Time for a Manga Night with a Beer in Hand: Part 2
~Monosus' "Reading Club" #07~

The one I recommend is "Buddha" by Tezuka Osamu.
Have you read it? No?

This work was made over 30 years ago, and Tezuka Osamu passed away quite some time ago, but I think it's his greatest masterpiece.
It seems that the series was published in three different magazines - "Friends of Hope," "Shounen World," and "Comic Tom" - but it was completed after more than 10 years of drawing.

The reason why I recommend this is because, as children, we all wonder why we are alive, right? This book gives us some hints to that question.
As I grew up, I started to think that I had to be more realistic. About work, about family, about life... People have to face reality and live their lives, but why are we born and why do we die? No one dies without knowing the true answer, no matter who they are.

When I finished reading this, I was no longer afraid of death.
I don't remember why that was (laughs).

There are many characters, but in the beginning of the story, there is a boy named Chapra who plays the main role until the birth of Buddha. He hides his past as a slave and becomes the adopted son of a general, trying to rise to the top, but is found out just as he is about to get his hands on the prince.
The story discusses themes such as equality among people, and features people from all walks of life, and ends with Buddha becoming a Buddha and dying. From his childhood to his old age and death.
So...I can't get it all together (laughs).

Sometimes I wonder what's real in life.
Even now, when I felt the need to talk about this manga, I thought of that.

Ah, 3 minutes? That's it.

I read it too.

Have you read it all? I have all the volumes so I'll lend them to you. But this is the manga that I never get back if I lend it to you. I've already bought it three times.

Seriously. It's so cool that I lend the whole set to people. But they never return it.

It starts off with a really dark place, with themes like "I'm scared of dying" and "I hate being alive." I feel like that kind of thing really resonates with me.

It doesn't have a religious overtone to it, but more of a philosophical one.

It's science fiction, or more precisely, a robot story, but the author describes it as a "fairy tale."
Of course there are robots and humans, but there are also artificial lifeforms and gods and demons. I think that's what makes it a "fairy tale."
And above all, the robots in this manga are cool.

The robot that appears at the beginning of volume 1 was kind of lame and uncool, so I was like, "Oh, is that what it's like...", but the one that appears at the end of volume 1 suddenly became cool, and I was like, "Wow, there's a robot like this?"

Most robots don't have facial expressions, do they? But the robots in this film don't have moving faces, but they do have facial expressions. So when they appear, or when they have a climax, it makes a big impact.

The series first began serialization in 1986, so I first read it when I was in junior high school, when a friend gave it to me. I'd forgotten about it for a while, but then a senior at my part-time job had it and lent me the whole set.

Is it finished?

I haven't. Not yet.

Oh, you haven't done it yet.

Volume 12 was released in 2006, and volume 13 was released last year, after a nine-year hiatus.

Is there any publication that serializes it?

The serialization is in a magazine called "Monthly Newtype"...

I learned this for the first time!

If you're a Gundam fan, you'll end up here.

I believe he is the designer of characters such as "Qubeley" and "Rick Dias".

In the latter half of the 80s, there were a lot of manga that would become the basis of today's otaku culture.

The details are amazing. It looks like a lot of work.

So that seems to take time.
The settings are very detailed, and there is a timeline at the end of the book that follows along as the story progresses.

Anyone who reads the whole thing is a maniac.

No no, I'll read it. It's irresistible for guys who like settings.

It's a bit of a niche manga, the kind you'd find at Village Vanguard.
The illustrations are a bit old-fashioned, or rather, they have a nostalgic touch, so I wasn't really interested in reading it, but a friend recommended it to me, so I read it and it was quite interesting. What's more, this style is addictive. Above all, the female body is very beautiful.

That's very important.

It's a story about a family of wizards living in the human world. The mother (who is incredibly beautiful) is at the top of the witch pyramid, and her daughter, an elementary school student named Uruma Ran, transforms into an adult woman and all sorts of incidents occur around her.

Ran is a bullied and lonely girl, but when she puts on big adult shoes she grows up all at once and turns into a voluptuous young lady (laughs).
Ran, who has turned into an adult woman, falls in love with an adult man and the two become mutually in love, but Ran is very shining through her slight frustrations and her positive attitude towards life.

As I read it, I felt like I was connecting with the feelings I had when I was in elementary school. When I'm feeling down, I read it hoping to get back to the feelings I had back then.
The boy who bullies Ran in elementary school actually likes her. It's a typical setting in girls' manga, but it really hits home.

The illustrations are addictive and interesting. The transformation scenes are also very beautiful and sparkling. Even a single leg is very beautiful.

It looks a little sexy.

Yes, the female body is sexy.

It also has a JoJo feel to it.

Indeed, these Dororoon and Byoon.
It has a 1970s feel to it, but I think it actually feels fresh.
The best thing about this manga is the drawing skills.

Do you know this?
"The World is Mine."

Ah, here it comes!

I know!

This is a masterpiece by Hideki Arai. I brought it because I thought it would be hard to find a work that could surpass this one.
The movie "Destruction Babies," which was recently released, was apparently influenced by this manga. The main character is constantly fighting pointlessly, but the lead actor, Yuya Yagira, looks just like the main character, Mon, from the manga, and I had goosebumps the whole time I was watching the movie (laughs).

This manga is about a duo called "Toshi and Mon" who kill people indiscriminately. Toshi is a former postman and otaku who makes bombs as a hobby. Mon is a murderer who kills people innocently with pure eyes. Toshi took the name "Mon" from "Lemon" by Motojiro Kajii.

The two of them set off on a murderous pilgrimage, heading aimlessly north towards Hokkaido.
The people he kills are not bad people, but people who are just living their daily lives. He shows no mercy to good people or children.
They kill people saying, "Just because there are people there" and "All lives are not equally valuable."
The depiction of the people who are killed is also detailed and very painful. When I started reading it, I thought, "What is this manga?" It's so thick, there are five volumes, and it's scary all the way through.

Meanwhile, a mysterious giant brown bear-like creature called "Higumadon" has appeared in Aomori...

A brown bear? Is it a bear?

It's a mysterious giant creature, more like a bear or a brown bear that has turned into a monster, and it's an animal that slaughters people. Toshi-Mon eventually encounters it, but he can't beat Higumadon. For the first time, Mon meets an opponent stronger than himself, and somehow he wakes up (laughs).

Higumadon is an absolute wonder, or something like a deified being, and everyone is powerless before him. It is only then that Mon realizes his own powerlessness, and in the end, he is sent flying into the depths of space.

(lol)

It's a mysterious, cosmic (lol) manga, but it's very deep in many ways.
It also contains messages similar to those of films such as "A Clockwork Orange" and "Natural Born Killers," asking the question, "Why shouldn't we kill people?"
It makes you think about topics like terrorism and war, and it's a huge, epic, incredibly interesting manga.

The characters are also fascinating, with many memorable supporting characters, such as a kind-hearted detective and a tough old hunter who is after Brown Bear Don!

Oh, it's already too late. I got a bit carried away (laughs).