Literally Graphic reviewed Saint Young Men Omnibus by Hikaru Nakamura (Saint Young Men Omnibus, #1)
Review of 'Saint Young Men 01' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Originally this manga ran for 17 volumes from 2006 to 2019 by Kodansha, it's been published slowly but steadily in English since December 2019 still by Kodansha. There's also a two episode animated series and an anime movie that came out in 2013.
Creator Hikaru Nakamura is apparently also known for "Arakawa Under the Bridge" and in 2011 she was listed as the ninth of fifty manga creators ranked by sales since 2010. Exciting!
A slice of life comedy series, the premise is what if young Jesus and Buddha came back to earth and were poor roommates in Tokyo. While the introduction discussed some trepidation about translating such a pun centred comedy series, I think the result was still pretty gosh darn funny. There are extensive explanatory notes, but I didn't really dig into them myself. They might have increased my enjoyment just a smidgen, but I like to hurdle …
Originally this manga ran for 17 volumes from 2006 to 2019 by Kodansha, it's been published slowly but steadily in English since December 2019 still by Kodansha. There's also a two episode animated series and an anime movie that came out in 2013.
Creator Hikaru Nakamura is apparently also known for "Arakawa Under the Bridge" and in 2011 she was listed as the ninth of fifty manga creators ranked by sales since 2010. Exciting!
A slice of life comedy series, the premise is what if young Jesus and Buddha came back to earth and were poor roommates in Tokyo. While the introduction discussed some trepidation about translating such a pun centred comedy series, I think the result was still pretty gosh darn funny. There are extensive explanatory notes, but I didn't really dig into them myself. They might have increased my enjoyment just a smidgen, but I like to hurdle through books with reckless although not particular great speed. And as I've previously discussed, I continue to be in a somewhat intense lifelong relationship with Christianity and I know a bit about Buddhism. Certainly not enough, but some.
This book is adorable. They keep accidentally performing miracles and/or start glowing or floating randomly. Jesus' crown of thorns starts blooming. Jesus dresses up as Jack Sparrow. They both go to an amusement park together and there's a door to door salesman who is a turkey? The one short coming I felt was that the volume itself was a bit too long. If it was broken down a bit further I feel like I would have gotten a more perfect dose of cuteness. As it stands, I don't think I'll be searching out volume two anytime soon. It's more the kind of thing I absorb over a couple of years. It's not like I'll have to remember anything.
Sexuality comes up in one particular short where somehow both of them manage to get through an entire game of life without getting married or having children. I might be completely missing it, but I don't think there's any intention to pair off Jesus and Buddha. These characters appear to be happy with their deeply meaningful platonic friendship and that is awesome! Gender isn't really discussed, although Jesus can come across as slightly girly at times and it's again, super cute.
I feel like there might have been a brief reference to Jesus' place of birth, but that was the closest thing to race that came up. And nothing for disability vs ability.
And while I'm not breaking down any doors to read more, I did really enjoy this book and it's existance appears to be a very NET positive. Plus it's a pretty creative premise. So four out of five stars it is.