Who was Jesus? Was he a prophet, a heretic, a delusional man, or truly the son of God? This is still debated to the present day, just as it was when he walked the Earth. I'm not sure whether Yoshikazu Yasuhiko is a believer or just a man fascinated by history, but he put amazing effort into creating these two full color volumes that tell not only the story of Jesus, but also portray the world he lived in, and the reactions of people to his ministry.

There's no way around it: Yasuhiko-sensei is an absolute genius at composing manga. The expressiveness of his line work amazes me. His art style is grounded in realistic proportions, but he knows exactly when to use exaggerated cartoonish expressions on his characters. The contorted faces of people raging make a sharp contrast to Jesus' ever stoic illustrations, letting you soak in how funny they really look. On top of just illustrations, his framing and page layouts allow you to read characters thoughts and feelings without a speech bubble in sight.

I've never been a huge fan of full color manga, but this series changed my mind. Yasuhiko-sensei coats every page in vivid watercolors to set the mood. Sometimes he's just coloring in the world the way it actually looks, but he often drowns entire scenes in powerful, single colors. The rage of crowds is palpable on pages covered in red, and pages of blue pull me down into the despair of the characters. He switches between realistic and abstract coloring schemes on a dime, and characters easily slip into little more than outlines in a sea of watercolor textures.

The story of this manga follows Jesus' adult ministry through the eyes of one of his disciples. Through his eyes we see what it felt like to give your life to literally following Jesus across the map. Yasuhiko-sensei also gives his interpretation of what public reaction to Jesus and his disciples was like, both when Jesus was exalted by the masses and angrily threatened. There aren't many surprises in the story, because it does follow a plot from 2000 years ago. There are also frequent cuts to scenes of the crucifixion throughout the manga, as if everything else is being remembered during those prolonged, painful moments on the cross. It does not go far beyond that point, ending with Jesus' empty tomb and the women being told that he is risen.

Jesus himself is portrayed as reserved and enigmatic as the man surely was. The viewpoint character Joshua is, as best I can tell, totally made up for this story (More on Biblical accuracy later). From a visual standpoint, he basically looks like Amuro from Gundam, which Yasuhiko-sensei has worked on for years. Most of the supporting cast are pretty flat, but they're not the focus anyway. All of the Apostles, Pharisees, and named people they meet are more pieces of the world and plot than they are characters.

So more on the Biblical accuracy of this manga. There is some blatant embellishment, but it honestly makes the story more readable. The character Joshua seems to be entirely made up and inserted into Jesus' circle purely so we could see the world through his eyes. At one point it is outright shown that Mary Magdalene is actually Jesus' lover, and some of the Apostles call her a prostitute in no uncertain terms. I also don't believe that Judas ever greeted Jesus with a kiss in the pages before he was arrested in the garden. In the final chapter when the women visit Jesus' tomb, the message that he is risen delivered not by an angel, but instead by a man in the tomb. There may be even more small details changed from the Gospels, but I can't be certain since I'm not a Bible scholar.

So who should read Jesus? I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in 2 volumes of gorgeous, cinematic, full color glory. I don't know how well this manga could be used as an evangelical tool to tell the story of Jesus to a non-believer, because it doesn't particularly emphasize his teachings as much as it just portrays the time period of his ministry. As someone who was raised with these stories, I thought it was a very interesting interpretation of the Gospel, so if you had a similar upbringing you might enjoy it as well.