Manga Classics: The Jungle Book

by Crystal S. Chan (Adapter), Rudyard Kipling, Julien Choy (Artist)

Manga Classics brings to life Rudyard Kipling's original collection of short stories in this fantastic collection. Heavily influenced by his childhood in British-ruled India, Kipling created some of the most well-read children's stories in Western Culture. Book One of The Jungle Book(s) includes Mowgli's Brothers, the story of Mowgli, the abandoned man-cub who was raised by animals in the Indian jungle, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi the heroic mongoose, and Toomai of the Elephants, the tale of a young elephant-handler, and in The White Seal, we meet Kotick, a rare white-furred northern fur seal as he searches for a home where his family will not be hunted by humans. Originally published as a series of short stories for magazines in the late 1800s, the Nobel Prize-winning Rudyard Kipling would eventually publish the classic The Jungle Book in 1894.

Genres: Manga, Classics, Graphic Novels, Adventure, Fantasy, Animals

327 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 21, 2021

About the author

Adaptation of classic novels into manga editions with Stacy King.

See also: Crystal King

Reviews

[Ricki]

Pretty good adaptation of a classic. Kept a lot of the details, rich language, and complexity—the book was not dumbed down for kids. I let my kids read the library copy but I won’t go out of my way to buy it.

[Marjean Eastman]

The story is good however, I didn't like the illustrations at all! I felt so much anger when I looked at them.

[Cornerofmadness]

i've mentioned in other reviews there is this big trend in adapting western classics in manga styles. If you only know The Jungle Book from the Disney movie you don't really know the Jungle Book, at least not fully. Mowgli and his jungle friends are only first three stories. It's actually a collection of seven short stories.

These days Rudyard Kipling would probably be considered a problematic creator ditto his subject matter but it was written in the time period (and about it) of intense colonization of India. In the case of Mowgli you don't see much about that. White people aren't in the story. Mowgli's Brothers and Kaa's hunting are mostly about Mowgli and the wolf pack (which is a bit darker than I remember the Disney movie but to be fair that's many decades ago and most of what I remember is Louis Prima's I wanna Be Like You bop). Tiger Tiger might be the most interesting in that it shows Mowgli isn't really at home in jungle or village but at least there is one decent person in the village (the whole love story thing from the animation isn't in the book, sorry, spoilers I guess)

But that means 4 stories aren't about Mowgli. They're not even really connected other than they're about animals. The White Seal is about two things perseverance and how much humans can suck. Kotick the white seal doesn't want to become someone's fur coat and while other seals think if you get killed by a human you deserve it. Kotick wants to find a place for his people to live free (I took from this that maybe Kipling wasn't a fan of the fur seal trade)

Toomai of the Elephants and Her Majesty's Servant are actually rather awful. The former is about a boy from a family of elephant trainers who wants to be able to go out and hunt up fresh ones so yay pro elephant in servitude (eye roll but yes it was a part of life back then in India) Skip that one unless you're up for a lot of art of elephants in leg chains and being so scared of humans they won't disobey. The servant one I can't even remember and I read it last night. It felt unfinished.

That leaves only book 5 Rikki Tikki Tavi. This is probably one of my favorites. I remember the animation coming out when I was a little girl. I loved Rikki Tikki. It's also the sweetest and most hopeful story in the bunch. Young Teddy and his parents save Rikki Tikki (the mongoose) from nearly dying and he repays them by sticking around and saving them from cobras and other snakes.

I liked the art in this. It felt like it fit. That said I'm glad it's a library book and not one I bought (though I pretty much say that with this entire manga classics line)

[Rachel]

My favorite Jungle Book character has always been Bagheera, the great black panther. I didn't mind his portrayal as a character here, but his artwork made him too round-faced and cute for my taste. Not quite cat-like enough, I guess.

The three Mowgli stories here are "Mowgli's Brothers," "Kaa's Hunting," and "Tiger! Tiger!" I liked their treatment of "Kaa's Hunting" the best, but all three were quite fun. Some of the action scenes in "Tiger! Tiger!" were particularly good.

I've always found "The White Seal" and "Her Majesty's Servants" kind of boring, and I'm afraid they were here too. Likewise, I've never connected well with "Toomai of the Elephants," though all the elephant artwork here is splendid.

The absolute standout here, for me, is "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." The story is told as a full-blown action-hero sort of story, which was completely perfect and delightful and adorable. Rikki-Tikki himself is drawn as the absolute cutest mongoose... but when he fights, he goes kind of Wolverine from the X-men and leaps fiercely into battle with these monstrous snakes, claws out. Really wonderful stuff.

[Sinai C.]

I only know the Jungle Book from the movies that Disney made (Not my favorite movies at all, but "Bare Necessities" is a full bop). So, when I saw a manga version, I thought it would be a good test run to see if I liked the actual book before I committed to reading the whole thing.

And, I don't think I like it? Like, I enjoyed Mowgli's stories well enough and him trying to figure out where he belongs. But then it switched to seals and elephants and it was just not my style. They were nice, but I think I would have enjoyed the stories and lessons more if I was much younger.

The poems and the art specifically for those sections were probably my favorite parts.

I don't know if I would commit to reading anything beyond Mowgli's stories from the original version though.

[Mary Bronson]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the art style to the book. I liked looking at the pictures, but I found the book a bit boring. I wanted to love this because back in the 90s Disney did a live action Jungle Book movie and LOVED it. I always wanted to read the book that inspired the movie and decided to go for the manga to check it out and I am not sure why this is considered a classic. I mean I guess back in the day this book can be considered adventurous, but to me the story does not live up to what I thought it was going to be.

[Alisa Beth Salois]

My 13 year old picked this title as he was familiar with the Disney movie and we saw a children’s play adaptation last year. It was fun to read in manga form and I was surprised it held up so well to the format. I enjoyed the inclusion of Rikki Tikki Tavi and a couple other stories that I was unfamiliar with. Since my son knows the Disney movie so well, he made many observations on how the book differs from the movie. We are definitely enjoying this manga classics series.

[Amy Milstead]

I didn't know prior to this book that The Jungle Book is published as a series of short stories. So, I would like to credit this book with educating me. This book contains 3 Mowgli Stories (Mowgli's Brothers, Kaa's Hunting, and Tiger! Tiger!) as well as the short stries Kotick, Riki-Tiki-Tavi, Toomai of the Elephants, and Her Magesty's Servants. It also includes the original poems from the book. The art is true to Manga. This is a great way to get a classic in the hand of a reluctant reader.

[Kara]

I love The Jungle Book. I also love manga. So seeing the cover of this, I was excited.
But the art inside is NOT like the cover. The characters are VERY cartoonish. I couldn't stand Baloo and Akira's designs in particular. Was also disappointed how many of Mowgli's later stories were not included.

[Ashley]

All of my stars are for the art in this one.  I loved the way the characters were designed whether they were human or animal.  I also really liked the sense of movement through the panels and how they drew the scenes.  It was well laid out.  However, when it comes to the story I didn't really like it.  It was weirdly convoluted and the animal stories at the end didn't make a ton of sense to me.  It was a good way to read the story, but I think I'll stick with the Disney movie.

[Gisse]

3.8

[Mal]

this is my mowgli. the art is just so good I wish the disney movie was more like this. it's just more realistic

[Brianna]

I liked Rikki-Tikki-Tavi the best of all the stories

[The_J]

Kipling! (with reasonable manga interpretation.

[Rebekah]

They did quite well turning Jungle Book into a manga. I enjoyed it all.

[Carly]

Spice-none
Read-hardcover

Review-
I loved this graphic novel especially with the monkeys and him literally getting kidnapped by one

[Carl D]

I rated The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling five stars because it exceeded my expectations, and I couldn’t put it down. Describe the setting/characters and provide a context for your readers: Set in India the story follows Mowgli as he set out on a quest to survive like an animal and a man. I discovered this book when I looked it up on goodreads. What I really liked about it was when the book taught me how to read manga. This topic was explored as part of the plot. When I opened the book I was on the last page because it was a manga so you read it right to left and not left to right. it made me feel like I was learning from the book and because of this experience it exceeded my expectations, and I couldn’t put it down. I also liked when Mowgli was kidnapped by the monkeys so he had to be saved by Bagheera and Baloo. This topic was explored as part of the plot. When he got kidnapped it was described. It made me imagine what was happening and because of this connection/experience/idea it exceeded my expectations, and I couldn’t put it down.What does it reveal to the reader? Why does it matter? This book teaches the reader how to read manga. I wouldn’t read another book by this author because this book is very long. If you like to read manga then this book would be good for you. If you read any japanese manga. and liked it, then you would really enjoy this book.

[Julesy]

DNF - read two-thirds and then gave up.
Not sure why this book is considered a classic. It's really bad.
Credit goes to the adapter and illustrator as I am sure it was difficult to translate into manga.
I'll stick with the Disney movie, thank you very much. lol