Hi fellas! It's me, Weeb Warrior. A man who burned so bright that nothing remains...

Today, I'm gonna talk about one of the greatest mangakas of all time, Takehiko Inoue, and his three masterpieces that you MUST read.

In case, you don't know him... Stop living under a rock. He's the author of Vagabond and slam dunk, two of the best selling manga series in history.

He published his first story kaede purple in 1988, which won the prestigious tezuka Award. In his early career, he worked briefly as an assistant to tsukasa hojo (creator of city Hunter).

Let's talk about his works

What's genuinely insane about Inoue is how he managed to create three critically acclaimed works with completely different settings, themes, and approaches to storytelling.

One explores the meaning of strength and enlightenment, what it's truly meant to be invincible under the sun/strongest, another explore the beauty of competition and the passion of youth, while the third one explore human struggles, disability, and the showing we should always keep living, we should always keep moving forward, even if we've hit the rock bottom in our life.

3 works of inoue you have to read before you die.

1. vagabond

Genres: Historical, Action, Psychological, Philosophical.



You'll find some most beautiful manga panels ever drawn by a human in this manga, but it's actually not his original work... I mean he took inspiration from eiji yoshikawa's novel musashi.

The story follows a violent young man named shinmen takezo, who wanted to be invincible under the sun (strongest swordsman) who eventually becomes miyamoto musashi, one of the most legendary samurais in Japan.

Initially musashi believed that becoming the strongest means defeating everyone standing in his way. He sees strength as something that can be measured through violence, victories, and the number of opponents he can defeat. That's why he visit different places in japan, and challenged multiple dojos, and fighters.

But yk, there's always someone in this world who's better than you in the thing you think you're the best in. During his journey he encounters many powerful opponents and experiences the consequences of his own actions, his understanding of strength slowly begins to change.

Especially when he met sekishusai yagyu (the leader of yagyu clan) even when he's old he's strong enough to cut 10s of like musashi. When musashi asked him

"what it's truly means to be invincible"

He replied: it's just a word.

And eventually musashi come to realize that he's right, it's just a word, it's just a mirage.

The philosophical depth of Vagabond is particularly impressive coz its ideas are often communicated through actions rather than lengthy monologues. Tho there are some of the best dialogues in this mangas.

And the casts are so well written, Through characters like sasaki Kojiro (deuteragonist) ,takuan Soho, and matahachi honiden (my goat) Inoue explores different perspectives on strength, ambition, freedom, and the meaning of life.

It's an unfinished masterpiece, but it's definitely worth reading. Make sure to try it.


2. Slam dunk

Genres: Sports, Comedy, Drama.



This is a manga, I can talk about whole day. I really really love this manga


The story follows hanamichi sakuragi. A delinquent guy, with some impressive athletic abilities (only physical) with a terrible romantic track record (like who tf got rejected by 50 gals cro 😂) who initially joins the shohoku high School basketball team to impress haruko akagi (the girl he likes) He knows almost nothing about basketball and initially has no interest in the sport itself.

However, as he begins training, competing with rukawa (my goat) , and developing relationships with his teammates, basketball gradually becomes something much more meaningful to him.

Character development is good, Sakuragi starts as an immature, arrogant, and impulsive teenager who slowly started discover his passion for basketball.

And one thing I love the most is, the story isn't completely focused on the mc. It explore side casts so well. Ngl, I cried when ryonan got defeated by shohoku and uozumi dream got crushed, but I was happy too coz akagi dream finally come true lol 😭.

That being said, the supporting casts are equally memorable.

Rukawa, an offense machine, and thier ace, he's an exceptional player and one of my fav. Akagi, prolly the best center with determination to take Shohoku to the national stage. ryota, the point guard and faster than anyone (with his height, he played in equal terms with beasts like maki and sendoh). mitsuhi, The Junior High mvp, a lil rusty but still a terrifying 3 point shooter, if he shoots, ball is in.

There are more good side characters like kogure, haruko, coach anzai, ayako. But let's ignore them 😂✌.

The real magic of slam dunk lies in its portrayal of competition.

There's smth I'll write in the end of this post. You'll love inoue for that.

And yeah, You don't have to be a basketball fan to appreciate it. I didn't know a shii about basketball but learned all the rules and basic gameplay by reading this mamga lol. It's basically a story about youth and the experience of finding something worth dedicating yourself to.

It does have a anime adaptation, you can watch that but I'd suggest you to read the manga.

The best PURE SPORTS manga imo. Try it

3. REAL

Genres: Sports, Drama, Psychological.

Ayo, finally... It's time to talk about my fav manga of inoue, it's the most underrated manga of him btw.

This is my fav panel btw


Unlike vagabond's historical setting or slam Dunk's high school basketball environment, REAL explores the lives of people dealing with disability, personal failures, social expectations, and the difficult process of rebuilding their identities.

The story has 3 protagonists, all of them have their own problems to deal with. All of them had hit rock bottom in their life. But they still chose to keep moving forward.

Nomiya was a former basketball player struggling with guilt and uncertainty after a life changing accident, which led a girl to lose her walking ability. He felt extremely bad for that, and even ready to dedicate his whole life too.

Togawa was one of the fastest runners, like 100 meters in 11 sec is no joke. But he got bone cancer and lost one of his leg, but still he become a wheelchair basketball player who refuses to let his physical limitations define his entire existence.

Takahashi is a talented and popular basketball player whose life changes dramatically after an accident leaves him paralysed. (I swear bro, you might hate him in early chapters but you'll love him later)

Despite their different circumstances, all three characters struggle with questions about their identities and their places in the world.

Some of the questions this manga asked are:

1. Who are you when the thing that once defined you is taken away?

2. How do you move forward when your future no longer resembles the life you imagined?

3. how do you learn to live with yourself when you cannot undo your past mistakes?

These questions lie at the heart of REAL.....

And this manga is so so so grounded. Inoue doesn't portray his characters as inspirational figures who overcome every obstacle through sheer determination. Their struggles are messy, their progress is inconsistent, and their personal flaws don't disappear just because they're facing difficult circumstances like most of the stories do.

And disability is an important part of the story, but it doesn't reduce the characters to their physical conditions. They have ambitions, insecurities, resentments, relationships, and they are selfish like anyone else, and don't think this manga is boring just coz it's about basketball of disabled players, you'll see some most intense matches in this manga, trust me. And yeh, it's ongoing.

That's all of today, and I've heard it somewhere, idk if it's true or not. Inoue hates losing, that's why you can see the frustrations in characters faces when they lose, and inoue hates always winning mc too lmao...

I genuinely believe that Inoue, if not the best, he's one of the greatest mangaka who has demonstrated exceptional artistic and storytelling ability across multiple series (like urasawa) rather than relying on a single defining masterpiece.

If you haven't read these three yet, I'd highly recommend giving them a chance.

Thank you for reading.