Customer Reviews

Manga Messiah

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I must say, I was very impressed. Many are making an effort [which I appreciate] to be more culturally relevant by printing Christian Mangas, though I must say, most fail. This book more than succeeds. I work as an Assistant Youth Pastor with a bent towards the nerdier kids in our youth group [as I am a nerd myself] and this was great for it. Tells the story in a near flawless manner, appealing to the kids who like manga, while not really losing the heart of the narrative.

Minor Criticisms [none bad enough to lose any rating]:
- Names seemed unnecessarily swapped. More accurate to the names they would have had, but inevitably led to people asking me 'who' a character was if they didn't already know the story.
- Loses the emphasis that gospel writers put in their own gospels since it is a combination of them all, but worth the trade off to include the entire story IMO.
- Depicts all the characters as white... but can you really complain? So do almost all Japanese Mangas that take place in Japan.

Sorry for the long review, but hopefully it helps. Summary: if you have kids, students, or friends who are into manga, this is the best chance you will have to get them to read the story of Christ.

If your kids read graphic novels (comic books) and you would like them to read the bible, then give them this one. I didn't tell my 8 year old what it was, just left it on his floor near his bookcase (like I do with his Calvin & Hobbes, Batman, Fantastic 4, etc.....). He started reading it when he came home from school and I actually had to tell him to put it away to come down to dinner.

Wow! What a great way to bring the bible to more people!

I greatly enjoyed this presentation of the life of Jesus. Beautifully drawn this is a graphic representation of the life of Christ pulled from a combination of the accounts told by the four Gospels. As the story progresses scripture references from all four Gospels are given so that any interested readers can go right to the source.
This isn't a verse-by-verse retelling, it isn't intended to supplant reading the Bible, it's simply bringing the story to life through art.
For me, a Christian for 25 years, it served as a reminder that these were real events. Many movies covering these events try to do the same thing, but the flow of the story in this format works better. It helped me imagine what it would be like to be present as Jesus performed his miracles. I've enjoyed it as a lover of art, and it has blessed me as a Christian.
I don't follow manga specifically, but I've been a life-long fan of the art in comics and animation favoring the darker styles of Batman, Death Note, and Battle Angel (Gunnm Alita). I've often found myself stopping to just stare at the pictures in Manga Messiah for a while. The large image of Gabriel in particular blows me away. This is beautiful work!
If you've heard that this work promotes anti-Semitism, don't believe it. I respect Jewish culture to the point that I practice some of their traditions despite not being Jewish. Israel is my favorite place on Earth other than home, and I'd visit more often if I could. If I thought this work was in any way hateful to the Jews I would not support it.

I bought this as a last minute Christmas gift. My son enjoys Manga style things, but I wasn't sure how this would be. The reviews seemed favorable.

I never thought we'd receive the reaction we observed. Between family members this child received electronic gifts. Of all the "bells and whistles", we found him reading this book.

I'm so glad I got this. My son is 10 and he really enjoyed seeing the Bible stories from the Manga perspective.

I ordered this book for my grandchildren to read as I thought this format would be something they would be familiar with and enjoy reading. It tells the complete story of Jesus from his birth to his resurrection in colorful and exciting drawings. The artists have done a great job and the story adds a few comments you wont find in the Bible, but do not stray far away from the scriptures. This is a comic after all, not a scholarly work. I think teens and adults will enjoy reading it.

I will first admit that I have not read the entire book. I had it in my hands and I read a few chapters.
I have seen other manga or imitation manga and the artwork in this book is legit.

The artwork is very beautiful. I also love how they add little bits of humor here and there (when Jesus turned water to wine), that had me laughing outloud.

The message portrayed is authentic and is based on Scripture. It is almost like a commentary since it obviously cant have the Gospels line by line.

Take it for what it is: fun, great for kids, and art lovers.

Really breathes some emotion and imagination into the greatest story ever told.

I know the artist personally. We met while I was doing missions work in Japan. She has an amazing heart and wants to use this tool to spread the gospel to the Japanese people. The Japanese version is getting popular in Japan, this English version came later. I wish I could also buy the Japanese version as it is a good gift for Japanese friends. In Japan the comic book culture is not just a kids fad. On the subways you see numerous business people even in their 50's still reading the popular manga comics, its a lifetime hobby.

This is a great gift for someone who is into this style of animation. Kelly (English name) is a brilliant artist! Its also a great read for someone who is interested in new, creative ways of engaging the Japanese people for Christ.

This one was very good. I loved the art, and the story was easy to read. It presented Jesus' story well with all the Gospel stories and timeline fitted together nicely. I loved how in the back of the book it has a map of Israel and a list of characters for you to get to know them more. This book is one I have given as a gift many times.

I purchased Manga Messiah for my grandchildren because they had the Manga Metamorphis and loved it. The illustrations in the book makes the stories come alive for them. I am waiting for more books to come out. This modern way of illustrating makes todays generation see God's word come to life.

I initially bought this manga for my kids to read, but I found seeing the story of Jesus depicted with dramatic manga-style graphics was a new experience. All the copies I've lended in this Manga series weren't returned, but I see that as a good thing. For teens, seeing the bible in this format is interesting to them--a great way to get them to read about Jesus Christ's life.