Osamu Tezuka - Astro Boy Essays Book Review

Niyusu · (#1 (**permalink**))

Osamu Tezuka was a tireless, vastly influential Japanese manga artist without whom the anime and manga industries now propelling "cool Japan" into the hearts of young people around the world would not exist as we know them. Yet, Japan's "god of manga" has never been as well known as he deserves to be among mainstream audiences overseas and there have been no books written in English that focus on Tezuka himself. Until now.

Meticulously researched, the "Astro Boy Essays" book goes to great lengths to explain the appeal of Tezuka's mechanized Pinocchio. In Japan, Astro Boy is far more than a cartoon character. The manga has inspired countless young Japanese readers to dream big and become roboticists themselves.

The Astro Boy stories, penned by Tezuka over roughly twenty years, evolved as times changed in the '50s and '60s. Tezuka's environmentalism, humanism and pacifism were clear in the manga, but the series was, at it's core, about discrimination, not just science fiction...

Source: Osamu Tezuka: Fighting for peace with the Mighty Atom | Japan Times

ivi0nk3y · (#2 (**permalink**))

Actually he has influenced the West by means of Disney.
Disney stole his Anime "Kimba the white lion" and turned it into..
The Lion King.

dannavy85 · (#3 (**permalink**))

Actually he has influenced the West by means of Disney.
Disney stole his Anime "Kimba the white lion" and turned it into..
The Lion King.

Actually he was influenced first by Disney as a child and then the children who watched Kimba became Disney Artists. I don't think Tezuka would have said anything public about the Lion King, he wasn't like that.

OtakuGaijin · (#4 (**permalink**))

back in my younger days ( in the 1960s) I witness the birth of anime in america, I was hook for life!
I got view the original black & white TV shows of Tezuka's Mighty Atom (aka: Astroboy) and the Wonder Three (aka: Amazing Three) and Space Giants ( aka: Ambassador Mitishi) (note: this last one may be wrong?)
Later as a Adult I got to meet the Master himself at the premier of "Firebird 2772" in ny ,

sometime I wish he was still living, just to see what has grown from his work! and how he inspire the next generation.