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Banner design by Cody S.; while all "Astro Boy" names and images © Tezuka Productions |
Over ten years ago, people started asking me why I wasn't writing a book about Osamu Tezuka, or if I had any plans to do so. I have always felt that Tezuka should be much better known outside of Japan than he is, and I have always wanted to help out in that regard. But to fully introduce Tezuka always seemed a very daunting task simply because he created so many different works, and also because North American readers would probably be overwhelmed by unfamiliar character names and titles of works.
Around 2000 I planned a simple book just on Astro Boy, introducing the character and the story to readers unfamiliar with it. In looking at the proposal I wrote, the original book's structure actually looks quite similar to that of The Astro Boy Essays, which just came out this summer. But between one thing or another, my Astro Boy project lay dormant for several years. It was partly because there were some disappointments for me, an Astro-fan, along the way. The Astro Boy movie planned by Columbia / Sony Pictures fell apart; the new Astro Boy animated TV series never gained a good time slot in the U.S., or caught fire with younger viewers, and broadcasts quickly ceased. It was all very disheartening. A couple of years ago, however, I realized that I could use Astro Boy as a means to talk about Tezuka and the birth of modern manga and anime. More specifically, I realized that by focusing on one story or character to talk about Tezuka, I could avoid many of the problems involved with trying to write an all-encompassing book about him. For most non-Japanese readers, whose knowledge of Tezuka is nil or negligible, this could mean a far more digestible and easier to understand work.
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It is interesting to note that there actually is another book out on Tezuka in English. Philip Brophy, in Australia, curated the wonderful "Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga" exhibit, which is now showing in San Francisco after having toured major Australian cities. In conjunction with the exhibit, he edited a very nice book/catalog of the same name as the exhibit.
I did not unfortunately see the book until the show opened in San Francisco in June 2007, but it is very nicely done, using translated essays by a variety of Japanese comic critics to discuss Tezuka's works. There are also at least two other books in English on Tezuka currently planned by publishers, and I expect that we will see many more, since he is such an important figure.
Back in our 2005 interview, you called MIGHTY ATOM/ASTRO BOY a deep story, "deceivingly so." Did your authorship of a book on Osamu Tezuka and this icon of Japanese arts & culture further your perspective? How so?
From translating the manga series for Dark Horse, I always knew that the Astro Boy stories had far more depth than is generally realized. In writing my book, though, I was able to explore the environment in which the work was created in Japan, and the changes that Tezuka went through during the course of the long series. It gave me much better insight into Tezuka's mind-set and the struggles that he went through.
It feels almost like happenstance that Osamu Tezuka came into agreement with SHONEN magazine editor Takeshi Kanai early in his career to revise the presence of what was then referred to as AMBASSADOR ATOM. Was Tezuka an artist in the right place at the right time or do you think Tezuka's determination would have led him to eventual manga success?
In terms of Astro Boy, Tezuka was definitely the right artist in the right place at the right time, but he would have become a sensation in the manga world even if he had never created Astro Boy. In fact, he already was a sensation. Kanai was drawn to Tezuka partly because of Tezuka's huge success with Shin Takarajima [New Treasure Island], which is reputed to have sold over 400,000 copies, mainly in the Osaka area, without any advertising. Additionally, when Tezuka began Astro Boy, he was already working on another hugely popular work, Janguru Taitei ["Jungle Emperor," also known as "Kimba, the White Lion"]. With or without Astro Boy, Tezuka would have been a sensation. But with Astro Boy he definitely hit a sweet spot, creating a work that was intellectually interesting, universal and timeless in its appeal, and highly commercial.