Message to Adolf
Creator: Osamu Tezuka
Publisher: Vertical (English hardcover version)
Pages: 1256 (Collected in 2 books)
“This is a story about 3 men named Adolf”, is the first sentence in this series. Even though this is true, you do not meet these 3 for the first few hundred pages. Here we follow a reporter Sohei Toge at the Berlin Olympics in 1936, who finds his communist brother, murdered in public with no witnesses and no one willing to help the investigation. Sohei then unveils a huge conspiracy that sets the rest of the story in motion and changes the life of all future characters in the book. A mysterious letter that can ruin the Nazi regime and change the fate of World War II.
The book gives an authentic look at World War II through the eyes of the japanese people, both the mentality of the common people and the . Japan was an ally to Germany in WWII and this relation is explored in numerous ways both politically and in more personal ways, both very fascinating especially becuase it has its roots in reality.
The artwork is very cartoony but still very expressive and just realistic enough to not feel awkward regarding the subject matter. It is for the most part pretty simple, but still have some really nice detailed drawings whenever it has to catch you up on the current state of the war.
The story keeps adding new characters that are spun into the huge intertwined web of relations almost all the way through and keeps expanding on the grand narrative in a meaningful way. While still having lots of smaller, more personal stories mixed in for each character, and a character you meet in the first chapters will suddenly reappear 600 pages later, without it being misplaced. 
This book has aged very well, so even though it is 33 years old by the time of writing this, it is still so much better than a lot of stuff that comes out today, and the subject matter and underlying themes still feels relevant and thought provoking. Even though there is a lot of stories about nazism and WWII out there, this story still manages to be original and different from the rest.
The story does have some points that feels drawn out with not a lot of things happening that push the story forward, but this is mostly a problem in the first book.
when you have finished reading all of it, with a satisfying ending to go with it, the story seems bigger than the sum of its parts. succeding in telling a story that works on so many levels, and also leaves something to think about for a while after.
Pros:
- Great character development
- Huge intertwining plot structure
- interesting themes and subject matter
Cons:
- Odd pacing in the first book
9/10 Fantastic
