Holiday Review: SAINT YOUNG MEN

In any other year, Witch Hat Atelier would have been my final review, but then I remembered that this came out and the choice was all too obvious.

After all, the mythology of Christmas is all about miracles and the fact that we can finally read this in English is onto itself a miracle!  So many bigots like to harp about "the reason for the season," so why not read a manga about Him (and his best friend Buddha)?

SAINT YOUNG MEN (Seinto Onii-san), by Hikaru Nakamura.  First published in 2006 and first published in North America in 2019.

PLOT:

To better understand humanity, Jesus Christ and Buddha decide to live among humanity.  They establish themselves in a tiny apartment in the middle of Tokyo, trying (if not always successfully) to hide their divine natures.  Together they enjoy some of the tiny, everyday pleasures and frustrations of life in general.

STORY:

I feel kind of bad saying this because this series is so beloved and people have waited so long for this series because the mangaka was legitimately afraid that it would get protested if it were published in English but....I was kind of underwhelmed by Saint Young Men.

I will say this: I liked it a lot more than Arakawa Under the Bridge.  That's because instead of actively trying to be strange and random, the comedy here is a lot more focused.  The premises are simple, solid, and even a little sitcom-esque at times.  There's also a LOT of references to both Christianity and Buddhism, from the most obvious to obscure.  There are so many that each chapter has translation notes afterwards, not just at the end of the book.  Clearly a lot of research went into this.  I particularly like the way she uses that research to inform this particular interpretation of their personalities while retaining the odd couple dynamic.

And yet I kept waiting to laugh some big, boisterous laugh and that moment never happened.  I definitely smirked a few times, and smiled at jokes even more in a "I got that reference" sort of way.  I guess it's just a little too low-key to really tickle my particular funny bone.  Still, I'm glad we finally have the chance to experience it for ourselves.

ART:

Nakamura's visual humor is also kind of low-key.  There aren't a lot of big visual gags so much as jokes stuffed in asides and the sides of the panels.  The biggest visual joke is in the characters themselves, as no amount of casual T-shirts and jeans can hide that both Jesus and Buddha look about as archetypal as possible.  Indeed, more than a few gags are had about them being anxious about being recognized.  Being a gag manga, there isn't much of a focus on the scenery and not much done with the panel layouts.

PRESENTATION:

You know you're dealing with a prestigious manga when you not only get copious translation notes, but also a foreword from a curator from the British Museum who used this series in multiple manga-related exhibits.

RATING:

Even if it wasn't to my taste, Saint Young Men is an enjoyable comedy.  The way it combines the mythology around its main duo with its everyday premise is a good combo that shows a better understanding of both that other, more explicitly reverent works.  It's definitely worth a look, if simply to reward the time and effort it took to bring it over here.

This series is published by Kodansha Comics.  This series is ongoing in Japan with 17 volumes available. 1 volume has been released in print and 4 volumes are available digitally; all are currently in print.

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