Yagyuu Hijouken Samon

A story about finding and staying true to yourself, and what that means for both yourself and the world around you. A romance between a Yagyuu instructor and a Tokugawa Shogun, and this on its own is well developed enough to be a good manga. What really elevates it though, are the philosophical elements mixed with spectacular swordplay. If you're a fan of the like of Vagabond or Holyland, a lover of short but beautiful fights that rely on the mentality of the combatants and make every stroke count, then this is for you, as the martial elements overshadow the romance, and the manga is allthe better for it. It explores a variety of personalities, and shows how they cope with various events as ways to show their strengths and weaknesses, with spectacularly executed themes of staying true to ones self, even if that makes an enemy of the world, among both the protagonist and antagonists of the story.