The book claims that manga is the most popular graphic novel format on earth.  I’m not sure if that’s true but it certainly is true that manga (a Japanese word meaning comics and print cartoons) is so widespread that most people would have read or at least seen some manga before.

 

The book recounts Jesus’ birth, His work on earth, and His crucifixion and resurrection.  Initially, I found it disconcerting that Jesus’ mother looked so ‘kawaii’ (Japanese for ‘cute’) and that many of the men looked as if they were about to become Pokemon trainers rather than disciples of Jesus.

 

However, once I got beyond that, I realized that the book puts some modern colloquial language into the mouths of some of the characters (the disciples say ‘wow!’, ‘whoa!’ and ‘take it easy’, for instance) to liven up the story, but no such liberties are taken with Jesus.  Also, the book manages to cover a lot of ground – all the major events, miracles and teachings are captured in detail - without becoming tedious.

 

Overall, I enjoyed reading this and I think it would speak to some young adults or teens.