Osamu Tezuka:-A brief history

Osamu Tezuka is as much a household name in Japan as Walt Disney is in America. An artist, animator, and med school graduate, he created a number of award-winning comics during his lifetime.

Commonly known as the Godfather of manga, Tezuka's first work, a strip called Diary of Ma-chan (Maachan no Nikkichou) was created in 1946 when he was only seventeen. His most well-known work is Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atomu), which debuted in 1952 after the popularity of Captain Atom, in which the main character first appeared. It tells the story of a robotic boy with a human soul who was created by a mad scientist in the image of his deceased son, but rejected shortly after. Atom becomes faced with the burden of being a mediator between robots and humans and longs for a true family of his own. Stories focusing on androids have continued to be popular manga themes since the birth of "Mighty Atom," who spurred a fandom that lives to this day and contributed to Japan's strong affinity for robots.

One of Tezuka's most obvious contributions to manga was adapting the style for which Japanese comics have become known. Though he was originally influenced by western artists himself, the impact of Tezuka's large-eyed characters can be seen in almost every Japanese comic that's been drawn since then, regardless of genre. In turn, many comic artists and animators around the world today are now influenced by the Japanese style he helped establish.

Tezuka's works also played a major part in the development of the various genres of manga, especially science-fiction. Metropolis is one of the works that has become well-known in the United States. Inspired by Fritz Lang's Metropolis and adapted into an animated movie in 2001, Tezuka tells the story of Kenichi and his detective uncle who are investigating dangerous sunspots and encounter Mitchy, an android whom they mistake for being human. While the three search for her family, Mitchy discovers that she was built as a weapon for the Red Party and leads the robot population to destroy the city of Metropolis. As it turns out, Mitchy could switch genders and was built as a replacement for the deceased daughter of Duke Red, leader of the Red Party. Androgyny, a threatened Earth, heated politics and large robotic populations have remained common themes in manga to this day.

In addition to influencing the evolution of manga and, consequently, anime, Tezuka's influence has managed to reach the west. Many of the comics and animations created in the United States and other western nations today are stylistically similar to the Japanese standard. Tezuka's stories are believed to have influenced the west as well--Disney's The Lion King is believed to have been inspired by Kimba the White Lion, also known as Jungle Emperor (Janguru Taitei).

Tezuka has created hundreds of works spanning over more than 100,000 pages. He died in 1989 at the age of sixty. Though several of his works are only available in Japanese, manga lovers around the world continues to enjoy what he created and feel the influence he had on those who followed in his footsteps.