Buddha Vol 1

Tezuka's Buddha is a great manga.  I was surprised how good, entertaining and emersive it is to read.  Most manga I have read in the past are cool to look at and have decent storylines but none of them have the narrative that Buddha brings forth.  The writing itself is good enough on their own and dont need the pictures to illustrate the action.  The illustrations for each panel are composed very well.  They kept me involved.  The story and pictures are so good that I was able to link sequences between panels as I was reading. Before reading, I read some reviews and it seemed like a book that is used to set up what is going to happen when the main character is born.  As a result I thought it would be boring or not as intriging.  As I wrote above, this is not the case.  Never once was I bored and considering how many pages there are, it is a very fast read.  The story as a whole is well thought out with elements of history like the attire and class discrimination.  These elements create believability that I like in books.  Although the characters look child friendly, there is some pretty deep violence and nudity.  Not enough to say its vulgar but it makes a nice contrast and can be funny at times.  I enjoyed every part of this manga.  I plan on reading the next volume to see what happens to the new born child.