Osamu Tezuka's "Phoenix"

Although I havent read them all, I think the 12 books do come to a conclusion. the first one starts at 'the beginning'(the past), the second one starts at 'the end' (the future), and the two strands alternate between books, slowly converging on the (near) present in the last volume.. each book is also designed to stand alone in it's own right. It's a brilliant concept, and it allows Tezuka to encompass all of the themes that made his manga great..

Other Tezuka manga worth checking out are (as mentioned above) Astro Boy, Black Jack (basically 'surgeon manga'based on Tezukas experience as a qualified doctor), Jungle Emporer Leo, and of course: Buddha, which is absolutely brilliant, and rivals Phoenix IMO. He also produced the first 'shojo' (or girls) manga 'Ribbon no Keishi', or 'Princess Knight'(yet to be translated), and apparantly was halfway through a comic version of 'Faust' when he died..

The pig faces are indeed 'cultural memes', visible in the work of a lot of other artists, notably Masumune Shirow.. the giant bead of sweat on a charcters head when shamed or embarassed is another one.. surprise, surprise - Tezuka started it all, and this kind of caricature is very visible in early work like Metropolis and Lost World. Not for nothing is he known as 'the god of manga'..

I dont think a comparison to Kirby is really accurate, in fact I dont think that there is a comparable figure in western comics.. the closest reference I can think of is Disney (whom he was very influenced by), but more in the sense that he basically created an entire industry.. but unlike (eugenics + Nazi loving) Disney, Tezuka was a creator first and foremost, and a great Humanist, and I think this is reflected in his work..

PHOENIX:

Though better known in the U.S. for Astroboy and Kimba the White Lion, the "Phoenix" cycle is manga god Osamu Tezuka's life's work. An anthology of stories spanning from the dawn of civilization to the distant future, Tezuka wrote various Phoenix manga from 1954 until his death in 1989. "Tale of the Future" dates from 1967, and it's technologically advanced world populated by robots and mad scientists is most like Astroboy's and thus more recognizably Tezuka's to American fans.

"Phoenix" is a prime example of why Tezuka is internationally recognized as one of the greatest comics artists in history, as well as the primary architect of the anime medium. Previously, the manga form had been mostly limited to brief one-note jokes comparable to American newspaper comic strips. Tezuka popularized longer, serialized stories with fully-developed plotlines, more in keeping with American comic books. But whereas U.S. comics were almost exclusively the realm of cape-wearing superheroes, Tezuka's varying tastes insured that manga would become a popular medium for all sorts of fiction in every genre conceivable. "Phoenix" is classic Tezuka: an intelligent and involving moral parable with universal appeal. He would also bring these same qualities to the embryonic anime industry in his many pioneering animated series and feature films, establishing a standard to which all anime that followed would be measured.

His drawing style is also something rare and wonderful. Strongly influenced by the work of Disney and other early American animation studios, his characters possess a unique look in which one can see the beginnings of "anime style"(big glossy eyes, pointy hair, tiny mouth); yet at the same time it would not be out-of-place in a classic Hollywood cartoon. Indeed, the denizens of "Phoenix" would blend nicely into a 1930's Max Fleischer "Popeye" or "Betty Boop" picture. But instead of a short, simple, gag-laden story, "Phoenix" is grand sci-fi adventure tale with very little in the way of humor. It is to Tezuka's immense credit that he is able to craft such a convincing, serious epic with such classically cartoony-looking characters. In the hands of a lesser artist the caricatured nature of the artwork could easily undermine the straightforward tone of the story. Tezuka's superb visual style carries it all with ease, and challenges our preconceptions of the kinds of stories "cartoon characters" can tell.

Tezuka's manga share similarities with the work of the American comics master Carl Barks, whose "Uncle Scrooge" also told sprawling, epic adventures drawn in the style of old Hollywood cartoons. But Tezuka's stories tend to be more topical, sophisticated, and complex, and often raise moral and ethical questions in the process. When his superior discovers he is harboring a Moopie, Yamanobe is ordered to kill Tamani, who has become as close to him as a wife, and for a while he seriously considers it. The reasons behind the government's ban on Moopies is a thinly veiled jab at the Japanese social conscious of the 1950s and 60s, which was torn between nostalgia for a lost past and a runaway modernization of the country. And Dr. Saruta's animal creations, which can only live inside the glass tubes they were grown in, pose interesting questions about the nature and value of life....

Related anime:
    Hi no Tori (TV) (adaptation)
    Phoenix: Chapter of Dawn (movie) (adaptation)

Alternative title:
    âŒÇÃí (Japanese)
    Fire Bird
    Hi no Tori (Japanese)

Age rating: All Ages (Nothing objectionable)

Genres: Science Fiction

Number of tankoubon: 12

Volumes:
    #01. Dawn
    #02. A Tale of the Future
    #03. Yamato
    #04. Universe
    #05. Hou-ou
    #06. Resurrection
    #07. Robe of Feathers
    #08. Nostalgia
    #09. Civil War
    #10. Life
    #11. Strange Beings
    #12. Sun

Vintage:
    1954-07 to 1955-05 (Dawn)
    1986-01 to 1988-02 (Sun)

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/reviews/display.php?id=258http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/reviews/display.php?id=258

BTW 'Comics underground Japan' should read 'Dreamland japan' in my previous post...

I will say, if you're planning on getting the books from Amazon, the first one is a medium sized manga paperback, but the second one (when it came in the mail), was WAY bigger. Like, big trade paperback size. And it looks like the demensions of the 3 is SMALLER than the first. What's up w/that? Is it too much to ask to have the series be ALL the same size book?

I'm writing a paper on Buddha right now, and apparently it's a hyotantsugi (i.e. "patched gourd"), sketched by Tezuka's sister when they were both schoolchildren. He later used it in his own works as a sort of trademark symbol which doesn't necessarily have any bearing on the story proper (Mark Wheeler MacWilliams, “Japanese Comics and Religion: Osamu Tezuka’s Story of the Buddha,” in Japan Pop! Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture, ed. Timothy J. Craig (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2000), p. 124-5).

That's all. ;=)

Worth getting, eh?

I think I've finally found my 'in' to appreciating manga! And, big surprise, it's by Tezuka!

M
W

which I picked up at the library this morning, and am already halfway through, and which is kicking my ass hard, and which is probably because it's a genre piece in the hard-boiled crime mold - always a personal fave.

what?
I have one volume of this, I think tale of the future? anyway it was too depressing to make me want to read more. I have plenty of depressing Tezuka already, anyway.

As far as I know, MW is unrelated to Phoenix.

http://www.vertical-inc.com/books/MW/MW_preview01.html

wow, never heard of that one. Sounds worse than Adolf.

Haven't read Adolf, so I can't say, but it's definitely built to stack the deck against your instinct for compassion. The one lead character is a sort of Batman/James Bond type of resourceful genius, except completely evil, and the other nominally more sympathetic lead is a pedophile priest who's one redeeming personality trait is that he's racked with guilt over his crimes and wants to be a good person but just can't seem to manage it.

it=MW, I hope obviously

MW is batshit insane; there's a live action movie on the way in Japan.

I'm about to buy ALL of Phoenix on Amazon except for the first book; anybody got a good place to get that? It's out of print.

> MW is batshit insane

No argument here! I think maybe that helped me to dig it.

Don't get me wrong, it's great; it's just fuckin' nuts.

Tezuka is great - I haven't been disappointed by anything of his I've read yet (well, okay, maybe some of the later Astro Boy stuff, but it was like 15+ volumes in). That said...

1) What's the deal with having people mangled horribly in car accidents? I just read v1 of Black Jack and there's like two stories in there with that gimmick!

2) What's with the patchy cloth pig that... err... explodes with tension? It's one of those non-sensical cartoony devices he puts in randomly in his books. Is it related to something real?

Can someone explain those patched-up pigs to me, though? What's that about?

I'm writing a paper on Buddha right now, and apparently it's a hyotantsugi (i.e. "patched gourd"), sketched by Tezuka's sister when they were both schoolchildren. He later used it in his own works as a sort of trademark symbol which doesn't necessarily have any bearing on the story proper (Mark Wheeler MacWilliams, “Japanese Comics and Religion: Osamu Tezuka’s Story of the Buddha,” in Japan Pop! Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture, ed. Timothy J. Craig (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2000), p. 124-5).

-- L (Leee), Sunday, May 29, 2005 2:49 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark Link

Not sure what the car accident theme is about, except there's all manner of violent themes that emerge... stonings, urinating on characters, casual rape are all prttty common in the overall oeuvre as well. Dude's pretty twisted.

Ha, I feel kind of like a jerk for not finding that up in the thread. Thanks, though!

Just finished the last volume of Phoenix this morning. Excellent recommendation, so just wanted to say thanks to the various people who were recommending it. I'm kind of curious to learn more about Tezuka's religious beliefs. Buddha was, obviously, fairly well-disposed toward Buddhism, but there were a couple Phoenix volumes that seemed highly opposed to the proliferation of Buddhism in Japan. I suppose both share a hostility to organized or state religions, but I was surprised at the portrayal of Buddhism as an evil, invading religion.

Now I want to track down the live action 1979 Phoenix adaptation with the Michel Legrand score. According to Wikipedia, I'm going to have to find a Spanish DVD. Don't suppose anyone here has actually seen it?

It's up on Karagarga with English subtitles, thanks for mentioning it to me, cuz I'm gonna go get it NOW. Email me off thread and I'll see about mailing you a copy.

You know that Metropolis (the anime, not the F. Lang film) is based on the second book of Phoenix, right? Also Space Firebird 2772

d'oh! no seeders!

Ah, too bad. I knew about Space Firebird 2772, but I didn't realize Metropolis (which I've been meaning to see for a while) was an adaptation. I knew it was Tezuka, but I thought it was a different work. I should certainly watch it while I'm still on a Tezuka kick.

I just went through what felt like a bender of Tezuka—the first volumes of Black Jack and Phoenix and three volumes of Buddha. Great stuff, as if that needs repeating.

So, I should read Black Jack next, then? Adolf? Dororo?

Yeah, Black Jack's cool. Totally different in tone from Buddha and what I've read of Phoenix. I mean, who dreams up an emotionally haunted mercenary supersurgeon as a comic book hero?

probably an emotionally haunted ex-doctor who became a comic book writer.

Dororo, Apollo's Song, MW are all great; don't neglect astroboy! The dark horse reprints are tiny, but fun reads. Buddha and Phoenix are pretty clearly the apex as far as American reprints go.

Astro/Blackjack do suffer from repetitious episodic themes, so tread lighter than you would with Buddha/Phoenix. You can burn out if you do two or three books at a time.

MW sounds excellent, but the library doesn't have it. They do have Dororo and Apollo's Song, though, so maybe I'll do some shorter ones after this most recent glut. Certainly before I try the 23 volumes of Astro Boy they've got....

it is ridiculous that all the viz english volumes of phoenix are OOP.

i bought them all on amazon a year or two back and i never did a full read through! need to set aside a month.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC4Q07JJmB8

http://tezukainenglish.com/wp/?page_id=172

Just read Ayako, holy cow, that was dark.

Guys, I just watched the first episode of the OG Astro Boy, and I really did not expect it to be such a rich + multilayered text as it is or for it to be so deeply, sublimely fucked up. Soooooo I'm gonna be watching more Astro Boy, is what I'm sayin' here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAzTJdgwUSM