Astonishing.     Jan 05, 2008     reviewed by Pippin4242    

Knowing that the late and treasured Osamu Tezuka is considered manga no kami-sama (the god of comics) in his native Japan should be enough to pique anyone's interest. But when you first pick up an epic tome like Apollo's Song it can be difficult to see at first sight why his stories are loved to this day. His character design is rough and clunky, his animals irritatingly anthropomorphic, taking a great influence from early American cartoons, including Disney. This isn't manga as we expect to see it, yet without Tezuka's influence, it is unlikely that modern manga would be anything like that with which we are familiar. Apollo's Song is a manga written on a sweeping, epic scale. It's a treatise on the meaning of love through the ages and throughout the natural world. It made this reviewer sob with tears and read the breeze-block sized volume in one sitting. It may not be famous in Western circles, but more than any other manga today, it deserves to be. Do yourself a favour. If you are a manga fan, or indeed a human being, you should read this book.

Pippin4242 also recommended: Black Jack, Galaxy Express 999, Kino's Journey,
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