week ten: manga and the japanese comics tradition

I read the first volume of Buddha and six numbers of Battle Angel Alita. I never read a single book of manga before, but watched several Japanese anime. When I started reading these early forms of manga I was expecting something similar to what I've watched, but they definitely felt very different. It might be because reading doesn't involve hearing and I noticed I read the speech bubbles in a regular plain voice rather than the animated voice. Other reason might be because I'm too used to modern anime. The setting in the film for Alita was visibly influenced by popular American science fiction, where as the book felt a lot darker with comic elements seen in anime. I was immersed in the world and all the characters were interesting. Buddha had a lot of good elements of story telling revolving around the society and culture of India mixed with fantasy. The story was very intriguing and I did not know where it was headed. I only read the first volume, but it communicated the hardships and the unfairness of the caste system very well and it made me sympathize with the main characters, and felt sad when Chapra and his mother dies, and when the mother of Siddhartha dies. Even though some magical things happen in the story, the events that took place was very realistic in a human sense and moving. I am definitely interested in reading the rest of the volume once I get some time after this semester.

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