Osamu Tezuka - The Father of Japanese Anime - Video Essay

Osamu Tezuka Video Essay

Everyone knows how Walt Disney gave us what we think of now to be "cartoons", but in Japan, he also, in many ways, gave birth to
what we think of as "Japanese Anime".

Osamu Tezuka went from a young boy working in a factory, to the father of Japanese Anime, all thanks to Walt Disney.

But, over the years, anime has lost its way from how it originally started, something that prominent figures in the
anime world have talked about for years.

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[nanigashi]

The appearance of Osamu Tezuka in Japan at that time caused a culture shock. Most of the manga artists who are currently active in the world, including Hayao Miyazaki, are influenced by Tezuka's work. It is no exaggeration to say that all Japanese manga culture began with Osamu Tezuka.

[yktv]

Who came here from the "movies and shows I can't talk about" video??

[beaal]

I totally agree with him on the hand drawn animation. It just has this feel to it that you don't see much anymore.

[jijipoid]

I Kind of agree with some of what he says.. There are still decent anime that come out every now and then.. but rarely is it something that steers away from the common tropes that are known to make money. Art and experimental ideas are risky to studios. They would rather make something that will give them higher chance to make profit than to make something that has a higher chance to not be noticed.. I also agree however that many of the computer CG animated stuff does seem quite soul less vs the hand drawn stuff. Not always is this the case but it is the case a lot of the time.

[zainou]

Your point about substance in anime being rare, is an INCREDIBLE generalization, while there is trash in anime today (as there has always been), there are also amazing series and movies coming out every season.

[cgilby]

This whole comment section is basically just that Alex’s opinion sucks and he doesn’t have the right to free speech on anime.

[PauseandSelect]

This is such a naked fellatio of Tezuka.

While there's a lot of sentiments that do agree that what we understand as anime (particularly through the lens of production) is heavily influenced by what Tezuka did, you never mentioned that. Hell, Tezuka's influence was partially because of this major confluence between merchandising (after acquiring Meiji Seika's contract for Tetsuwan Atomu stickers), undervaluing the cost of episode production, and industrializing (not inventing) animation banks, and hyper-limited animation.

However, Tezuka's utterance of his work as 'anime' was partially to legitimize the incredibly limited animation as a result of an incredibly limited budget. Ushio Soji, the founder of P Pro, exemplified Tezuka's model:

"Tezuka Osamu's words set the standard for anime pricing with in the Japanese television business, and Tezuka himself suffered from it." (Ushio 2007, 236).

There's a lot we can attribute to Tezuka: setting up an alternative distribution model compared to Toei, focusing on television and limited animation resting upon his manga panels, and finding interesting ways to continue financing his projects. Likewise, Mushi Pro's reputation and history is itself worth considering, so why not *that* element of Tezuka, that part where historians and scholars of animation of that time period say is where he became really central?

I mean, you already mentioned Godzilla, Barefoot Gen (which is, ironically, published in the 70s, well into the shinjinrui times), and seemed to imply *hibakusha* cinema in general, so how is Tezuka's messages of loneliness and difference particularly unique? What sets him apart? If you're going to say that this person is important because of this reason, then you'd have to explain how he causally relates to that particular lineage, especially when Tezuka was not the only one who was influenced by Disney nor was he the only one who went on to successfully work in animation.

I also find the part where you argue that "anime and manga have seem to have lost their way today" pretty strange. It's hilariously disingenuous that you show two characters from School Days and Boku no Pico, both of which are infamous, but not necessarily 'normative' or indicative of the medium-genre as a whole. Why didn't you focus on, say, Shinkai's recent blockbuster *Your Name*, which surpassed *Spirited Away* as having the highest grossing anime film at the box office? That also looks at some fairly complex and confusing sentimentalities.

I mean, you can probably count a large number of televised and arthouse works that deal directly with 3.11, but rather shows with the focus on "[making] more."

The problem is that you've set up this situation where the history of it is placed under this lens of "this part of history is thoughtful and provocative" but then you say "this part of history isn't", when you're ignoring major cases that are completely counter to that sentiment. Why not focus on whiskey commercials and animated ads from that time period? Why not focus on the influence of the Fleischer Brothers, or the Shadow Staff of animation, or folks coming out of the Japanese propaganda studios or from China? Why not focus on thoughtful works of this time period?

It's strange that you focus on the vaguest part of Tezuka's background, and interestingly, the part that can be gleaned with a little bit of Wikipedia reading. If you can provide me with your sources, I would appreciate that, because it feels like this video is missing something much more substantive.

[FeatheredWingz]

I never get tired of learning about Osamu Tezuka. The guy was a larger visionary than Walt imo (& I say this as Dis-nerd who has consumed her fair amount of reading on Disney too). The impact of both men on global pop-culture and animation is undenaible. But Tezuka is just...more admirable, imo.
As I learn more about Walt, he seems more like a guy who had continual amazing, yet un-fleshed out ideas & terrible control issues; he sees his dreams realized but at great personal stress to everyone around him, people he supposedly cares about. He'd lose interest in developing an idea once others working on it made it clear he'd have to make concessions for any non-financial reasons (workers' rights being a big one). And his internal struggle between re-living his very specific turn-of-the-century childhood & young adulthood and then being celebrated as a forward-thinker and as a champion of contemporary scientific & economic progress...it's soooo obvious. He wanted the respect of others as a successful adult businessman in a modern world, but he also wanted society to fundamentally (and, kind of, functionally) feel unchanged from when he was a kid, irl. He wasn't really an admirably emotionally mature guy tbh, just shamelessly pushy of his ideas and charismatic at winning over people.

In contrast, Tezuka was definitely a more grounded and worldly individual. He had a tons of story-telling instinct, insight & talent to offer the world as an individual. A lot of diverse talent too. Where Walt had infamously leaned on a large team for every venture he pursued (and picked "favourites" while underpaying and under-crediting everyone else). A team creating great things isn't a bad thing, but Walt gets more credit for basically being "the visionary glue of it all"??? At least Tezuka wasn't as much of a glory hound, smh. He just wanted to tell meaningful stories.

[Chaseosa]

Have you seen Redline? A hand drawn masterpiece.

[popstarprincess]

I think the line about anime going on for no reason is what got you in deep shit

Most modern anime especially in the genre where you find one piece and naruto are built upon hope and have given so many people hope and happiness in the face of hard times being a comfort that pushes you forward or motivates you that’s what keeps it going it’s not about power scaling all the time these characters are timeless or becoming timeless look at my hero academia if you want a mix of old and new

[lillyana]

If yall are gonna hate on Alex can you not do it in long paragraphs so I can actually care about your opinion a little.

[milesgwatidzo]

Anime today stronger than its ever been my fellow weeb brother and is a long way from losing its way.

[ajching]

I think that Tezuka's influence lies not in his animation and influence on animation, but rather his work as a manga artist. His work is amazingly profound and a great read (and not only the kid stuff but his adult mangas). Try reading no buddah or phoenix (which is my personal fav.), if you can get your hands on it lol

[milesgwatidzo]

I was 14 when I started watching anime I love it yes has its ups and downs but it's still amazing, now I am 17 and in November 2020 I finally decided to watch One Piece and it's currently my favorite anime for the moment a 10/10 show.

[abloshow]

One piece has an amazing theme on the idea of morality and religion deeplh rooted within it. It also has a stark theme of of pushing back against society and the society in one piece is supposed to represent a totalitarian judgemental society that pushes its people to be a certain way. One piece is a very intelegent anime that if you look at it hard enough makes you question everything. Luffys determination makes me question whether of not being that headstrong is worth if becuase hes been doing this for so long and it never seems as if it will ever end. It never seems as if he'll get the one piece. That length makes you apreciate it a little more in my opinion

[しりーん-nq]

I'm a Japanese 17 years old girl living in Japan, and I kind of agree with Alex.
Showa~ early Heisei period were the ages when Japan was trying to make up all the losses from the WW2, therefore somewhat dark and had the "spirits".
On the other hand, Japanese economy has become much better in the 1980s. People become much wealthier, happier, and more confident, just like in US after the WW2. So I guess you can say that the whole "Japanese anime losing spirits" phenomenon is about Japanese society experiencing changes.
In fact, "One piece" "Naruto" "Bleach" are manga from Shonen magazines, which is often described as the symbol of the high economic growth in the 80s. So I guess it's natural that these are pursuing for profits. Also, Tezuka Osamu's success story has made anime writer into sort like a "dream job", but I guess that's a different story.
I know that no one really care in 2020, but I couldn't help but post this cause Alex's point isn't totally wrong. But please don't forget that we still have many good anime, though the concept may have changed. Sorry for my poor English.

[Beatmaster]

Hey, I liked this video a lot and liked the points you made. Yes it seems very corporate and there are a lot of copycats out there. Bleach, Naruto, Fairy Tail, Dragonball, are all extensively lengthy and lose focus somewhere down the line.

As far as long form weekly/monthly manga go One Piece, Kingdom, Berserk, Fullmetal Alchemist, and even Soul Eater all have a goal in mind and tell a long story that (in theory) rewards those that managed to stick around for the whole thing. Which is the same exact thing that Osamu Tezuka did when making works like Astro Boy, Phoenix, and Buddha

[eenyade]

There are many reasons why he is called the god of movies. My favorite story is that he didn't have enough time to make an animated film, and when the animated film started, he was still making films.

[gothicparadise]

I completely disagree when you said that One Piece has no substance. Have u actually read the manga?, the manga deals with themes of Justice, racism, slavery and family. On top of that One Piece has great Characters.

[tannisthapatra]

It's true that anime can be redundant, however, I feel like you overgeneralized modern anime. Yes, it can be repetitive since studios will scramble to follow trends (I think most of the shows this summer either involved some guy being transported to a fantasy world, a high school, or monster girls), but there are shows that explore darker or more philosophical themes, such as Psycho Pass, and Fullmetal Alchemist. Additionally, there are dozens of shows released every year, all with varying degrees of quality and all exploring different themes . It feels like you used shounen anime and trends to represent all anime.