Otaku Champloo

Tag: osamu tezuka

  • Osamu Tezuka’s Secret to Creativity

    This is an NHK documentary called Osamu Tezuka: Sousaku no Himitsu. It was done in 1985 and it looks at the man’s life, work, and contribution to Japan. If you didn’t know the amazing of Tezuka, then see a glimpse of it in this video. Fortunately, the uploader shared it with English subs too!

    This guy has done a lot for manga and has inspired quite a number of people to put their dreams and fantasies in panels. For girls comics (shoujo manga), a lot of female artists have shared that Tezuka’s Princess Knight (Ribon no Kishi) was an inspiration for them to draw girls’ comics. Although, I’d probably leave Sapphire in a class of her own as Tezuka has had his own hits and misses with female representation.

    Nonetheless, seeing this made me really understand his amazing contribution not just to Japan but to comic art as a whole. I believe we did a Manga Moveable Feast on Osamu Tezuka a few years back. If you feel like reading up a little more on him, you can check out our Tezuka MMF archive.

    I just saw this link randomly in my twitter dash late last night and couldn’t find who I got this from to give proper credit. But wow, a documentary to see Osamu Tezuka at work! While I have a vague idea how he does it (his life work tells a lot), it’s still nice to see the god of manga move around and show his craft.

    This probably goes around the line of other awesome video of manga folks drawing their craft. I… should possibly post those here soon-ish.

  • History MMF: Little Loud Voices: World War II Remembered by 3 Artists

    War is a victorious, perhaps bitter, maybe a painful playground for adults. In war, we imagine soldiers moving to shoot their enemies, nurses rushing to heal the injured, politicians and generals posing in front of battle plans, and civilians running away from the crossfire. Our memories of war are ingrained with images of adults trying to make sense out of that chaos. For years we have been surrounded by timeless photographs and movies about that war that to this day, we envision the war strongly as an adult’s world.

    But what about the children? Where is the child’s place in our social memory of the Pacific war?

    Finding the child’s place in social memory entails an understanding of social memory and the value of children’s experiences in relation to the grand historical World War II narrative. Their frail voices in World War II histories speak of how much their war experiences have been neglected. However, as these children find their voices as adults, the recollection of their World War II experience as children becomes unbearably loud.

    These are the memories of three Japanese children during the war against the images of Japanese childhood as constructed by Japan’s propaganda machinery. The memories of Keiji Nakazawa, Osamu Tezuka, and Shigeru Mizuki present a different story of the Pacific War —providing a fresh yet powerful social memory that makes us question on how war affects people at all ages.

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  • History MMF: Chapter 2

    This chapter’s quite interesting as I’m receiving diverse reviews for the MMF! So here’s a recap on some of the things written this week!

    First! Ash has reviewed Vagabond, by Inoue Takahiko, a retelling of Miyamoto Musashi’s life.  He dwells on the themes found in the 3rd Omnibus of Vagabond. He is also giving away Shigeru Mizuki’s Onwards Towards Our Noble Deaths. You better tell him what’s your favorite historical manga!

    Terry Hong also felt the need to look into Vagabond. And in the spirit of samurais, he also looked into House of Five Leaves by Natsume Ono.

    In The Beautiful World, Neko reviews MW with a historical perspective. He takes into context the tension of post-war Japan and the taboo sexualities that Tezuka explored. It’s interesting because I rarely see Tezuka contextualized so it’s a good read. I wonder why no one is looking at Buddha? Oh wait, Terry did. Anime Diet also has a look into samurais with Path of the Assassins by Kazuo Koike. 

    Jocelyn Allen from Brain vs. Book looks at Naoto Yamakawa’s Chokodoshujin, a manga about the life of Ryunosuke Akutagawa. I too have no knowledge about his life. And for a while I was thinking if he wrote mysteries and then I realize that it was Edogawa Ranpo. lol. But it looks like an interesting book and hopefully I get to read about it.

    Speaking of authors’ lives, Terry Hong himself discovered Jiro Taniguchi’s book Times of Botchan, a look into the life of Natsume Soseki, a famous author who I sadly remember most for “I am a cat.”

     

    Right here in Otaku Champloo, I talk about manga and memories, particularly why historical manga is relevant to us.

  • The Tale of Three Tezuka Ladies

    The Tale of Three Tezuka Ladies

    It’s hard to imagine Tezuka with heroines. People often associate Tezuka with heroes like Astroboy (Atom), Black Jack, and Buddha. In the last five years, the most fervent of readers would possibly have heard of Sapphire from Princess Knight. Unless you’re Japanese, she is a mystery. In many books, Sapphire is deemed as a representative of the ambiguous gender identity in Japan and she is celebrated as an icon of feminism in Japanese Popular culture.

    However, Sapphire is not the only heroine that Tezuka has penned. There are many others who may shock us and they are far from the Disney ideals that we often associate with Tezuka.

    This is a tale of three ladies written and drawn by Tezuka. All of them have different stories to tell but all of them present a dimension of our femininity.
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  • Vertical does it right again

    Vertical does it right again

    I’m stoked.

    This entry would have been written a lot early if I didn’t have my tabletop game last night. Ed Chavez of Vertical really shook the American manga scene by storm by announcing Vertical’s acquisitions by bringing in manga classic Princess Knight (リボンの騎士), No Longer Human (人間失格), and the wine journey Drops of God (神の雫).

    I believe the manga scene has been in want of the lovely gender-bender Tezuka title which pretty much changed and shaped manga today, for many critical reasons. For people to finally have access to this once elusive title is something to be joyous for. And what a great and lovely title to add to Vertical’s line of Tezuka titles. I think this just truly caps it off, but of course, there’s still quite a lot of Tezuka for us to enjoy.

    No Longer Human is also quite a title in their roster. I’m not exactly sure what the story of this manga is, but I can trust in Ed’s choices that it’s a title that would blow us away. What I do know though is that Usamaru Furuya is the kind of author how knows how to exploit human emotions in his panels. I have read his work Suicide Club (自殺サークル) and that was a strong provocative title not only because of its theme but also because of Furuya’s own storytelling.

    Perhaps what I am most excited about is Drops of God. France and even Indonesia is way ahead of US in terms of discovering the passion that comes with every page of this comic. Sure, it’s a manga about wine but the imagination that comes with every sip are not limited to a bouquet of rosemary or almonds. We’re talking about wine tastings that take you to the fields of Bourdeaux and eventually up the Mattenhorn. It’s bloody amazing and is actually one of my favorite mangas outside of BL and to see it out in English means that more of my friends will finally see why I have an obsession with Tomine and Shizuku. ((In the end, this fujoshi cannot help but ship this pair so bad))

    These three titles all deserve the attention and it’s great that Vertical is bringing them out in english. Collectively though, I’m excited with one more thing: the covers. I’m quite sure you guys are familiar with my obsession for Vertical’s beautiful covers and I am excited on how they will spin and repackage these comics particularly Drops of God who particularly has lovely covers already.

    Yesterday was a great day for manga and I heard that Ed still has more up his sleeves. Is he going to sweep my Morning titles and grab curious fan favorite St. Oniisan? Maybe something unknown but great like Himawari Legend? Will they shock Urasawa followers with Billy Bat? God knows really, but for sure, Vertical will not disappoint.

  • The Tezuka Vertical Covers

    The Tezuka Vertical Covers


    I have something to confess. I rarely buy English mangas. Don’t be hatin’. I have my reasons.

    I rarely buy English mangas because they’re expensive in the Philippines. What would cost $8 in the U.S. might cost $15 in our bookstores. If I order Japanese mangas, it would cost me around $5 for shounen titles or $8 if they’re seinen, bl, or josei. Cost wise, I would sooner run to a Japanese online bookstore to get my stuff than go to Amazon where our customs will sniff the damn book and tax me heavily. The cost for getting my manga in English is a hassle. But there are exceptions. Vertical’s Tezuka line is always worth the hassle.
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  • Live action film for Osamu Tezuka’s MW

    AND TAMAKI HIROSHI IS ACTING!!!

    Yuecchi gave a twit of Tamaki Hiroshi in eyeglasses, but I was more surprised when it said that he is acting for MW! Wow. That’s cool. It’s probably one of his more serious roles. He probably can handle it, then again, I haven’t really seen him in a serious role.

    Sorry, fangirl post. :3 I can’t help it! I love Osamu Tezuka and Tamaki Hiroshi. Of course the latter has more… fangirling bearing. He’s… Chiaki-sama after all.

  • #12 Saint Young Men by Hikaru Nakamura

    stoniisan02 Saint Young Men (聖☆おにいさん) by Nakamura Hikaru
    Serialized in Morning Two
    Published by Kodansha

    Lent is the perfect time to reflect over our past sins and contemplate on how THE MAN sacrificed his life for our salvation. In the modern world, this religious ritual becomes a chore, often forgotten, maybe even neglected. In my country, Lent’s a holiday, a 5 day weekend where you can relax from the nitty gritty of work, ideally to reflect, but more often spent on frolicking in beaches and family picnics. But somehow, The Lord finds his way to sneak up on you, in ways you can’t even imagine. And in this case, he even partnered himself with Buddha to create a light-hearted comedy about two deities living a life in the modern world.

    Whatever divine crack you sniffed Hikaru Nakamura, YOU ARE A GENIUS! JESUS AND BUDDHA FTW!

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  • Pluto feature film?

    *fangirls* Okay. I have to breathe here for a second. In between waiting for Gundam 00 fansites to load, I was reading Frederick Schodt’s interview in Newsarama. There is this line in this interview that just totally blew me away (among others Tezuka related).

    I think it is one of the best manga of recent years, and I can’t wait to see it made into a feature film.

    O_O Did I read that right? Did Schodt say he’s looking forward to see it made into a feature film? Uhmm… does this mean a feature film for Pluto is in the works? *w* I maybe reading into it much, but knowing the realism of the story, the depth of the drama, the popularity of the manga, and Schodt’s insider knowledge with regards to anything Tezuka… THIS COULD BE POSSIBLE!! *_* Just imagine how visually stunning and gripping this movie would be!!

    I really think I may be speculating much but I think he wouldn’t mention it if the idea has not been proposed, right? I mean… I wouldn’t talk about Otaku Champloo being published into a book if I knew that it was close to impossible from happening. But if I knew it was possible and is closer to being real… then I could slip up and say off the hat “I’m looking forward to seeing my book on the shelves soon” As if that could actually happen, but a Pluto movie could just be ‘possible’!

    Gah! My fangirling Urasawa and Tezuka heart has just passed panic mode. I mean, if this ‘slip-up’ it’s true, then the next few years of Anime would be very interesting indeed. :3 Don’t you think?

  • #08 – Ode to Kirihito by Osamu Tezuka

    odecover_thumb Ode to Kirihito by Osamu Tezuka
    Published by Shogakukan
    Translated by Vertical

    I knew that if I read this book, I would be swept in a heartbeat. But not in the same romantic tale that Tezuka presented to me in Ribon no Kishi. This was way different from what we knew of him. Consider my review a bit dumb and light hearted, but I honestly did not see this in Tezuka. Sure, we’ve seen Kimba, Atom, and Sapphire. In my head, I felt that Tezuka was Disney. Many books on manga said he was Japan’s answer to Disney. So when I grabbed Ode to Kirihito on the shelf the other day, I knew I would have an entire paradigm shift on that old man with a beret. Indeed, I felt like Tezuka struck me with a bat saying “Wake up kid, I’m just as cruel as the other guy.” The man is no Disney, and he will never be one.
    My friend Takk was right. This was grim. Far beyond the fairy tales of Ribon no Kishi and the wonder of Atom. Tezuka created a greedy and vengeful world for Kirihito Osanai. And I’m just in awe of his genius.
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