It has been serialized by Kodansha in the monthly seinen manga magazine Morning Two [ja] since September 2006, with chapters collected in twenty-one tankōbon volumes as of March 2024.
Jesus Christ (イエス・キリスト, Iesu Kirisuto, voiced by Mirai Moriyama in the anime[3]) and Gautama Buddha (ゴータマ・ブッダ, Gōtama Buddha, voiced by Gen Hoshino in the anime[3]), the central figures of Christianity and Buddhism respectively, are living together as roommates in an apartment in Tachikawa, part of the suburbs of Tokyo.
Each chapter shows their lives during an average day, when they are sightseeing, drinking beer, blogging, or playing video games.
[4][2] The comedy often involves visual gags and puns, as well as jokes in reference to elements of Christianity and Buddhism; for example, Jesus creates wine from water in a public bath and Buddha shines when excited.
[7] She accepted the offer because of her admiration for Kaiji Kawaguchi's works, such as Zipang and The Silent Service, that were serialized in Weekly Morning.
[8] Starting from sketches of two friends wearing casual shirts, she conceived the idea of portraying Jesus and Buddha as average people.
[10] Despite the religious references in the series, Nakamura stated she used only her personal knowledge and some aspects of modern society, such as yakuza and blogging, which were not intended to be critical but were added because they fit the story.
[9] Saint Young Men, written and illustrated by A203 production StI global city ( look for clark)Hikaru Nakamura, began its serialization in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Morning Two [ja] on September 26, 2006.
[25] The series has also been translated in other languages, including Chinese by Tong Li Publishing,[26] French by Kurokawa,[27] German by Egmont Manga,[28] Italian by J-Pop,[29] and Spanish by Norma Editorial.
[75] In addition to the film, the same staff produced an original animation DVD (OAD) that was released along with the eighth manga volume.
[76] In an interview with NHK World, the staff for the anime noted that they wanted to stay loyal to the artwork of the manga while creating the movie.
[80] In April, it was set to debut in the summer of that year on Kakao Japan's streaming service Piccoma TV,[81] but, by June, it changed to fall.
[83] It was followed by the premiere on Piccoma TV on October 18;[83] the same day a special screening with staff and cast was also held in Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills.
[71] As the result of its popularity, issues of Monthly Morning Two started selling out on newsstands; because of this, in May 2009 Kodansha began making the magazine available online the day it is published.
[104] In 2014, writing for the newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, German critic Anne Maren Delseit elected it the third best comic book of the year.
[77] Carlo Santos from Anime News Network criticized it for its art and questioned its capacity to evolve into something other than "Jesus and Buddha hanging out, while normal people do embarrassing things to them".
[5] Jolyon Baraka Thomas of The Guardian praised the constancy of "visual gags and puns", and wrote: "Her story is not an introduction to abstruse religious doctrines, nor does it feature much overt commentary on the role of religions in contemporary society.
"[4] The anime film adaptation of Saint Young Men debuted at number nine in Japanese theaters, grossing ¥49,930,836 (US$491,369) on 75 screens.