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blueacorn1991's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
loujoseph's review
5.0
All 8 of these are amazing, a great combination of looney tunes style characacters and highly detailed spreads, along the line of a morandi. Character development is really strong throughout too.
thisisstephenbetts's review
4.0
Not quite sure of the date, reusing my comments from volume 2... Excellent. Fascinating, beautiful. I can imagine the cartoony characters might take a little getting used to, particularly with the juxtaposition with the beautiful, beautiful detailed backgrounds. But, hey, get used to it. Personally I could have done with a few fewer of the Asterixy jokes, but I can deal. Really looking forward to all the remaining volumes.
sunshynne's review
3.0
Not what I thought it was going to be, but still an entertaining read. Some of the more detailed artwork really is beautiful.
m560's review
3.0
Reminds me a lot of Belgian comic writing, Suske and Wiske, Asterix and Obelix, the style of the pages and the style of the drawings. I like it but overall I prefer the regular manga format. However it is interesting to see a story of Buddha being told in this way. This first volume feels like an introduction and I am curious where the rest of the story will take me.
onesonicbite's review against another edition
5.0
I have a basic knowledge of Buddhism, and know a very simplified story of Buddha's life. So when I finally decided to read the whole series I couldn't help but think "How did Tezuka manage to make 8 books out of this?"
To help convey the story AND teachings of Buddha, Tezuka has put many fictional characters into the story to put Buddha's teachings in action. In fact, most of the first book tells the story of Chapra and Tatta, fictional characters.
Chapra is a slave boy who has a bundle of goods stolen from him. He has three days to find the stolen goods or else his mother will be sold. He happens to find the culprit- Tatta a young boy who's status is even lower than Chapra's slave status. Tatta is an amazing young boy who is compassion for the world is great, and befriends Chapra and helps him out. Chapra is always trying to escape the caste system, and disguises himself as a warrior.
Running parallel to this story, Buddha is being born. The story tells everything about the birth of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) and his mother's vision of a white elephant entering her body. But what is so interesting about this story is that you can not call the series fictional or non-fiction. By incorporating non-fictional characters the reader learns more about Buddhism than just simply reading about Buddha's life.
Many western readers might be put off by the "nudity" in the book. But part of the clothes (or lack there-of) is a visual way of depicting status of the characters. Tatta has no status, therefore he wears no clothes, the mother is a slave so she wears no shirt, the princess wears a top since she is highest status.
The book is an easy read and is embedded with a lot of humor. This makes the read very enjoyable. After just reading [b:MW|534307|MW|Osamu Tezuka|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328042079s/534307.jpg|521815], I noticed the drawings were much more "childish." Perhaps Tezuka didn't want this to be an adults book, and to have it so children could even read the book and learn about Buddha. At the very least, young adults.
This is a great start to the series, and I can't wait to finish up the series.
To help convey the story AND teachings of Buddha, Tezuka has put many fictional characters into the story to put Buddha's teachings in action. In fact, most of the first book tells the story of Chapra and Tatta, fictional characters.
Chapra is a slave boy who has a bundle of goods stolen from him. He has three days to find the stolen goods or else his mother will be sold. He happens to find the culprit- Tatta a young boy who's status is even lower than Chapra's slave status. Tatta is an amazing young boy who is compassion for the world is great, and befriends Chapra and helps him out. Chapra is always trying to escape the caste system, and disguises himself as a warrior.
Running parallel to this story, Buddha is being born. The story tells everything about the birth of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) and his mother's vision of a white elephant entering her body. But what is so interesting about this story is that you can not call the series fictional or non-fiction. By incorporating non-fictional characters the reader learns more about Buddhism than just simply reading about Buddha's life.
Many western readers might be put off by the "nudity" in the book. But part of the clothes (or lack there-of) is a visual way of depicting status of the characters. Tatta has no status, therefore he wears no clothes, the mother is a slave so she wears no shirt, the princess wears a top since she is highest status.
The book is an easy read and is embedded with a lot of humor. This makes the read very enjoyable. After just reading [b:MW|534307|MW|Osamu Tezuka|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328042079s/534307.jpg|521815], I noticed the drawings were much more "childish." Perhaps Tezuka didn't want this to be an adults book, and to have it so children could even read the book and learn about Buddha. At the very least, young adults.
This is a great start to the series, and I can't wait to finish up the series.
blairconrad's review
4.0
Historical mythology in comic form. Yay! I’m not a big Buddha expert, so I’m enjoying this introduction (of course I don’t entirely know how accurate the representation is).
The characters seem slightly childish, but not so much that I’m annoyed yet. One bit of mixed praise and concern: I can’t imagine that it’s ever going to get better than the opening scenes with the man, bear, fox, and rabbit – that’s among the most touching things I’ve read, illustrated or not.
Oh, and unmitigated concern: my library has volumes 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. I’ll have to do something about that.
The characters seem slightly childish, but not so much that I’m annoyed yet. One bit of mixed praise and concern: I can’t imagine that it’s ever going to get better than the opening scenes with the man, bear, fox, and rabbit – that’s among the most touching things I’ve read, illustrated or not.
Oh, and unmitigated concern: my library has volumes 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. I’ll have to do something about that.