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 Review of Tezuka's 'Buddha: Volume I' Aug 25, 2010
It's not often that I consider buying a book, but I might just do so for this series. The first volume of Tezuka's mythological biography of the Buddha is an absolutely engrossing collection of characters and short stories, interwoven and deftly delivered in a very simple format. The 'Buddha' is approachable, even inviting, yet seems incredibly authentic. I really loved this book.
Tetsuwan Buddha Dec 18, 2009
This series was recommended to me by a friend in Chennai, a biophysics professor whose daughter read the books, and who stumbled into it through her. He found Tezuka's Buddha series engaging, anachronistic, humorous, bizarre, gripping, and somehow also capturing the enormous spiritual and intellectual ferment and tumult of India in those far-off days, a vitality now almost entirely dissipated.
I was not terribly familiar with the details of the Buddha story, and knew Tezuka only through his Tetsuwan Atomu ("Iron-armed Atom", aka "Astro Boy") and so I took it up.
I found the series a compelling read, going straight through Vol 1-8 in about three days. I can sympathize with the reviewer who found it bizarre and disturbing; reference by 6th BC Indians to the New York Yankees baseball season does rather pull one up. Somehow though, and quite remarkably, Tezuka's innocence(?)/irreverence(?) succeeds in thoroughly humanizing Gautama Buddha, making both him & his times tangible and vivid and real. This is definitely not hagiography. Nor is it Herman Hesse-style adorational poetry. It is, however, wonderful and dynamic storytelling.
 Leading up to his birth Dec 10, 2009
This series being called "Buddha", you'ld think that this first book would be about him. But it is not. It's about events leading up to Siddhartha's (the man that would become the Buddha) birth. Many subplots and characters are introduced that play out through the series.
Even though Siddhartha only appears at the end of the book, the stories told are very much within the spirit of Buddhism. Such as the meaning of suffering, the value of all life, and what lies beyond death. All of which are wonderfully woven into the narrative.
Tezuka has taken the Buddha and humanized in a way no other has. It is important to note, that is not a true biography, in that many of the characters are fictional, or over-dramatized, for the sake of the narrative, or to deliver the messages of Buddhism.
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Exceptional storytelling in the Tezuka style Dec 08, 2009
Many people are most familiar with Tezuka through his 1960's anime TV shows, Astro Boy or Kimba, the White Lion as those are the works that received the widest world distribution. Those shows were inventive with strong references to Disney but also a jarring sense of anarchy. Many of Tezuka's manga stories are the same plus he frequently breaks the fourth wall especially during scenes of high drama with goofy comic slapstick or having his characters tear up the comic panels to express rage. What I found amazing was that unlike others authors Tezuka didn't feel that he needed to change his style when tackling the story of Buddha and this takes some getting used to. In later volumes Tezuka actually puts himself into the story questioning the liberties he's taking.
After I got past the anachronisms (characters referring to modern products) and the attempts to use modern idiom (example: the use of the phrase "my peeps"), it was hard to put the book down. In fact I read a volume a day. Tezuka draws the way he feels like and that means that the characters range from classic semi-realistic manga to Japanese comic style to pure Disney (especially the crocodiles) all against realistically drawn backgrounds. The female characters are almost always drawn half-naked, just like Indian sculpture and paintings from that period. It may be a little hard for the Western senses to have semi-naked women involved with serious religious discussion but that's our problem not the story. The dialog is in the percussive manga style but the ideas of Buddhism are there and you can follow the road of Buddha's conflicts as he reaches his final philosophy.
Amazing Nov 23, 2009
There's a reason why Osamu Tezuka is the god of manga. Between this and the 'Phoenix' series, Mr. Tezuka has proven his storytelling abilities, and while his drawings might seem rather simple today, he was as much of a master of the brush as he was with the pen, and some of his panels and illustrations are incredible. With so many new manga out there today, sometimes it's better to go back to the roots. So why not pick up a copy of Buddha today? This volume was fantastic, and it got me all eager to read the rest of the series. Definitely 10/10 stars for a incredible graphic novel! You'll never be the same after reading this series - it is a wonderful and enlightening.
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