Osamu Tezuka

[LumRanmaYasha]

I think it's about time someone finally made a thread to discuss the collective works of the "God of Manga" himself. I could go on at length about why his contribution to the industry was so important and why I love his works, but I sort of already did that in the Favorite Manga thread and don't want to be redundant here, though certainly I'll come back and bring up several aspects I like about his body of work from time to time in other posts. But to be brief, in my opinion, Tezuka was an eclectic and highly skilled artist and storyteller, who produced the most interesting and diverse body of work than any other mangaka who's ever worked in the industry, and influenced the medium and how comics were perceived and came to be in Japan more than any other as well. There's been no one like him since, and there probably never will be.

The reason I decided to make this thread now of all times is because of some incredible news that's just popped up. For the past three or so years DMP has released several incredible works of Tezuka in print in the west through multiple Kickstarter campaigns, ranging from series like Barbara to Unico to Captain Ken, the latter of which will come out next year. But now they've decided to pull out all the stops and finally try and publish some of the most highly requested titles in the Tezuka catalog in english, namely The Three-Eyed One, Rainbow Parakeet, Wonder 3, Alabaster, The Vampires, AND Birdman Anthology! And instead of doing individual kickstarters for each, they've made one big campaign for all 6! And if the project is fully funded, they will release every volume of all seven series at the same time next summer! 

I am very excited by this news! Most of these series have not even been fan-translated, and considering these are some of the most unusual and interesting titles in Tezuka's body of work, it's great to see an english print release for them is going to come out. Since all the past projects have been funded, I hope this one will be too, even though it is the highest amount they've needed yet to an almost exponential degree. 

In the meantime, I still have a few spare series here and there I still haven't gotten to yet, so by the time these are ready to come out, I hope to be fully read up on everything Tezuka I can find in english. But man, if this does get funded, I'll have my work cut out for me scrounging up the dough to purchase all of these volumes next summer. And I'm definitely going to have to invest in a new shelf for my manga too.

At any rate, use this thread to talk about the late great Osamu Tezuka, his works, and any news about them!

[Spark Of Spirit]

Who is this? Is he as good as Kubo or Kishimoto?

I find that hard to believe.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Well, he may nah be no Hiro Mashima, but ah, y'know, I think he's purty good. 

[Avaitor]

Whoa! That's fantastic news!

[LumRanmaYasha]

Vertical is putting out digital releases of all of their Tezuka titles!

This is fantastic news! Especially considering that many of these series, such as Black Jack and Apollo's Song, are now out of print and hard to find affordable copies of.

[LumRanmaYasha]

So, DMP failed to reach their Kickstarter goal. Miserably. They barely raised 7% of what they need just to meet the first stretch goal.

Sigh...

But, honestly, the timing and promotion of this Kickstarter was executed poorly. They didn't give any notice or release a press release or anything, and the only reason I even learned about it was that they sent a email to the backers of previous donaters to their kickstarters. The fact they did this as the holiday shopping season quickly approached, and the fact that to even get one of the books you have to contribute a huge sum, certainly turned some people off. Not to mention the goal, while necessary, was really unfeasible considering how astronomically large it was compared to previous kickstarters. To publish both volumes of Captain Ken they only needed $13,000. To publish all 13 volumes of Three-Eyed One and all 8 of Rainbow Parakeet, though, they wanted $380,000. And that's just the first goal. What they should have done was start with the smaller stuff, Alabaster and The Vampires, and work their way up, one series at a time. That would have made people more confident that they would be able to reach a goal and fund something, and they would have been able to get at least one series published. They really planned this badly, honestly. Hopefully, they re-evaluate and retool their strategy, because I really want them to be able to get these series finally translated. Right now, though, I just share their and other Tezuka fans' disappointment that they didn't reach their goal, and weren't even close to meeting it.

[Avaitor]

It really is a shame that this fell through. I wish that I had the money to donate, but I honestly didn't.

Bu wow, only 7%. That's crazy.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Well, that big Kickstarter might have failed, but that sure as heck won't stop DMP from trying to get more Tezuka manga published! The latest campaign is to release both volumes of one of Tezuka's last (and unfinished) series, Ludwig B, a bio-manga about Ludwig van Beethoven. I've never even heard of this one before, but it sounds interesting enough to me. The goal is very feasible, so this should one should succeed without problems.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

As part of my growing interest in older, classic manga, I've started taking the time to try different series by this God among men. The way he handled such a huge variety of genres and topics makes it an engrossing experience all its own. Black Jack is probably my favorite, but I've also taken a shine to Buddha due to my great interest in history and religion. I plan on taking on some of his lesser known series, such as Dororo or Ayako sometime soon.

[goody2shoes]

Read Adolf too if you can. I liked it a lot.

Astro Boy is fun too, for children's adventure stories they're often very maturely written and interesting.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I also recommend Ode To Krihito. At only 2 volumes it's a short read, and it's a top notch piece of fiction that any Tezuka fan would admire.

I also need to finish reading Black Jack, and finally get around to Phoenix and Buddha and pretty much every other Tezuka work on the planet.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

Read Adolf too if you can. I liked it a lot.

Astro Boy is fun too, for children's adventure stories they're often very maturely written and interesting.

I've heard about Adolf from several people (including Pharass), and I've been meaning to get around to it. Seems like something right up my alley. I have to read Astro Boy as well, of course. I'd like to see what the original "Greatest Robot in the World" story was like in comparison to Pluto.

I also recommend Ode To Krihito. At only 2 volumes it's a short read, and it's a top notch piece of fiction that any Tezuka fan would admire.

That's also near the top of my list.

I also need to finish reading Black Jack, and finally get around to Phoenix and Buddha and pretty much every other Tezuka work on the planet.

I know that feel.

[LumRanmaYasha]

A new promo image for the new Astro Boy anime series has been released.



I like the stylized design showcased here, but as for the series itself, I don't have any expectations. I do, of course, hope it will be a good show, at least for children, though it would be nice if this series captured the all-ages appeal of the original manga and first anime series.

[gunswordfist]

wait, astro boy is for children?

[LumRanmaYasha]

It was looking close for a while, but today Ludwig B just barely met it's kickstarter goal with only a few hours to spare. I'm glad it got funded - it would have been devastating if two Tezuka manga kickstarters in a row failed, and I'm really interested in reading the series at any rate, even though it's technically unfinished.