The tale of the Buddha's life is told peripherally to those of fictional, central characters. There is Tatta, an untouchable who can inhabit the bodies of animals. He is joined by Chapra, a slave who wants to become a warrior. Also there is Chapra's mother and a young monk. Their lives are impacted by the birth of the Buddha.
I picked this up excitedly expecting it to be a graphic novel telling of the life of the Buddha, but instead it is the story of others alive during his lifetime and how their lives intertwine a bit with that of a great man. The art style is interesting. Somewhere between manga and more western-style animation with easy to tell apart characters. Buddhist ideals and morals trickle in throughout the story, which is fun to see in a work of fiction. The main story itself fell flat for me though. It mostly focuses in on Chapra attempting to become a great warrior and save his mother from being a slave, which I fail to see how that relates to the Buddha. As I said, though, this book was not what I was expecting, and I don't tend to really go for warrior/mother tales. Except Oedipus.
Overall, the art is an interesting style and some of the ideas contained within the book are fun to see in fiction, but the main storyline separate from Buddha's life simply did not resonate with me. Perhaps it will with you.
Check out my full review. (Link will be live on November 9, 2011).
I picked this up excitedly expecting it to be a graphic novel telling of the life of the Buddha, but instead it is the story of others alive during his lifetime and how their lives intertwine a bit with that of a great man. The art style is interesting. Somewhere between manga and more western-style animation with easy to tell apart characters. Buddhist ideals and morals trickle in throughout the story, which is fun to see in a work of fiction. The main story itself fell flat for me though. It mostly focuses in on Chapra attempting to become a great warrior and save his mother from being a slave, which I fail to see how that relates to the Buddha. As I said, though, this book was not what I was expecting, and I don't tend to really go for warrior/mother tales. Except Oedipus.
Overall, the art is an interesting style and some of the ideas contained within the book are fun to see in fiction, but the main storyline separate from Buddha's life simply did not resonate with me. Perhaps it will with you.
Check out my full review. (Link will be live on November 9, 2011).
