Hi no Tori (1967)
Phoenix

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Deleted my old MAL account Kaushik17

Phoenix. It’s a 10. Let’s get that out of the way first. Moving on, Phoenix is a work written by the God of Manga, Osamu Tezuka, over a span of 20+ years. It was regarded by him as his life’s work. And having read it, I can attest to it. I have had the privilege of reading many mangas from the master over his nearly 40 year career and was eagerly anticipating to have a go at this one. And boy it sure delivered. From start to finish, it was one of the most ambitious works I have had the ... pleasure to experience.

Set in a timeframe between the 3rd Century AD to the 35th century, the story consists of self-contained events in different periods of the timeframe. All of them are linked to each other through the Phoenix, a bird whose blood grants immortality. Several individuals over the years have tried to acquire the blood of this legendary bird to escape the cycle of life and death. An interesting premise, as we get to see different individuals trying to obtain the blood for different reasons. And this journey transforms them in ways they did not anticipate at the start.

Moving on to the world itself, most of the historical stories take place in Japan, with other parts of East Asia shown time and again. Stories have some historical or mythological references to it and having a basic understanding of them might give you a clear sense of what is happening. This however is not a mandatory requirement and is only meant to help with getting a sense of the political and social makeup of Japanese society at that point in time. His futuristic stories on the other hand take place in the vast canvas of space. And it is here that we are fully exposed to the creative genius of Tezuka. Although, I am not a big fan of the Sci-Fi genre, his stories were some of the best I’ve experienced, from what I’ve read. The ease with which he weaves back and forth between the future and past is truly phenomenal, with certain reincarnations of characters serving as guideposts in our journey.

The characters of Tezuka, while definitely not his greatest strength, are perfect for the world and themes he tries to bring out in his stories. You will not be blown over by the personality of his characters, but rather learn to empathise with their struggles to find meaning in their lives. And although it does suffer from one dimensional characters at times, Tezuka invests sufficient time to help us understand their motivations. Also, hat’s off to Saruta and his reincarnations. Seeing his reincarnations' different personalities and their struggles were a treat for the eyes. And I am not meaning it in a sadistic way.

The art of the series might put off potential readers due to its very dated style. Character designs at the start often remind you of the influence Disney had on him. But the fact that this was written over a 25 year span, enables us to see the growth he underwent as an artist. Some of his background art in later years were great to behold and really enhanced the immersion in the story. Another interesting thing that I noticed, was how the approach to panelling evolved over the years. It really gives you a sense of what worked in the industry at that time and how it adapted to demographic situation in Japan.

Now, to the juiciest part of the work, the themes. At its most fundamental level, Phoenix deals with themes of life, death and immortality. Characters try to break from the cycle of life and death through obtaining the blood of the Phoenix, only to realise the futility of it. Armed with this knowledge, they try to ensure their immortality’s through their deeds. This reminded me of the EPIC OF GILGAMESH (another fabulous work of fiction), which drives in the same themes. As in Buddha, Tezuka’s projection of the Karmic way of life and death struck a chord with me, as it is something that I find interesting to think about. Other dharmic concepts such as time and space, the illusion of the world only enhanced my immersion and love work this already great work. The statement, “In all ages, the deeds of men remain the same.”, reminded me of another one of my favourites. His handling of time and space especially is absolutely mind-boggling. People more used to linear progression of time might find themselves overwhelmed by his absolute disregard for it in Phoenix. Due to the fact that this does take over a large timeframe, we also get to observe Tezuka’s mastery of several genres like horror, sci-fi, history, romance, etc. His endings are appropriate for the stories, once again driving in the themes, rather than focusing on happy endings for his characters. I could keep on talking about this on and on, but that would end up sacrificing readability of this review.

It is also a great shame that the work was unfinished. Tezuka died before completing this work and therefore we have no idea how a potential ending might have been. But judging from what we got, it is possible to assume the ending being somewhere in the 20th century AD. Despite this, it doesn’t take anything away from the work, due to the fact that his stories are are self-contained.

I highly recommend this work. It is a display about what makes the Manga medium so great through the hands of one of its, if not biggest contributor. If you are looking for a work which combines the themes of the EPIC OF GILGAMESH, with MUSHISHI’s atmosphere and GINGA EIYUU DENSETSU’s ambitions, look no further.

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.

2. 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

While critics lavished this manga with praise, at the risk of being ostracized by the anime connoisseurs, I found this manga fairly dull, machinated and repetitive.

Art hasn't really aged well. The story is its main selling point, but while the premise is interesting, the story usually plays into the oldest cliché in history -- desiring immortality because of human greed. Maybe 80% of the stories begin this way and doesn't change much in the process. There's always a character that wants to live forever because they want to become god or something similar. Worst is the Sun chapter that's basically a historical retell of ... the struggle between Emperor Tenmu / Tenji and themes of death, life and mortality is pushed into the background.

Characters are also usually quite unlikeable as they are usually reduced to personifications of greed, ambition, vindictiveness or some undesirable human trait. They have personal struggles esp. between good and evil, yes, but it is more often than not less prominent than their negative traits. They also usually fail to establish much significance since chapters are typically episodic and characters never appear again after their arc. Yes, everyone dies, but they are so unlikeable that the reader is very glad when most of them kick the bucket and fail to see the morality struggle and struggle between death and life.

The saving grace is Osamu's mastery of cinematic techniques and originality. Pacing is better than a lot of mangas today still, and stories are told with mastery of camera perspectives -- when a man despairs because they're stuck in an insurmountable hole, you'll feel the height of the rocky walls pushing down on you. The manga is also pretty refreshing for having an overarching theme, but leaves out repetitive story-telling; it is still about human greed 80% of the time but it isn't always X does this which causes Y and ends with Z every single time. The highlight of the manga for me personally is the immortal space explorer or whatever -- that he starts out as a simple human and comes to witness full evolution on earth before fading into the stars after a philosophical conversation with the Phoenix is a breathtaking experience not commonly experienced manga today, much less of its time. Mind blowing irony that he is one of the few who got immortality despite not wanting it in the first place. Just unfortunately imho, not all the chapters live up to the height of that particular story.

Don't regret reading it however to get one of the most hailed masterpieces of manga off my list.