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Reviewed by Michael Aronson Man, this is a tough one to review. Anyone who’s sifted through Manga Life’s reviews archive knows I’m a Tezuka nut. Unfortunately, very little of his work has been released in the west. So imagine my combined pleasure and confusion when the first third of Sun – Tezuka’s final entry in the Phoenix saga – mimics certain themes from one of his other works and willfully contradicts themes from another. The Sun arc takes place in both Japan’s ancient past and near future, but the bulk this volume’s events follow 7th century soldier Harima. This is one of the few Tezuka stories that begin in media res, as Harima enters as a captive and has his face replaced with the head of a dog. Do you Tezuka readers notice anything familiar? Ode to Kirihito featured a hapless protagonist who transformed into a half-wolf against his will yet continued to fight for the good of humanity, as does Harima. His appearance makes him a few enemies, but fortune and an alliance with an old woman take him on a lengthy and prosperous journey. At the same time, the Japan in which Harima lives is engulfed in a national shift toward Buddhism. While Tezuka’s Buddha series portrays the good deeds done and inspired by the legendary sage, Sun has a very negative opinion of Buddhism. The merit of its tenets is lost beneath power politicals among the privileged elite and the gods themselves. Yeah, gods representing the influence of Buddhism do battle with forest deities with whom Harima allies. Take note, manga aficionados, for the striking similarities between the spirit tribe and Rumiko Takahashi’s Inu Yasha. If anything, Sun certainly feels familiar. It combines many characters and themes Tezuka has sprinkled throughout his entire bibliography, but also features some of his most polished and mature art. As Sun is the lengthiest Phoenix entry, it’s hard to judge where the story is going after reading only a third of the way through. The bridge between the past and future is a clever one, but there isn’t enough of a connection between them yet. I have faith that the greater meaning will become clear as soon as the phoenix appears. I do question, however, the choice to break the trend of converging toward the present by setting the early story so far in the past. While Sun is the last Phoenix story Tezuka completed before he died, it was not necessarily intended to be such. For better or worse, we’ll have to accept it as the conclusion of the series (ah, who am I kidding? Of course it’s worse, I’d much prefer if Tezuka had completed the series as he intended). So far Sun is certainly the most far reaching and audacious in terms of its story and length. It may well make a satisfying end. Think you could have written a better review of Phoenix v10: Sun Part 1? Write us and we'll probably let you give it a shot! --EiC PC |
12 March 2010 10 March 2010
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