The Mike Toole Show

Tezuka Time

Tezuka Productions would go back to the well and remake Astro Boy in 2003, commemorating both the 40th anniversary of the cartoon and the fictional "birthdate" of Astro himself. The company spared no expense in revitalizing their flagship hero; the TV series was bankrolled by Sony, and directed and scripted by the famous (and somewhat infamous) Konaka brothers.

Unfortunately, its western release was badly, badly bungled, featuring a gutted musical score, extensively rewritten scripts, and some episodes either omitted or shown out of sequence; the show was irregularly bounced between Cartoon Network before being canceled. Its broadcast run was never properly finished, although Sony did see fit to throw out a dub-only, poor-quality DVD box. Astro Boy 2003's handling by Sony is a compelling model of how not to release an anime series in the west, which is pretty frustrating in retrospect.

I'll wind up the list with two more projects. The first is Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Western fans were very excited upon its Japanese release in '04, because one of the producers was listed as WNET, New York's well-funded public TV station. This fueled speculation that the series would air on WNET, which was later confirmed by Media Blasters, who were handling the adaptation and home video release. But for whatever reason, Phoenix didn't make it out in English until 2007.

With all of that out of the way, it's time to spend a little time talking about The Astonishing Work of Tezuka Osamu. KimStim's DVD release is a smart, no-frills translation of the original Japanese DVD. Aside from English menus and the addition of subtitles, it's virtually identical, right down to the 13 shorts in the exact same order. The short films themselves run the gamut from grainy, scratchy 60s-era films to sharp, digitally remastered fare from the years leading up to Tezuka's death in 1989, and while the newer stuff looks great, I was left wondering if removing the hiss and grain of the older films wouldn't detract from their charm somewhat.

What these short films demonstrate, more than anything else, is Tezuka's absolutely remarkable, intuitive grasp of animated expression and storytelling. For a guy who got his start in comics, Tezuka took to the animated medium like a natural, practically flying out of the gate with A Man and His Cat-- only with a wicked twist at the end.

Tezuka's subsequent 60s films run the gamut from JOHN HUSTON" before spilling a bizarre interpretation of the Bible.

The thing is, then the 80s happened. I don't know why Tezuka effectively skipped a decade in creating his animated shorts, but he took a on the 70s and the next work of note wouldn't come until 1984's Warner Bros. shorts, before making way for brightly colored, Disney-esque animation, and later eye-catching, stylized anime-esque sequences. The other films in this collection sometimes stumble, but Legend of the Forest never misses a beat - it's a great piece of anime and a great work of filmmaking both. 1987's Academy Award for short animated films went to Frédéric Back's excellent The Man Who Planted Trees, but looking at Legend of the Forest makes me wonder if Tezuka ed to have it submitted to the Academy, because it's easily the equal of Back's work.

KimStim's DVD does feature a flaw or two - subtitles are a bit rough, and the timing is occasionally way off, but that's a pretty small complaint considering this exceptional collection can be had for less than $20 at a lot of outlets. It is absolutely essential if you're a general animation buff or if you take special interest in the history of anime, and still worth seeing if you have only a ing interest in Tezuka. One final thing I would like to crow about is a short interview with Dr. Tezuka present on the DVD. This was absolutely wonderful to watch, and not only because I'd only really known him from that one photo of him smiling (you know the one) before seeing it. The doctor is articulate and energetic - he speaks with ion and precision, and rarely stumbles on his words. Furthermore, he says a number of really interesting observations throughout the talk. He ruminates on the emergence of CG animation ("It makes the end product seem cold and banal... I try to avoid this in my work.") and speaks of growing disillusionment with Japan's animation business. "TV animation has gone in a direction that I did not expect," he laments, citing the lack of challenging, experimental works like his shorts. The interview wraps with him pledging to help repair the problems with the industry, leaving me wondering what the anime business would look like if Tezuka were still alive.

So that's the alpha and the omega of Tezuka anime released in English in North America. Did I miss any? I bet I did, in spite of my research - Dr. Tezuka was a ferociously prolific creator (it's been reported that his final words on record were, "I'm begging you, let me work!"), and it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that even more of his works were adapted. In fact, I wish more of his animated films were out in English, because there's just so darn many that aren't! There are numerous TV shows, starting with the clumsy Marine Express, an utterly silly and incredibly entertaining undersea mystery featuring almost every famous Tezuka character, from Black Jack to Astro Boy to Kimba. With Dr. Tezuka's name firmly established among today's anime fans, hopefully more and more of these classics will come to light.

What we will see, in any case, is a theatrical adaptation of Tezuka's famous Buddha manga; Tezuka Productions are already putting their plans to create this new project in motion. I have little doubt that it will be a fine film. (I try to be 100% optimistic, but then again, Ambassador Magma!) The studio recently helped to create popular movies based on his MW psychodrama manga. There have been murmurings of a new Jungle Emperor Leo project. It is a testament to the artistic vision and intelligence of Dr. Tezuka that his characters not only survive but thrive decades after his unfortunate demise. So my big question is: what's the next Tezuka anime we'll see in English? I'm sure we'll all find out soon.