It’s time yet again for me to take a look at the adventures of Buddha! While this volume is much shorter than the previous ones (332 pages, which is still a lot), it packs a ton of story.
Story:
In this volume of the manga, there are two main storylines to follow. First, there’s Siddhartha’s journey to becoming a monk. He meets the monk who burned his eye out in the last volume. Cyclops tells Siddhartha that he needs to suffer more. Only then can he come out ahead in the next life. Siddhartha totally doesn’t buy it. There’s also this weird comic relief kid monk who follows the two wherever they go. Eventually he somehow gains the power of prophesy.
Siddhartha also meets back up with Tatta, who wants him to reclaim his throne so he can pwn Kosala. He also makes a queen fall in love with him, which causes her betrothed to commit suicide. Siddhartha’s a playa.
The other storyline involves the child of Bandaka, the archer/warrior jerk guy that died in the last volume. Devadatta is always being teased due to his heritage. People automatically assume he’s bad just like his dad. When Devadatta is stuck in a cave for weeks with a bunch of other kids, he has to murder them to protect his water supply.
Devadatta gets the death penalty, but he’s saved by a wolf. When he returns to the village, he’s welcomed with poison arrows! Devadatta then lives as a wolf himself. When his wolf family dies, he meets Naradatta (small world!). After that, he’s dressed in drag by an old woman… Well, it is a manga after all. And as we all know, manga must have crossdressing…
Analysis:
As with the other volumes of Buddha, I thought this one was awesome. It’s pretty amazing how much story Osamu can fit into one book. The story is indeed epic, with tons and tons of characters.
The art is still really good as well. While the cartoony art kind of clashes with the beautifully drawn backgrounds (and the seriousness of the story itself), I think I’d still prefer it to anything else.
The only real gripe I had this volume was with the comic relief runny nose kid. If he’s supposed to be comic relief, that’s fine. But why did he suddenly become an important character later on? Even if he can see into the future, I can’t really take him seriously with all of that snot dripping down his face…
Conclusion:
Buddha Volume 3 is yet another awesome showing by Tezuka Osamu. I really think this manga is the most underrated that I’ve had the chance to read. I’m looking forward to reading the next volume, since Siddhartha finally does his hair like the real Buddha!
Many thanks to Vertical who provided me with the review copy of Buddha Vol. 3: Devadatta. You can get more info about the Buddha manga series at Vertical’s website.
One reply on “Buddha Vol. 3: Devadatta – Manga Review”
So this is probably one of the best series ever^^ I read all of Buddha and it inspired me to read up more on the religion. I’m a devout Buddhist now and Osama Tezuka-sama did it again. He really knew how to write stories. Let’s never forget him!