Tuesday, 09-Feb-2010 17:46:00 CST
Global
History of Anime
The Very Beginning (Osamu Tezuka)
The world has changed a lot in the last 33
years. When Osamu Tezuka was stunning Japan with his Tetsuwan Atomu
in 1963, Japan was generally considered a place that copied American
goods and produced cheap toys. The economic miracle still hadn't
taken hold. On the whole, the country had not forgiven itself for
events of the 1930's and 1940's. The destruction caused by the Second
World War was not far removed from everyday life, and the atomic
destruction of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were very fresh memories indeed.
It was therefore a bold move as Tezuka, an established manga artist,
told a story of the little robot boy with an atomic heart. This
robot, disowned by his creator for the unpardonable sin of being
a failure (he never grew), is rescued by people who care. Nurturing
and accepting him, this "heartless" creature becomes the staunch
advocate of the very race who shunned him and all his kind. Robots
are second class citizens in the 21st century ... useful at times,
but not imbibed with the same rights as people. In their gradual
acceptance of Mighty Atom, perhaps, they all become a bit more human.
This show did something else pretty amazing too: Producer Fred Ladd
took a look at it and decided that it might actually sell over in
America ... but the Japanese would have to make it look a little
better.
Cels were added as American money entered the project, and Astro
Boy was born. NBC had the rights, yet they themselves never aired
it. With national syndication, Astro Boy became a hit, and inspired
many of the First Wave anime fans (like your author). Then, as now,
the US broadcasters complained (quietly at first) about the violence
in the shows, and that characters might actually die during the
course of a story. This, as Uncle Walt had taught us, was a medium
for children, and children could not be trusted with an advanced
concept such as death. That the Japanese were exposed to these stories
and more was not relevant, and American audiences never saw the
last episode.
Perhaps most surprising to many American fans, Tetsuwan Atomu is
not considered to be Tezuka's greatest work ... that singular honor
goes not even to Jungle Emperor (more on that in a moment), but
on his "lifework" Hi No Tori (Bird of Fire). This huge story (12
collected manga volumes at last count) runs from the distant past
to the distant future, and sadly was not completed before his untimely
death (There was, however, a theatrical version). You can get a
suggestion of how good this story sequence was in video only with
the Phoenix 2772: Love's Cosmo Zone movie and the Japanese (not
yet available in the US) series Hi No Tori 1-3 (there was also a
Japanese only 1979 feature called Hi No Tori, which featured some
live-action sequences).
 While
2772's story does not take place in the manga series per se, there
are segments which touch on many of the same elements. Even so,
Dr. Tezuka is best remembered for his little robot boy and his sister
(interestingly, Atomu and Uran ... atom and uranium), some of his
more experimental films like Jumping, Broken Down Film, Legend of
the Forest, and his epic series about a little white lion with black
ears ... a series which shares many elements with a Disney film
from a few years ago. The lion in the US version of the series was
called Kimba ... although his original name was Simba. We'll leave
you to draw your own conclusions, but Disney steadfastly denies
that anyone based their story on the Tezuka classic. Some in the
industry find this not to be a defensible position.
Shortly after the firestorm descended on Disney, the company took
the position that it was largely unaware of Japanese Animation in
general, and Tezuka in particular. Their animators, it was categorically
stated, were not influenced at all during the production of their
own King-of-the-Jungle lion film. That entire scenes were lifted
from Tezuka "splash" panels were merely coincidence. It was therefore
a bit of a reversal when shortly afterward Disney and Studio Ghibli
announced that Miyazaki's back catalog of films would be distributed
by Disney ... a company that was officially "unaware" of the medium.
Strange, to say the least, eh?
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