Osamu - Buddha Vol. 1 & Bakuman

When reading Buddha by Osamu Tezuka, the first thing I noticed was that it doesn't follow the book Siddhartha at all, even though it's supposed to be based on Siddhartha's life and supposedly follow the same story. The comic begins with entirely different characters in a different setting, with a head monk Asita telling a story about his master to his many disciples. I haven't read Siddhartha since the summer of seventh grade, so my recollection of specific events is fuzzy, but I remember it begins with Siddhartha and his friend Govinda in their quint little village, but Siddhartha wants enlightenment and doesn't think he can find it there, so he essentially runs away in search of a greater purpose. Buddha doesn't even follow Siddhartha from the beginning - instead it follows a boy named Naradatta (which doesn't sound familiar from the Siddhartha story) who appears to be the same age as Siddhartha was supposed to be in the story, but is a loyal Brahmin disciple. The style of the comic feels a little all-over-the-place to me. Each character seems to be done in a different style, except the unimportant characters in the background, who appear monotonous and featureless as to not distract the viewer. Any of the characters who speak or who has focus put upon them though all appear in varied styles, from thicker outlines to extremely exaggerated forms, to entire style switches between chibi anime, Astro Boy style anime, Looney Toons, and simplified American comic book styles. This constant style-switching threw me off a little because there isn't enough consistency to the visual style for me. I was also a little offended at the "slave class" people who were portrayed as retarded gangly monkeys with no nose and long, thin horse teeth. I'm not sure if Osamu got backlash for his racist stereotyping for this type of thing, which was done with several characters, but it would seem a little unfair if he didn't while Eisner got a whooping for it, when they both made comics in the same time-period. Despite the serious story, Osamu managed to squeeze in quite a bit of random humorous scenes. The humor is flat and childish, often slap-stick or "gross" humor. On that note, Osamu isn't afraid to show nudity, and in fact, the vast majority of characters are butt-naked, or almost entirely naked. While Siddhartha focused on only Siddhartha himself as the main character, Buddha switches between characters. The reader goes from learning about one kind of life from another - from a Brahmin, to a slave, to a beggar (known as pariahs), to a prince. People's class seems to be the most important factor identifying them, as it's often the first thing you find out about each character (and one of the first things they identify themselves as to others, along with their name). The classes are pretty easily distinguishable by how the various people are drawn, varying from bare and scruffy to extravagant and well-clothed. Brahmin are the only exception to this because they're a religious-type monk class, and therefore wear a simple robe. Magic of some sort is shown to be real in this story, as the spirited Tatta reveals that he can transform into any animal he wants. With Tatta, modern slang is also introduced into the conversations. The panels are pretty fast-paced, with little in-betweens and no moment-to-moment shots. Though there's a lot of talking, characters normally only say a short sentence or two, making the comic a pretty quick read page-by-page. The stories converge when Tatta meets Naradatta in the General's newly-conquered palace while the Brahmin is asking the General to stop his war so he can find the Enlightened One. Tatta and the other villagers leap out of the jugs from the wine cellar to exact his revenge on the general for murdering their families, and Tatta announces his name before attacking, causing Naradatta to protect him from the soldiers. As shown in the tiger-killing scene and village slaughter, Osamu doesn't shy away from showing gore, despite the humor and overall cartoony style of the comic suggesting it's for kids. The story takes a turn after locusts overtake the land and kill the invading army, the Brahmin realizes Tatta is the true chosen one with his generosity of giving out what grain is left, and Tatta and Chapra take off to find the General, saving him from crocodiles. In the form of a horse, Tatta begrudgingly carries the General back to town and Chapra tells them how he saved him. The general awakes and hears the story, and decides to take Chapra as his son. As Chapra intended, he's moving up in society and gaining rank. The story continues to cut to other character's and their stories.

I also read the first book of Bakuman because we talked about it in class and it seemed really interesting. I had heard of the name before, but had no idea what it was about. Bakuman is a cute, kind of awkward love-story type manga. Saiko, the main character, starts off pretty boring and emotionless. He talks briefly about being a manga-ka, and while in class, sketches the girl he has a big crush on. It's the end of the year in middle-school and the kids have a half-day, so they leave class to go home and study, but Saiko forgets his notebook with the sketches. Returning to the school later, he finds the "class-genius," Takagi, was waiting for him with it, knowing he'd come back. In return for the notebook and keeping Saiko's crush a secret, Takagi says Saiko has to agree to become a manga-ka with him and draw for his written manga. The two argue and Saiko leaves despite Takagi's begging, saying he'll think about it. Later that night Saiko's mom catches him reading manga instead of studying and Saiko's suddenly becomes upset at people trying to dictate his future. Takagi then calls and tells him he's going to tell Asuki, Saiko's crush, his secret, and to meet him by her house. They meet up and talk to Asuki, Takagi telling her that he knows she wants to be a voice actor before pushing the stunned Saiko in front of her to confess his love. Panicked, Saiko instead tells her he'll be drawing for the manga Takagi will be writing, and that they would like her to be the voice of the heroine if it ever becomes an anime. She agrees, and then is stunned when Saiko blurts out that he'd like her to marry him. She runs back inside, then comes over the buzzer and agrees, but only if they never meet in person until their dreams come true. So begins the adventure - Saiko is so ecstatic and overwhelmed that he runs out and buys manga, more than happy to begin his life as a manga-ka despite his late uncle's failure. His current predicament mirrors his uncles, who also became a famous mang-ka in attempt to get a girl, but failed in the end, as the girl has become too high-class for him to feel comfortable to confess that he liked her. A couple years after his uncle had told him his whole story, he supposedly commit suicide, which had cemented the idea in Saiko's mind that he would never become a manga-ka. It was his reason for turning down Takagi's offer despite being a great artist, but when the time came and Asuki showed great excitement at the idea of them becoming manga-kas, whether he really wanted to do it or not, it became his singular goal.
The panels were really well-paced and nicely laid out, and I really liked the art style. The use of tones and articulation of forms in black-and-white were also gorgeous. To me it seemed like one of the few comics that actually looks a lot nicer in black-and-white than it could've been in color, just because it was so well-done - the color wasn't necessary. I really liked the expressiveness and the flowy line quality, especially in places like the characters' hair - I couldn't stop staring at the hair. So much niceness. The clothes also had really nice folds and movement in them, making the characters seem even more realistic and based in a real world, despite being anime-stylized. In a way I identified with Saiko because I'm really shy and have never gone for anyone, so even though the climax - him confessing he wanted to marry her - was a bit ridiculous, I was happy for him when she said yes and everything seemed to work out, when he had gone into the situation so uncertain. I noticed some Americanized elements too, such as the panel of Saiko's imaginary wedding scene, that seemed like a very stereotypical American wedding. It was funny that they included the obligatory Asian parent yelling at him for reading manga instead of doing homework, which seems to happen in every school-teenager manga. Overall I really liked this manga and it was a fun read. If I had more time I'd definitely like to come back to it and keep reading 8)