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Reviewed by Park Cooper I saw volume 1 of Buddha at the local library and decided to check it out. At first I was very put off by the artstyle. "Is Astroboy the Buddha?" asked my wife (since Tezuka also did Japan's classic Astroboy, and his style really hasn't changed since then). But when I got back from NYCC, during which I met with the genial folks at Vertical, Inc., I decided that I owed Tezuka another try. I've never really embraced his work before-- the artstyle has always gotten in my way. This time, the work took root. I still felt, early on, that the art was a bit silly, but the story was engrossing enough that I eventually forgot about the whole Astrobuddha thing. In India, culture arises, including the caste system. A wandering priest collapses in the snow, weak from hunger. A bear, a fox, and a rabbit find him. Recognizing his extreme holiness, they go to get food. The bear catches some fish. The fox brings some berries. The rabbit, however, can't find anything. The other two shoot him dirty looks. As they and the now-awakened priest watch, however, the rabbit jumps into the fire that the old priest has made, having made it clear that he wants the priest to eat him. The priest is amazed at this sacrifice. How can this be? He goes home and tells the other priests, who ponder the meaning of this amazing self-giving. They feel convinced that SOMEWHERE in the world, there must be one spiritually advanced enough to explain the meaning of this event-- the oldest priest feels that this person can surely be found somewhere to the south. So, a search begins. However, the person they're looking for, a little kid who enjoys running around naked, is of a low class, and that's almost unthinkable in these people's system. But you can't say that he isn't spiritually gifted-- he can transfer his mind into animals. And thus start the events that will lead up to the actual birth of the buddha, the one who will have as big of a change on mankind as any king-- indeed, a truly god-like level of change. Tezuka is sometimes silly, sometimes tragic, and never misses a chance to highlight the action and adventure of the plot, as great warriors fight each other. Before volume one is done, the buddha has been born, and the little naked kid has demonstrated the secret of the rabbit's sacrifice that no one had really twigged onto before: that all life is equally sacred, be it human or animal. And while the story of the buddha has barely started, you are left feeling that 400 pages of backstory is perfectly appropriate for the importance of the life that little baby is going to have. I have to say, I do in fact recommend this story to readers. I was a bit puzzled at the idea of my having to list an age rating. There isn't one, but I have to enter one on this website. I have decided to list it as teen, because even though you see lots of women's breasts, they're really just geometric shapes more than they're super-sexy, and while there's a lot of full-frontal little-boy pariah nudity... and that same harbinger of spiritual change sometimes likes to pee on his enemies... come on, grow up. If teens can handle Ranma, surely they can cope with this, the well-told story of one of a great and mighty spiritual being. The only thing that keeps this from a higher score is that I have to warn you that you may at first feel that Astroboy's super-ancestors are running around questioning the caste system, but what the heck, heroes are heroes, and wise men are wise men, even when they're spiritually-gifted kids who wear no clothes. Comment on this review of Buddha v1 on the Manga Life Forums. |
14 May 2008
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