Between Apollo’s Song, Buddha, and Dororo, Osamu Tezuka has an incredible library of work. However, if you take away those three stories, he still has thousands of pages drawn for numerous other stories as well. Astroboy, for example, though geared towards a younger audience, holds up as well today as it did back then.
Before I continue, I want to take this time to address a subject that pretty much every fan of Tezuka is familiar with. Assuming Tezuka even has any critics, it could be assumed that they have not fully read and interpreted Tezuka’s work correctly. Many people unfamiliar with Tezuka’s work may notice a hint of racism in regards to some characters in his earlier stories. Though these stereotypical caricatures may have been used, it is in my personal opinion, as well as the opinion of numerous others, that Tezuka did not mean any harm by them. The common motif in ALL of Tezuka’s work, which should be noted, is the equality of all man and a dedicated love towards nature.
A great thing about Tezuka was his ablility to create such a myriad of work AND complete medical school. This man had an incredible die-hard work ethic. As if he didn’t deserve enough of the respect he obtained, he made sure you knew he earned it by the shear breadth of his work.
Though Tezuka’s storytelling really carries the entirety of his work, I was influenced greatly by his artistic decisions. Reading a work of Tezuka is like watching a Disney animated featured written and directed by Orson Welles for philosophers. Tezuka can be silly from time to time, but he takes the image of his characters seriously. Regardless of how animated they look, he uses them to convey serious messages.
Lesson Learned: Whimsical art can still convey a serious message.
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