The Manga Bible – From Genesis to Revelation by Siku
When I picked up this ‘ The Manga Bible’ (TMB) I was quite excited. As I got into it the excitement grew, perhaps this would be the Manga Bible I was hoping to encourage my teens to read (that in so doing they might be interested in reading their bibles more, much for the same reasons that ‘The Aussie Bible’ was written).
However by the time I finished I was not only disappointed, but deeply troubled. Here’s my review broken down into it’s parts (this will be a relatively concise review – please ask me for more details if you wish).
Positives:
- the animation is superb, probably some of the best Manga I’ve seen. (you can see some of it here)
- a lot of the characters are painted in very masculine ways, which I sometimes forget may have been true of the characters in real life (eg, Samuel is a hulk of a person, and quite a dominating character, whereas I sometimes think of him as a frail elderly chap)
- the storyline keeps relatively true to the text of scripture…(but)…
Minor Quibbles:
- …sometimes the narrative strays from the intention of the text and some narrative remarks are more reflective of the authors of TMB than of the bible itself
- cf the last point – some books of the bible are condensed too much (eg Revelation is only given three pages, with much animation but very little content)
- The animations, in the version I have, go right to the binder, so in some instances it’s hard to read what’s being said because it’s too close to the binding
- Some pages, though few, are full 2-page spreads and I got lost trying to follow the speech
- there are some minor spelling and grammatical mistakes, which are less forgivable in Manga, I think, because of the relative lack of content
- In places the animation can be quite graphic (eg, a nude outline of Bathsheba, the violent beheading of Goliath)
- Paul is animated a bit too ruggedly handsome in my opinion…
However these minor quibbles give way to some major issues I have with the TMB
Major Issues:
- The presentation of Jesus is less human and more divine. That is, Jesus is presented throughout TMB as commanding, dominating and a force to be reckoned with. For instance the temptation in the wilderness doesn’t seem to faze Jesus one bit. He’s able to deal with Satan without breaking a sweat. And throughout the rest of the Gospel’s animation Jesus just comes off too powerful, which wouldn’t give me confidence to know that he was ‘[able] to sympathize with our weaknesses, but … has been tempted as we are…’ (cf Hebrews 4:15)
- The back of the book contains some transcripts of interviews with the script author (Akin) and the animator (Siku). This is probably the most troublesome part of this Manga bible. Firstly there is speculation about secret ‘bible codes’ written into the book of 1 Kings (which are presented as facts rather than speculation). Secondly there are unhelpful discussions about theodicy (problem of evil) in Jonah and genocide generally in the OT. The authors don’t seem to have any theological grounding for the statements and conclusions they reach (and I suggest that their conclusions are slightly unbiblical).
I have no idea why the authors of TMB decided to include the speculative and unhelpful interviews at the back of their book. Minus this and I might have recommended the book for my teens. But the portrayal of Jesus I think is overall unhelpful also. At least with ‘The Manga Messiah’ there is a very real attempt to portray Jesus’ humanity. With TMB I just simply could not connect with Jesus. Jesus, the focal point of the entire bible, is not treated well in TMB.
So despite the positives, the negatives outweigh, I think, any recommendation for teens. My search for a Manga Bible continues…
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