Manga week (9 points)

  

(5 points)

I read buddha 2 the four encounters by OSAMU TEZUKA. The art style was very kid-like and reminded me of manga-inspired rubber hose Disney cartoons. Like Astro boy comics. I was surprised to find how adult the topics were for this story. It was a very political story and very surrounded by the philosophy of death. However, the philosophy and the world-building in the story is what kept me invested. I enjoyed each character, as well. For a short story, each character was quite understandable in motive and personality. The protagonist was a young prince at the age of 15, and he feels his purpose in life is to leave the palace and become a Buddha. A very slow-paced story, but it still kept me interested in what the main character would do next when fighting against his royal responsibilities and fighting for what he believes in. Throughout the second book, it focuses on the prince learning about death through the animals and people around him, realizing that strength does not only make a king, but empathy is also necessary, which is an excellent lesson. The deaths were quite sad as well as violent. For such a cartoonish comic, it made the juxtaposed violence much more shocking. A problem that I have with many manga particularly the ones that had come out tin the 90’s is that the pages are fill with too many things making it hard to know where and what to read. Everything in this story was drawn and how the text was laid out made everything quite clear to read and understand, helped me want to keep reading. 

(4 points)

Cinderella Boy, chapter 1 I was about a girl who was recruited to be in a boy group to be a member; however, she cants let anyone know she is female. I've never been interested in stories like these, but this one was quite short and sweet. There is a bit of thing that may not fly today, like the forced kiss or the lipstick, but maybe that's just me. The idea of the girl hiding in the boy group reminded me of a Chinese group I found online one day. The trope of a girl pretending to be a boy is very common in anime and manga. The story reminded me of the Orion Host club but with idols. I thought of the Chinese group, where all the idols identify as women but are also gender fluid and dress like men. They identify as a male singing group as well. The group is called ACrush, the Chinese boy band group, and all the members identify as girls who are androgynous and dress as male idols and call themselves a boy band. The fans know they are girls who dress as a boy band, and they are big fans of them, calling them very handsome, and many of the band members dressed androgynous before they had become a band. Many of these kinds of groups are springing up in China as well, which I thought was quite cool.