Cover Image: The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book

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Member Reviews

Manga adaptation of the Kipling, with all the attendant daft artwork that promises. It shows how Disney played very fast and loose with the original, and also why much of the other stories haven't been anything like as popular. So-so.

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I read the original book two years ago and absolutely loved it, so when I saw on NetGalley that they turned it into a Manga Classic, I just had to have it. I love these Manga Classics, seriously, I read all of them and they are just such a fun and easy way to read those classics.

I love that the song parts were included in the manga, cause they were such a fun part in the actual book. Also once again, the story with the white seal was on the top of my favorite stories, even though I truly love all these stories.

The artwork was amazing as expected.

I can't recommend these Manga Classics highly enough.

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This book is so much fun to read. If you grew up with the classics, or even if you just enjoy the movies, you will probably enjoy this collecition of Rudyard Kipling's stories in manga form. The artwork was expressive and clearly defined each scene as the characters remained at the forefront.

Sidenote: Rikki Tikki Tavi is my favorite story of this collection.

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I've never read The Jungle Book, but I did watch the movie! I feel like this is the most prepared that I've been when reading one of these manga classics. Anyhow, the movie is very different from the book so, I ended up not being prepared at all lol. At least I knew some character names?

This adaption went really well, I thought, and the art of course is beautiful as always. Besides the main story line there are other stories as well-- all that revolve around animals, and the animal drawings were done well! Everything was pleasant to look at, even if some of the stories didn't make sense (looking at you elephant rider).

All in all, it was a fun read and quite nostalgic. I think I will go re-watch the movie soon. I would recommend this one more for children, because of the animal stories, and for people wanting some nostalgia for when they read/watched this story before.

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If you are used to the style of Manga, this book shouldn't take you too long to get your head around. I studied Japanese in university (as a minor subject) and first became interested in Manga then. Traditionally, they read books from right to left, and therefore from back cover to front cover, in Japan, so this style of reading isn't new to me and didn't cause me any major concern. However, if you are new to Manga this can be a little off-putting, as not only do you read the pages from back cover to front cover, but you also read each little strip from right to left. So, essentially, you are reading backwards. But don't let that put you off: Manga is an interesting and entertaining art and you can find some great titles both here and abroad to enjoy.

Okay, so I was under the illusion, like many I am sure, that the story of The Jungle Book was exclusively about the life of the boy Mowgli. I now know this to be not the case. Rudyard Kipling's stories for children were actually heavily influenced by his childhood in British-ruled India and encompassed so much more than an account of the abandoned man-cub who was raised by animals in the Indian jungle. Some of the stories in this edition, adapted in the Manga style by Crystal S. Chan, are about Mowgli, but some stories are about different creatures altogether. Here we are presented with a story about a rare white-furred northern seal searching for a peaceful home where his family will not be hunted by humans; a story about a heroic mongoose; one about Toomai of the Elephants and a young elephant-handler; and there's a story about different animals who are ordered to do as humans wish them to. It really is so much broader than just a recounting of the tale of the famous Mowgli.

This edition also features some of the original poetry included in Kipling's original series of short stories, used here to separate the different tales. I thought these were incorporated quite well into this book and I enjoyed reading them. I also enjoyed the illustrations, although I have come across much better in some of the other Manga titles I have explored. It was still a very enjoyable way to read The Jungle Book: I loved seeing the story come to life in this way. I enjoyed reading about the animal characters and did become immersed in their stories. It was quite an enchanting read and very unique. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of graphic novels or Manga specifically, but would pre-empt my recommendation by highlighting that this isn't the Disney story retold: this is the original Kipling work in a new light. Reimagined, if you will.

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3.75 Stars
Kudos for following along the general storyline of the original work! I love seeing classics retold in a new way to encourage readers to seek these stories out, especially in such a different way. The illustrations are fun and enchanting and vary from the other artwork in this series. It's all good, but The Jungle Book has more animals and less people as characters. The setting is completely unique too. I was fascinated by the white seal and mongoose stories. Looking forward to the next Manga Classics release.

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I just love these Manga Classics!
I love how the drawings bring classic stories to live.
The Jungle Book is a long time favorite of mine and reading and seeing this manga was just beautiful.
I simply love all of the Manga Classics I read so fear, just because they make reading classics so much easier for everyone.

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The art work in this book is fantastic, just like all the other manga classics!

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* * * *
4 / 5

I picked up a copy of the The Jungle Book, manga edition on a whim and I was very pleasantly pleased with it. I have read my fair share of manga in my youth and this book follows the traditional format of being read right to left (a handy guide at the back for those that have never read a manga), as well as having loving, classically manga illustrations. As far as I can tell, The Jungle Book follows Rudyard Kipling's original seven stories very closely, even integrating some of the shorter poems into the artwork.

Whilst I am familiar with the stories that make up the typical Jungle Book films, those of Mowgli, Baloo, Bagheera and Shere Khan, I did not know that the original Jungle Book also included four further stories: The White Seal, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Toomai of the Elephants, and Her Majesty's Servants. My favourite of these was Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, a story about a mongoose defending a human family from a pair of snakes. So as well as being visually lovely, I also got culturally exposed to something I wasn't previously aware of. Bonus!

The artwork, on the whole, is lovely. Most of the animals, particularly Shere Khan and the seals, looked fantastic. Others, like Bagheera and the wolves looked a little weird and too cartoony compared to others, like the monkeys, which is why I am knocking off a star. The humans are classic manga style - pointy chins and big eyes - which can be a plus or not depending on your personal preference. The book also felt a bit long, but this is the price of faithfully following the original stories! I have no complaints about the pacing or the storylines - as far as I am aware they are good representations of Kipling's writings.

On the whole, a good collection for those that have read the original works and want to experience them in a new form, or for those who have no experience of The Jungle Book. I can certainly see children enjoying this profusely.

My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the artist for an ARC of this.

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I really struggled to read this in the adobe reader and the writing didn't flow well. It would have been easier in physical format but I didn't enjoy it enough to purchase.

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I am not used to Manga, so it took some getting used to. Once I broke my habitual reading format it became far more enjoyable to read. the art was a lot of fun and made the story easier to absorb. I think my 7 year old daughter would enjoy this version over the purely text copy I have.

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I don't think I have actually read the original book by Rudyard Kipling, but I have seen quite a few of the movie and/or cartoon adaptations and therefore I have always thought that The Jungle Book is only about the man-cub Mowgli who was raised by wolves somewhere in India. But it would seem that I have been living a lie, because that's not the case! Some of the short stories are about the famous boy named Mowgli, but some stories are about different creatures altogether. For example, there's a story about a white seal looking for a peaceful home, there's a story about a mongoose, there's a story about elephants and then there's a story about different animals who are ordered to do as humans wish them to.

Every short story ends with a poem about the story itself, some of them are a bit shorter and some of them a bit longer, and as I understand, that these are something kind of directly taken from the original work. Unfortunately for Kipling, the poems were my least favourite parts even though the people working on this adaptation have done a marvelous job of combining the poems with the stories.

Although I cannot say that the illustrations are as gorgeous as they have been in the other manga adaptations I've read, they're still really nice and I liked them a lot. It's just it's somehow a lot easier to say gorgeous about pictures about people or subjects that I'm more familiar with (e.g. clothes and buildings) than it is about bears or seals for example. It is very easy to distinguish between the animals and I liked the mix of cartoon and real-life style going on. All of the wolves have different faces and looks and all of the animals have been drawn in a way that it's easy to tell whether they're more of the good, bad or just plain nuts kinds of characters.

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Three books detail the original Jungle Book story with the same spirit though I felt it a little rushed in places whilst the art could have been a lot better, the style appeared to change from animal to animal, with some being more detailed than other.s
The last three books details folktales from India, the same area in which The Jungle Book is set, interesting stories but unexpected as the main jungle book story could have been elaborated a lot more.

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A set of classic tales are brought to life in this amazing book. Fantastic artwork brings the characters alive and immerses you in these stories. And for me, told me stories I've never heard before.

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I wasn't able to open the file so I cannot actually review this title.

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