This panel comes from the sixth book of the ‘godfather of manga’s’ brilliant Buddha series.
Not only were Tezuka’s lines incredibly clear in the ligne claire sense, they were also gorgeously detailed when it came to backgrounds, as seen above. What’s more, he never seemed to ‘take the easy way out,’ i.e. every background had this same level of detail, an amazing feat across the ~2800 total pages of this series.
Now, there are approximately a million interesting things to say about Tezuka’s life, his library of works, and his huge influence on the industry that go way beyond a little daily post like this, but if you’re not familiar with him, you might hit up good ol’ WP. Or for those who’ve already read a couple books, THIS is a nice reading companion.
As for this particular work? I’d already studied and practiced Buddhism a bit across the years, being influenced by my mom, but this series really brought Gautama Siddhartha to life for me, as well as gave me new perspectives on his teachings. So not only is this 8-book series a semi-fictional literary classic, but I’d say it’s also a great way to meet the legend and explore some of his basic teachings.
Plus, it’s really just fun, wild, and moving. ❤️
I spent a holiday at my in-laws’ house reading my FIL’s copy of this series once. Each individual volume of the series was probably the thickest manga I’d ever held, going off memory at least 50% thicker than typical. I definitely enjoyed it and would recommend it, but at around 3000 pages I’ll probably not be giving it a second read 😅
I’ve re-read it 2x now, and TBH neither compared to the initial rush. Still, it was worth it to me just to try to soak up any stray crumbs I’d missed. Plus, Buddha has some pretty iconic scenes, well worth sharing here when I can get the image-hosting issues ironed out(!)
Btw-- believe it or not, Tezuka’s BlackJack series is even longer, clocking in at ~4,250pp. I guess at this point I’m repeating myself, but it’s really kind of jaw-dropping to me how he created such lengthy series whilst keeping the quality sky-high for the most part. I mean, I’ve seen plenty of other long-arsed series that, er… didn’t nearly achieve that same grace. 😅