Saint Young Men
| Saint Young Men |
Cover of Saint Young Men first volume as published by Kodansha |
聖☆おにいさん
(Seinto Oniisann) |
| Genre |
Comedy, Slice of life story |
| Manga |
| Written by |
HIkaru Nakamura |
| Published by |
Kodansha |
| Demographic |
Seinen |
| Magazine |
Morning 2 |
| Original run |
2007 – ongoing |
| Volumes |
7 |
| Anime and Manga Portal |
Saint Young Men (聖☆おにいさん, Seinto Oniisan?) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hikaru Nakamura. It has been serialized by Kodansha in the monthly seinen manga magazine Morning 2 since 2007, with chapters collected in seven tankōbon volumes as of October 2011[update].[1]
Plot
Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha, the founders of Christianity and Buddhism, are living together as roommates in a Tokyo apartment while taking a vacation on Earth. The comedy often involves jokes about Christianity, Buddhism, and all things related, as well as the main characters' attempts to hide their identities and understand modern society in Japan. Each chapter shows how they go about or react to an average day, though they also go sightseeing or visit amusement parks.
Characters
- Jesus Christ
- Jesus is portrayed as a care-free, generous, and humorous "sei-jin" (holy man or adult in Japanese). Unlike Buddha who is very strict about the relationship between him and his disciples, Jesus is very friendly to his apostles. But because Jesus is even nice to Judas, this makes Buddha worry. The residents of Heaven are overly protective of Jesus and will sometimes attempt to intervene to save Jesus if they hear his cries, even if they were from riding a roller-coaster. As a holy figure, Jesus' head will shine with a halo if he does or says something especially virtuous. Whenever Jesus' emotions are at a high or low peak (due to finding something funny or being scared), miracles may happen unexpectedly. Jesus is a devout follower of drama shows, and reviews them on his online blog.
- Gautama Buddha
- Buddha is portrayed as a calm, rational, and kind "sei-jin". However, he tends to be very tight with money. When Buddha sees things too serious, he is often "saved" by Jesus’ care-free simplicity. But when the same care-free nature appears as Jesus being an impulse buyer, it often irritates Buddha. When his anger shows, often as a result of Jesus' antics, his head will start to shine with a halo and increasing in brightness until Jesus either calms him down or apologizes. His head can also glow if Buddha says anything especially virtuous, upon which he will have to do something to lower his virtue. Ever since Buddha spent a night in a manga cafe, he has become a follower of Osamu Tezuka's works such as Buddha.
- Animals
- Animals of all kinds frequently appear before Jesus and Buddha due to their concerns to help the two holy figures as much as they are physically capable of, such as shielding them from rain right to the point of attempting to sacrifice themselves as food if the two are hungry much to their horror.
Reception
Saint Young Men received the 2009 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize for Short Work Manga.[2]
Saint Young Men was the tenth best-selling manga series in Japan for 2009 according to Oricon, with the four volumes selling over 2.6 million copies.[3] Volumes three and four were among the top 25 best-selling manga for 2009.[4] As the result of its popularity, issues of Morning 2 started selling out on newsstands; because of this, in May 2009 Kodansha began making the magazine available online the day it is published.[5]
References
External links