Crime and Punishment (Osamu Tezuka Manga Complete Works (10)) (1977) ISBN: 4061086103 [Japanese Import]

by Osamu Tezuka

In Russia, on the eve of the revolution, a young student named Raskolnikov murders an old pawnbroker over a pocket watch. Although an innocent man is quickly arrested for the crime, Raskolnikovs's own published essay - suggesting that people who are "extra-ordinary" are above such things as "right" and "wrong" - draws the suspicion of judge Porfiry. Who will catch up to Raskolnikov first? Porfiry ... or hisown guilty conscience?

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Comics Manga, Japanese Literature

Comic

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Dr. Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫) was a Japanese manga artist, animator, producer and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. He is often credited as the "Father of Anime", and is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, who served as a major inspiration during his formative years. His prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as "the father of manga" and "the God of Manga."

Reviews

[Aidan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's something quite funny with seeing that an artist widely recognized as a leader in their medium had an early work that was a retelling of another master's work. Tezuka takes only 144 pages of comics for his take on the classic story, and it sure does condense everything. While many later Tezuka books are focused on moral quandaries, this was written early in his career when his output was primarily children's stories full of goofy art and slapstick antics. The art is cute and fun, with several comedic bits and visual gags that simply wouldn't work in written form. I particularly liked an early sequence when Raskolnikov is approaching the pawn shop to commit the dreaded crime. Multiple floors of a building are shown in a panel from the top of the page to the bottom, with two panels per page, making four of them visible in the book at once. It's a cool way of showing the passage of time and exact position of several characters at once, and it's only used in this sequence.

The lettering in the print edition from DMP is frustrating. Dialogue is in CC Wild Words, with faux italics and bold italics rather than the real weights. Many of the signs are written in Impact, which completely breaks the illusion that the story is set in 19th century Russia. The e-book edition from the Digital Manga Guild had lettering in CC Meanwhile, and used CC Meanwhile Unical for the signs. This was a much better choice, as the Unical version looks more believable on signs and is vaguely Cyrillic in its look. Sound effects are subtitled in various fonts, and look fine. The lettering for the signs was already bad, but it's doubly disappointing knowing that an earlier edition had much better choices.

This book is an interesting glimpse into early Tezuka. It's worth reading as a curiosity, and it's quite short. But it's not definitive in any aspect.

[Madhuri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is quite different from the usual art and tone in Tezuka’s work, and it was a little funny to consume Dostoevsky’s serious work in this comical form. Yet the story retains its irony and key moments and gave me a pause for thought. It made me want to sit down with the original again, hopefully will come back to that in the holiday season.
I quite liked the visuals used in depicting the scene between Raskolnikov and Judge Porfiry, about how criminals are like moth to a flame and sooner or later come around to confess their crimes.

[Anna Rita Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Come rendere "Delitto e castigo" semiserio in modo carino. Mi è piaciuto molto!

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sí, sí, ya sé que antes debería leer la versión original, pero la oferta me pudo más. Una reinterpretación bastante fiel (según Bucletina, que sí leyó la de Fiodor) pero simplificada y con una puesta en escena que emula una obra de teatro: la "cámara" siempre en la misma posición y los personajes siempre a la misma distancia. Cuando lo relea (después de la novela, palabra), seguro escriba alguna reseña más elaborada.
La segunda historia es más tradicional y no deja de ser un simpático Western.

[Alessandro · Rating 1 out of 5]

Un enorme pastiche senza capo nè coda, comprendo magari una sua importanza storica (essendo del 1953 è proprio agli albori del manga), ma tra lo stile assolutamente troppo disneyano, slapstick a paletta e personaggi chiassosi all'inverosimile la già debole trama non ne esce per niente bene.
Ah, ciliegina sulla torta, le atmosfere dell'opera di Dostoevskij le accantona per prodigarsi in momenti nosense con voluti (e irritantissimi) anacronismi.

[Rahul · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

A wonderful read on the month starting. I struggle with classics, and left crime and punishment text in middle, last year. I want to read it, but couldn't do so. So, I ended up choosing this manga. In just 144 pages, Tezuka narrated and drawed story amazingly. I ended up finishing in just a single sitting. Hope to find more classics like this adapted in manga.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dos historietas en un solo tomo.

[Thomas Maluck · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only crime here I can see are all the typos.

[Alejandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading some of the Manga Classics adaptations and really enjoying them, then ran into this adaptation of Crime and Punishment by THE Osamu Tezuka (Astroboy). In the afterword, he says that there was a time when it was trendy in Japan to make adaptations of literary classics to the manga format, but they were cranked really quickly and had low quality. This was his attempt at tackling Dostoyevski's work.

I have mixed feelings about this adaptation. The darkness that takes over Raskolnikov is present in the manga, but is placed in stark contrast with some very cute animated sequences, like one of an alluring moth dancing towards a flame. The murder scene itself almost feels like a door filled comedy sequence, but there is enough darkness to keep it from being funny. Tezuka's art style, while adorable, is not out of place most of the time, but the odd comedic sequences do break the flow of the story. The ending was vastly different from the original, and I think by changing the setting and skipping the epilogue, it diminished the role of Sonya. We do get a good view into Raskolnikov's character - he is convinced he did nothing wrong by murdering the money lender; his crime is not driven by greed; he is truly convinced the murder was a valid action against the injustice of the poverty around him and the greed of the money lender.

Crime and Punishment features a not particularly sympathetic main character, corrupted by narcissistic rationalized ideals: exceptional people such as Napoleon, Stalin, Hitler and why not, himself should not be limited by moral boundaries. This comparison is anachronistic (a little detail that jerked me out of the story), as the story is set just prior to the Russian Revolution. Tezuka created this adaptation in the 50's, so it makes sense those historical figures would come to mind. Rationalisation of egoism is a pretty current trend. so Crime and Punishment makes for a timely read.

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Taking the social and philosophical elements out of Crime and Punishment leaves nothing behind, there is not an interesting mystery or a complex cat and mouse game, there's just some sad stuff in a row. Trimming the chewable fat doesn't streamline the proceedings, it makes them entirely pointless. Consequently, that aspect of this manga amounts to barely a reminder of the original work with a few added gags. I applaud the author's goal of dragging the classics into popular culture, and maybe this approach was more of an interesting surprise at its time of publishing, but theres not a ton to love anymore, after decades of anachronistic adaptations that actually work.



Thats the story part, luckily there's a bit more to like on the artistic side. This early work only hints at Tezuka's incredible ability as a visual storyteller, a hand-drawn cinematographer, it never quite embodies it. There are some very expressive characters, evocative 'inserts' and a few non-standard frames, but all well within the 50's contemporary playbook. Tezuka's wonderfully rule-breaking spreads and extremely creative use of irregular panels will come later.

[Javi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cómic y Castigo #2: El homenaje del maestro japonés

Osamu Tezuka realizó su tributo a Dostoevski en su primera época, lo que resulta en un Raskolnikov reminiscente de Astro Boy que protagoniza paneles con fondo repetido que pueden leerse como si estuvieras viendo un cortometraje de Disney o Popeye de hace un siglo.
A pesar del contraste entre la oscuridad de la trama y la comedia de esta versión, con mucho slapstick de la época -me gustaría saber qué motes japoneses el traductor decidió adaptar como "nocilla" y "putilla"- Tezuka adapta el clásico para un público infantil de manera notable.
Ojalá hubiera podido hacer una nueva versión en su etapa más adulta, con el estilo de dibujo y guión de Adolf, habría sido una obra maestra. Naoki Urasawa, todavía estás a tiempo.

[Tommy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book. I was actually a little surprised the manga style worked for a story as heavy as Crime and Punishment but I think that's partially my bias of perceiving manga to be more action or children's stories. This was excellent and would be a great way to introduce younger readers to Dostoyevsky.

Condensing such a long, dense story is no small feat.

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast-paced retelling of Crime and Punishment. I liked seeing how this 1860s novel was told with references that would be relevant to a 1950s Japanese audience. The manga tells the broad-strokes of the novel but obviously misses the deep psychological analysis that makes the novel so wonderful. Fortunately, in typical Tezuka fashion the story is fast-paced and has lots of humour which elevates this above "Classics Illustrated" standards.

Tezuka saw this book as a failure because it reduces Dostoevsky's novel into a pretty standard crime book.

[ComicNerdSam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really sands the edges off the original, but that makes sense since Tezuka was going for a younger audience. Kind of good fun, pretty average compared to a lot of his other work. Still some good pages though.

[Keith Bowden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit I've never read Dostoyevsky's original work, but this certainly lights a fire to do so. Tezuka's adaptation is short, somewhat choppy, but it tells a good story and has some of Tezuka's signature humor. I want to know more details. Here I come (eventually), Fyodor!

[m · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a quick adaptation of dostoevsky's classic novel. i think it was done quite well especially that butterfly/fire sequence. this is of course, simpler and faster than reading the original text, but i think there was a charm to this adaptation.

[Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The combination of Tezuka's Disneyesque art style and the deep, nuanced thematic material of Crime and Punishment were a weird combo that didn't fully gel in my opinion.

[Eclipse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always wanted to read Crime and Punishment... and I always wanted to read something by Tezuka. This was a convenient coincidence... and 2 hours well spent. Thoroughly enjoyable.

[Guido]

Adapta a manga crimen y castigo con una selección de sus personajes más una historia western.

[Variaciones Enrojo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reseña de Andrés Accorsi para su blog:
http://365comicsxyear.blogspot.com.ar...

Difícil imaginarse una novela como Crimen y Castigo (la obra maestra de Fiodor Dostoievski) reversionada por el maestro Osamu Tezuka. Son esas cosas que hasta que no las tenés en las manos, no podés creer que existen. Esta historieta existe, fue realizada en 1953 por el Manga no Kamisama y, como apenas llega a las 130 páginas, la extinta editorial Otakuland la publicó junto con Lemon Kid, otra historieta de Tezuka de ese mismo año.
Estamos hablando de un Tezuka tempranero, de aquel autor que pensaba básicamente en los chicos como público de su obra, lo cual explica por un lado cierta precariedad en el grafismo del maestro, y por otro esa impronta tan cercana a la de los dibujos animados clásicos de la Warner y los hermanos Fleischer, con esos movimientos ampulosos y esos gags en los que los personajes se golpean y tropiezan cada dos escenas. Sin embargo, Tezuka hace pocas concesiones a la hora de bajarle la truculencia o el morbo al clásico de la literatura rusa: los hechos de la novela no están demasiado suavizados, ni trivializados. A pesar de los chistes pavotes, sigue siendo una historia sórdida, de asesinatos, mentiras, miserias, traiciones, obsesiones y grieta social entre ricos y pobres, con la revolución de 1917 como marco histórico. Tezuka resume, simplifica y sobre todo narra en otro idioma (el de las imágenes secuenciales) la historia original. Así es como Crimen y Castigo pasa a ser un relato dinámico, intenso, con mucha indagación en la psiquis de los personajes (principalmente Raskolnikov) pero también con mucha acción.
Y la otra historieta, el western Lemon Kid, es brillante. Creada 100% por el maestro, es una cátedra de revisionismo en la que Tezuka le da carnadura humana a los típicos héroes y forajidos del Lejano Oeste, como para demostrar que ese género también lo tenía perfectamente estudiado. Es un historia realmente bellísima, redonda, atrapante, a la que no le falta ni le sobra nada.

[Zilniya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta obra junta dos grandes clásicos: Osamu Tezuka (manga) y Dostoyevski (novela original "Crimen y castigo"). Tendría que leer la novela para saber si es una correcta adaptación, pero aún así me ha gustado y me parece una forma interesante de acercarse a ambos autores.

[Anna Shpinyova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Наконец-то повидала Раскольникова в образе Астробоя

[Tonino · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un pazzo Tezuka nel toccare un caposaldo quasi sacro ma il gioco non vale la candela. Di rilievo solo le poche tavole dell'omicidio che riescono a dare una dinamicità verticale niente male

[Erein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muchísimo mejor la segunda historia que la primera. Western puro.