‘In the expanding world of Modern Manga, What remains of Osamu Tezuka's legacy and how has he influenced others?’ (Working title)
Academic Essay
To start my research off, I began looking at books focusing on Manga in the NUA Library. I turned out 5 books, all containing some helpful information and they can be seen as follows:
- ‘One Thousand Years of Manga’
Written by Brigitte Koyama-Richard
Published by Flammarion in 2007
- ‘Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese comics’
Written by Paul Gravett
Published by Laurence King Publishing in 2004.
- ‘JapanAmerica: How Japanese Pop culture has invaded the US’
Written by Roland Kelts
Published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2006.
- ‘Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics’
Written by Frederik L. Schodt
Published by Kodansha International Ltd. in 1986
- ‘The Art of Osamu Tezuka’
Written by Helen McCarthy
Published by Ilex in 2009
From this I began reading through them one by one, and tagging useful information in each. I began with ‘One Thousand Years of Manga’.
‘One Thousand Years of Manga’ research and notes
This book highlights the origins of Manga in Japanese culture, and shows a timeline of its development. From this I can see the development of Manga as an art form, and the rise of the modern manga. It is also in this timeline where we can see the rise of Osamu Tezuka and his great influence. Known as ‘The God of the Modern Manga’ (pg 147) Tezukas life led him into the life of a mangaka, Publishing his first Manga whilst studying Medicine, his style soon evolved from being strongly influenced ‘by Walt Disney and the Fleischer Brothers’ (pg 148) into something that was his own. His followed his first Manga with a debut, which ‘appeared in a magazine for children in 1946, Ma-chan no nikkicho (The intimate Diary of Ma-chan)’ (pg 148). This manga was the first to begin transforming the comic style into something new; the Modern Manga. It was however in 1950 that Tezukas work became something even more. ‘Kimba the White Lion (also known as The Jungle Emperor), with its touching animal character, brought him an international reputation’ (pg 150). But the work that made him a household name and is his most well-known comic is Astro (Testuwan Atomu). Also known as Astro Boy, the Manga was not well received when it was first released. Some even burnt his books in the street claiming they were having a harmful effect on children. Soon after the media got involved, and when Astro Boy was made into a television series the ratings were incredible. Tezuka always took influence from Disney, Tezuka even said: ‘ I was unconsciously influenced by Mickey Mouse. Astro Boy resembles him. Mickey has two ears. Astro always has two horns. In fact they are not ‘horns’ at all, but licks of hair’ he claims that their similarities is where ‘the magic of animation resides.’ (pg 150). He also went on to say that along with the two horns, Astro is always bare chested, such as Mickey Mouse was in the early animations where all he wore were shorts and shoes. Both also wear overlarge shoes, and there is also a hole in Astros glove following Mickeys design. In terms of animation, Tezuka always had a passion to animate like Walt Disney. This unfortunately proved far too expensive, however he managed to create first-rate animations using ‘fewer images and occasionally reutilizing earlier ones’ (pg 150).
Developing his field of art further, Tezuka created his first shojo manga, which is manga for girls, in 1953. Princess Knight (also known as Princess Sapphire) created a story of an Angel with a boys heart in a girls body, and the girls journey through life and love on earth. Other manga artists have attempted this type of manga but none have the quality of Tesuka’s. This stems from his upbringing, as Tesuka was regularly taken to see shows at the Theater in his hometown, with predominantly female actresses. ‘His famous heroine, Princess Sapphire, complete with those characteristic shining stars in her huge eyes, resembles those of the Takarazuka Theater as much as she does Disney animation’ (pg 152). The success of the manga led it to be turned into an animated film, and although foreign countries did not seem to understand why Tezuka drew his characters with such large eyes, he found that American and French artists were soon drawing this type of shojo manga also.
His next popular manga was Phoenix, also known as Hi no tori and the Firebird. He began drawing this manga in 1954, and it featured ‘humanistic and spiritualistic conventions’ (pg 152). After much criticism from the masses on his work, many people claimed his work was ‘soppy compared to gekiga, realistic manga which did not shrink from scenes of violence’ (pg 152). Although, even after’ being the butt of so much criticism, he was subsequently lauded as “the god of manga”’ (pg 152). It was after this criticism that his new manga was drawn, Blackjack, which renewed his confidence and helped to gain new readers and confirm his place as a major artist. Based on his own experiences as a medical student, Blackjack features the story of a physician struck from the medical register, so performs medicine unofficially.
Tezuka’s influence on the world of manga has been great. His influence has created the birth of gekiga, where mangaka draw realistic panels and stories, featuring violence and gore. This movement began in the Kansai region in the 1950s, and their mangas contain dramatic images, ‘bereft of humor, their stories offer a bleak reflection of everyday life and social problems’ (pg 154). The gekiga soon became a genre of its own, and after the baby boom in Japan after WWII, this generation of children ‘built contemporary manga or became its most faithful readership’ (pg 154).
Important pages in this book:
Pages 147 - 157
‘Manga: Sixty years of Japanese comics’ research and notes
In this book, the author looks at post war comics and their effect on modern manga. It addresses all the major influences on manga, naming Osamu Tezuka ‘The Father Storyteller’ (pg 24). They claim that ‘without Dr Tezuka, the post-war explosion in comics in Japan would have been inconceivable’ (pg 24) The whole scale of the boom of comics in Japan was due to his innovations in both comics and animation, and they ‘continue to influence both platforms to this day’ (pg 24). Tezuka is so highly regarded in the manga industry, and is said to be the equivalent of Walt Disney, Herge, Will Eisner and Jack Kirby in one package. Some even say that his place in history is equivalent to ‘that of D.W. Griffith in the history of cinema’ (pg 24). He is regarded as a remarkable 20th century figure, and even has his own museum in his home town of Takarazuka to celebrate his long career in manga and animation from 1946 to 1989. Although Tezuka died young, he had produced 150,000 pages for 600 manga titles as well as 60 animated titles, as well as lectures, essays and film reviews, enough to last lifetimes. Tezuka had such dedication to his work, most nights only sleeping for 4 hours. ‘One explanation he gave was his witnessing of Japan’s war-machine propaganda and the death and destruction of World War II’ (pg 24). He first hand experienced the aftermath of an air raid on Osaka, and ‘this fired his conviction to teach peace and respect for all life through animation and the less costly comics’ (pg 24). During the war, Tezuka was forced to stop drawing comics, however he drew over 3,000 pages in private during the war, one even depicting the end of the war and his elation to be able to draw comics again in freedom. He believed he could create manga that was acknowledged as a valid part of culture in Japan. They give a fantastic example of how Tezuka transformed comics: ‘ He led the way in transforming manga’s image through the sheer range of genres and subjects he tackled, his nuanced characterizations, his kinetic layouts and above all his emphasis on the need for a compelling story - one that was unafraid to confront the most basic human questions of identity, loss, death and injustice’ (pg 24).
His passion for comics began at at young age, as his father was an avid reader and enjoyed replicating comics, even American ones. His mother would also read comics to him, as well as take him to the Takarazuka Theatre, which was a women-only theatre company. It was cinema however, where Tezuka gained most of his influence. It was through amateur filmmaking with his father that he began to look at comics in a different way, and tried to create movement using flipbooks. From watching so many films in his lifetime, Tezuka asked himself, ‘how can I draw comics that make people laugh, cry and be moved, like that movie?’ (pg 26). It was this thought that transformed Japanese comics. Tezuka always noted that post-war comics were rigid, and always contained one static shot of a full character. He wanted to change this, and after the importation of Western comics and cinema into Japan after the war, Tezuka began to take influence from them. ‘The strongest influence on him in so many ways seems to have been the narrative dramas, of which American movies were the great exemplars. Above all it was the motion and emotion of Hollywood that he sought to inject into his comics’ (pg 28). At the beginning of his career at the end of the war, Tezuka sought a publisher for his work, only to find that his panels and pages were too big for papers or periodicals. However, Tezuka found a small manga publisher in Osaka named akabon, or red books. His first book published with this company was in 1947 and was called Shintakarajima (New Treasure Island), and was cut down from 250 pages to just 60 for publication. Even after tremendous editing however, the manga was a huge success, selling 400,000 copies. ‘It also started a trend for original manga stories to be issued directly in the red-book format’ (pg 28). It was the success of this manga that created a whole new style and format for the drawing of manga. Tezuka’s use of cinematic panels, with motion lines, and sweat drops gave emotion to his comic, and made his pages look like a roll of sequences from a film. Many mangaka have claimed that without reading Tezuka’s early comics and gaining influence from him, they would not have been influenced to draw manga. Tezuka then began to expand his horizons, changing page layouts and length of his books, as well as creating new and exciting stories. ‘In the wake of his success, his publisher gave Tezuka six months to create an unprecedented 160-page science-fiction red book’ (pg 29). Taking influence from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, in 1949 Tezuka created a science-fiction red book of the ‘dangers of unchecked technological progress’ (pg 29). The development of Tezuka’s work took him into new areas, with a new step of creating humour in a dramatic comic. Tezuka claimed to use ‘alienation effects used by German playwright Bertolt Brecht’ (pg 29) who ‘wanted to remind his audience not to lose themselves entirely in the performance, but instead always to think for themselves’ (pg 29). Seeing himself as a ‘director of his comics’ (pg 29), Tezuka used some of his characters many times in comics, as these are the characters that were loved by the populace. ‘It helped him to build a special relationship with his audience, who enjoyed recognizing the familiar actors’ faces, now appearing typecast or ‘out of character’.’ (pg 30) Tezuka was so focused on his characters being actors in a film, he created biographies for each, wrote reviews of their performances and even kept a ‘ledger of what each of them ‘earned’.’ (pg 30)
Along with his love of Manga, Tezuka was passionate about Animation. In 1961, Tezuka set up his own animation company, Mushi Productions, and began producing his animations of his comics. ‘Through this he produced television cartoons of his manga Tetsuwan (‘Iron-arm’ or ‘Mighty’) Atom, first broadcast on New Year’s Day, 1963, and Jungle Taitei, the first in colour, in 1965 (they were sold abroad as Astro Boy and the Kimba the White Lion).’ (pg 30) Although animation inevitably led Tezuka to bankruptcy, he soon bounced back ‘ with animated movies made for the television and 17 features for the big screen’ (pg 30). Tezuka’s success was born from good storytelling. He claimed that ‘a story, like a tree, needed strong roots to be compelling; if these are weak, no amount of flashy detail will hold it up.’ (pg 30) Tezuka said ‘ What I tried to express in my works can be summed up in the following message: “Love all creatures! Love every living thing!”’(pg 30). Tezuka’s passion for manga stemmed from his attempt at crossing national boundaries, claiming that ‘comics are a bridge between all cultures’(pg 30).
Important pages in this book:
Pages 24 - 37
‘JapanAmerica: How Japanese pop culture has invaded the US’ research and notes
This book highlights how Japanese pop culture has spread across the world, and why it has had such a strong impact on western cultures. Included in this book is a section on influential people, with none other that Osamu Tezuka being one of the key influences. Tezuka’s upbringing in a upper middle class family meant he had more of an insight into western cultures than less privileged families. ‘As a child in the mid-30’s he was able to view 8-millimeter prints of Disney and other American and European films in his own home’ (pg 41) It was also, from Tezuka’s hobby of collecting insects that he also gained plenty of influence. ‘Much of Japanese anime design emanates from this insect obsession. Think of Ultraman’s praying-mantis eyes, the beetlelike space ships in Battle of the Planets, and just about any Japanese sci-fi robot or monster, which often feature enlarged insect appendages that appear to have been magnified- or irradiated’ (pg 41). After the war, Tezuka took advantage of two key shifts in Japan. The first was that after the war, there was a ‘near collapse of the Japanese publishing industry’ (pg 41), this opened up access for independent publishers, in which these became ‘responsible for distributing the new medium. Secondly, Japan lifted its censorship laws, which enabled Tezuka use his imagination and express himself freely in his creative field.
Although America remains unaware of who Tezuka is and his work, ‘Tezuka is where today’s anime style starts’ (pg 41). He was the beginning of ‘ interrelations between Japanese and American artists-a cross-pollination of influences that traverses the realms of computer-generated images (CGI), limited or two-dimensional animation, and live action’ (pg 42). A quote from Yoshihiro Shimizu, claims that the US influenced Tezuka greatly. Shimizu worked alongside Tezuka for 11 years. US influences he claimed had the most impact on Tezuka were Disney, Max Fleischer (Betty Boop and Superman). Shimizu said ‘He loved movies in general. And he loved the natural world.’ ‘He loved Bambi so much that he claimed to have seen it eighty times, memorizing the film from start to finish’ (pg 42). When looking at Tezuka’s work, you can see a clear contemporary look, even in his early work. He uses panels to convey camera shots, such as a harsh zoom on a characters face, and also having the action bursting out of the panel borders. The reason for Tezuka’s experimentation into different techniques was his fearlessness and his how he was naturally drawn to the natural world when creating his comics. ‘There is an earthiness to Tezuka’s subject matter, a willingness to confront, for example, the messiness of the human body’ (pg 43). This was apparent in the characters behaviour, as he would have them vomiting, as well as other disgusting things, using sounds and sensations artists would usually be afraid to use. He was also interested in portraying the ‘ spectral lushness of the natural landscape, or the physicality of violence’ (pg 43). Tezuka was known for pushing the boundaries of comics, portraying dark and violent images, and creating disturbing and emotional stories. This opened up the medium to all artists, giving them the idea to experiment with other emotions in comics, apart from humour. Narratives were especially important to Tezuka. ‘“He focused on story, and he was a voracious reader of both eastern and western sources,” explains Shimizu. “When we shifted from manga to anime, his focus on story was critical.”’(pg 43). In the early days of animation, Tezuka’s production value was lacking, as they did not have the funds to compete with American animation studios. However, their stories and their depth of characters kept their ratings up and their shows popular. It was soon after this that ‘Mighty Atom’ was created, and soon aired in America in 1964 as ‘Astro Boy’ and was an instant hit. Because of this success, ‘Tezuka met his hero, Walt Disney, at the 1964 World’s fair in New York. The American allegedly told Tezuka that he admired Astro Boy and wanted to create something like it.’ (pg 44) It is however known that the relationship between the two studios has had its less savory moments. It is claimed and argued by anime fans across the world that Disneys ‘The Lion King’ released five years after Tezuka’s death ‘plagiarized numerous story and character elements from Tezuka’s Kimba the White Lion, released thirty years earlier.’ (pg 44) It was alleged that Tezuka’s studio were paid hush money on the side for the rights to create ‘The Lion King’, however Shimizu quickly set the record straight that they had received no money from Disney whatsoever. Shimizu also claimed that they do believe that they are two different stories, and although they were urged to sue Disney, as they are only a small company there was no point. Disney have some of the best lawyers available, so they wouldn’t have a chance. It is known that Tezuka’s admiration of Disney films was great, and there are many sketches of his, from sitting in the cinema sketching the films as they were playing. He claims that if Tezuka were alive when ‘The Lion King’ was released, ‘“and if he knew about even the rumor that Disney might have copied elements of his work, he would have been proud.”’(pg 45)
But what makes manga and anime especially Japanese in comparison to American comics and animation? Shimizu explains the characteristics of Japanese anime, ‘the absence of easily definable dilemmas, moralities, or resolutions that run through the form to the current day’. (pg 46) He explains that unlike Western comics and animation, there is a greater emphasis on contexts, so basically how a character acts in a certain situation or location. Also, because of its geographic location, Japanese comics and animation have a particular way of looking at the world. Because Japan is situated between the USA and China, they are in between the geopolitics that happen between these two countries. Shimizu explains, ‘“We understand both sides, and we have to base our decisions considering those two sides. It’s the dilemma of being between two worlds, two hemispheres, and understanding, even sympathizing with both. Disney is always pushing the good side, the morally right. But the in-between world speaks to the Japanese.”’(pg 46) This is extremely noticeable in Tezuka’s characters, who always seem to have two sides to them. Astro Boy is a half human, half robot, Kimba the Lion, is half human also.
Important pages in this book:
Pages 40 - 48
Pages 50 - 51
Pages 64 - 65
‘Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics’ research and notes
This book contains all the information about post war comics and the boom of comics in Japan. It highlights the major artists in this field, who had major influences on the development of Manga. Containing a foreword from Tezuka himself, there are some great insights on his love of comics and why he became a mangaka. He explains that ‘ the Japanese comics industry first began to show signs of heating up to this fever pitch after World War II’. (pg 11) This is because after WWII, western comics were imported in masses and had a massive impact on the way the Japanese view comics. Tezuka made his debut as an artist or mangaka, the year the war ended, which means his experience in writing and drawing Manga is extensive. He explains how he has seen ‘ all the twists and turns that mark the extraordinary growth of Japanese comics over the last nearly forty years.’ (pg 11) Tezuka believes comics are a fantastic way of communicating to all nations and cultures, and that they can ‘further peace and goodwill among nations.’ (pg 11) It was in 1947 that Tezuka created his first popular Manga, Shintakarajima (New Treasure Island) which is based on the original story of Treasure Island. This marks the change in the style of Manga, as Tezuka created his Manga in a style of a movie, creating a unique page layout with a ‘clever use of sound effects, and a lavish spread of frames to depict a single action’. (pg 62) Tezuka sought all his influence from film, especially animation such as the work of Walt Disney and Max Fleisher. Tezuka explains in a short extract of his autobiography that he felt ‘existing comics were limiting… Most were drawn as if seated in an audience viewing a stage, where the actors emerge from the wings and interact.’ (pg 63) He explains that he used movies as influences and created more cinematic comics, using close-ups and different angles. He ‘made a point of depicting a movement or facial expression with many frames, even many pages.’ (pg 63) This broke away from the current comics of single panels and limited narratives, and also introduced longer comics of up to 1,000 pages. Tezuka also believed that comics could be used for more than just humour, so in his comics he sought to make readers experience ‘tears, grief, anger and hate and I created stories where the ending was not always ‘happy’.’ (pg 63) Tezuka’s new way of creating comics grew immensely in popularity, and it is estimated that Shintakarajima (New Treasure Island) sold between 400,000 and 800,000 copies with no publicity. (pg 62) With his degree in Medicine and his intellectual background, Tezuka also brought an intellectual imagination into comics, making them so much more than mere humourous panels. After his first popular comic, Tezuka was approached by several boys magazines, and these small comics were to become two of Tezuka’s most classic comics, Jungle Taitei (Jungle Emperor) and Atomu Taishi (Ambassador Atom) which later changed to Tetsuwan Atomu (Mighty Atom). Tezuka, along with being a keen mangaka was also a budding animator, with both these classic comics being transformed into popular television series. These comics turned in the well known television series, Kimba the White Lion and Astro Boy (pg 63). With the expansion of his popularity, Tezuka began experimenting with ‘his new style in a spate of productivity, creating science fiction, detective stories, historical works, and romances for girls’ (pg 64). It is in this experimentation, Tezuka created ‘new cinematic techniques’ which ‘allowed a level of character and plot development that had been previously unimaginable’ (pg 64).
Tezuka’s influence became widespread, and soon enough in 1965 an American artist published an American version of Tezuka’s Tetsuwan Atomu (Mighty Atom) called ‘Astro Boy’. Originally Tezuka’s work, Tetsuwan Atomu (Mighty Atom) was originally Japan’s first animated television series in 1963. ‘The rights to it were subsequently sold to over twenty nations, including the United States’ (pg 154). It was soon after this that Americans rescripted, redrew and coloured the comic, however it has never lost Tezuka’s style and influence and will always be his creation. The growth in popularity of Japanese comics in America was substantial, with comic conventions becoming widespread across the country. American fans dress as their favourite Japanese characters, and often ‘put their Japanese counterparts to shame’ (pg 155) due to the sheer scale of their interest and love of Japanese comics. Osamu Tezuka and Monkey Punch also won the ‘coveted Ink pot awards in 1980 and 1981, at the San Diego Comic Convention’ (pg 155). Due to the popularity of his animations, some of Tezuka’s work was also translated into English, such as Kimba, the White Lion, which is also said to have influenced Walt Disneys, The Lion King. Tezuka is also said to have been a key influence on the creation of comics containing giant robots, which have had a major impact on western cultures with the popularity of comics such as Transformers being substantial. (pg 156)
Osamu Tezuka has also had a major impact on China. With the rise in the popularity of Japanese comics, Korea began to restrict their entry into the country. However, two of China’s mainland heroes ‘are not members of the Party, but Osamu Tezuka’s characters, Tetsuwan Atomu and Jungle Taitei’ (pg 157, 158). The black and white Astro Boy also became the ‘first foreign animated TV series in China, and it was soon followed by publication of comic booklets’ (pg 158).
Also in this book contains a short biography of Osamu Tezuka. ‘Osamu Tezuka was born in 1928 and as a child was a fanatical fan of early Walt Disney animation. His cinematic-style stories in the immediate postwar years completely changed the entire concept of children’s comics.’ (pg 160) Tezuka is known for being more than just a comic artist, as his animations are known world-wide, having television series broadcasted across the world. His work is known for capturing humanism, with one of his series Blackjack being based on an outlaw doctor, being based off his life being a licensed physician. One of his most challenging comics, Phoenix, contains ‘mans guest throughout the ages for the mythological phoenix, and for immortality’ (pg 160). He began drawing Phoenix in 1954, and the comic challenged Tezuka, as its narrative jumps from ancient Japanese history to thousands of years in the future. Being one his most famous comics, Phoenix was also dramatized on radio, and made into both a live-action film and an animated film. Pages 161 to 187 also contain an early comic of Phoenix by Osamu Tezuka, portraying his style and techniques in comic creation.
Important pages in this book:
Pages 10, 11
Pages 62 - 66
Pages 154 - 158
Page 160
Pages 161- 187
I still have one more book to read... Helen McCarthy's 'Osamu Tezuka: The God of Manga'.
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