What if the Bible were turned into a manga?

[jon_jinn]

what if the Bible were turned into a manga? Write your opinion down here. Write down things you think would be in the manga? How many volumes long it would be? What it would be rated. Which mangaka should illustrate it? Here's my opinion:

How many volumes: around 160 (very wild guess)
What it would be rated: Definitely "M"
Which mangaka would be a good illustrater: Well it'd have to be someone experienced at drawing many wars or battles filled with many characters and a lot of fighting. The illustarter would also have to be used to drawing many different characters and towns. He's have to make the setting seem more historical, almost fantasy-like. I think that Kentarou Miura (creator of Berserk) would definitely be the best pick.

[TurkishMonky]

I actually think there is an actual Bible graphic novel coming out sometime soon.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

That would be one long manga...

Imagine like.... proverbs into a manga. I figure it would be some kind of thing with random scenes that have to do with what each passage is saying.
Song of Solomon as a manga... O.o

[jon_jinn]

Revalations as a manga would be pretty interesting...

[Mave]

I wonder if Jesus would look like a bishonen/bishie.

[jon_jinn]

yeah. i'm curious to see how Saul/Paul would look like.

[Slater]

heh heh... if they stuck with the historians' descriptions of Jesus, I doubt he'd fit into the typical Anime-protagonist-male figure.

[meboeck]

Revalations as a manga would be pretty interesting...

My aunt, who is an artist, did a series of illustrations for the book of Revelations. It was wild. Revelations definitely has some crazy imagery. In terms of the whole Bible, though, I doubt they would include the poetic/artistic books like Psalms, Song of Solomon, Proverbs, etc. Since Jesus would obviously be the main character in the Gospels, I'm sure he would be at least somewhat bishie. They would almost have to make the Old Testament and the New Testament two separate series. I mean, there were a couple hundred years between the end of the Old Testament and the birth of Jesus. Genesis would actually probably make for some very interesting material for a manga. I probably wouldn't even read Exodus because it is so overdone. Everyone seems to love making fictional accounts of Moses.

[Linksquest]

WHOAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... im sorry but some parts of the bible would be like... *CENSORHIP'd* such as sodom... yea... and also the songs of solomon... yea... er... O_O;;; garden of eden *eve's hair conveniently placed*

It would be really long... like... ... ... O_O! i would die before getting to the end!

[ashfire]

Some American comicbook publishing have done some stories. I have one based on the story of David, but if it is done in Japanese manga that would be interesting. It could take a good mount of trade paperbacks to do the whole Bible.

[Arnobius]

Knowing how manga tends to handle religious themes, I kind of wince at the thought (visions of the Apostles piloting Gundams, excessive fanservice and the like.)

[Linksquest]

Knowing how manga tends to handle religious themes, I kind of wince at the thought (visions of the Apostles piloting Gundams, excessive fanservice and the like.)

ROFL! gundams... the sad thing is... i could sooo imagine that

[rocklobster]

The Genesis part alone would definitely rate an M even if there wasn't fanservice. Because in order for it to be "accurate", Adam and Eve would still have to start out naked.

[jon_jinn]

some of the battles in the old testament would probably be rated "M" as well as the crusifiction of Jesus.

[Raiden no Kishi]

I wonder if Jesus would look like a bishonen/bishie.

Hmm . . . only begotten Son of a perfect God who created everything beautiful in the universe . . . yeah. I think He'd be pretty good-looking. Godlike, you might say. ^_~ But He wouldn't be any anorexic pretty-boy. He'd be muscular [not overblown, but built ~ He did grow up as a carpenter's son, after all]. Long hair? Probably.

As I remember, Superbook did Adam and Eve ~ it's been forever, but I think they did give Eve really long hair. I think they had conveniently placed bushes, animals, etc. That's the way to do it IMO.

I think if we get enough skilled CAA artists together, we should try tackling some Bible stories after Pilgrim's Progress is finished. I'm not nearly skilled enough to be any help now, but by the time we're ready to take it on . . . who can say?

.rai//

[ChristianKitsune]

AH...that would only happen if some Japanese Manga Ka who did that kind of stuff got a hold of the Bible....

but If CHRISTIAN Manga writers got a hold of it...the results could be cool! ^_^

[Kat Walker]

There are about a zillion Bible comic books out by American authors, and even more kid's illustrated stories...a manga version really wouldn't be all that strange when you think about it.

[RubyJewelStone]

I think it wouls be pretty interesting. I've seen plenty of childrens books and such but not something Japanese.
I like the mentioned idea of illustrations of proverbs too. That seems like it would be nice.

[mitsuki lover]

As far as who would draw it I vote for either Rumiko Takahashi or Yu Watase.
Hopefully whoever did it could draw out some of the latent humor in some of the stories,especially in the Old Testament.
As far as Jesus and Paul and the others go.
That would be an interesting question.Since we don't know what Jesus looked like I would think that it would make for a bit of controversy.We have more of an idea of what St.Paul could have looked like:short,a bit hunched,knobby knees,near sighted.

[ZiP]

I'd like to see what Samson and Absolam looked like (the hair)..

[uc pseudonym]

Not to be a killjoy, but personally I wouldn't be terribly interested in such a manga. Assuming, of course, that it tried to be as accurate to the time periods involved as possible, not just used the imagery in "creative" ways.

In the end, it would just be another retelling of the same story. I have the original of that story, and outside of context not stated in the Bible I don't see a need for anything else. The only benefit would be that it would be more likely to reach people who would generally not read the Bible. However, it would only work well for the books in the history genre... the epistles would translate to manga very oddly, and they're a significant portion.

But as for the rating... yes, it'd be an M.

[jon_jinn]

for some people, i think that if the Bible were turned into a manga, it'd probably be more interesting. you'd get to see the characters in picture, and i, personally, think that it would be more exciting. sometimes, i think the Bible states things, rather too bluntly. for example, the prophet Eli died, when he heard his were going to be killed, by falling off a chair on top of a wall. i thought the news came a little too fast for me, and it took a while for me to take in the information i just received. i mean, Eli was a pretty big character for that section and he just dies, like that. if it were a manga, the death would be a little more explained and it would be easier to understand if it were in picture, even though some of the images wouldn't be very appropriate. but that's my opinion.

[Kat Walker]

I'm intrigued by the idea, it just seems so difficult to pull off. Not only does it have to be appealing to a general readership (which includes non-Christians who may be indifferent or even hostile to the Bible) it has to be done INTELLIGENTLY (not to come across as a jerk, but a majority of Christian entertainment is mind-numbingly bad IMHO) as well as tastefully and reverently... this is the Word of the Lord, you know.

How would the approach be? A literal panel-by-panel interpretation? Would it be told from a certain point of view? Would the stories interconnect? Would there be parts left out? I for one cannot see how a manga version of Numbers or Leviticus could possibly be entertaining. n_n

In short, it could be done (I'm sure it has been attempted before). The hard part is doing it right.... is the Bible even something that SHOULD be interpreted in this kind of way? Would it come across to some people as sacreligious by attempting to turn the Bible into a form of entertainment?

[ashfire]

I can say this. My parents bought me a picture Bible back in the early 60s when I was in first grade and acourse in had Adam and Eve in it and most of the stories all in pictures.

[rocklobster]

I just thought of something else we'd see: Michael the Archangel pulling out a magical sword and yelling "SPIRIT SWORD!"

[Bobtheduck]

I wonder if Jesus would look like a bishonen/bishie.

I dont' know the exact quote, but "His appearance was not one that we would be drawn to him" translation: According to Messianic Prophecy, the Messiah is UGLY... So, I hope they don't make Jesus pretty, he's not supposed to be...

As for a Biblical Manga, there have been several actually... All very small productions... I think that things like psalms and proverbs wouldn't make for good manga because they are pure monologues, and no action. Much of Genesis, Exodus, and pieces of the next three books, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Esther, Nehemiah, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, the gospels, and acts would all make for good manga. Even Daniel would, but I'm not sure about Revelations... Nor would most prophetic books as they are books of warnings with very little narrative. Also, most of the epistles wouldn't make for good manga, but they could be fit in a summarizing manner into the Acts story, if we wanted to expand it with church history...

As for it being something sacred made into entertainment, the best messages can be told through entertainment, I believe with no question.

Knowing how manga tends to handle religious themes, I kind of wince at the thought (visions of the Apostles piloting Gundams, excessive fanservice and the like.)

You certainly earn your name, dude. Mecha and fanservice are by no means inherent in the mediums, nor to the country, nor to even the creators of those that DO have such things... I mean, there were no supernatural robot-like things in Kare Kano, and I can name a number of anime with no fanservice whatsoever. Especially if it's about the bible directly, this wouldn't be the case. Seriously, this sounds like a comment that would come directly from someone who's opposed to anime AND has seen very little of it.

Using biblical fluff or icons in an original story and doing an adaptation of a Biblical story directly are two different things... Osamu Tezuka did a Biblical anime, and it didn't have mecha or fanservice...

[Slater]

Methinks the translation might be going a tad overboard...

[Sai]

I think it would be fun if there was a manga of the bible. Of course they cant change it too much or that would be bad. I thought about starting the story of David but it looked really bad. But David would be a really interesting story and he could be a hot Bishonen.

[Arnobius]

I think the historical books would work well in the medium (always thought 1 Maccabees would make a great movie), though psalms and proverbs and the OT prophetic books, as well as the NT epistles would be rather difficult to render visually

You certainly earn your name, dude. Mecha and fanservice are by no means inherent in the mediums, nor to the country, nor to even the creators of those that DO have such things... I mean, there were no supernatural robot-like things in Kare Kano, and I can name a number of anime with no fanservice whatsoever. Especially if it's about the bible directly, this wouldn't be the case. Seriously, this sounds like a comment that would come directly from someone who's opposed to anime AND has seen very little of it.

Using biblical fluff or icons in an original story and doing an adaptation of a Biblical story directly are two different things... Osamu Tezuka did a Biblical anime, and it didn't have mecha or fanservice...

Actually it was meant to be a humorous comment parodying the common anime themes I've gotten tired of.

I've been watching it continually since the VHS days in the 90's and at the peak my collection had over 500 DVDs... several people in my family think I'm "strange" for watching it. My comment was more derived from how nowadays I'm cynical about anime and manga seeming so stale (IMO). I've sold off everything but 11 TV series and a handful of movies and OVA and while I still check out the anime racks when I go in to buy a movie, usually I walk out empty handed. So anyway, I'm aware of the non Gundam/Love Hina stuff yes, and made the other post based on my thinking how it might look if those series creators made this theoretical series.

As for the name, you're not the first one to make the comment... actually I picked it up because on a different forum years ago someone called me a heretic for saying I disliked Akira and Macross and a few other series that were considered essential, so I started using it on other forums

[starstoryteller]

*chough-chough* the ever lovely Tazi-san is planing to do a adaption of the new testament.
check it out here http://tazi-san.deviantart.com/
Anyway, some people believe before Adam and eve ate the fruit, the glory of God rested apron them so that in a since they where not naked but when they ate it the glory of God left them. So a cool interpation would be that Adam and Eve would be all shiny and you can't see any detail (a'la sailor moon trasfromation) and when they eat it the glory fades away leaving them with normal skin color and naked.
Yep the Bible would be M-rated. But whats good about the Bible is the fact that it doesn't suger-coat it but yet is not overly gross.