Cover Image: The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

This manga matches the book so well! I love the art and the story. Great job with the characters. I recommend this book to anyone who likes the book or movie, or who enjoys manga.

Was this review helpful?

This is a neat graphic novel interpretation of the jungle book. This is a great read for a middle grade reader, that is ready to enter the gritty graphic novels. Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.

Was this review helpful?

This was a very interesting read. I'd never read any of the "non-Mowgli" stories from The Jungle Book before, so that turned out to be very educational.

Not every story is equally engaging or exciting, though. The ones that stood out to me the most were "Tiger! Tiger!", "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" and "The White Seal". The others are mostly interesting from a historical point of view, less so entertainment-wise.

There's a certain ruthlessness to be found in these stories, that shows even in the "heroic" protagonists like Mowgli and the white seal. This is no Disney, people.

I understand why the poems were kept in the manga version, but they do tend the slow everything down, because they are far more long-winded than the dialogue used in the rest of the stories. Also, the songs are printed over the illustrations, which helps with the atmosphere, but doesn't do much to enhance reading comfort.

The drawings were very well done and go a great way towards setting the proper mood for each scene.

Was this review helpful?

An original turn on the old story, this version of The Jungle Book hooks the reader with its illustrations and pace of storytelling. I have nothing to say against it, but it was my first encounter with the manga structure and style, and I'm not sure that I'd be up to the encounter again.

Even so, I would gladly recommend this publication to anyone who's a fan of manga. I find it highly praise worthy that a classic story is brought closer to the younger readers by the use of a popular medium.

Was this review helpful?

I was a little hesitant beginning this manga because the story is well-know, so it has a lot to live up to.

We begin the story in nineteenth century India where two wolves stumble upon a human baby they later name Mowgli. Along with Mother and Father Wolf, Baloo, the sleep bear, takes responsibility for raising Mowgli. However, Shere Khan, the tiger, wants Mowgli for himself.

After Shere Khan tricks the pack into egging Akela on to fight and impossible hunt, Shere Khan takes control and banishes Mowgli. Mowgli then finds friends with the monkeys and is later captured by them. What will happen to Mowgli? Will he keep true to his promise of skinning Shere Khan?

The manga is then proceeded by a series of short stories about The White Seal, Rikki-Tiki-Tavi, and Toomai. I probably enjoyed Rikki-Tiki-Tavi the most out of the three, but the other two were quite bland for me. While the original does include these stories, I felt them to be out of place in this manga…if anything, probably better left without.

I wanted to love this and had higher expectations since I have been enjoying the other Manga Classics so much. However, this one just fell short for me. The ending of the story of Mowgli left me unfulfilled and wanting more. While the addition of the three animal stories rings true to the original, I felt them to be out of place in this manga, and actually detracting from the manga as a whole. With that said, I do think that this would be great for someone younger since it is comprised of a bunch of short stories.

Was this review helpful?

A nice read. The illustrations were good and the story, obviously good, though, I do feel that this story is getting a bit old considering there was a movie released last year (or the year before?) Maybe that's why the kids might appreciate it and love it. I'm not sure if the adults would enjoy it that much though.

Was this review helpful?

Excerpt from Review: "...I had never before realized that the tale of Mowgli was not the only story to be found in The Jungle Book, nor did I realize that Kipling had incorporated poetry into his tales as well. What a talented author. Each of the stories has a message for the young – that you should praise your differences for they are what make you great, that you should believe in yourself, that loyalty is something to be honored, that size does not always matter. I liked the stories and the art that accompanied them, featuring some classic manga just right for children’s tales. Manga Classics does it again with their rendition of The Jungle Book, a great way for me and anyone else who hasn’t yet had the opportunity to experience this classic."

Was this review helpful?

This book tells several stories about animals and how they interact with humans (it isn't just Mowgli's story, something that surprised me).

First off, the art is very similar to that of manga, something that I really appreciate about this book.

The stories are very sweet even though they include death most of the times.

The characters are very lovable and I bet you'll fall in love with them instantly.

This is a vert fun and light read I recommend.

Rating: 4 stars

Was this review helpful?

Nice artwork. This is an ideal introduction to classic fiction for children and young adults. There are many different ways to help them engage in the story.

Was this review helpful?

I read The Jungle Book many years ago, and was interested to see a Manga version of it. I've never read a classic Manga adaption before. While I believe it was true to the original story, I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected. There wasn't anything particularly wrong, it just didn't "do it" for me.

Was this review helpful?

Jungle book is not one of my favorite stories, but I couldn’t pass up a chance to view Udon’s take on the classic tale. What fantastic animals!!! Beautiful work. This is perfect for all ages

Was this review helpful?

I was pleasantly surprised with this one. The Jungle Book was never a favorite for me. Although I liked it (Disney version which was the only one I knew), I just never cared as much for it as others, so I wasn't as excited to pick this one up, but I did want to try it out... Well, it was nothing like what I thought it would be!

First of all this book is composed of 7 stories, each one accompanied by a poem. Only 3 of the tales being about Mowgli.

Stories: 

Mowgli's Brothers (favorite from the Mowgli ones)
Kaa's Hunting
Tiger! Tiger!
The White Seal (favorite)
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
Toomai of the Elephants
Her Majesty's Servants
The only ones about Mowgli are Mowgli's Brothers that tells the story of how Mowgli came to live among the animals in the jungle, which I loved. Kaa's Hunting that is about the part where the monkeys kidnap Mowgli, and Tiger! Tiger! that is about Mowgli trying to be a man and his final match with Shere Khan.

The White Seal and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi were tales I've never read before and I absolutely loved them! They are so warm-hearted and beautiful! I highly recommend reading them. The drawings were beautiful too - they work immensely well in manga format!

Toomai of the Elephants was one I didn't really like much, and Her Majesty's Servants was one I definitely disliked! But I did like the manga design of them.

Poems and others:

Hunting-Song of the Seeonee Pack
Road-Song of the Bandar-Log (favorite)
Mowgli's Song
Lukannon
Darzee's Chant
Shiv and the Grasshopper
Parade Song of the Camp Animals
I loved seeing some character I always liked from the Disney movie and haven't seen in many years like Baloo and Bagheera! They were always the best and they are actually a bit different from what I thought! Well, the whole book was different from what I thought. I'm really happy I finally read this and got to know the other tales in the book!

The artwork in this book at first seemed a bit... weird? The animals and their expressions... I guess I never read a manga with animals as characters so it was a bit of a change and a surprise. Sometimes they look rougher than others, but at the beginning, I really thought I wasn't gonna like the art... But I actually got used to it in only 10 pages or so. It's a different type of art due to being mainly animals but it's still pleasant and very detailed just like the other manga classics, especially the backgrounds. The emotions are also drawn very well and they captivated me to keep reading.

Overall it was a quite nice and different book. I'm really happy I read it in manga format because I love animals and it just made it really interesting. I would definitely recommend it and I can't wait to check out the original classic!

Was this review helpful?

It has been many years since I read this and while I will pick up the novel again at some point it was enjoyable to refresh myself on the main points of the story through this Manga adaptation. I’m always thrilled and astounded how close Manga classics are to the original books, not only capturing the story but many of the main themes too. This was charming.

Was this review helpful?

I love these Manga retellings of famous classics.

This one is no exception! I loved the artwork, and the story is well told and easy to follow.

Was this review helpful?

A wobderful way to introduce the clasics! Beautifully drawn. Jungle Book is one of my all time favorite books. Thank you for including the poems. Thank you for the opportunity to read for a fair review.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was my second manga, the first for my son. He had a better time adapting to the right-to-left reading than me. The story was great, just like the original is. But unfortunately, I can't say I was the fan of many images. There were so many CRASH and BAM and way too many horrific facial grimaces for young kids not to become mock-violent afterward.

That being said, we did enjoy the book and we did like the style of the pictures and all the characters, just at times wished it hadn't focused so much on the action from a drastic and shocking point of view.

I don't know if I would recommend this particular graphic novel as a good example of The Jungle Book.

Was this review helpful?

This is the second Manga book I have read as well as the second on based on a classic novel. I have to give credit to Udon Publishing and the artists of these books because I think they are excellent.
The Jungle Book storyline is true to the original by Rudyard Kipling and does a gorgeous job of depicting the short stories visually. I especially like the representations of all the animals which bring them alive.
The stories even come with the poems, which I never was a huge fan of. But, here again, I have to give credit that the publisher/artist adhered to the classic novel.
Thank you NetGalley and publisher, Udon Publishing, for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Was this review helpful?

This wasn’t my favorite of the graphic novel adaptations of the classics. I like the manga versions of some others, but this one fell a bit flat. I can only speculate that it was the animals instead of people, and the artistic choices. I would have liked a more exaggerated manga style. It was just lukewarm for me.

Was this review helpful?

I enjoyed reading this book. The cover caught my attention. The stories brought back so many memories of my childhood, being read to, and later, reading myself. Books such as this one contributed to my lifelong love of reading. Although these were classics, they felt relevant to modern readers. I would recommend the book to adult readers who wish to revisit beloved childhood stories and to youngsters who will discover the magic of such tales.

Was this review helpful?

I didn't know that this was originally written by Rudyard Kipling, this may be the only thing that I ended up with after reading this book 😞😞😞

I expected this to be good as the manga version of Les miserables, it wasn't.
I simply read this for the nostalgia as the jungle book was a part of my childhood but that was not delivered too.

The biggest problem with this is the writing style which was annoying when it tried so hard to state the obvious, I rolled my eyes many many times going through this!!
The drawings were not the best too, but to be fair, there were actually some funny drawings...

I had higher expectations for this which were simply not met. I didn't know that were multiple stories in this, the shorter they got, the lamer they were. SORRY_NOT_SORRY!!

Was this review helpful?