The spirit of giving hasn’t disappeared in Japan and now Nakamura Hikaru’s is putting up five St. Oniisan (Saint Young Men) postcards for auction.

She’s giving away postcards of Buddha, Jesus, Brahma, Lucifer, the Archangels, and the first disciples. I find this offer rather nice and the artwork are quite encouraging. I do wonder if Nakamura Hikaru will be placing the earthquake in her manga although I’m not exactly sure if it’s appropriate to mention it in manga.

What I do know is that her Buddha, Jesus, and the rest of the crew mean well. I wish I can purchase these auctions and help more but unfortunately I’m strapped for cash and I can only imagine how expensive these postcards can get. If you are interested in buying the postcards, head towards the auction page at 18:00 p.m., Japan time.

Edit: I just checked the auctions again and now the Buddha and Jesus postcards you see illustrated below has been raised to 93,000 yen individually(around $930)!  The Lucifer and Archangel illustrations are now up to 81,000 yen!  One wouldn’t think miracles could happen, but I suppose if it means helping those who were brought down by the quake, these postcards are worth every yen.

YES! This is probably the best news I’ve heard this week!

This week, it’s been announced in Morning that you can actually read back Issues 14 to 16 of Morning Two for free in the Morning Two website. ISN’T THAT THE BEST THING EVER!?! Well for those who are currently in a bit of a financial pinch and needs some free manga love, it’s the best thing~!¹

I’m actually excited about this because Morning Two is running an interesting set of stories. My favorite being St. Oniisan. Another comic I crossed in Morning Two and loved is Fushigi na Shounen, an enchanting read about a boy time slipping his life away. There are other stories like Fantasium which I’ve always been curious about but never had a chance to read it in Morning Two’s maiden monthly issue. So this is the PERFECT time to browse through Morning Two and see if you can actually love some of the new mangas here.

Ah~ This is definitely going to take a good part of my Morning reading. <3 <3 I hope you guys give this is a shot too! It’s going to run from Oct. 22 to December 22 and the issues are changed every month~ <3

Note: You need to install a browser plug-in named Crochet to read the manga!

1. Ugh yeah. My recent European trip really got my manga spree down to the bare essentials

So I’ve been professing and doing evangelical work for Saint Oniisan (Saint Young Men). I swear to god, I love this series in the same way that I love espresso brownies! It’s different, pleasing, and truly an enjoyable read (plus a guilty leisure, with all the religious implications involved!). Today I realized I shouldn’t really feel that way, thanks to a really interesting interview of Hikaru Nakamura, author of Saint Oniisan. Manga no Hi’s Manga Interview section, Manga no Chikara) features Nakamura-sensei as she talks about her manga career and how scribble probably has made me (and a couple of other fans) A BELIEVER!

Divine Providence

It’s quite interesting how fate (and maybe divine providence) brought on Saint Oniisan. After having impressed a Morning editor with her work “Arakawa Under The Bridge”, the editor contacted her about doing a series for Morning. She was quite elated, having been a fan of Kaiji Kawaguchi’s Zipang and even more honored when they wanted her to do something similar to Kawaguchi’s Chinmoku no Kantai (The Silent Service). However, she knew that creating something like that was beyond her so while she was scribbling images of two friends wearing casual shirts, she thought of turning them into characters, perhaps even making them into Jesus and Buddha, and how the two of them share the same concerns and emotions as we do.

With constant scribbling and drawing, finally she gave birth to Saint Oniisan. As she explains it, there’s barely any thought process involved in creating the manga because the story just happened as she drew the manga. (So don’t think too much when reading Saint Oniisan people!) Perhaps her system works the same way prophets were possessed by Holy Ghost to write psalms and stuff. I’m pretty sure it’s divine providence. lol. Nonetheless, she does go on a spree in terms of writing and her editors does some editing for things she overlooked.

Sensitivities

At first, she really didn’t think thought the idea could be a little problematic especially with its religious implications, but she got a bit worried when her editor already found it interesting only after she has gotten 4 pages in. Her editor though did reassure her that her work was indeed interesting, however, because of the subject at hand, they had to be more careful each time they bring out a chapter. In the interview, this cautious feeling went on until the third chapter. The previous chapters did not receive much reactions. It wasn’t until after all the introductions were done (the first 3 or 4 chapters had lengthy descriptions of Jesus and Buddha’s past) that she managed to play with the story more, eventually garnering positive responses.

The reception towards to her work was of course warm to the point that even pastors and catholic priests actually write her and tell her that they’re even distributing this manga in their school!¹ She adds that it’s probably because they want to show how Jesus and Buddha can freely and casually interact with each other. I think in Japan there are some Catholics who find it hard to profess their faith perhaps due to its religious discipline compared to the more relaxed Shinto and Buddhist faiths. It can also be due to the strain caused by their historical exodus during Tokugawa era. Either way, for these pastors, Saint Oniisan was a great example in overcoming this tension between these two religions. If Jesus and Buddha can get along, then why don’t we all just get along?

Miscellany

The interview also had other interesting trivia about Nakamura-sensei. Prior to being a mangaka, she actually thought of joining SDF. In her third year in middle school, she started soliciting her manuscripts to Shounen Gangan. She really didn’t have the leisure of being a doujinshika, (she reasons that she lived far and didn’t have enough friends. lol.), so this is the route she took. She initially submitted serious mangas, but after her 3rd application she thought of switching her epic 50 page battle² to a 16 page gag manga. The editor told her to bring more material for her gag manga, and as you say, the rest is history. Of course, she did try to stop doing gag manga afterwards, but somehow found herself more inclined in writing comedy. For a girl though, what I find interesting was how she was not inclined to writing love stories. She even adds that she’s quite poor at it.

Reading this series of interviews with Nakamura-sensei was rather refreshing to read especially since I’ve been curious on what she’s like as a mangaka and how she even came up with something like Saint Oniisan. My friend puts it best that you don’t need brains to create crack like that. lol.

Although I’ve summarized some parts here, if you guys are interested, here’s the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd part of the interviews with Nakamura-sensei. The interview is in Japanese.

1. See!! I’m on the right path here!!
2. She really seems to love Kawaguchi

Saint Young Men (聖☆おにいさん) by Nakamura Hikaru
Serialized in Morning Two
Published by Kodansha

Lent is the perfect time to reflect over our past sins and contemplate on how THE MAN sacrificed his life for our salvation. In the modern world, this religious ritual becomes a chore, often forgotten, maybe even neglected. In my country, Lent’s a holiday, a 5 day weekend where you can relax from the nitty gritty of work, ideally to reflect, but more often spent on frolicking in beaches and family picnics. But somehow, The Lord finds his way to sneak up on you, in ways you can’t even imagine. And in this case, he even partnered himself with Buddha to create a light-hearted comedy about two deities living a life in the modern world.

Whatever divine crack you sniffed Hikaru Nakamura, YOU ARE A GENIUS! JESUS AND BUDDHA FTW!

The Divine Comedy

Saint Young Men is about Buddha and Jesus coming back to our world and living life like we do. It really doesn’t have much of a plot, but it more of a slice of life tale between these two dieties. You have Jesus and Buddha going to an amusement park, enjoying summer festivals, swimming, and so on.

When I told my friend that I’d be reviewing this for Good Friday, she asked me if it was okay. Religion is a big thing here so she thought that his could probably be a bit sacrilegious. Imagine Jesus reading the internet, wanting to buy a Shinsengumi costume, and rediscovering the world. But when I read the book, that was not the case at all. Sure, it was too comfortable a depiction of deities, nonetheless, the author kept in mind the characters of these two guys and has somewhat kept their image. Somewhat.

Nakamura-sensei depicted pure and innocent holy men who are experiencing the world with infallible faith in humanity. My favorite moments were Buddha reading Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha, Jesus parting the swimming pool (a micro version of the red sea), Jesus reading mixi, and all of that sort. It’s a hilarious comedy between the two deities and it’s a total genius that she portrayed them without diluting the fact that they’re dieties. She starts her chapters reminding us of their holiness. And towards the end of the chapter, you see them in a new entire light.

There’s a scene that I really really love wherein Jesus and Buddha decides to go to an amusement park. Jesus notices that there’s a sign on the admission counter saying “People who are older than 80 years old can get a discount.” Jesus notices this and asks Buddha “So, should we avail of the discount?”

It’s a very humorous take on a “What If.” The more that I read, the more that I think that Jesus and Buddha is a manzai combi. They’re not here as idiots, but rather Gods who are experiencing the life that we live. They’re hilarious together and their learnings of the modern world is amusing. It’s very entertaining and between Lenten readings, the Da Vinci Code, and this, I’d rather enjoy the rest of Lent looking how Jesus is having a field day with Buddha. JESUS AND BUDDHA ROCKS!

Much love to Chika for lending your copy of this manga to me. <3