I saw this rated quite highly on ANN, and as it was written by Osamu Tezuka, sometimes referred to as the "God of Manga" I thought I should check it out.
The story follows a promising young doctor, Kirihito, as he attempts to find a cure for a strange new disease which causes people to be deformed into beasts before they die. However, his task becomes all the more difficult when a conspiracy against him results in him contracting the disease.
One thing that struck me about the strory was its similarity to Naoki Urasawas "Monster" - both are medical thrillers following idealistic doctors as they travel to various places and meet people in pursuit of their respective goals, and both give focus to a dilemma.
While Monster asked if it can ever be right to kill a person as Tenma pursued Johan, Ode to Kirihito asks if we can ever judge a person by their appearances. Urasawa builds up slowly to this, whereas Tezuka goes for quicker, almost brutal portrayls - with multiple instances of rape, dead babies, and people being cooked alive, this isn't just something that anyone should pick up. The effectiveness of Tezukas approach here can vary - on the one hand it can produce an instant reaction, on the other it could feel heavy-handed in getting the message across.
To me, unfortunately, it fell slightly towards the latter, perhaps because the dilemma brought up is something of a non-issue to me. In any case, the plot more than made up for it - it's strong, simple, and moves at a good pace, making it gripping enough for me to read all 800+ pages in a single sitting.
The artwork is, as expected, technically acomplished, but - and the manga elitists will probably crucify me here - I didn't like it very much. But like they say, there's no accounting for taste.
All in all I think it was a good read, but my overwhelming impression was similar to that of Neil Gaiman: -
The story follows a promising young doctor, Kirihito, as he attempts to find a cure for a strange new disease which causes people to be deformed into beasts before they die. However, his task becomes all the more difficult when a conspiracy against him results in him contracting the disease.
One thing that struck me about the strory was its similarity to Naoki Urasawas "Monster" - both are medical thrillers following idealistic doctors as they travel to various places and meet people in pursuit of their respective goals, and both give focus to a dilemma.
While Monster asked if it can ever be right to kill a person as Tenma pursued Johan, Ode to Kirihito asks if we can ever judge a person by their appearances. Urasawa builds up slowly to this, whereas Tezuka goes for quicker, almost brutal portrayls - with multiple instances of rape, dead babies, and people being cooked alive, this isn't just something that anyone should pick up. The effectiveness of Tezukas approach here can vary - on the one hand it can produce an instant reaction, on the other it could feel heavy-handed in getting the message across.
To me, unfortunately, it fell slightly towards the latter, perhaps because the dilemma brought up is something of a non-issue to me. In any case, the plot more than made up for it - it's strong, simple, and moves at a good pace, making it gripping enough for me to read all 800+ pages in a single sitting.
The artwork is, as expected, technically acomplished, but - and the manga elitists will probably crucify me here - I didn't like it very much. But like they say, there's no accounting for taste.
All in all I think it was a good read, but my overwhelming impression was similar to that of Neil Gaiman: -
