By: Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Vertical Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 832 Publication Date: October 24, 2006 Release Date: October 24, 2006
Product Description: It may or may not be contagious. There seems to be no cure for it. Yet, Monmow Disease, a life-threatening condition that transforms a person into a dog-like beast, is not the only villain in this shocking triumph of a medical thriller by manga-god Osamu Tezuka. Said to have been the personal favorite of the artist, who held a degree in medicine, and surprisingly attentive to Christian themes and imagery, Ode to Kirihito demolishes naive notions about human nature and health and likely preconceptions about the comics master himself.
From pregnant vistas of the Japanese countryside to closed rooms full of sin and redemption, Tezuka astounds for more than eight hundred continuous pages, his art in turn easefully concise and flamboyantly experimental, his inquiry into our most repugnant instincts and prospects for overcoming them unflinchingly serious. Incorporating elements of the often lurid and adult-oriented “gekiga” style for the first time, Tezuka entered into his fruitful late period with this work.
A promising young doctor, Kirihito Osanai visits a remote Japanese mountain village to investigate the source of the latest medical mystery. While he ends up traveling the world to discover what it takes to be cured of such a disease, a conspiracy back home attempts to explain away his absence. Hinging upon his fate are those of his loved ones: an unstable childhood friend and colleague trapped between factions of the medical establishment that nurtured him; a fiancée emotionally transformed by Kirihito’s mysterious disappearance; and a stranger who becomes his guardian angel, a sensual circus-act performer with volatile psychological secrets.
From plutocratic Taipei and racially divided South Africa to backwater Arabia and modern Osaka, ambition and desire beckon “normal men” to behave uglier than any beast. Riveting our attention on deformity and its acceptance like The Elephant Man by David Lynch, Ode to Kirihito examines the true worth of human beings through and beyond appearances.
Gentle dog-faced doctor, You wander such a difficult world. Your self-importance, your violence, emptied out by suffering, You are more you now Than before you had a dog's face.
This was the first "comic book" I had read since 1940. I read it in one sitting.
Awesome ! This is my 3rd Manga ever and I was simply blown away. I ordered this book along with Osamu's other Buddha titles. I had no intention of reading it at first glance because I had other more coveted titles, anyway I just took a while to browse it and I couldn't put it down for next 4 and half hrs till I finished it. Its hands down one of the most engrossing book. Osamu is simply brilliant and is a master story teller weaving all human emotions in this superbly crafted book. His brillance lies in developing each character and handling it in such a way that left you gasping and wonder how keen an observer Osamu was.
Epic and thrilling If this were a film, it would surely be a mixture of art-house in moments and Cecil B DeMille in others -- with intimate character development but spanning Japan, China and the Middle East. It's thriller, love story, medical drama, spiritual quest, adventure and crime story with an eu de scifi wafting over the whole concotion. Typical Tezuka drawing style, which I find clear and compelling but others may have their own opinions.
Human Prosperity in the Face of Adversty Ode To Kirihito is one of those stories that fills you with inspiration and hope. Tezuka doesn't hold any hands or make the world more gentle then it needs to be: the picture he paints is a very bleak one, filled with racism, elitism, selfishness and greed. And yet, we as humans can still somehow overcome all this.
This is an excellent manga, and I highly recommend to anybody who enjoys a great story.
What no American would ever do. This is an amazing story and one that clearly no American would ever do. And I am referring to more then simply setting it in Japan. The blending of genres is something that Americans get touchy about, Americans like genres that are clear cut and a book that is part medical drama/part interntional adventure/part love story would put a lot of them off.
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