Life In 360°: The Jesus And Buddha Show

One man’s media is another man’s adaption. That is to say, someone could write a book and tell you it is the definitive view of the story. Yet someone could then make a film out of the book and it be decreed superior – and vice versa. Creative works can be adapted in all manner of ways so it may surprise you to learn that today’s Life In 360° is actually based on a manga.

Life In 360° / 360 Degree VideoSaint Onii-san, or to give it the English language title Saint Young Men is an award winning ‘slice of life’ comedy manga that asks the somewhat unusual question of what life would be like… if Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha were roommates as they essentially take a gap year in Japan. The two muddling through understanding both human and specifically Japanese culture as only the people behind two major religions (apparently) can.

It’s been going for over a decade now as a manga and it’s even spawned an anime adaptation back in 2013. Later this year a live-action adaptation of Saint Young Men is to be released and in advance of this an ad-libbed scene between the two actors – Ken’ichi Matsuyama (Jesus) and Shōta Sometani (Buddha) has been filmed in 360 degrees. This also ties in with the just released 15th volume of the manga in which viewers will be able to receive a cardboard VR viewer.

In the below video, Jesus and Buddha’s apartment gets a new guest – but can they love thy neighbour, when it’s a cockroach?

VRFocus will be back with another example of how 360 degree videos are being used around the world, at the same time on Friday.