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A Besta
A história do lendário espadachim musashi miyamoto é recontada sob a perspectiva do aclamado mangaká especializado em gekigá, hideki mori. mori foi responsável pela nova adaptação do consagrado lobo solitário do kazuo koike e foi considerado pelo próprio koike como o seu sucessor, tendo um estilo de desenho similar ao gouseki kojima, quem fez os desenhos originais do clássico. “afinal, o que eu sou?” – essa resposta para esta pergunta, o jovem mushashi miyamoto se lança para dentro do turbilhão de lutas mortais. Para o bennosuke – nome de infância de musashi –, o único conforto era a sua irmã, já que ele não via mais outras razões para viver. Contudo, até isso é privado dele, quando a sua irmã é brutalmente assassinada por um desconhecido. Aqui está uma interpretação inédita do aclamado clássico, mostrando um musashi nunca antes visto em traços estonteantes e envolventes.
264 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
30 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 9, 2024
This manga went from Oh, this is promising! to WTF?! too quickly.
I saw this on the blog of a comics & manga reviewer I occasionally visit when I want to know about novelties, and the review said it was about Miyamoto Musashi, the most famous ever samurai. As I had enjoyed the novel Musashi and the manga adaptation Vagabond, I didn't need convincing. But I should've been more on guard, and should've noticed that the review had praised the artwork and said practically nothing about the story. That's a flaming red flag, and I missed it.
Oh, well, on to the demolition work...
The art is indeed gorgeous, heads and shoulders above the usual fare for manga. There's no denying that, as an artist I can't fault Hideki Mori. No wonder he's been chosen for the renewed "Lone Wolf and Cub" sequel, and based on the art alone, this would've got 4 stars at a minimum.
But the story . . . sweet baby Buddha, the story is dreadful. Or rather, three of the four stories are dreadful and unreadable.
In reality, La Bestia (The Beast) isn't a single story but a collection of four short stories, each telling an episode in the life of Miyamoto Musashi from his first swordfight at 13 to the Battle of Sekigahara at 17. That outline alone was brilliant, as both the novel & manga adaptation start right after Sekigahara, so Hideki Mori had a golden chance of filling in the gaps with this here manga and showing us the legend before he was a legend, to show us Bennosuke before he became Musashi.
And the mangaka-san blew it up!
I'm annoyed at that, because the first story, entitled "The Cuckoo," is an excellent set up piece. It tells us how Hirata Bennosuke, still a young boy, is living in a Buddhist temple where his father, Munisai, exiled him. He's a wild boy, filthy, isolated, silent, misanthropic, and loathes his father for reasons we don't know. He's feared by the villagers, who steer clear of him, and often suspect him of every crime that happens in their little village. This boy is so lost and there's such darkness in his soul, he is still incredibly far from both Shinmen Takezo and Miyamoto Musashi, the identities he'd take later in lite, and you feel intrigued by him. You want to know what made him tick, how he became the man he'd be known as. And when solving a horrendous crime in the village gives him a chance to clear his name and earn the respect of the people, you think you can foresee the path he'll follow towards becoming the greatest Japanese swordsman of all time.
And then, you read the next chapter, "The Young Wild Boar," and you can't but feel horrified at how quickly and easily Hideki Mori torpedoed this promising start. He introduces everything nasty and questionable he can think of into the plotline: gore, gratuitous violence, dismemberment, graphic sex with corny dialogue, incest, serial killers, rape, parricide... It becomes a "Berserk"-level bloodbath in which the plot becomes irrelevant. If there's a manga equivalent to Porn Without Plot, this is Violence Porn Without Plot; the author seems to be determined to write as disgustingly as he can, and even his afterword contains swearwords that you don't expect.
I know there's a type of manga with this precise style, "Berserk" is popular for a reason, but I suspect even "Berserk" has some plot somewhere in all that blood 'n' guts miasma.
In short, I came here for my "Shogun" fix, and came out with a dumber Guts. There's no words for the depth of my disappointment.
I saw this on the blog of a comics & manga reviewer I occasionally visit when I want to know about novelties, and the review said it was about Miyamoto Musashi, the most famous ever samurai. As I had enjoyed the novel Musashi and the manga adaptation Vagabond, I didn't need convincing. But I should've been more on guard, and should've noticed that the review had praised the artwork and said practically nothing about the story. That's a flaming red flag, and I missed it.
Oh, well, on to the demolition work...
The art is indeed gorgeous, heads and shoulders above the usual fare for manga. There's no denying that, as an artist I can't fault Hideki Mori. No wonder he's been chosen for the renewed "Lone Wolf and Cub" sequel, and based on the art alone, this would've got 4 stars at a minimum.
But the story . . . sweet baby Buddha, the story is dreadful. Or rather, three of the four stories are dreadful and unreadable.
In reality, La Bestia (The Beast) isn't a single story but a collection of four short stories, each telling an episode in the life of Miyamoto Musashi from his first swordfight at 13 to the Battle of Sekigahara at 17. That outline alone was brilliant, as both the novel & manga adaptation start right after Sekigahara, so Hideki Mori had a golden chance of filling in the gaps with this here manga and showing us the legend before he was a legend, to show us Bennosuke before he became Musashi.
And the mangaka-san blew it up!
I'm annoyed at that, because the first story, entitled "The Cuckoo," is an excellent set up piece. It tells us how Hirata Bennosuke, still a young boy, is living in a Buddhist temple where his father, Munisai, exiled him. He's a wild boy, filthy, isolated, silent, misanthropic, and loathes his father for reasons we don't know. He's feared by the villagers, who steer clear of him, and often suspect him of every crime that happens in their little village. This boy is so lost and there's such darkness in his soul, he is still incredibly far from both Shinmen Takezo and Miyamoto Musashi, the identities he'd take later in lite, and you feel intrigued by him. You want to know what made him tick, how he became the man he'd be known as. And when solving a horrendous crime in the village gives him a chance to clear his name and earn the respect of the people, you think you can foresee the path he'll follow towards becoming the greatest Japanese swordsman of all time.
And then, you read the next chapter, "The Young Wild Boar," and you can't but feel horrified at how quickly and easily Hideki Mori torpedoed this promising start. He introduces everything nasty and questionable he can think of into the plotline: gore, gratuitous violence, dismemberment, graphic sex with corny dialogue, incest, serial killers, rape, parricide... It becomes a "Berserk"-level bloodbath in which the plot becomes irrelevant. If there's a manga equivalent to Porn Without Plot, this is Violence Porn Without Plot; the author seems to be determined to write as disgustingly as he can, and even his afterword contains swearwords that you don't expect.
I know there's a type of manga with this precise style, "Berserk" is popular for a reason, but I suspect even "Berserk" has some plot somewhere in all that blood 'n' guts miasma.
In short, I came here for my "Shogun" fix, and came out with a dumber Guts. There's no words for the depth of my disappointment.
January 16, 2018
Magistral. La història dels anys perduts de Musashi Miyamoto (ho dic com si sapigués qui és, però disculpeu la meva ignorància) és un conte de violència, sexe, venjança, incest, samurais i combats a mort fascinant.
El dibuix, d'un blanc i negre molt contrastat i vibrantíssim, és espectacular i li dóna una força al relat que atrapa i hipnotitza.
Recomanadíssim.
El dibuix, d'un blanc i negre molt contrastat i vibrantíssim, és espectacular i li dóna una força al relat que atrapa i hipnotitza.
Recomanadíssim.
January 30, 2022
Primeiro mangá que li, me foi recomendado pela vendedora da Livraria Sol, na Liberdade (SP), especializada em mangás. Conta a história do famoso samurai Miyamoto Musashi, concentrando-se na sua juventude, dividida em quatro capítulos. Os desenhos são realmente incríveis e a história é recheada de sangue, sexo e lutas de espada. Para maiores de 18 anos.
June 29, 2023
I was expecting a little more from the story.
It was a fun read. The art looks great. But… spoilers ahead
His relationship with his sister was kinda disgusting (not sure if that’s what happened in real life), and the age gap was also weird to conceive.
I was expecting more from the character. More development in terms of what made Miyamoto Musashi become who he became, or how he wrote the book of five rings… we only really get a few instances of his character through his actions.
Not sure it was the author’s fault, as he did not get the funding he needed to keep it going. I would love to get more out of it. Seems like it was a very brief introduction to the story.
It was a fun read. The art looks great. But… spoilers ahead
His relationship with his sister was kinda disgusting (not sure if that’s what happened in real life), and the age gap was also weird to conceive.
I was expecting more from the character. More development in terms of what made Miyamoto Musashi become who he became, or how he wrote the book of five rings… we only really get a few instances of his character through his actions.
Not sure it was the author’s fault, as he did not get the funding he needed to keep it going. I would love to get more out of it. Seems like it was a very brief introduction to the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 10, 2023
Pulei aqui sem ideia do que tava acontecendo. Bom livro, se você entender que… o que ele fez… com as pessoas que ele fez… são partes da história…
Read
September 20, 2022"il n'est de progrès réel que si la science, le savoir, l'ingéniosité s'accompagnent d'un recul de la haine et d'une progression des facteurs de justice et de solidarité".
Il est clair que l'auteur de "l'Imprécateur", prix Fémina 1974, annonce la couleur ... du contexte sociétal et socio-économique actuel.
La (les) liberté(s) individuelles de la société capitaliste est ici la valeur centrale de la droite bien pensante et vecteur du combat contre les ... autres (une des périodes les plus dures de la guerre froide où les sociétés conservatrices de l'ouest combattent sans nuance les sociétés conservatrices de l'est et leurs "satellites" à l'ouest).
"Je vois donc se profiler à l'horizon un durcissement du pouvoir libéral, puis un réflexe meurtrier dû à l'instinct de conservation. Une seule parade est possible : que le peuple prenne conscience au plus tôt de la situation".
Pas gagné, dans notre belle société ultra consumériste ...
Finalement, la bête, au nom de la liberté, installe un régime latent de terreur et de chasse aux sorcières, d'autant plus qu'"à force d'être molle, de s'empêtrer dans des considérations suspectes, la gauche française finirait étranglée, que l'Histoire danserait un jour sur son cadavre" ...
Pas faux, isn't it ?
Il est clair que l'auteur de "l'Imprécateur", prix Fémina 1974, annonce la couleur ... du contexte sociétal et socio-économique actuel.
La (les) liberté(s) individuelles de la société capitaliste est ici la valeur centrale de la droite bien pensante et vecteur du combat contre les ... autres (une des périodes les plus dures de la guerre froide où les sociétés conservatrices de l'ouest combattent sans nuance les sociétés conservatrices de l'est et leurs "satellites" à l'ouest).
"Je vois donc se profiler à l'horizon un durcissement du pouvoir libéral, puis un réflexe meurtrier dû à l'instinct de conservation. Une seule parade est possible : que le peuple prenne conscience au plus tôt de la situation".
Pas gagné, dans notre belle société ultra consumériste ...
Finalement, la bête, au nom de la liberté, installe un régime latent de terreur et de chasse aux sorcières, d'autant plus qu'"à force d'être molle, de s'empêtrer dans des considérations suspectes, la gauche française finirait étranglée, que l'Histoire danserait un jour sur son cadavre" ...
Pas faux, isn't it ?
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews