If you can get ahold of it, Adolf is still one of my favorites by Tezuka. I resisted it for years, but I eventually picked it up after I liked his other series so much. I thought the WWII angle would put me off, but I was completely wrong. I still like the one-volume works, but Adolf does a lot of things that those don’t, and is probably more sad, tragic, and powerful than the ones that Vertical published. All of them are worth reading though, and I still have a hard time deciding whether I like Ode to Kirihito or MW better. Probably Kirihito, but it’s pretty close.

But yeah, I’m pretty excited about that Astro Boy movie, too. I know I’ll just be going to see it by myself, and I’ve been sad there hasn’t been more information about it released, but I am really excited all the same. I have to admit, the thought of Nicholas Cage as Dr. Tenma’s voice, or Nathan Lane as Ham Egg strikes me as pretty hilarious, but I can’t say I mind all that much. I also like that in the limited shots that are in the trailer, there was still an Osamu Tezuka cameo in one of the crowd scenes.

I’ve barely recovered from Apollo’s Song (which, as i said before, completely dashed my hopes about true love and redemption to pieces) through rereading Please Save My Earth (again) which is just as tragic, but with a much more happier ending. I then depressed myself all over again with Princess Tutu DVDs and Mitsuru Adachi’s Touch (which is a personal favorite of mine).

Surprisingly, my next Tezuka will probably be Astro Boy. I read Black Jack that got me on Monster which got me on Pluto, which now has me wanting to check out Astro Boy. But then again, i’ve been hearing a lot of good things about MW, supposedly it’s having a boost in popularity do to the Japanese film based on it coming out.

Normally, I’d be thrilled except Hollywood still hasn’t given us any information on the Monster movie that was supposed to have come out this year. I’m a little upset since Monster is an amazing story that i think is possible to have an actually good adaption for (versus something like St. Seiya, which seems impossible to adept, yet someone has bought the movie rights). Speaking of movies and Tezuka, I’m pretty hyped up about the Astro Boy movie this October.

Have you read MW or Ode to Kirihito yet? Both are somewhat darker than Apollo’s Song, and MW is particularly deranged. I hadn’t thought about the style being cute, as you say, because I guess I was so used to seeing his kid-oriented series that these looked far less cartoony in comparison. But you’re right, the art is sort of a jarring complement to the story. And the Black Jack manga is jarring, period, because not only does it feature the cartoonish art, but it also has very serious stories that are periodically broken up by… really bizarre humor.

Also, it was sort of funny that you compared the beginning of the story initially to Looney Tunes, only because the first few pages are burned into my memory as the most graphic fertilization scene in manga, ever, and now I have a bizarre Looney Tunes version of it running through my head :p

I was literally speechless after reading this. I think the cute art made the dark story even MORE jarring. Apollo’s Song disemboweled all my dreams and fantasies about love and redemption. Seriously.

But for some reason, I HAD to buy it. Tezuka manga (it’s all drama and darkness, but that’s why i like it so much) rarely ever makes you feel good, but it’s still strangely addicting. Still, maybe I’ll try some his other stuff?

Great review, by the way.

The plot itself was half obscured and half theoretical. Like most people, I was immediately appalled by the 10-page introduction in Tezuka’s insight of birth. Yet, although it seemed very graphical in a lot of ways, it makes sense (especially if you try telling an adult who doesn’t know what sex is really about…i hope that never happens). The rest of the story is (as Connie puts it) a circle revolving over and over again. Here you find a boy who is frustrated with his mother’s flirtation with other men over the years that compelled him to kill anyone (human or animal) that was engaging in anything sexual or at least romantic. The fact that he had to go through shock treatment, hypnosis, and the case of crashing in a ravine (if I’m correct) are initially to me insane and outright *#@$ed up…but I guess I understand that those must occur in order for the boy to see the message (in which he also does real life with his “marathon coach”). The plot was confusing throughout the story…and only until the end that you realize what the message of love and lively passion is really about.

I would want to agree with mark thorpe initially that this book is not “my cup of tea,” yet I see a lot of young teen moral in this story that makes me reflect how I feel about the love/loveless complications that teens and young adults feel in their lifetime (as well as my current relationship with my girlfriend). People sometimes believe in the fact that love is an eternal goal all must grasp and hold on to, while other go into what I call “emo-mode” and just start hating those around them for specific reason (and with this story, I mean hating those with sexual desires). Although intrigued by Tezuka’s message, I feel that I order to read this novel again, I would have to either a) have a more philosophical mindset, b) make my girlfriend read it with me, or c) never mind…it’s just a crazy ass story.

In the end though, I feel that this story pushes on the worldly belief that love will always be present in our lives. No matter how much you might hate a person or a situation in the world, love will conquer hate…and more specifically, the bond between a male and female will always propel the passion of love and the miracle of birth.

…as for buying this book…umm…maybe two more reads into it…and then I’ll decided if I want to or not.

Phoenix has some stuff like that spread out through its volumes, one of the weirdest that leaps to mind is a plot involving a woman who has to repopulate a planet by procreating with her son. The why is never quite explained… just that it’s a kind of spite for the salesman that sold her the bogus remote planet, and that it was apparently the thing to do in that situation (or her dream or something, I can’t quite remember). But this was one of my favorite volumes of Phoenix, so I didn’t really think too hard about it.

The history parts of Phoenix can be a lot less weird though, and are probably more in the flavor of Buddha since… well, it’s based more in history. I haven’t read Buddha myself so I can’t say for sure (I want to finish Phoenix before I start), but it seems like they’d be pretty close.

Let me know how you like it.