On the occasion of Tezuka's 90th anniversary, Delcourt offers in luxury editions the reissue of the outstanding works of this essential reference of manga. JustFocus chooses today to start presenting you a major work: The Life of Buddha.
A narrative polytheism
In The Life of Buddha, there are certainly mystical passages. A monk goes in search of a future god because Hindus are polytheists but this candidate – Tatta, child of the caste of outcasts, is actually a leader of thieves. There are miracles but without seeing divine intervention. Indeed, it often goes through animals – Tatta saved from execution by a swarm of locusts. Many characters ask the same existential question – why does the human being suffer? The birth of Buddha allows men to come out of the eternal cycle of suffering. However, it's never easy. For Tezuka, these ideas would come from the climate – the long period of drought that comes back every year. Not everything comes from the divine. Brahmins offer to pray to ward off misfortunes but the story shows that it is through the action of human beings that the world changes. If you expect an edifying hagiography extolling the merits of Buddha, you will be disappointed because Tezuka composes a much more ambitious symphony. This first volume is more of a historical adventure series and a choral narrative with multiple characters and an abundance of life. In a few boxes, we can switch from an intimate narrative to an invasion by a large army. We do not always know how we move from one story to another because we change very quickly place or narrator but we do not care because the magic of the tale takes everything. Violence is present in striking images – whippings on a child screaming on his knees like an animal. Bruised bodies are marked with black lines. Boxes that the absence of colors makes more expressive. 
A social work
Social inequality is fought by Tezuka – a master refuses to hit a mother because brands would lower her price. A character denies his past to progress socially. Love can be prevented by caste differences. The author even goes so far as to refuse to distinguish between humans and animals. Out of charity, Tatta is very tender with animals because they are at the same social level as him. What makes this story never boring are Tezuka's humor both written and visual as the anachronism where the toga of a guru blown by the wind lets out a pack of cigarettes and a watch. Just after the birth of Siddhartha – the future Buddha – a little grandiloquent, we find humor when the procession runs.
Complex characters
In this series, the main characters are never binary. Chaprah is ambitious and ready for anything. He kills animals and forces Tatta to give up his revenge but can prove tender by falling in love. At first, we can simply regret the low place of women but, in the second part Miguéla, a leader of a band of thieves, represents the modern and rebellious woman facing a traditional and bland princess. Even Siddhartha is a complex character. Through a wise man, he knows that his destiny is to leave the castle to attain enlightenment and then open the eyes of men but he does not cease to resist and be prevented by personal constraints or related to his function as crown prince.
Ubiquitous animals
Beyond strong human figures, Tezuka also highlights animals in The Life of Buddha. Graphically, they are very successful – by a simple but realistic line – and touching. These animals are often humanized – each animal is the symbol of feelings like the meaning of sacrifice by a rabbit. It's a lot of fun because the characters put forward are very different from the Western vision. These animals are very close to humans. The characters who refuse to kill animals are the heroes – Buddha's father stopped hunting when the animals came to him fearlessly.
Visual splendor
Buddha's life is often described as one of Tezuka's graphic peaks. Each square aims at the purity to go fast but that's what makes it beautiful. Through dancers and, one can see the influence of Indian art. Discovering the first pages, the reader is struck by the superb abundant scenery that is in contrast with a purity in the characters. This contrast is explained because Tezuka does not draw everything but runs a workshop like Hergé. In the same way, grasshoppers are sometimes very precise as taken from a science book or just sketched for action. The faces are often very rounded and sometimes very simplified to show stupidity – a Brahmin who does magic tricks to get food, has a caricatured face. The aging body of the Prince is simply drawn but perfectly rendered. This series marks an evolution in the style of the Japanese master. His drawings already come out of a rigid grid while we are in full clear line in France. The boxes demonstrate the genius of the author's framing – the lines go in all directions but everything is easily readable. Tezuka allows himself everything and even plays with the reader – a man crashes against the edge of a square to show the escape, a bubble of the master of education hits Siddhârta who challenges him. The body changes into a few boxes to show feelings – in love, Shapra's body becomes simpler like a child again. Some choices escape us – during a tournament, the audience becomes more and more stylized pigs. After a narrative abundance, The Life of Buddha changes in the castle of Kapilavastu at the home of the king and his wife Maya – future parents of the Buddha . It feels like a total change of main characters and even of the era – it's ten years later. We leave the abundance to follow a single main character who will discover the harshness of the outside world. We find common ideas – Siddhârta contests the inequality of his world, we follow the prince's education around science and the art of war. Tezuka also relies on the wisdom of children – Siddhartha asks naïve questions but no one can answer. Delcourt offers a true prestige edition for TheLife of Buddha with a hardcover, thick pages and superbly printed. The Life of Buddha is a world masterpiece of comics. Visually, we have both a lesson in purity and an abundance. Reader, abandon the rational to plunge into the dreamlike in the Thousand and One Nights. The pages on Buddhism make you want to read more but the story is never painful. The future Buddha is a person torn between his sincere will and his social role. A sad and mystical chapter can be placed right after a tale of ambition and love.
