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Chapter 1 INTRODUCTIONANDSOMEDEFINITIONS A certain generation of North Americans may remember theTV animation series Astro Boy. The series’ superhero, Astro Boy, was an adorable and somewhat androgynous robot boy, with red boots and a shiny black head that had two spikes that never overlapped no matter from what angle you were looking at him. He had an IQ of three hundred and strength equal to one hundred thousand horsepower. His legs turned into jets so he could fly through the sky, and his eyes turned into searchlights so he could see in the dark. He made a very characteristic squeaking sound when he walked. The series was broadcast by NBC starting September 1963, and American children quickly became familiar not only with Astro Boy but also with the series’ fun and colorful supporting characters, like his sister Astro Girl or scientist Dr. Elephan. What most children did not know at the time was that Astro Boy was adapted from a Japanese comic book series Tetsuwan Atom (Iron-Armed Atom, 1951–1958), and Astro Boy was called Atom in the original series. Its author, Tezuka Osamu, was already revered as the “God of Manga.” Tetsuwan Atom was Japan’s first TV animation series, with an extremely low budget of about $5,000 per episode. Its theme song, sang by Tokyo Children’s Chorus, is somewhat reminiscent of Japan ’s rapid economic growth era; today, most Japanese people would recognize the song, even if they were born long after the series’ end: So ra wo koete (Through the sky) La la la ho shi no kanata (Beyond the stars) Yuku zo Atomu (Go, Atom) Jetto no kagiri (As far as your jet takes you) Kokoro yasashi (Gentle hearted) 3 4 INTRODUCTION AND SOME DEFINITIONS La la la kagaku no ko (Child of science) Juman bariki da (One hundred thousand horsepower) Tetsuwan Atomu (Iron-Armed Atom). This is a book about Tezuka Osamu (1928–1989), the creator of Astro Boy, Japan ’s most celebrated cartoonist, winner of numerous awards at international animation festivals, a medical doctor, and so much more. His work, which has become available in the English language in the past few years, include (but are not limited to) Buddha, a fictionalized biography of Gautama Buddha ; Phoenix, a mix of science fiction, historical epic, and spiritual tale, dealing with reincarnation and human civilization; Black Jack, a story of an unlicensed surgeon; Metropolis, an early science fiction that was adapted into an animation film in 2001; and most recently, Apollo’s Song, a tale of human sexuality and reproduction, which revolves around an emotionally scarred teenager named Chikaishi Shōgo. What is currently available in the English language, however, only represents a very small portion of his body of work. Tezuka started his professional career in 1946, the year after Japan’s surrender in World War II. As a first-year student of medicine in Osaka University, Tezuka began a weekly comic strip, Mā-chan no nikkichō (The Diary of Mā-chan), in a children ’s newspaper, Mainichi Shōgakusei Shinbun. In 1947, Tezuka published his first book-length work, Shin Takarajima (New Treasure Island). This legendary two-hundred-page volume not only mesmerized the child readers of the time but also influenced a number of younger artists and became a model for others to emulate. “Prolific” does not even start to describe the sheer volume or breadth of Tezuka’s work. During his lifetime, Tezuka published approximately 150,000 pages of comics in virtually every genre imaginable. As an animator, he produced TV animation series, feature films, and experimental shorts. He wrote essays on topics of comics, film, theater, education, music, and much more. Other projects include novellas, children’s books, character and mascot design, and manuals on comics and cartooning. He acted in a couple of films, got a Ph.D. in medicine, and played music in his spare time.Today, his influences— however indirectly—are apparent in works of most Japanese manga artists. Tezuka’s first visit to the United States in 1963, when NBC was broadcasting Astro Boy, is dramatized in his autobiographical short comic, Gachaboi ichidaiki (Gachaboi’s Record of One Generation, 1970). On the streets of New York, he approaches a group of little boys: “I will give you a dime each if you answer my question . . . do you know Astro Boy?” One of them answers, “Of course I do, you don’t know it?” Elated, Tezuka jumps up and down, exclaiming, “Whoo...

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