Ok so...this is long as shit but in an attempt to save you from dropping... bare with me
I wouldn't say Matahachi ever lost friendship with takezo in the first place. The bitterness of their friendship was mostly just one sided by matahachi. i also wouldn't rec dropping it bc of him either. Matahachi's character is meant to portray the undying sense of uselessness and inferiority that comes when being next to something considered the best(Takezo). You may hv noticed, but whenever hes with takezo, no one ever rlly looks at him. Otsu, his own fiance, clearly loves takezo, not him. Oko didnt even like matahachi at first, she wanted takezo. Even his mom, who unconditionally cares for him, obsesses over takezo as well. Matahachi internalized this and is desperately trying to escape the feeling of inferiority nearly the entire manga(which is why he takes kojiros name, bc with it he felt equal to takezo). He isn't a bad guy at heart, he cares for his friends(For ex when he attempts to save takezo when he was fighting the yoshioka school and takes him back, saying how amazing takezo was, or later when he tells otsu to make a move on takezo). In a way, hes relatable, bc everyone wants to be a better person, he just isnt aware of the right way to achieve it. (He does get better i swear)
also dont drop it bc you'll miss the part where takezo fights 70 men at once, its fucking cool.
reallyyy,,, buddha thank you so much but I saw some comments that this was dropped? something like that the author won't continue this anymore
Its not officially dropped yet. Its on an extended hiatus,(which isnt uncommon for this author when it comes to vagabond)but as of now, he also hasnt shown any signs of working on it again for more than a year, so ppl are saying its dropped. Regardless of whether its really dropped or not, its still pretty good and i rec reading it- for the experience if anything.
He said he lost his inspiration so he dropped it but didnt say if it is forever or not. Hopefully he gets to continue this before dying,unlike berserk's miura...thankfully miura had entrusted his work to his assistant so its not over yet.
So Otsu ends up with takezo?? I really hate love triangle btw I am planning to read this but I am not so sure after reading some of the comments.
can someone spoil me? I'm super annoyed by that matachi or something,, someone tell me if they're be friends again or else im gonna drop this,, I don't like fact that he's not dead yet