Apollo's Song Kindle Edition

SOME EARLY, BUT NOT LATER SPOILERS:I must agree with Matthew Kirschenblatt--it's very good, but not Tezukas's best. The transition between episodes is not always smooth, nor are all episodes of equally high quality. I doubt that the translation is bad; Tezuka is capable of fantastic drawing--people's faces, architecture, nature, action--but his work is not uniformly great, and it isn't uniformly great in this manga.After a hilarious, irreveverent, cynical prologue about human reproduction, we get into the story of Shogo Chikaishi, whose home life, from birth till 15, when the actual story starts, is a complete disaster: his mother has little time nor love to waste on him, being involved with a neverendieg series of lovers, all of whom she insists Shogo call "Papa." From as far back as he can remember, Shogo knows none of them are. One time, when Shogo spies on his mother and one of his "Papas" behind his mother's closed bedroom door, she beats him for it, and he says "Why did you have me anyway? I wish I'd never been born." His mother admits it was probably a mistake, and adds, "Well, that's what happns when men and women sleep together."Something clicks in his mind, and he becomes a love-hater, growing physically sick and enraged when he sees people or animals about to make love. He kills many animals (fortunately no people), and through the police, arrives in a mental hopital, where a psychiatrist sets about curing his disease with electro-shock therapy. In his shock-induced dreams, he meets the Goddess of Love, who sentences him to wander endlessly, from life to life, always falling in love with the same girl, in different forms, but never being able to consummate this loove, because the death of one or the other of them intervenes. This is what creates the series of stories, some of which are touching, and some rather funny (Shogo, being an otherwise normal 15-year-old, has an amusing sense of humor himself). He learns to understand not only his own suffering, but that of others as well.The sentence seems a bit stiff to me: you'd think the Goddes of Love would take his sad background into consideration!It's a good read, and the prologue is priceless.

This is an excellent Manga. Furthermore, I think it has a good chance to appeal to readers who enjoy more western graphic novels but struggle with esoteric themes found in a lot of Manga. There is something very literary about this story that contrasts with much of the other manga Ive been exposed to. File with "Fun House," "American Born Chinese" and other more personal story arcs before lumping it with "Battle Royale" or "Lone Wolf and Cub." Despite this charactization, Apollo's Song is not a biography by any means (Im getting sort of sick of autobiographical comics)."Apollo" is basically a collection of several smaller stories that fit within a larger framework, and it holds together well both ways. It is a strong title and certainly one of the best comics of 2007 (at least here in the US, where it is finally appearing!). I think readers of mature graphic novels will be quite happy with this lengthy read.

Tragic and gorgeous! loved this story and im so glad i finally got myself a copy! A piece of manga history as well!

The quality of the art is amazing and the way the author writes the panels makes it feel like you’re watching a movie on paper! The story genre is somewhere around romantic tragedy and melodrama, but it’s drawn so wonderfully that there wasn’t a moment I wasn’t immersed into the book!

Love this book but it not new it has pen/pencil marking on it stamp inside the book and it has some fold mark on it so I very disappointed

Reading this was an almost dream like experience. Tezuka hits another out of the park and proves his standing as god of manga

I love most of Tezuka works, but this one just way too weird. I get the protagonist is a love-hater, I get the point of love transcended time and lives, but somehow the stories does not get me as romance, or as an adventure/mystery. It just very boring. I do not care for this man or his suffering or his love/s at all. Tezuka and romance just does not goes together.

Various elements and transitions in this story were very overly simplistic. Tezuka's art style, while very captivating and possessing a very unique quality all its own sometimes detracted from key emotional moments. Also, I wonder if it is the quality of the translation that loses a lot of the meaning behind the scenes and actions -- the context.But, the ideas that he covers -- the philosophical and very mortal issues of love, existence, and death are very poignant. The protagonist Shogo is a very interesting character that both attracts the reader with the struggles of his own trauma, and repulses through some of his actions.Ultimately, this story, through a succession of different stories within that do not always find the unity or smoothness they seek (though again are very interesting and poignant ideas) deals with the human condition of eros and thanatos -- love and death as the universals of human life and how we find the meaning between them.It also briefly deals with reincarnation, and makes mention divinity, but the main focus you'll find is on the allegory of Apollo and Daphne as the eternal human experience. But in the end, how you perceive the ending will all depend on your own perspective. For, as Tezuka seems to ask us, are we doomed to repeat our actions, or do we learn from each repetition? You decide, and enjoy.

Great book read it years ago, would highly recommend to anyone that is a fan of Osamu Texuka.

A boy grows up with his prostitude mother. The mother does'nt love him. So he turns out to be sadistic, angry young man. After killing some animals he gets psyciatric treatment. During dreams, hypnosis, time travell and marathon training he learns the true meaning of love. The story is to pretensious and melodramatic -it nevers becomes interesting. So far this is the worst book I've read by Tezuka.