Phoenix

This review will contain spoilers

Osamu Tezuka is a figure who I feel needs no introduction. Often labeled the god of manga, he’s made so much throughout his career, from Dororo, Astro Boy, Message to Adolf, Buddha & so many more. It’s safe to say this man created a legacy throughout his 60 year life. Today we’ll be looking at his manga called Phoenix. Phoenix was considered by Tezuka to be his life's work, originally beginning in 1956, getting cancelled shortly after, & rebooted in 1967. It ran for over 20 years but was tragically left unfinished due to Tezuka’s death in 1989. Without further ado, lets begin

Story:

Phoenix is an anthology series. The schtick with Phoenix is that the titular bird of fire lives on throughout generations & sees over all of life. Depending on the character who comes in contact with the Phoenix, they may suffer eternal damnation, gain knowledge, or earn her help. The Phoenix is the only glue that binds these stories together albeit very loosely as the stories don’t really reference one another & are largely self contained stories. What really makes this series shine is actually The Phoenix herself. The Phoenix is a very interesting character with a lot of wisdom to offer to not only the characters, but the reader. Because the Phoenix is immortal, she sees all of humanity’s growth & mistakes throughout generations. So she herself has gained much wisdom over the generations that she’s seen everything take place. Her philosophies are very interesting & honestly make me stop to think about what I’m reading in a way that no other manga can achieve.

The stories in Phoenix also don’t really suffer from being inconsistent (aside from 1 which I’ll address in a minute). Every story has something thought provoking to offer & the progression through all of them is tight. There is one story in Phoenix that I don’t really like though, it’s the 6th one Nostalgia. While Nostalgia does have interesting things going on in it, I felt the story was too long & I got bored reading it after awhile. While that might be a big dock, it honestly isn’t, because the rest of the stories in this anthology are so good that it makes up for Nostalgia being the one shortcoming in this Anthology. If I had to give a favorite story, it would be Sun, the last story of Phoenix. Sun takes place during both the past, & future. The way the 2 stories within go on at the same time in Sun, how they tie together, & how the past affects the future. It’s really intriguing & again tightly woven. Sun is an epic that takes place over 2 parts & not one page of it goes uninteresting, from beginning to end there’s something always happening & it’s great. All in all though, each story has something interesting & different to offer from one another so that the series never gets repetitive. Aside from Nostalgia, each story has the perfect length that these stories need in order to achieve what they’ve set out to do.

Art

The artwork in Phoenix is fantastic. It has that classic cartoony style Tezuka is known for but it’s used in a somewhat different way comparatively to his other works that I’ve read. The landscapes in Phoenix are drawn realistically when it’s panels of only the landscapes to really sell these worlds that Tezuka has crafted, they’re super detailed & the water in particular. The use of blacks to make the water look just, so good is jaw dropping. That classic Tezuka humor is used sparingly from time to time & the way Tezuka draws animals in not just this series but his other works gives off this classic Disney vibe, which makes sense given that Tezuka was very much influenced by classic Disney in more ways than one. The moments of the Phoenix herself leave one in a state of shock & awe. The way that Tezuka draws sparkles to give off this shiny illusion of the fire bird makes one go wow, & when the Phoenix is on screen it truly shows & it feels like a significant event every time no matter how little screen time (or I guess page time) the Phoenix herself actually has. The paneling & layout also needs to be complimented, one of my favorite things that Tezuka does is draw an image that he then displays over multiple panels. While this isn’t something that’s exclusive to Phoenix, the way in which Tezuka does it & how oftentimes gorgeous the art in question looks blows my mind every time. The layout itself is quite good, there’s not a ton of clutter & text/speech bubbles are placed well so as to not become over bearing & take up too much page space & become overbearing to read. One nitpick I can give Phoenix is that because of how heavy the concepts explored in this series are & how much goes into each of the stories Phoenix can be slightly taxing at times because of how much text needs to be read throughout the stories. On average it takes me about an hour to an hour & a half to read a volume of Phoenix, which does make sense seeing as Phoenix volumes are the stories themselves which are much longer than a typical manga volume no matter the demographic, genre, whatever. However I can’t really hold that against Phoenix too much because the stories are so rewarding to read & offer me many things to think about long after I’ve finished reading the story.

Characters

Phoenix being an Anthology series of long stories has quite the diverse & often times layered cast of characters. Many of the main characters in Phoenix have deep backstories, unfortunate circumstances, & clear but understandable goals that they want to work towards. I won’t go over every character in Phoenix because we’d be here all day, however I’ll list off 3 examples of characters & explain both them & how they contribute to the story at hand.

1. The Phoenix~My Favorite character in this series is the fire bird herself. I’ve already went over part of why I like her being the philosophies & concepts of life she talks about & all. So I won’t really be saying too much here. All I’ll have to do is reiterate that she always feels like a grand event to the stories whenever she shows up & she never has something dull to share. This fire bird can say things that get me thinking in ways that few, if any other manga can, & for that I have to put her on the list.

1. Gao~Gao I like more so for his role in the story. Gao is a one armed man who later on in his life becomes a criminal, his fate leads him to cross paths with another sculptor whom’s arm he took. Later on he finds himself against said sculptor. The story that this happens in “Karma” just so happens to be one of my favorite, & most memorable stories of Phoenix & Gao’s role, how Karma is structured & how everything just comes together in the end makes Gao one of the most memorable characters for me.

3.Sakon~Sakon is a female samurai who kills an innocent nun & then pays the consequences by dying in the same way repeatedly until the end of time & healing people till the end of time. What I find interesting about her is how she reacts to her fate once the Phoenix tells her about it. She's not happy about it but she accepts her fate & glady heals people until the end of time as a way of repenting for her sins. This is one of my favorite stories in Phoenix & Sakon is a big reason why.

So yeah, Phoenix has some fantastic characters. All are interesting, all contribute to the stories in some meaningful way, & every interaction with the Phoenix leads to an interesting conversation that gets the reader thinking.

Conclusion

Phoenix is a masterpiece & deserving of being one's life's work. Tezuka brought out all the stops from the intriguing dialogues, interesting worlds, strong story progression & structure, phenomenal artwork, making each story stand on its own. This is one of the best things I've ever read & I'm left here still thinking over these stories long after I've finished. I'm feeling a 10 with this one