YMMV / Buddha

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • When they meet again as disciples of Buddha in Book Seven, Devadatta and Ananda never acknowledge that they're half-brothers. This is understandable in Ananda's case, since Devadatta left home when Ananda was a baby and perhaps their parents chose to pretend Devadatta never existed. But did Devadatta also black out his early childhood and forget he had a brother named Ananda? Did he never consider that this could be the same Ananda? OR did Devadatta privately know that Ananda was his brother, and this only salted the wound when Buddha became closer to Ananda.
  • Siddhartha tells Yashodara after their wedding that she will never bear his child. Pretty soon after, she's pregnant. Some possible explanations are: 1. He consummated the marriage in an offscreen moment of weakness. 2. He's so sheltered he wasn't aware of how babies are made. 3. It's a Mystical Pregnancy. 4. Yashodara arranged for someone else to get her pregnant to trick Siddhartha into staying.
  • The offscreen marriage of Tatta and Migaila raises the question: did they develop feelings after her blinding and banishment, or was Tatta in love with her while she was in love with Siddhartha but he decided to help her be with Siddhartha anyway? It could've also started as a Marriage of Convenience.
  • Does Dhepa inflict extreme pain on himself and others because he truly believes that's the path to enlightenment, or is he a sado-masochist who derives pleasure from it? The smile on his face when he almost drowns Siddhartha, and then again when he nearly buries Siddhartha alive, could indicate he's enjoying seeing his friend suffer. He practically begs Tatta to cut off his hands (shortly after poking out his own eye no less).
• Ho Yay:
  • Almost everyone loves Buddha, and some conversations about him can seem a lot like this out of context. Also, what with practically everyone running around shirtless, many waist-up-only panels between the predominantly male cast can look like something else.
  • Also, Tatta and Yatala, as mentioned in the main page.
• Iron Woobie: Migaila. She looses her sight, her first child, and her voice (albeit briefly). When she finally loses her husband, she doesn't shed a tear.
• Tear Jerker: Many. Asaji's and Chapra's deaths come to mind. Buddha after Tatta dies. When Tatta was willing to be eaten by a snake so that his friends could live. Praesenajit dies without seeing Buddha again. This manga has so many that it has its own page.
• Values Dissonance: Among other things, almost everybody is practically naked. This happened in Antiquity, before the Maurya Empire (the first major Indian civilization), as almost every Iron Age civilization had some level of acceptable public nudity, not to mention that Gautama Buddha's Jain contemporary Mahavira was known to travel naked after enlightenment. Modesty didn't really develop in the subcontinent until the Middle Ages, possibly not even until after the Islamic conquests.

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