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Thursday, December 15, 2005

TEZUKA, Osamu

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Birth/Death

Birth: November 3, 1928 (Toyonaka-shi, Osaka)
Death: February 9, 1989


Occupation/Title

Manga artist/Animator


Bio Summary

Tezuka was born in the town of Toyonaka of the Osaka prefecture, and was the eldest of three children. Though he attended medical school and trained to become a physician, Tezuka chose to devote his life to Japanese manga and animation. Tezuka believed that he could convince people to care for the world through the two mediums. In Japan he is known by people as "Manga no Kami-sama" or "The God of Manga". He died on February 9, 1989 at age 60.


Early Life/Family

Loved to draw and collect insects. At an early age he was picked on by classmates for looking skinny and weak. Tezuka was a great lover of nature (especially bugs) and desired that humans would take care of it and treat it with respect. Created his first work called Diary of Ma-chan.


Education/Training

No formal art training. Attended Osaka University and received his M.D. for a physician practice.


Career Outline

Made debut as a cartoonist at age 17 with a four-panel comic strip called Ma-chan's Diary and soon followed up with New Treasure Island, Lost World, and Next World. These all became big hits and sold over 400,000 copies. Brought both a creative and educated mind to the manga field and experimented with long narratives of hundreds to thousands of pages, leading to a cinematic look and narrative style being introduced to manga. In 1950 he released his next manga Jungle Taitei (Jungle Emperor) followed by Tetsuwan Atom (Mighty Atom) in 1952. These were followed by other titles such as Princess Knight (1953), Ambassador Magma (1965), Vampire (1966), and what is considered his life's work, Hi no Tori (Phoenix) (1967).

During his career, Tezuka drew nearly 150,000 pages for comics with a total of 500 different titles of various works.

Tezuka's inspiration and love for Disney animation led to him forming his own studio, Mushi Productions, allowing him to bring his works to the screen. Tezuka became extremely involved, serving as a director, scenario writer, key drawer, and art director. Tetsuwan Atom, Jungle Taitei, and a large variety of shows became some of Japan's first television series.
In 1968 Tezuka reformed Mushi Productions thus calling it Tezuka Productions.
Tezuka also experimented with animation techniques and did not limit his studio to simply commercial animation. He believed in pursuing animation as an art form.

Even after his death, Tezuka Productions continues to produce films based off the original stories.


Comments On Style

Tezuka is the first person to use the "large anime eyes" as a style for characters. Tezuka based this off cartoons such as Max Flesicher's Betty Boop.


Influences

Walt Disney, Max Fleischer


Personality

Anecdotes

Miscellaneous

Filmography

Saiyu-ki (Alakazam the Great, The Enchanted Monkey) (1960)
Arabian Night: Sinbad no Boken (Arabian Nights: Adventures of Sinbad) (1962)
Aru Machikado no Monogatari (Story of a Certain Street Corner) (1962)
Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy) (1963)
Mermaid (1964)
Memory (1964)
Jungle Taitei (Jungle Emperor, Kimba the White Lion) (1965)
Tenrankai no E (Pixtures at an Exhibition) (1966)
Maguma Taishi (Ambassador Magma) (1966)
Ribbon no Kishi (Knight of the Ribbon, Princess Knight) (1967)
The Amazing 3 (1967)
Senya Ichiya Monogatari (One Thousand and One Arabian Nights) (1969)
Hi no Tori (Phoenix) (1978)
Hyakumannen Chikyu no Tabi: Bandar Book (One Million-year Trip: Bandar book) (1978)
Dawn 1978 (1978)
Fumoon (1980)
Shin Tetsuwan Atom (New Astro Boy) (1980)
Unico (The Fantastic Adventures of Unico) (1981)
Jumping (1984)
Taishizen no Makemono Bagi (1984)
Yamata (1986)
Space 1986 (1986)
Mori no Densetsu (1987)
Self Portrait (1988)
Aoi Blink (1989)
Shinsaku Jungle Taitei (New Adventures of Kimba the White Lion) (1989)


Honors

Annie Award: Winsor McCay Award 1990
Best Animated Film (Tenrankai no E - 1966) -1967
Mainichi Film Concours (Burakku Jakku - 1996)- 1997
Ofuji Noburo Award (Mori no Densetsu - 1987) - 1988
Ofuji Noburo Award (Tenrankai no E - 1966) - 1967
Ofuji Noburo Award (Aru Machikado no Monogatari - 1962) - 1964
Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films Grand Prize (Jumping 1984) - 1984


Related Links

Bibliographic References

Contributors To This Listing

M. Kenji Gonzales

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posted by Stephen Worth @ 2:04 PM   Read Comments Or Post Yours

1 Comments:

At 8:04 AM, Anonymous YMMOT aka Thom Renbarger said...

I traveled to Japan to see where "Astro Boy" came from and to try to understand the meaning of "cuteness" in culture. Osamu Tezuka is truly the father of manga and "The Mighty Atom", known as "Astro Boy" in America, is almost more of an icon than even Mickey Mouse is in this country.

If you read the original story of the birth of "Astro-Boy" you begin to see how the philsophy of its creator has translated into the new Japan you see today. The little robot boy who is often compared to Pinocchio, because he wishes to be a real boy, is also the story of a post-war Nippon trying to reaffirm and learn from the experiences of WWII and the Atom Bomb.

"Astro Boy" is the embodiment of nuclear energy being used for peaceful purposes. He not only runs on atomic energy he uses it to try to make the world a more peaceful place without nationalistic intentions. He is always aware of the Earth as a planet with great natural beauty that must be preserved and kept clean of pollution from the greed of power hungry individuals.

The new Japan with its futuristic style and its affinity for friendly robots has an overwhelming industry built around comics (manga) and cartoons (anime). They both owe a great deal to Tezuka who pioneered their look, message and popularity that gave new hope to a battered war-ridden people. They speak in a voice of humility and rebirth that you see in the streets and on their television daily.

When I was in Japan they were celebrating "The Mighty Atom's" birth year as he was 50 years old on paper but just being born in the manga itself. "Astro Boy" was written to reflect a very modern Japan 50 years in the future when robots would have emotions and their own thoughts. You cannot walk 15 feet in Tokyo without seeing some cute character or advertisement with those big anime eyes that come directly from the pen of Osamu Tezuka. Every object you see there seems to have the ability to become animated and alive proving that life really is a cartoon.

 

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