It was a drive-by fruiting!

[renagrrl7]

Super quick post before I head out to a drag queen show for my BFF's bachelorette party -- I won the entire series of Osamu Tezuka's Buddha from a giveaway on Largehearted Boy!

SOOOOOOOOOO AWESOME! I'm super stoked to read this series, especially since I've been eyeballing it for ages. ^______________^

Of course, I'll be sure to chronicle my

Comments

[kokorochizu]

Lucky you! I've been wanting to read the series too, so tell me how it is when you've started reading it! 8) ♥

[renagrrl7]

I'll most certainly share whatever I think of it as soon as I can. Thanks! :D

[salimbol]

Awesome indeed! I've read the series in a patchy fashion, and it's pretty good (I just need to fill in the gaps in my reading now, but it's hard to come by the right volumes). And you're building up a nice selection of manga reviews on your review blog now, aren't you? I was particularly interested to read what you had to say about The Palette of 12 secret colors, because I'm reading the author's Two flowers for the dragon at present and quite enjoying it. It will just be a matter of how much my squick button is pressed by the age difference of the central twosome in Palette, I think.

[renagrrl7]

I think my larger problem (at least initially) was that a doctor is usually pretty old once they get through med school (late 20s). And while six years isn't as big of a difference once you get older, I just have a problem with an all-ages manga promoting a relationship between a high schooler and an adult.

If this had been rated even a little bit older, I don't think I'd care. But, I don't think pre-teens should find these types of relationships "normal" or "okay." But, as Cello gets older, I find myself more accepting...So we'll just have to see how quickly she ages in the next two volumes (the series is complete with six volumes).

[salimbol]

Yes, this age-gap thing is something I have a bit of a problem with with manga in general (though repeated exposure to CLAMP's work may be desensitising me to it ;-). And anything remotely smacking of lolicon makes me run screaming! But this doesn't strike me as that kind of manga, so as you say, see where she goes with it. There's an 11-year age difference between two potential romantic partners in her Two flowers as well, which is giving me some pause but isn't making me back away, so perhaps it's a recurring theme for her.

[renagrrl7]

Now that I think about it, I might be hyper-sensitive to it, too, with having read so many shojo stories. It's easy to pick up on the tropes once you know how to spot them. A younger reader might not notice it at all.

And that's interesting that it might be a recurring theme. I'll admit, this is handled well and it doesn't become discomforting until the fourth volume, and at the very end at that (and it's an intentionally uncomfortable scene). And, honestly, it's a very one-sided relationship up until the last couple of volumes, according to the CMX website. I think it's more that I find it just plain odd to have this all-ages manga display a romance like this.

Then again, it's not that big of a deal culturally in Japan. It's usually shown with the teacher-student relationship, and this isn't too different than that. Maybe it's just my latent puritanical American ideals coming to the surface?

[wispyhollow]

Oh, nice. I really want to read a few of Tezuka's works, but I'm having a hard time finding them. :/

[renagrrl7]

I had a hard time finding this series, too, which is why I held off on buying it for so long. Surprisingly, our college bookstore carried a few volumes, just not the first one...

Anyway, all the volumes are in stock on RightStuf.com and are discounted by about 25%.