Teen Lib.

Adolf by Osamu Tezuka is one of the most intriguing graphic novel series I have read in a long time.  It is a five volume series which begins with Adolf, Vol 1” a tale of the twentieth century.  These books take place during the years leading up too and during WW2.  The setting switches between Germany and Japan.  It involves two stories that at the beginning seem quite different, but as the volumes play out become intricately intertwined.  The first is the story of a Japanese reporter who is in Germany to cover the Olympics in Berlin.  During his time there, his brother who was also in Berlin is murdered because of his connections with the communist party.  Toge, the reporter, attempts to track down his brother’s murderer and the secret behind his murder.  The other story involves two boys named Adolf as well as the Adolf Hitler.  The boys both grew up in Japan; one comes from a Jewish family from Germany who has been living in Japan ever since he was born.  The other Adolf has a Japanese mother and a German father who happens to be a fairly important man in the Nazi party.  The story follows as this unlikely pair becomes best friends, and continues as one rises to prominence in the Nazi party and the other roots himself firmly in his Jewish and Japanese heritage.  These stories quickly become one as all of these winds together into one of the most intricate and different stories about the war that has been put to pen.  Tezuka’s position of having lived during the war, in Japan puts him in the unique position to write about the alliance between Japan and Germany without an American bias.  This book is well written and the art is quite good.  Any body that has interest in the war or simply an interest in an exciting and griping story would benefit greatly from reading Tezuka’s Adolf series.