Jesus

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Who was Jesus? Was he a prophet, a heretic, a delusional man, or truly the son of God? This is still debated to the present day, just as it was when he walked the Earth. I'm not sure whether Yoshikazu Yasuhiko is a believer or just a man fascinated by history, but he put amazing effort into creating these two full color volumes that tell not only the story of Jesus, but also portray the world he lived in, and the reactions of people to his ministry.

There's no way around it: Yasuhiko-sensei is an absolute genius at composing manga. The expressiveness of his line work ... amazes me. His art style is grounded in realistic proportions, but he knows exactly when to use exaggerated cartoonish expressions on his characters. The contorted faces of people raging make a sharp contrast to Jesus' ever stoic illustrations, letting you soak in how funny they really look. On top of just illustrations, his framing and page layouts allow you to read characters thoughts and feelings without a speech bubble in sight.

I've never been a huge fan of full color manga, but this series changed my mind. Yasuhiko-sensei coats every page in vivid watercolors to set the mood. Sometimes he's just coloring in the world the way it actually looks, but he often drowns entire scenes in powerful, single colors. The rage of crowds is palpable on pages covered in red, and pages of blue pull me down into the despair of the characters. He switches between realistic and abstract coloring schemes on a dime, and characters easily slip into little more than outlines in a sea of watercolor textures.

The story of this manga follows Jesus' adult ministry through the eyes of one of his disciples. Through his eyes we see what it felt like to give your life to literally following Jesus across the map. Yasuhiko-sensei also gives his interpretation of what public reaction to Jesus and his disciples was like, both when Jesus was exalted by the masses and angrily threatened. There aren't many surprises in the story, because it does follow a plot from 2000 years ago. There are also frequent cuts to scenes of the crucifixion throughout the manga, as if everything else is being remembered during those prolonged, painful moments on the cross. It does not go far beyond that point, ending with Jesus' empty tomb and the women being told that he is risen.

Jesus himself is portrayed as reserved and enigmatic as the man surely was. The viewpoint character Joshua is, as best I can tell, totally made up for this story (More on Biblical accuracy later). From a visual standpoint, he basically looks like Amuro from Gundam, which Yasuhiko-sensei has worked on for years. Most of the supporting cast are pretty flat, but they're not the focus anyway. All of the Apostles, Pharisees, and named people they meet are more pieces of the world and plot than they are characters.

So more on the Biblical accuracy of this manga. There is some blatant embellishment, but it honestly makes the story more readable. The character Joshua seems to be entirely made up and inserted into Jesus' circle purely so we could see the world through his eyes. At one point it is outright shown that Mary Magdalene is actually Jesus' lover, and some of the Apostles call her a prostitute in no uncertain terms. I also don't believe that Judas ever greeted Jesus with a kiss in the pages before he was arrested in the garden. In the final chapter when the women visit Jesus' tomb, the message that he is risen delivered not by an angel, but instead by a man in the tomb. There may be even more small details changed from the Gospels, but I can't be certain since I'm not a Bible scholar.

So who should read Jesus? I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in 2 volumes of gorgeous, cinematic, full color glory. I don't know how well this manga could be used as an evangelical tool to tell the story of Jesus to a non-believer, because it doesn't particularly emphasize his teachings as much as it just portrays the time period of his ministry. As someone who was raised with these stories, I thought it was a very interesting interpretation of the Gospel, so if you had a similar upbringing you might enjoy it as well.

My general notion on short pieces is that of caution. The very reason on why caution seems appropriate is explainable by the way that short stories have certain qualities and quantities that encompass them. The very fabric of this pros and cons can be, in my opinion, summarized by the very fact on how much you can present on the canvas. Having no breathing room with the written word or the artistic depiction of the written, in the case of manga, can be a daunting task. You can hear those hardships from writers who try to transition from a long narrative structure to the above ... mentioned. In the case of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, a writer and even more so an artist, who through his early carrier has become known for partially creating one of the longest running anime franchises; decides similarly to the titular character of this manga, to transition his life in a different direction. Through his later career, Yasuhiko takes it to himself to adapt history to the manga world, and by doing so he creates his own fantastical depictions of people and their past.
In the case of this particular manga, its very strength is how balanced it is. The usual method in which I see short stories is a tight focus in a particular area. One can be focused on the artistic depiction or the story, the characters and so on…By ultimately focusing on one certain area, there can be an occurrence of neglect in another. Or a different case can be a too tight focus in a lot of areas, which can create a feeling of suffocation. The most important thing about this manga that separates it from such stories is the way in which the story, characters and art are portrayed. For one, the story of Jesus is told in a simple manner. Being just a story about a leader and his companions, as they travel from place to place. In it we have the traditional account of Jesus, mixed with a very modern depiction of his disciples, detractors, and society. Second, the art retains a sense of complexity but still isn’t over reliant on neither line dependency nor tone, in this case color, making it not a straining read. Also his fantastic character designs are a joy to behold. Although, in the case of Jesus, the bad scanlations are a sight not to behold. And the final category and most important one, the characters. The very depiction of Jesus is a hint to what I mean. Maybe it was a natural conclusion to depict Jesus the way Yasuhiko did. I guess a lot of people know, but the artistic depiction of Jesus is fictious. Drawing him with long hair, a beard and so on and so forth is the idealistic depiction of Jesus. And that is what Yasuhiko retains through not just his image but also through the very actions that we see through the traditional accounts of him. This depictions stands as a point of familiarity for us readers, as we all have our very own view point on the time period, on the actions of the historical personas and on the very man himself. But it is not just our very own view point that is important, but also the way the characters see that idealist depiction of Jesus.
Through reading one interview on the topic of war that Yasuhiko gave, I could see that he didn’t have a bias to either the pros or cons on war itself. Rather he showed a balanced and logical view point on the matter, and this is retained through the characters in this manga. Everyone has believable reasons to why they do what they do, think what they think. There is no ultimate evil or ultimate good. There are just characters that act and react to what their prior life taught them. It’s the collective that makes reading this manga interesting not the individual pieces.


With that, I leave my virtual pen on my dirty desk; I hope you liked this review and thanks for reading!