 |
| I feel you manga!Jesus |
“Okay, go for it!”
“Buddha and Jesus are roommates
in modern day Japan!”
“………..what the actual fuck”
Would be a normal person’s
response, and sometimes I think this is the reason why people are creeped out
by anime because what the actual fuck.
But I, who have read series about super baking battles and super card game
battles and thugs with girls attached to their arms and invading alien frogs
and and cafes run by polar bears and moe anthropomorphisations of everything
from world war countries to military weaponry, will not balk from this
challenge. There is a reason why Widget Series is an actual term for a “weird
Japanese thing”.
From the guy who brought you
Arakawa Under the Bridge, a series about a guy who lives under a bridge with
his girlfriend from Venus, Saint Young Men or Saint Oniisan is about Buddha and
Jesus who are taking a break from heaven to be roommates in modern day Japan.
Buddha is calmer than his buddy Jesus who gets excited easily, the tsukkomi to
his boke –and that’s not just an expression because they’ve done a comedy duo
together before to win a contest.
It’s slice of life, so various
hijinks ensue as Buddha and Jesus experience living in modern day Japan, from financial
problems to the crowded subway. What the hell did I just write? It’s pretty
lighthearted, and while slice of life usually isn’t my thing, I didn’t dislike
the series. Parts I enjoyed were the archangels trying to look after Jesus,
references to their respective histories, and playing with the idea of two
powerful gods being friends.
For example, in one chapter,
Buddha writes a 4-koma manga about his disciple which is so hilarious that when
Jesus reads it he starts turning random things into bread. In other chapters,
Jesus is mistaken for a yazuka when he talks about getting out of a death
sentence in three days and the beheading of St.John. When they go to temples,
Jesus prays to Buddha who is right beside him. Once at an onsen Jesus is
surprised by how spicy wasabi is and Uriel comes to forbid the wasabi tree to
bear fruit. The crown of thorns that Jesus wears has a GPS tracker and call
button installed by the archangels. When the two gods are hungry, animals
automatically try to offer themselves up as food. Buddha tries to teach Jesus
to swim but Jesus ends up parting the swimming pool instead. When Jesus jumps
too high the angels think he’s going home and try to carry him to heaven.
Buddha’s really into screen printing. He’s also concerned that the images of
him are all of his chubbier period. Mara keeps spamming Buddha with text
messages.
I think literally two thirds of
my enjoyment of this series is being able to write lines like that. The series
itself has lines like “that messiah’s got some moves”. I mean, writing this post was awesome because
it’s like going up to a friend and trying to explain that there is a readership
for a story about Jesus and Buddha sharing an apartment. “One’s achieved
perfect enlightenment! One’s the Son of God! They hang out!” Thank you, weird
Japanese thing, for giving me experiences like that.
Shoutout to other great widgets
(because the whole thing about WJTs are that they are Better Than It Sounds):
Bartender: He tends a bar/
Alcohol solves everything.
Black Jack: A tall, dark and
snarky man and his Frankensteinian creation charge astronomical sums of money
to cut people open.
Blade of the Immortal: A
swordsman with internal parasites gets hired by a plucky orphan to kill ‘bad
people’.
Bleach: Dead people fight other
dead people but almost never to the death.
Diamond Dust Rebellion: Secondary white-haired pretty
boy character angsts for 90 minutes
Fade to
Black: Two siblings try to destroy the ruling class because a childhood friend
can’t
remember
their names.
Bokurano:
Fifteen messed-up children play a fun game with Humongous Mecha.
Card Captor
Sakura: A cute little girl navigates a world of very confusing and complex love
relationships, while collecting cards in her spare time.
Darker than
Black: Chinese Electric Batman.
Death Note:
Honors student plots to conquer the world by writing names in a book, enlists
help of invisible gods who love apples
D.Gray-Man:
A boy repeatedly rips his arm off to fight a clown.
Fate/stay
night: A male Ordinary High School Student in love with King Arthur learns
about mythology.
Fist of the
North Star: A guy who looks like Bruce Lee and dresses like Mad Max walks the
earth. Anyone who crosses his path is already dead.
Five
Centimeters Per Second: A lonely man avoids calling his girlfriend. Cock
blocked by a train.
Fullmetal
Alchemist: Military specialist searches for a magic rock recipe to get his
brother out of a can. The rock is people.
Hikaru no
Go: Boy becomes possessed, then plays a board game.
Katekyo
Hitman Reborn!: A baby trains a kid to be a Mafia boss by repeatedly shooting
him in the head.
Kobato: A
Magical Girl without magic powers goes on a mission to collect candy. She is
accompanied by a demonic stuffed toy dog.
K-On!:
Schoolgirls stay after school to practice their music, but instead eat cake and
talk.
Kuroshitsuji:
An effeminate boy sells his soul for a highly skilled butler.
Mahou
Sensei Negima!: A 10-year old wizard acquires a 31-girl harem. They're his
students.
Maria
Holic: A lesbian meets the girl of her dreams. She's a he.
Midori no
Hibi: A lonely young man has a romantic relationship with his right hand.
Mushishi: A
traveler helps people cope with invisible magic bugs.
Mythical
Detective Loki Ragnarok: Norse gods are made into children; one of them solves
strange mysteries with a pink-haired high schooler.
One Piece:
Small people with random skills go on a road trip and fight large people with
government connections.
Ouran High
School Host Club: A poor girl is forced to pretend she's a boy and hang out
with obnoxiously rich bishounen as punishment for destroying private property.
Panty &
Stocking with Garterbelt: Two siblings use their various undergarments to fight
off the forces of evil.
Pet Shop Of
Horrors: Mysterious Bishōnen runs evil pet shop with poor customer service and
no return policy.
Sayonara,
Zetsubou-Sensei: A teacher copes with his dissatisfaction with society by
encouraging people to kill themselves.
Shugo
Chara!!: Some kids fight corporate evil with the help of magic eggs.
Until Death
Do Us Part: A blind man protects a thirteen-year-old girl who says he's her
future husband.
Vampire
Game: A girl adopts a cat. The cat has a grudge to settle.
Yakitate!!
Japan: A brave but dim young man with a goofy haircut enters the high-stakes
world of bread-making.
0 comments:
Post a Comment