Buddha Book 1 by Osamu Tezuka

This one of the very few Tezuka series that I have not read. I decided to begin to remedy that folly. Last week I got myself the first volume of the 8 book series. The long weekend gave me an opportunity to actually read it on Saturday. Similar to most Tezuka sagas, Buddha centers around the young who are persecuted and tested by the world. Tata, a young boy who is of the lowest caste- a  pariah, has the incredible power of being able to possess animals. He helps many people in book 1 but the birth of Siddhartha appears to be the largest advent of this volume. 

Buddha is Tezuka's imagined life of Gautama Buddha. First published in 1972, it finally finished a decade later in December of '83. It remains one of Tezuka's most acclaimed series of his career and one of his last epic manga series. 

There are plenty of breaks in the drama for humor and even a cameo by Astro boy scientist Professor Ochanomizu. I am hoping that Tezuka puts himself into this series for a cameo. He does that from time to time and it's so cute.