Saint Young Men

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Saint Young Men is a Slice of Life manga about two guys sharing an apartment. They face more or less ordinary problems like not having enough money, facing Japan's fully packed trains and so on.

The Catch? The two guys are Jesus and Buddha, currently on vacation in Japan.

Tropes used in Saint Young Men include:
  • Beware the Nice Ones - Played with. As part of Buddha's Straight Man act, he can get really scary at times, which normally results in him starting to radiate light, akin to Scary Shiny Glasses.
  • Boke and Tsukkomi Routine - Jesus and Buddha are forced to ad-lib a manzai act as "Long-Hair and Punch" to win a standup comedy contest. It doesn't work (at least not on the crowd).
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer - Jesus, probably to balance out Buddha's Straight Man role. It works.
  • Christmas Episode - Chapter 9. The big question is "How do you throw a surprise birthday party for Jesus on Christmas?" Buddha doesn't know either.
    • Easier than you'd think, though, considering Jesus is too excited about Santa Claus to remember.
      • And much to Buddha's dismay, he's actually afraid Jesus' excitement will summon the real St. Nicholas.
  • Comic Book Fantasy Casting - Jesus looks a lot like Johnny Depp. This is even referenced in-universe.
  • Cosplay - Jesus and his Shinsengumi outfit, originally bought as pajamas and even tried to use them to go to the autumn festival.
  • Deadly Euphemism - "Going home". Played for laughs.
  • Eaglelander: A bunch of Type-2 tourists run into the pair and take pictures.
  • Fluffy Cloud Heaven - In some panels, Heaven is depicted as this.
  • Fridge Brilliance: Although the series' depiction of Jesus may be considered by Fundamentalist Christians as blasphemous, most Christians find it hilariously accurate, as the core concept of Christian faith states that Jesus incarnated himself as a human in order to feel human pain and weakness, as a preparation for his great sacrifice.
  • Friend to All Living Things - A lot of humor is had in how animals are willing to help Jesus and Buddha. One of Buddha's ambitions is to one day find a way of being hated by animals, to the point of of daydreaming about having a cat claw at him.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners - STOP. The portrayal of Buddha and Jesus is funny but not really disrespectful to Buddhism or Christianity. Trying to avoid any type of Flame War here. That being said, Buddha and Jesus seem to spend a lot of time together, and Jesus' blushing face never helps.
  • God in Human Form - Well, duh.
  • Hijacked by Jesus - Literally. Jesus likes to participate in a Buddhist traditions with Buddha tagging along. He even prays to Buddha, who is right next to him. Hilarity Ensues.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal - The premise behind the story in the first place, as they're taking a break from their heavenly duties.
  • Jesus Taboo - Averted so hard.
  • Looks Like Jesus - Inverted, people think Jesus looks like Johnny Depp.
  • Occidental Otaku - Jesus is a bit of a Japanophile.
  • Odd Couple - Most people would think so.
  • Old Shame - One of Buddha's concerns with modern society is that all the statues of him seem to be based on the less svelte periods in his life.
  • Pals with Jesus - Buddha is Pals With Jesus, and conversely, Jesus is Pals With Buddha.
  • Power Incontinence - Accidentally causing miracles in public is a daily concern. It's hard to stay undercover when your divinity is showing.
  • Satire - When you have two major religious figures living with each other and commenting on the democratic, capitalist Japanese society of today, you get a whole lot of this.
    • Buddha comments on how nobody in Japan really knows what Christmas is about Neither is Jesus, as he describes Christmas as the time when Santa Claus roams the world giving gifts, and not his own birthday.
      • It could be a veiled reference to the fact that Jesus was NOT actually born on December 25th - the actual date is unknown, but Orthodox churches following the Julian calendar (which was current when Jesus was born) celebrate it on January 7th.
  • Small Reference Pools - In the first five chapters at least, there are far more direct references to events that supposedly occured in the life of Buddha than equivalent ones for Jesus. One gets the impression that the author either did not research the evangelia properly, or she decided not to confuse her audience with material that would likely be unfamiliar to them.
    • There's more Jesus focus later on, especially with the Christmas chapter. Overall, the Buddhist and Christian references seem about equal on average.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Shown Their Work - The author at least knows about Bible stories and uses them for humor.
  • Straight Man - Buddha, most of the time. He's also somewhat of an Only Sane Man since Jesus is portrayed as a bit wacky.
  • Suicide as Comedy - A side-effect of their holiness is that animals are willing to sacrifice themselves to serve as food for the two whenever they're hungry. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Super Drowning Skills - Jesus is so afraid of water that the reason that he walk on water was so he didn't have to swim. And the whole being Baptized by St. John? John had to baptize him that way since Jesus couldn't be submerged and the dove was God making sure that Jesus was okay.
  • Theremin - A single line character summary in chapter 2 simple states, "Jesus: he's curious about theremins."
  • Veganism and Vegetarianism: The story follows the historical record and depicts Buddha as being vegetarian.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential: What Buddha plans on doing with "Together With Your Puppy."
  • Yakuza - Jesus makes friends with one in a sauna, who thinks that Jesus is a yakuza as well after hearing about his run-ins with the law. After relating the story of being sentenced to death but getting out of it after three days because it was His Father's will, the yakuza believes he is the second generation head of his group. Not so far off the mark, really.
  • Wunza Plot - One's achieved perfect enlightenment! One's the Son of God! They fight crime hang out!
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