So what are your thoughts on Osamu Tezuka and his work?

[Zan]

Creator of, among many, MANY other things, Astro Boy, Black Jack and Kimba the White Lion. Said by many to be the "Godfather of Manga". A list of his works are here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Osamu_Tezuka_manga

I know that a lot of people on here at least know of his series, but I want to know your honest thoughts on the man and his work.

 

[Marukoban]

Why would his manga not be appealing anymore?
People don't have problem reading older novel, so I don't see why the same can't be applied to manga.

 

[Deleted member 35077]

Black Jack is a masterpiece, and I still go back to reread some of the books every once in a while. The stories he has written are still great and engaging, and the only outdated thing about them is the paneling; very simple by today standards.

 

[Zan]

Why would his manga not be appealing anymore?
People don't have problem reading older novel, so I don't see why the same can't be applied to manga.

Click to shrink...

You're right. It's just that certain parts may be against some sensibilities today.

 

[Nightengale]

Creator of, among many, MANY other things, Astro Boy, Black Jack and Kimba the White Lion. Said by many to be the "Godfather of Manga". A list of his works are here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Osamu_Tezuka_manga

I know that a lot of people on here at least know of his series, but I want to know your honest thoughts on the man and his work. Does his manga have appeal for the modern generation, or is he just another relic of a time long ago?

Click to shrink...

His best works are timeless and still in the highest echelon of story-boarding/narrative/emotion today. And many of his works are extremely dark in tone, covering the evils of men and environmental themes.

Tldr; Just read Phoenix.

 

[Pasokon Deacon]

I need to read more Black Jack for sure. It's got so many of his big themes in a pulpy package, much easier to swallow than his larger novels. Still, I love the darker works of his I've read (MW and Ayako this far).

 

[Yams]

Astro Boy is one of the greatest manga I have ever read and the art is so fucking good

 

[Marukoban]

You're right. It's just that certain parts may be against some sensibilities today.

Click to shrink...

Yeah I forgot how some people on this board are lol.
To answer your question, I first read Astro Boy in 200x, and it is still among the best manga I've read.
Osamu Tezuka is not grandfather of manga for nothing.
His manga might look simple on the surface but they're usually quite deep, touching various topics, with characters that are not just made of trope like in many modern manga/anime.

 

[Monster Zero]

I really enjoyed reading Phoenix.

 

[cdr Jameson]

Love Tezuka!
The breadth of his work is unparalleled.
Right now I am reading his Boudha series. It is pretty heavy but so good.
He does heavy drama and slapstick comedy on one page without it feeling jarring.
He plays with the medium like no other.

What are his best works? The volume of his work is intimidating.
On the top of my head I have read The 3 adolfs, (parts of) Astroboy, Phoenix and MW.

 

[Keldroc]

I would say the majority of his work holds up fine today. For my money his masterworks are Buddha and Message to Adolf.

 

[TrueSloth]

He is a genius. Phoenix 'Future' was revolutionary.

 

[Sanka]

Love it. But more of a fan of his more obscure and dark works. Dude had really fucked up stories. Ode to Kirihito among my favourites.

 

[MistaTwo]

One of the greatest ever.
His body of work is just so varied and incredible.

One lesser known short story I like is Clockwork Apple.

 

[Aldo]

Insanely prolific, not every single work is great but the average quality is still pretty high. Amazing knowledge of human nature for someone who spent his life working in his studio (with the occasional visit to western-themed cafés). Ayako is my favorite.

Edit: forgot to mention how amazing it is that by the mid-60s he was considered an outdated has-been, and while he did struggle in the beginning, his career managed to outlive and outperform most of the gekiga people who rejected him.

 

[Deleted member 6056]

I adore Tezukas works. I've been reading Astroboy for a long while and youd think to look at it that its always mickey mouse innocence and a childlike simplistic view of the world. Then two seconds in you start noticing that he never hid death from the reader or prejudice. BOTH were always confronted all constantly. I usually describe what astroboy is like by him walking outside and going "Golly! Thats sure a lot of dead bodies!" because thats what it felt like sometimes. Like watching a child confront the horrible aspects of life while doin all they could to remain a wholesome optimistic child.

I love their works. Kimba had much the same tone with death being a real constant. Often the end of every Tezuka chapter or story is everyone dying tragically and the hero learning a lesson.

I wanna gush a ton but the works are so many and so varied its hard to describe all the good approaches and lessons he'd put in them. All I can say is Tezuka was and still is amazing. There is a big reason its all stood the test of time. Because its adorable core was all built around facing the real truths the world has and trying to maintain a good heart through it all and trying to maintain your optimism and hope.

 

[Capra]

You're right. It's just that certain parts may be against some sensibilities today.

Click to shrink...

So what are you trying to do here exactly? Was anyone trying to cancel Tezuka until you rolled up impliying we would?

Anyway, the only work of his I read all the way through was Ode to Kirihiro but I remember liking it a lot. I need to go back and read more Black Jack as well. Some of his stuff is kinda unintentionally hilarious due to how awkward or overdramatic scenes can get but that just comes with the territory of older manga - Devilman was the same way and it's one of my favorites now. I love stuff like his weird little in-jokes and seeing different Star System "actors" in different roles.

Possibly off-topic but I'd love to see an Omega Factor remake one of these days.

 

[Vinegar Joe]

Guy was a bonafide visionary in comics and film. Buddha and Phoenix still feel fresh today. If you haven't seen it yet it's worth checking out Broken Down Film. It's a shame he didn't do more outside of limited animation.

So what are you trying to do here exactly? Was anyone trying to cancel Tezuka until you rolled up impliying we would?

Click to shrink...

I have a modern reprint of his 1949 version of Metropolis (not much to do with the 1927 original or the later animated film) and the intro has a written explanation that they took the decision to keep the racial stereotypes intact. That's an aspect of his work we'll have to accept.

 

[Gloam]

Buddha and Phoenix are masterworks. His star system is very clever as it gives you favourites and recognizable characters throughout this work. Frederik L. Schodt's book Manga! Manga! has some good insight into Texuka. As does the cover story from an old issue of Pulp, 'The Sex and Violence of Osamu Tezuka', both are worth seeking out.

 

[halcali]

a few moments in Black Jack made me cry.

It's a masterpiece, but that's known.

 

[Pein]

A masterful artist and creator.

dude was a machine, the clip at he worked was insane. He was casually making weekly series, no problem.

 

[Arthands]

his works are masterpiece. Black Jack will be one of the best manga ever made, alongside Dragon Ball and 20th Century Boys

 

[Vinegar Joe]

A masterful artist and creator.

dude was a machine, the clip at he worked was insane. He was casually making weekly series, no problem.

Click to shrink...

Apparently he produced over 150,000 pages over his career. From his debut in 1946 to his death in 1989, if I've got my maths right that's about 10 pages a day...assuming he never took a day off.

I mean, what the fuck? That's not even including animations he oversaw.

 

[djinn]

I really need to read his work. Astro Boy is one of my favourite anime.

 

[Pein]

Apparently he produced over 150,000 pages over his career. From his debut in 1946 to his death in 1989, if I've got my maths right that's about 10 pages a day...assuming he never took a day off.

I mean, what the fuck? That's not even including animations he oversaw.

Click to shrink...

I remember hearing even when he was on the way to meetings in elevators he was drawing. Other mangaka tell you a weekly schedule is basically hell and tezuka was basically rocking cheat codes during it.

 

[JangleLuke]

I need to read more of his works, thankfully where I live they're being re-printed one by one in a pretty slick collection.

I also loved the first half of Message to Adolf, the second half... Much less so, but still alright.


Tezuka also really liked Carl Bark's work, as shown in this oh so wholesome card.
He certaintly was a man of taste.

(search for "Osamu Tezuka Sakuga" on YT if you want to see some REALLY risque animation)

 

[HStallion]

Black Jack is a masterpiece, and I still go back to reread some of the books every once in a while. The stories he has written are still great and engaging, and the only outdated thing about them is the paneling; very simple by today standards.

Click to shrink...

His use of paneling in some of his works is pretty brilliant if you ask me. The one story where every part of the page was a different storyline going on simultaneously was amazing especially when one character dies and that part of the page remains blank for the rest of the story

 

[mrtnmntrl]

To me, one of the greatest of the medium. Easily top 3 in historical and cultural significance (I'd say Hergé and Kirby are the other two).

 

[cdr Jameson]

Apparently he produced over 150,000 pages over his career. From his debut in 1946 to his death in 1989, if I've got my maths right that's about 10 pages a day...assuming he never took a day off.

I mean, what the fuck? That's not even including animations he oversaw.

Click to shrink...

His office was upstairs on a mezzanine and he would throw his pages over the railing for his assistants to pick up and finish.

When he wanted to see a movie he was only interested in certain scenes, so he would time his travel to the movie, go the theater, enter in time, watch the scene he wanted to see, leave the theater and get back to work.

A legend.

 

[Deleted member 9932]

He was incredible.

 

[lunarworks]

I grew up watching Astroboy, which was a really big influence on me.

 

[HStallion]

His office was upstairs on a mezzanine and he would throw his pages over the railing for his assistants to pick up and finish.

When he wanted to see a movie he was only interested in certain scenes, so he would time his travel to the movie, go the theater, enter in time, watch the scene he wanted to see, leave the theater and get back to work.

A legend.

Click to shrink...

The threads where he talked about fast forwarding through shows to get to the good parts would have been legendary.

 

[kittens]

His Buddha series has been big for me, I really adore it and it taught me some important spiritual and life lessons. I read a lot of the Phoenix series 18ish years ago and loved that too.

 

[Kain-Nosgoth]

It's one of my favourite author, his seinen stuff is really something even by todays standards, truly a legend! I've been reading everything from him that got translated, and i own a lot of them too!

Even went to his museum in takarazuka!

Here's a small glimpse of my collection

Not everything is here but i don't want to bother searching for everything in my library, lol


My favourite work from him would probably be Barbara

it even got a movie adaptation last month, but i don't know if it's good

 

[Lord Azrael]

I think I've only read Phoenix. I really should check out some of the other stuff soon