Tezuka Osamu no Buddha: Akai Sabaku yo! Utsukushiku

In the ancient Shakya Kingdom, King Suddhodhana learns that his wife, Maya, has a curious dream. A white elephant with six tusks enters her body—a sign that their future child, Siddhartha Gautama, is blessed. The wise prophet Master Asita sees the child and foretells that he will become "chakravartin," the ruler of the world.

Meanwhile, young Chapra suffers the injustice of the rigid caste system. When Kosala army marches on Kapilavastu, Shakya's capital, Chapra plays a part in forcing them to retreat. But to escape the life of slavery and give his mother a better life, Chapra joins the Kosala army and swears to rise in the ranks.

As the young Siddhartha grows, he is taught everything he needs to know to inherit the throne. However, Siddhartha has no interest in martial arts or running a kingdom. What he seeks are the truths of the world and the meaning of life itself. Although Kosala's ever-expanding power threatens Shakya, Siddhartha abandons the royal life and ventures into the world to find the enlightenment he desires.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Gautama, Siddhartha Main

Orikasa, Ai Japanese

Tatta Main

Bandaka Main

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Yasodhara Main

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Chapra Main

Takeuchi, Junko Japanese

Migaila Supporting

Mizuki, Nana Japanese

Budai Supporting

Genda, Tesshou Japanese

Tatta Supporting

Ootani, Ikue Japanese

Naradatta Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Sakurada, Hiroyuki Producer

Morishita, Kouzou Director

Koga, Gou Episode Director

Yamamuro, Tadayoshi Storyboard, Key Animation, Animation Director

Reviews

Apr 29, 2023

Deago

Recommended

— INTRODUCTION —
Osamu Tezuka's Buddha is a beautifully crafted anime movie that retells the life story of Siddhartha Gautama, who later became known as Buddha. The movie, based on the critically acclaimed manga series by Osamu Tezuka, follows Siddhartha's journey from his privileged life as a prince to his eventual enlightenment, becoming a revered spiritual leader.

— THEMES AND STORYLINE —
The movie does an excellent job of portraying Siddhartha's struggle with questions about existence, suffering, and finding inner peace. It also provides an insight into the social, political, and cultural context in which Siddhartha lived. Set in ancient India, the movie revolves around two boys named ... Chapra and Siddhartha with contrasting backgrounds and their journey in a world of war and social classes.

'Man does not attain all his heart’s desires for the winds do not blow as the vessels wish' — Al-Mutanabbi

The movie's plot establishes a four-social class system, with laborers and slaves being the worst of the four. However, the movie primarily focuses on the tragic journey of Chapra and Siddhartha. Chapra, a tenacious slave, becomes friends with Tatta and seeks to become a Kshatriya warrior to improve his life. Through a mutually beneficial relationship with a Kosalan general, Chapra achieves his goal. In contrast, Siddhartha, a prince's son, is forced by his father to learn military tactics and swordsmanship despite his hatred of violence and war. Siddhartha embarks on a quest to discover the meaning of life and find a way to end the wars. The characters in Buddha are well-developed and compelling. Siddhartha, the movie's protagonist, is portrayed as a multifaceted character, with his own strengths and flaws. The supporting characters are also well-developed and add depth to the story.

— ANIMATION AND SOUNDTRACK —
Unfortunately, the animation quality in this movie was not up to par, which may not come as a surprise to those familiar with Toei Animation's work. While the visuals were certainly detailed and intricate, the overall animation was choppy and lacked fluidity. This can be seen in the awkward movements of some of the characters during action scenes, which took away from the impact and excitement of these moments. In addition, the character designs were somewhat simplistic, lacking the depth and nuance that could have added to the emotional weight of the story. While the animation may not have been a total disaster, it was certainly not at the level that could have been expected from a movie of this caliber.

The soundtrack of the movie is fitting to its tone and setting, as it boasts a beautiful and emotionally charged score that effectively complements the themes and mood of the movie. The music blends well with the stunning visuals, which heighten the overall viewing experience. However, while the voice acting is generally commendable, the voice of young Siddhartha comes across as lacking in emotion, and his dialogue sounds somewhat stilted and rehearsed, as if he were just reading from a script.

— FINAL THOUGHTS —
Despite the minor flaws, it is a must-watch anime movie for anyone interested in exploring spirituality, philosophy, and the human condition. The movie's portrayal of the four-social class system is excellent, and the movie's story and character development are compelling. The movie explores themes of war, social issues, and the search for meaning in life, and its well-developed characters bring these themes to life.

Regardless of your familiarity with the manga, this movie is guaranteed to leave a profound impact on you. It is a finely crafted movie that guides the audience through the life of Siddhartha Gautama, who ultimately became Buddha, a spiritual figure revered by millions worldwide.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jan 25, 2018

OnegaiSensei666

Recommended

" This was the moment Siddharta first pressed his hands together in prayer. " " Siddharta. one who has accomplished his goal. " " You, who can accept the burden of the suffering of others on your own shoulders...You will find the path you must take. It was only later that he became the Buddha, also know as the enlighted one "

Movie missed point. Well this movie was something on a different level, it was breath taking and unique.

Story: Well at first glance i expected it to be movie only about Buddha and not only his past, which was quite dissapointing. They basically ... only showed his past and event in that era when there was a lot of slaves trafficking, people living in poverty that had to steal to survive. Also story was very confusing from the beggining to the end and it was more focused on other characters than Buddha itself, or should we call him " prince " cause that fits more in this movie, cause they only showed a small glance at the ending about him becoming Buddha and going to search for the answer.Also it was very sad story, and characters struggling through poverty and prince enjoying his life, and he never saw life behind the wealthy life until somewhere aroung middle of the movie, where he meet Migaila ( minor character ), girl that grow up in poverty.She had a lot of inpact on his view on the world and other poor peoples.

Anyway it was very confusing but interesting story that was also depressive and sad for me, but kinda dissapointing ( and when i said kinda i mean just a little bit )

Animation: Now this was very good, it was way much better than i expected it to be. You could see how they put effort in every single detail but some scenes were a little bit rushed.

Sound: Well it was good. And also outro song is really nice.

Characters: This is where i felt kinda dissapointed.

Siddharta Gauitama aka " Budhha " is good guy from royal family that doesn't really fighting and seeing other people suffer. Pretty much you can describe him as good guy from rich family that isn't looking down on other poor people or people with weak social status.He doesn't care about other peoples opinion that he shouldn't talk to poor and weak people. Also his voice acting was kinda bad if you ask me, i mean you could get guy from the street and he would do it better.

Chapra aka " Best swordman in kingdom ", " General " is the character that was getting attention most of the time.You can describe him as goodbay guy ( really don't know how to describe it, it's unique ) which grow up in a poverty and saw a lot of people dead. There wasn't really much of his feels in this movie except him showing his love for his mother and reversed.

Tatta aka " Guy with mystical power " he is the character that i didn't really get much, he was basically once time with Chapra, and then Chapra went to become general and that's when all his trails are losing. But he isn't fully without feelings, he showed anger , chillness and i don't really know what much to say about him.. sorry :P

Overall: As i statead in beggining, this movie was capable of so much and confusing story and voice acting kinda bringed it down a little bit. Anyway it's enjoyable and decent movie that can be watched.They will probably show more in sequel to this movie ( Buezuka Osamu no Buddha: Owarinaki Tabi )

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Nov 5, 2012

neUtrino_23

Mixed Feelings

To me, this movie completely misses its (presumed) point.

SYNOPSIS: The creators try to get the viewer feeling nearly as bad about all the suffering in the world as Siddharta/Buddha does, they failed for 2 reasons:
- rushed simplification
- the use of a lot of violence to ENTERTAIN the viewers, which (out of complete paradox) contradicts the primary purpose

Being about the life and struggles of Buddha I just expected something completely different.

Before watching it I didn't know that the producers planned it to be the start of a series of films, I also do not know the manga. My expectations were nurtured by two books:
'Siddhartha' by ... Hermann Hesse
+
'Old Path - White Clouds' by Thích Nhất Hạnh
Even with keeping these good books and my perception of Buddha out of mind this first movie is rather weak, misconceived and filled with... yeah, fillers that add nothing to the story of Buddha.

It doesn't go into philosophical depths, which it could at least try (while being about Buddha), but maybe I can free the makers of some of their debts here because most of the philosophising sure is supossed to happen in later phases of Siddharta's life.

By the end of the movie he makes a really strong and hard decision. But the way he asks himself questions about the world and its cruelty doesn't get me convinced about his decision at all (unlike the non-movie Siddharta - which is, by the way, annoyingly called SHIddharta throughout the movie)
His unsettlement seems rushed and WAAAAY too simplified to me.

Also, I feel like the movie character Siddhartha directs his questions/views just too much on the material world (war/sickness/dying) and too less on the suffering of mind+soul.
With all the violence in this movie the producers couldn't have aimed for an 'all-family' audience and therefore its depth, its philosophising could and SHOULD be more profound.

As I said above the side-stories don't add depth or entertainment to the story. One can clearly see why the creators included them into the movie: to give us a clue about the sorrows Siddharta is feeling, but because of their simplification and stereotypy that just didn't work out at all.

The art and music is pretty solid. What you'd expect from a Tezuka adaption: strong, sometimes even a little too loud colours, not even ONE more pencil or brush stroke than necessary to depict a character and solid animation (only with lots of animals and warriors in the picture the animation was somewhat jerking).

All in all...... a HUGE bummer! (that didn't get me interested in a continuation)
5/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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