanks! :guts:
Yeah, I added minimal tags so as not to ugly it up too much, just the names to protect the innocent. :SK:
 
グリフィス said:
look at Musashi's criss-cross forehead scar in volume 21; in the flash forward at the beginning of the volume, when Musashi is facing Den, it's not there, and then Seijuro gives it to him just 5 episodes later, and he obviously has it when we see him fight Den again.

Oh my... I never noticed that. How weird that he didn't fix it in the collected volume... Maybe he didn't notice too! :troll:
 
Well, I'd wager Kojirou cut off Itou's fingers at this point. That said, in chapter 163 or something Itou cut off a rifleman's hand (the wrong one though), perhaps long coming retribution?(< doubt it)
Anyways, 285 is out in English. Hopefully it holds well with the context of 284 when it comes out.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Dante Julius said:
Well, I'd wager Kojirou cut off Itou's fingers at this point. That said, in chapter 163 or something Itou cut off a rifleman's hand (the wrong one though), perhaps long coming retribution?(< doubt it)

Yeah, those are the #1 and #2 most fitting scenarios karmically, and it certainly appears as if we're heading towards the first one... though it doesn't seem quite right considering his opponent's condition and Ittosai's comment about never having fought someone of Musashi's caliber, unless he won despite what happened to his hand, or something fluky happens (
Gonnusuke
interferes somehow?). A firearms scenario would be most tragic, shades of
Kyūzō
in Seven Samurai. In any case, if it's
Kojiro
, it retroactively puts him at a whole other level (and it's not like he was a slouch to begin =).

Dante Julius said:
Anyways, 285 is out in English. Hopefully it holds well with the context of 284 when it comes out.

Thanks for the head's up, was thinking about it today.
I found the part with Musashi most interesting, since the Kojiro/Ittosai portion was pretty self-explanatory... I hope 284 makes Musashi's thoughts more clear though. Oh, and pages 10 and 11 are supposed to be a two page spread, no?
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Th3Branded0ne said:
I also liked that part Griff! Check just below Gonnosuke's picture, looks like a hydrant was left open :guts:

Yeah, I definitely noticed THAT, and the parallel to Ittosai doing it in front of Musashi now, as well as the language he used when confronting each of them ("play"). I wonder if he's also reminded because the results are going to be similar...?
 
Ah, yeah, page 10 and 11 probably are a double. We'll fix that and update the files in a bit.

Anyways, in 285,
the way Itou treats Kojirou is making me think he doesn't consider him a true opponent in his present state. He describes Koujiro as a beast, a tiger, rather than a person. I doubt he would call a tiger an opponent even if it took his hand. He generally seems to look down on Kojirou's rage. Musashi, on the other hand, was calm and composed, ergo [his first] worth opponent.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Dante Julius said:
Anyways, in 285,
the way Itou treats Kojirou is making me think he doesn't consider him a true opponent in his present state. He describes Koujiro as a beast, a tiger, rather than a person. I doubt he would call a tiger an opponent even if it took his hand. He generally seems to look down on Kojirou's rage. Musashi, on the other hand, was calm and composed, ergo [his first] worth opponent.

That's an interesting interpretation
, though Ittosai did refer to Jisai and even himself as a tiger before, I agree that he doesn't seem to be taking Kojiro as seriously as he could be. Possibly because for all of Kojiro's newly gained experience, he hasn't had time to recover and grow from it, so he's still unpolished; or, as you put it, he's still like a beast. I think Ittosai is underestimating the danger Kojiro, who's shocked him once before, poses, even to one such as himself. Of course, after his encounter with Musashi, I don't want to underestimate Ittosai again either. I don't know, my best educated guess is still Kojiro losing or something preventing the fight, so if Kojiro does lop off Ittosai's fingers, a part of me will be as shocked as Ito himself. Of course, that might be Inoue's intention.
 
From what I've seen thus far, I think it's going to play out
much like it did with Musashi. Itou will win, but, underestimating his opponent, it will costs him dearly (id est his fingers). Itou's style seems to be to rush in, consequences be damned, since his opponents are all below him as far as he's concerned. It works great with lesser opponents and, hell, even skilled ones, but when he runs into truly exceptional guys like Musashi and Kojirou, it's a double edged approach; he can win, but it can put him in dire straits (as with the most resent encounter with Musashi). In general, I'd say he's damn good but damn arrogant; he tends to end up the victim of his own hubris. His arrogance also explains why even though he himself is a beast of sorts, he still looks down on the other so called beasts.
 

Th3Branded0ne

I'll be back.
Dante Julius said:
From what I've seen thus far, I think it's going to play out
much like it did with Musashi. Itou will win, but, underestimating his opponent, it will costs him dearly (id est his fingers). Itou's style seems to be to rush in, consequences be damned, since his opponents are all below him as far as he's concerned. It works great with lesser opponents and, hell, even skilled ones, but when he runs into truly exceptional guys like Musashi and Kojirou, it's a double edged approach; he can win, but it can put him in dire straits (as with the most resent encounter with Musashi). In general, I'd say he's damn good but damn arrogant; he tends to end up the victim of his own hubris. His arrogance also explains why even though he himself is a beast of sorts, he still looks down on the other so called beasts.

This is what I think.
I think Ittosai has been understimating opponents since he was with Jisai. Remember he told Jisai he no longer needed to be there and blatantly challenged him. Then after returning, he was also doing it again, by putting points in Denschishiro and company. I also think Ittosai will win, but for Kojiro it will be a very good learning experience. Heck, we might even see them traveling alittle bit more together. I might even think we see Kojiro's training or should say discovery on the "Tsubame Gaeshi".
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Dante Julius said:
From what I've seen thus far, I think it's going to play out
much like it did with Musashi. Itou will win, but, underestimating his opponent, it will costs him dearly (id est his fingers).
Yeah, that'd complete the parallel, is he remembering that moment simply because his opponents were equally splendid, or because he's remembering the last time a fight really had consequences for him?

Dante Julius said:
Itou's style seems to be to rush in, consequences be damned, since his opponents are all below him as far as he's concerned. It works great with lesser opponents and, hell, even skilled ones, but when he runs into truly exceptional guys like Musashi and Kojirou, it's a double edged approach; he can win, but it can put him in dire straits (as with the most resent encounter with Musashi). In general, I'd say he's damn good but damn arrogant; he tends to end up the victim of his own hubris. His arrogance also explains why even though he himself is a beast of sorts, he still looks down on the other so called beasts.
Th3Branded0ne said:
This is what I think.
I think Ittosai has been understimating opponents since he was with Jisai. Remember he told Jisai he no longer needed to be there and blatantly challenged him. Then after returning, he was also doing it again, by putting points in Denschishiro and company. I also think Ittosai will win, but for Kojiro it will be a very good learning experience. Heck, we might even see them traveling alittle bit more together. I might even think we see Kojiro's training or should say discovery on the "Tsubame Gaeshi".

Of course, if he easily handles everyone he underestimates, is he really underestimating them? :guts:

This discussion reminds me of when young Ito challenged Jisai, when he first calls the sword a game (which explains his attitude), but also cries knowing he's surpassed his master, because it makes him feel terribly alone. He later tells Kojiro not to go too fast or he'll get bored, and again touches on this boredom, or tedium, with Musashi. I guess my point is that all his macho bluster covers a pain and yearning not unlike Musashi's, and in his time with Kojiro we learned how seriously he does take the sword, particularly fear, the importance of knowing it, and how to manage/use it. So, I don't know if he's really underestimating, or if that's just the exterior to his fear and resolve. I'm still giving him the benefit of the doubt, I don't think he could have done much better against Musashi in his condition, other than choosing not to fight, and we haven't seen him get burned otherwise... yet.
 
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