why did osamu tezuka create anime

by Zoie Jaskolski 7 min read
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Tezuka started to draw comics around his second year of elementary school, in large part inspired by Disney animation; he drew so much that his mother would have to erase pages in his notebook in order to keep up with his output. Tezuka was also inspired by the works by Suihō Tagawa and Unno Juza.

The result was a super-long comic that ran to 500, 600, even 1,000 pages. I also believed that comics were capable of more than just making people laugh. So in my themes I incorporated tears, grief, anger, and hate, and I created stories where the ending was not always happy. He basically created anime as we know it.Oct 21, 2013

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Why was anime created?

Early anime films were intended primarily for the Japanese market and, as such, employed many cultural references unique to Japan.

What inspired the first anime?

Puppets of the bunraku theater and ukiyo-e prints are considered ancestors of characters of most Japanese animations. Finally, manga were a heavy inspiration for Japanese animation. Cartoonists Kitzawa Rakuten and Okamoto Ippei used film elements in their strips in the early 20th century.

What was the first anime Osamu Tezuka made?

In 1965, he created his 1st color anime Jungle Taitei, later airing in the Americas as Kimba the White Lion. His works from late the 60s such as Magma Taishi & 70s such as Mitsume ga tooru & Black Jack aren't as well known outside Japan, but he continued to draw at a prolific pace during those years.

What inspired Astro Boy?

Tezuka, originally designed after traditional Disney characters of the time, Astro's style reflects that of Mickey Mouse. A simple cartoon style of character, although Tezuka would implement some of his own styles into the drawings that would become commonplace for most anime and manga that came after.

What is the #1 anime in the world?

Anime Top 10Top 10 Best Rated (bayesian estimate) (Top 50)#titlerating1Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (TV)9.082Steins;Gate (TV)9.043Clannad After Story (TV)9.028 more rows

Who made the 1st anime?

Shimokawa OtenThe first animated film released in Japan, and therefore the first anime, was probably released in late 1916 or very early '17 by Shimokawa Oten, made with chalk, and less than five minutes long.

What is the oldest anime ever?

Namakura Gatana is the oldest existing anime short film, dating back to 1917. The film was lost until a copy was discovered in 2008.

Who is the god of anime?

Talking about authors as gods of their creations is a subject which can easily get pretentious, but in the case of Osamu Tezuka, it's his freakin' nickname. Yep, Osamu Tezuka is frequently referred to as "the god of manga," so in a way, he's the most powerful "anime god" of them all.

What was the first anime show ever made?

おとぎマンガカレンダー, or Otogi Manga Calendar, was the first anime series to be produced and the first to be televised. It ran from 1961-1964.

How did Osamu Tezuka influence anime?

He introduced big eyed characters to anime and manga (drawing influence from Betty Boop and Bambi) and he also introduced cinematic action to manga and popularized the art in post war Japan. I felt [after the war] that existing comics were limiting.

What is the moral of Astro Boy?

We can see here most of the themes that the further adventures of our hero will address: The difficult relations between humans and robots; the moral corruption and cruelty of which humans are capable; discrimination and the hope for liberation; the notion that consciousness requires both the capacity to learn and ...

Who came first Mega Man or Astro Boy?

Mega Man was heavily inspired by the old school anime character Astro Boy. Capcom once had the license for Astro but lost it, so they created their own version.

What was Osamu Tezuka's influence on anime?

He made Japanese anime what it is today and popularized it internationally with his great success. He inspired many others and continues to do so today even after his death. Osamu Tezuka truly is the godfather ...

What movie did Tezuka become an animator?

In January 1965, Tezuka received a letter from Stanley Kubrick, who absoltely adored Astro Boy and wanted to invite Tezuka to be the art director of his next movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

How many pages does Tezuka have?

October 21, 2013 • words written by John • Art by Aya Francisco. Starting in the 1950s, Tezuka created and wrote more than 700 manga series containing over 170,000 pages and he also penned over 200,000 pages of anime storyboards and scripts. His impact on anime and manga is impossible to overstate.

How many times did Tezuka see Bambi?

Tezuka devoured Disney comic books and movies, reportedly seeing the movie Bambi 80 times. Tezuka grew up in Takarazuka City, and his mother often took him to the Takarazuka Theatre.

Why did Tezuka decide to study medicine?

After nearly losing both arms to infection as a teenager, Tezuka decided he wanted to study medicine in order to help others as his doctor helped him. All through med school he kept up his hobby of manga though. Shortly after entering, he sold his first comic to an Osaka children's newspaper.

What was Tezuka's impact on the theater?

The theater had a large impact on the later works of Tezuka, including his costuming designs. He said he had a profound sense of nostalgia for Takarazuka due to his exposure to it as a child. Tezuka started to draw his own manga around his second year of elementary school.

How many books are there in Tezuka's Phoenix?

It began its first run in 1967. The manga consists of 12 books, each of which tells a separate, self-contained story and takes place in a different era.

Who is Osamu Tezuka?

Osamu Tezuka ( 手塚 治虫, b. 手塚 治, Tezuka Osamu; 3 November 1928 – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese Empire born Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as ...

What was Tezuka's first work?

After World War II, at age 17, he published his first professional work, Diary of Ma-chan, which was serialized in the elementary school children's newspaper Shokokumin Shinbun in early 1946.

How did Tezuka die?

Tezuka died of stomach cancer in 1989. His death had an immediate impact on the Japanese public and other cartoonists. A museum was constructed in Takarazuka dedicated to his memory and life works, and Tezuka received many posthumous awards.

What is Tezuka known for?

Tezuka is known for his imaginative stories and stylized Japanese adaptations of Western literature. Tezuka's "cinematic" page layouts were influenced by Milt Gross ' early graphic novel He Done Her Wrong. He read this book as a child, and its style characterized many manga artists who followed in Tezuka's footsteps. His work, like that of other manga creators, was sometimes gritty and violent.

What was Tezuka's financial model?

Tezuka's financial model was unsustainable and the company was deeply in debt. In two desperate attempts to earn enough money to pay investors, Tezuka turned to the adult film market and produced A Thousand and One Nights (1969 film) and Cleopatra (1970 film). Both attempts failed.

When did Tezuka publish Phoenix?

Due to the success of Tetsuwan Atom, in 1953 Tezuka published the shōjo manga Ribon no Kishi ( Princess Knight ), serialized in Shojo Club from 1953 to 1956. In 1954 Tezuka first published what he would consider his life's work, Phoenix, which originally appeared in Mushi Production Commercial Firm.

What is the influence of Tezuka on Takarazuka?

Their romantic musicals aimed at a female audience, had a large influence of Tezuka's later works, including his costume designs. Not only that, but the performers' large, sparkling eyes also had an influence on Tezuka's art style. He has said that he has a profound "spirit of nostalgia" for Takarazuka.

Who is Tezuka in anime?

Depending on where you look or who's talking, you'll see Tezuka referred to as the God, Father, Godfather, Grandfather, Emperor and/or King of both manga and anime.

Why did Tezuka go to medical school?

After nearly losing both arms to an infection as a teenager, though, he decided to also study medicine. Due to a severe shortage of doctors in occupied Japan, Tezuka, then 17, was admitted to the medical school of Osaka University in 1945.

How many pages does Tezuka have?

He didn't "merely" change the future of manga and create anime as we know it, he worked ceaselessly. Over the course of his career, Tezuka created and wrote more than 700 manga series containing an estimated 170,000 pages of drawings, and another 200,000 pages ...

What school did Osamu go to?

His parents were also forward-thinking and, as a result, Osamu attended a progressive school where classes were co-ed. He was a bright student who excelled in composition and won popularity with his classmates for his manga sketches and picture cards (which they circulated amongst themselves).

How old was Osamu when he started drawing?

When he was nine , Osamu used his drawing and newly-formed writing skills to produce his first multi-page manga. By age eleven, he was wearing his trademark black-rimmed glasses and had solidified a lifelong interest in insects.

What was the first manga-ka?

The Making of a Manga-ka: Shortly after entering medical school Tezuka sold his first comic strip, a four-panel serial called Diary of Ma-chan to an Osaka children's newspaper. Though it appeared in limited circulation, the strip proved popular enough to generate publisher interest in the artist.

Did Tezuka publish manga?

Even while completing medical school, he published manga at a furious clip, graduating to larger newspapers and reader numbers. From 1950 until his death, Tezuka worked non-stop. It seemed natural to him to transition his manga characters into the animation he so loved, and thus a genre was born.

What is the Osamu Tezuka story?

The Osamu Tezuka Story serves three functions. It’s an entertaining tale of a hardworking visionary, a biographical account of Japan’s most famous artist, and an in-depth history of 20th-century Japan, starting before World War II and continuing into the modern era.

When did Osamu Tezuka's story come out?

The Japanese edition of The Osamu Tezuka Story first began publishing in serial installments in 1989, shortly after Tezuka’s death. It began as an actual manga — an educational, serialized Japanese comic — and ran in a Japanese newsweekly starting in 1989. The final version was first published in full book form in 1992, the year the serialization ended.

How long did Tezuka write a panel from Phoenix?

In the age of the internet, manga fans have crowdfunded new editions of several of Tezuka’s works, which still retain, even after all these decades, unique and visceral emotive properties: A panel from Phoenix, a manga that Tezuka wrote and drew for nearly four decades, from 1956 to his death in 1989. Tezuka in English.

How did Tezuka die?

And just five years after Tezuka’s death from cancer in 1989 at the age of 60, Disney apparently flagrantly plagiarized one of Tezuka’s most beloved works, Kimba, the White Lion, by all appearances lifting whole plot points and multiple direct artistic references from the anime for its massive blockbuster The Lion King.

How many mangas did Tezuka make?

Always arrayed in a beret, thick-rimmed glasses, and a smile, Tezuka was an artistic genius who created more than 700 manga titles — comprising 150,000 pages of hand-drawn art — and more than 60 anime in his lifetime, making him one of the most prolific Japanese manga creators in history.

What anime has the cloud scene?

The famous cloud scene from Tezuka’s Jungle Emperor manga (1950–1954), which was later animated as Kimba, the White Lion , and which may have inspired a similar scene in Disney’s The Lion King. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device.

How many pages is the Osamu Tezuka story?

Schodt and released by Stone Bridge Press, The Osamu Tezuka Story — first published serially in Japan between 1989 and 1992 — is a massive, 900-page tome that explores Tezuka’s life, Japanese postwar society, and the way Tezuka changed Japanese culture forever. Naturally, The Osamu Tezuka Story is a must-have ...

History of Animation in Japan

The production of animation in Japan began in 1917 and was influenced by western animation films of that time which were imported in the early 20th century. But not many films were produced. It was only after WWII that the production of animation gradually increased in Japan.

Major Works of Tezuka Osamu

This manga was serialized in a comic magazine between 1952 and 1963, and it became TV anime from 1963 to 1966. Astro Boy is the story of a robot energized by nuclear power in the 21st century. He was made by Dr. Tenma who lost his son in a traffic accident. So, Tenma made Atom to resemble his deceased son.

The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum

The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum opened in 1994, five years after his death. The museum is in Takarazuka City, Hyogo Prefecture where Osamu grew up. They exhibit documents and goods related to him in capsules that look like the ones that appear in the ‘Phoenix’. You can read almost all his manga and watch his animes here.

Who is the illustrator of Osamu Tezuka?

The Osamu Tezuka Story is a biography in manga form drawn by Ban Toshio, one of Tezuka’s closest associates, and the team of illustrators at Tezuka Productions, the comics and animation studio that Tezuka founded. It was originally serialized in Japan from 1989 to 1992, in the years immediately following Tezuka’s death.

What is Tezuka's role in Japan?

Tezuka was an eager international traveler and an enthusiastic advocate for Japanese manga and anime overseas. Indeed, even long before “soft power” became an expressed goal of the Japanese state, Tezuka was regularly dispatched abroad to promote Japanese popular culture by the Japan Foundation and was even named a “Manga Ambassador” in 1980, ...

How many times did Tezuka watch Snow White?

He watched Snow White more than fifty times and Bambi more than eighty.

What interests did Tezuka have?

The eldest child of a privileged, progressive-minded family in the suburbs of Osaka, Tezuka was a bright and precocious youth with many interests, including reading, nature (especially insects), astronomy, movies, and music . Tezuka followed in the footsteps of his many ancestors who were distinguished physicians, training to be a medical doctor.

What is the significance of Ban's narrative?

Ban’s narrative also sheds valuable light on the process of producing manga and anime, revealing how important teamwork and craft were to modern cartooning as they had been to ukiyo-e production in the Tokugawa Period, and documenting how technological change in printing and animation shaped the evolution of Japanese pop forms.

How many pages are there in Tezuka?

The English translation of what is a truly monumental volume (914 pages, including a short introduction and a comprehensive listing of Tezuka’s manga and anime works) was done by Frederik Schodt, a well-known authority on Japanese comics and a longtime friend and interpreter for Tezuka.

What was Tezuka's passion?

Tezuka followed in the footsteps of his many ancestors who were distinguished physicians, training to be a medical doctor. But his true passion was always manga, and he compulsively drew cartoons and honed his skills as an artist and storyteller from the time he was in primary school.

ASTRO BOY

Basically, he’s Superman for the manga industry, and Mickey Mouse for the anime industry. A hero whom all successors have emulated, in one way or another; and a star whose show pioneered techniques still necessary to produce weekly animation. His is the classic story: an artificial child built by a scientist to replace a dead son.

BLACK JACK

What if Dr. Frankenstein made a monster out of himself? That’s the easiest premise to sum up another of Tezuka’s most enduring characters; but it still undersells how genuinely bizarre Black Jack is.

BUDDHA

Tezuka’s ambitions grew more meditative in his later years, and few subjects on Earth could be more meditative than this world famous journey toward enlightenment. Produced over ten years, Buddha covers each step of Prince Siddhartha’s life in thorough detail.

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Early Life

Major Works

  • Tezuka made a ton, a ton, of stuff. Like really. A whole lot. Seriously. Over 500 anime episodes and more than 700 manga volumes. That's crazy. But some of his works definitely stand out more than others. His most iconic work is without a doubt, Astro Boy. Along with this, I'd say Black Jack, Kimba the White Lion, and Phoenix are probably his top four.
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Astro Boy

  • Astro Boyfollows the adventures of a robot by the same name and a handful of other characters. The Astro Boy manga was first published in 1952 and the anime started in 1963 (see above). There was also an anime re-boot of the series in 2003. It kept the same classic art style as the original manga and anime, but was modernized with smoother animation and visuals. It combin…
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Tezuka Dies, His Legacy Lives on

  • From 1950 until his death, Tezuka worked non-stop. He produced nearly 500 anime episodes all while continuing to conceive, write, and draw volumes of some 700 different manga titles. He introduced big eyed characters to anime and manga (drawing influence from Betty Boop and Bambi) and he also introduced cinematic action to manga and popularized the...
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Influences on Others

  • Artists such as Hayao Miyazaki and Akira Toriyama (pictured above), have cited Tezuka as an inspiration for their works. Who knows how many other young artists were touched and inspired by Tezuka? I don't think anyone will ever have as large of an impact on the industry as Tezuka did. Even Miyazaki, the "current" powerhouse of anime doesn't even come close to Tezuka in my opin…
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in Closing

  • The city of Takarazuka opened a museum in his memory. Stamps were issued in his honor in 1997. Beginning in 2003, the Japanese toy company Kaiyodo began manufacturing a series of figurines depicting Tezuka's creations. There's no doubt that Tezuka's influence on manga artists and animators remains strong to this day. He's certainly left his mark on the industry. The world …
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Overview

Osamu Tezuka (手塚 治虫, b. 手塚 治, Tezuka Osamu; 3 November 1928 – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese cartoonist, manga artist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as "the God of Manga" (マンガの神様, Manga no Kami-sama), "the Father of Manga" (マンガの父, Manga no C…

Biography

Tezuka was born in Toyonaka, Osaka. He was the eldest of three children. The Tezuka family were prosperous and well-educated; his father Yutaka worked in management at Sumitomo Metals, his grandfather Taro was a lawyer, and his great-grandfather Ryoan and great-great-grandfather Ryosen were doctors. His mother's family had a long military history.

Style

Tezuka is known for his imaginative stories and stylized Japanese adaptations of Western literature. Tezuka's "cinematic" page layouts were influenced by Milt Gross' early graphic novel He Done Her Wrong. He read this book as a child, and its style characterized many manga artists who followed in Tezuka's footsteps. His work, like that of other comic creators, was sometimes gritty and violent.

Works

Tezuka's complete oeuvre includes over 700 volumes, with more than 150,000 pages. Tezuka's creations include Astro Boy (Mighty Atom in Japan), Black Jack, Princess Knight, Phoenix (Hi no Tori in Japan), Kimba the White Lion (Jungle Emperor in Japan), Unico, Message to Adolf, The Amazing 3, Buddha, and Dororo. His "life's work" was Phoenix—a story of life and death that he began in the 1950s and continued until his death.

Personal life

Tezuka was a descendant of Hattori Hanzō, a famous ninja and samurai who faithfully served Tokugawa Ieyasu during the Sengoku period in Japan.
Tezuka's childhood nickname was gashagasha-atama: "messy head" (gashagasha is slang for messy, atama means head). As a child, Tezuka's arms swelled up and he became ill. He was treated and cured by a doctor, which made him also want to be a doctor. At a crossing point, he …

Legacy and influence on manga industry

Stamps were issued in Tezuka's honor in 1997. Also, beginning in 2003, the Japanese toy company Kaiyodo began manufacturing a series of figurines of Tezuka's creations, including Princess Knight, Unico, the Phoenix, Dororo, Marvelous Melmo, Ambassador Magma, and many others. To date, three series of the figurines have been released.

See also

• Makoto Tezuka
• List of Osamu Tezuka manga
• List of Osamu Tezuka anime
• Tezuka Award
• Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize

Further reading

• G. Clinton Godart, “Tezuka Osamu’s Circle of Life: Vitalism, Evolution, and Buddhism,” Mechademia (University of Minnesota Press) November 2013, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp. 34 – 47.
• Helen McCarthy. The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga. (New York: Abrams ComicArts, 2009). ISBN 978-0-81098249-9. Biography and presentation of Tezuka's works.