Jesus and Buddha live in Tokyo's suburbs

07.10.2008 by Patrick W. Galbraith

"Saint Young Men" (Saint Oniisan) is a light-hearted gag manga by Nakamura Hikaru explicating the life of Jesus and Buddha on vacation and sharing a crappy little apartment in Tachikawa outside modern Tokyo. Madness, not miracles, ensues, such as Jesus looking like Johnny Depp and getting hit on by high school girls and Buddha, mistaken for a cosplayer, being asked to pose with tourists in Asakusa. (Buddha prefers to stay indoors and read Tezuka Osamu's "Buddha.")







It is every bit as random, irreverent and inspired as it sounds - it has been selling out in stores all around Tokyo and volume two is in its third or fourth printing. (Fujoshi fangirls especially seem to like the prospect of holy, um, union.) More editions of the buddy comedy that crosses religious boundaries are almost certain, but we'll just have to wait and see if it every makes it off the shores of Japan. I'd like to see what would happen if Depp starred in a live action version!