Sep 24, 2013
The Holy Bible has been in many formats. Cartoons, Movies, Comics, Audio Tapes and Music is just a few of them. But finally, it has reached Japan's most popular format ever: Manga. The first two books are made after the new testament (Jesus and Paulus) and mostly consists of a light-hearted tone, while the three latter ones are made after the old testament. Rape, murder and torture are just some of the keywords describing these.
Story: 7/10
The story itself are very interesting and proves that the bible belongs in manga format. There are shocking scenes, heart-breaking scenes and even grotesque happenings. The manga version of
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the bible is probably the most interesting way get your fill. Every book features a couple of short-stories, while most of the pages consists of a journey made by the character on the cover of the book.
Art: 6/10
The first two books looks very amateurish. The drawings are simple and you will often encounter scenes where people's eyes are set too far apart, while some has their mouth set too high on their faces. The coloring is horrible, due to the fact that everything looks like it was colored in paint. However, the three latter books improves this and gives each manga a more watercolor-like color, which is easier on the eyes. The art is highly improved and handsome/cute characters actually look handsome/cute.
Character: 5/10
Every character has his/her unique behavior pattern, but with a common goal: Spread God's messages. It is, however, hard to distinguish the characters. Most of the characters has the exactly same face, but with a different hair color. Heck, some characters even have the same hair-style, but with a different color. It is also very hard to remember which one is which, as every manga introduces about 20+ new characters, each with a name completely different from another. If there weren't a character's list at the end of the book, it would be nearly impossible to identify them.
Enjoyment: 6/10
The bible is huge and it is hard to adopt everything into a 5-volume manga series, about 300 pages each. Most of the story is told through text-boxes instead of the characters, as a way around this. This may seem lazy, but it is most likely the only way to get every major event told. Because of this, the books are quite text-heavy and there is limited present character involvement. The three latter books improves this and feature more speech bubbles, which also makes each book more interesting to read.
Overall: 6/10
Manga surely makes the bible a lot more interesting to read, and may succeed in getting the teen audience involved and manga-enthusiasts involved in Christianity. The third book (Melech) are probably the most interesting one, as this one features the most shocking events in the bible: The wrath of God, punished by death. However, the many faults makes it far from a perfect manga adaption. It is a good read, but nothing more than that.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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