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Apr 29, 2024
Your first image of Shotaro Ishinomori, author of Cyborg 009, Super Sentai, and Kamen Rider, probably isn't that of an experimental writer. However, this was the time of Gekiga, and Ishinomori proved he could match in experimentalness any of the up-and-coming underground artists. This is the story of Jun, a boy who wants to be manga writer. It is a story of being a manga writer, and of the wonder of imagination. It is also a love story, with a girl who takes many forms. Beyond that, it is impossible to explain the plot. The chapters are esoteric visions that have symbolic, rather literal, significance.
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Ishinomori thought that manga with direct storylines had become too thoughtless and dumbed down, and so he instead wanted to write something less direct, which required the reader to think harder and make their own interpretation. According to Ishinomori, it is poem in manga form, and his contribution to developing manga as an artform.
"I wanted to draw a poem. A poem, not a manga. A manga with just atmosphere. I wanted to experiment to see how far I could make use of that subject in a type of experimental manga." - Shotaro Ishinomori
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 28, 2024
This is a short (1 volume) manga by Keiji Nakazawa, who is also known as the author of Barefoot Gen. It is a story based on the survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima, of which the author was a survivor. Every chapter is focused on a different survivor, and there are no recurring characters. It is a story which focuses on the aftermath of the bombing rather than the bombing itself, taking place over twenty years afterwards, in the 1960s. The victims of the bombing of Hiroshima have been abandoned by both the Japanese and American governments. They face continued discrimination from the general population,
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who fear the idea of illnesses from radiation spreading. In general, people seem to have forgotten about what happened at Hiroshima, and act as if it has never happened. In the meantime, the survivors continue to face the consequences of what happened in 1945. Each chapter is focused on a survivor who pursues a specific goal connected to their continue regrets. There is a general anti-American feeling among the lead characters of the first few chapters, as well as a very strong opposition to the continued militarism of the United States and Japan. The anti-war feeling is very strong in this work. These are the ideas of the anti-war Left, who would flourish at the time this manga was written. This manga is considered somewhat controversial because of the strong anti-American sentiment. But considering the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan and killed hundred of thousands of civilians, what else could we expect?
This manga is worth reading. The characters don't act much different than other from other manga of the same era. The difference is that this manga is very heavy and serious. It will give you an insight into an era and subject matter which manga rarely discusses, and gives a perspective of Japan you rarely are allowed to see.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 12, 2024
This an okay horror manga, and I doubt you'll find many horror manga older than this one translated. So Ningen Tokei will take you back to what manga was like back in the 1960s. This manga was associated with the Gekiga movement, which were mostly independent comics, and like some other Gekiga comics this manga has rudimentary art, though it's not the worst I've ever seen. It's art does a good job at coming off as creepy and surreal. The story is disjointed and most things are just left unexplained, so you probably will have no idea what's actually going on. It was a missed
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opportunity not to explore more of the clock world. If you want an old, creepy manga, though, Ningen Tokei is definitely it. It will probably take no more than 20 minutes to read.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 29, 2024
This is a short manga by Sanpei Shirato, and a story of brutality, feudal oppression, rebellion, and above all, revenge. The first thing the reader will notice is how utterly brutal this manga is. It's a far-cry from most manga of the time, in both how mature and violent it is. But that's because its author was part of the "Gekiga" movement, which distanced itself from the "whimsical pictures" of manga. Osamu Tezuka once gave Sanpei credit for introducing strong violence into Manga. Even today, the brutality of Akame still stands out. At its heart, Akame is a manga about the oppression of the peasant
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classes during feudal Japan. The local feudal lord and his lackeys have no sympathetic qualities, and are consistently tyrannical and cruel to the peasants, who have committed no crime. It is only avarice and greed which drive the feudal masters. This leads to many atrocities, depicted in vivid and lurid detail here. But Akame is also a story of revenge, and of transforming yourself into a monster in order to accomplish that revenge. And the type of revenge in Akame is that of the "best served cold" variety, with our protagonist taking years to accomplish his goal.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Feb 23, 2024
The original Princess Knight, published 1953-1956, was important for several reasons. It was the first Shoujo manga with an actual storyline. It also was a large influence on the development of the Magical Girl genre, since even though it does not feature a magical girl it's portrayal of a powerful female protagonist was a major influence on the genre. It also influenced later Shoujo manga (mainly from the 60s to the 80s) to explore gender identity and androgyny. This manga, meanwhile, is the remake Osamu Tezuka made about a decade later.
Story - 8/10
This is one of the more light-hearted Tezuka manga that I've read.
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Princess Knight takes place in a world that resembles a medieval fairy tale. I addition to the castles that look straight out of Bavaria, there are knights, dragons, evil plotting uncles, and angels and demons. There is so much humor and breaking of the fourth wall in the story that the tone never feels very heavy, but the storyline itself is played straight, so that in spite of the presence of so much humor the story never turns into a comedy. Nonetheless, it stays whimsical and lighthearted. Even the villains aren't exactly frightening.
The storyline itself starts simple enough. Sapphire is a princess born who was accidentally implanted with the soul of a man as well. Thus, she has two souls, a soul of a man and a woman. However, Sapphire is ultimately a girl, just one with some masculine traits (strength and competency apparently being male traits). Due to the laws of the kingdom, she cannot become heir as a girl, so she masquerades a boy. Meanwhile, the villainous Duke Duralumin has other plans, and seeks to discover her secret. That seems simple, enough but things start to get more complex from there as things slowly start to unravel for Sapphire.
Princess Knight eschews the episode-of-the-week format storyline that you find in some works of the time. But Tezuka rarely did do those types of storylines in his shorter works. Instead, we have a storyline in which the fundamental situation and circumstances are constantly shifting. Things never stay the same for long. In effect, Princess Knight's storyline consists in a series of story arcs. The story does drag a little at the end, when there is an entire arc revolving the goddess Venus that comes out of nowhere. The ending is also quite sudden for a work that is over 700 pages.
Art - 8/10
This is the first Tezuka manga I've read with a physical copy, so I may be biased, but I found the art to fantastic. Even one of the better ones of Tezuka that I've read. While relatively simple by today's standards, Tezuka certainly knew how to draw, and I found much of the art quite beautiful here.
Themes -
The most notable thing about Princess Knight is of course how it plays with gender identity. The protagonist Sapphire was born with both the heart of a boy and a girl. However, her girl's heart is the more overpowering force in her, so even though she has hearts of both sexes, she is simply a girl with some masculine traits, such as competency in fighting. And Sapphire, even though she is a girl and wants to be a girl, is forced by circumstances to masquerade as male. This began a tradition of androgynous characters within Shoujo manga, with Sapphire being the first in a long line of shoujo female protagonists who were androgynous or presented as male.
In this manga, Osamu Tezuka assigned specific traits to genders in an overly-stereotypical manner which he didn't seem to really believe in. Sapphire gets her gentleness and general womanliness from her woman's heart, and gets her strength, fencing skills, and general competence from her man's heart. When she losses her man's heart, she losses so much strength that she feels weak and is unable to fight. Even personality seems to be changed by whether one has a man's or woman's heart. In fact, in the manga we see an unmanly boy eat a man's heart. The result is he becomes more manly. This was the state of things until Tezuka changes his mind half-through, at which point girls seem perfectly able to fight against men with only their girl's heart.
Overall - 8/10
Princess Knight does not have any glaring flaws. I wouldn't call it one of Tezuka's masterpieces, but it is an important. If you like classic manga, Tezuka, or are interested in shoujo manga, I'd recommend Princess Knight. Plus, you can get the whole thing for less than $30.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Feb 17, 2024
Wonder 3 is a very good manga by Osamu Tezuka that is somewhat overshadowed by a controversy where Tezuka may have been a victim of plagiarism/industrial espionage (see https://tezukainenglish.com/wp/?page_id=1585 if you want the details). Actually based on the anime version, it apparently has a very different plot from the original. Despite featuring three talking animals, this manga comes off as one of Tezuka's more mature early works. The protagonist is Shinichi Hoshi. Though the three aliens find most humans they meet to be rotten to the core, they find Shinichi to be pure-hearted and kind. But Shinichi is a complex character. He has a good
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heart, but he is so principled that he is enraged by the corruption, disingenuity, and cruelty around him. This, alongside his immaturity, leads him to constantly get into fights and constantly skip school. Thus, Shinichi is a much more complex character than other early Tezuka protagonists.
Additionally, this is a relatively serious science fiction story despite being written for young boys. The three aliens are trying to find out if humanity is worth saving, so the theme explored a lot is the idea of the corruption that is inherent among much of humanity. There is a big focus on the corruption, deceit, and the other things that make humans despicable, and it's done in a relatively realistic way (at least for the time). It's also a coming-of-age story for the protagonist, Shinichi, as he learns self-control and starts to gain friends.
8/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Feb 12, 2024
Captain Ken seems like a Space Opera story at first, but it quickly reveals itself as more of a space western. Though it takes place on Mars, Mars apparently looks like the American Southwest and everyone dresses up like they're in a Western. They even ride (mechanical) horses and fight with revolvers. Being set in the future, there are also some space age sci-fi elements, which don't prevent the story from reading like a Western. The conflict is between the Earthling settlers on Mars and the Martian natives, who were peaceful until they were slaughtered, enslaved, and driven by their homes by the human colonists.
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Sound familiar? Yes, the Martians are basically space Native Americans, though with a bug-like alien appearance characteristic of most of Tezuka's aliens.
Captain Ken has the humor, cartoonish art style, and light tone of other early Tezuka works, but the story is otherwise very serious. Murder, war, racism, government corruption, and genocide are the themes of this story. And ultimately, it is about peace and reconciliation after war and conflict.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Feb 6, 2024
A sprawling and ambitious work by Osamu Tezuka. It's jam-packed from many of Tezuka's characters from his star-system. Notarin, Mitchy, Lamp, Hanamaru, as well as Kenichi, Ban, and Rock are all here. Unfortunately, it's one of his lesser-known manga. It switches from one character's perspective to another, with chapters usually being less than ten pages long. It can get quite confusing, especially if you aren't familiar with the characters. This is because the manga was less than a third of the length that Tezuka initially wanted it to be. However, it does give the story a sense of grand scale. Other Tezuka manga I've read
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have felt like they were on a more limited scale than this one. And it makes Nextworld feel like something special.
The story itself is the type of soft science fiction which Tezuka excelled at. At the center of the plotline is a psychically and telepathically gifted species also native to earth which suddenly emerge, and their plans for earth and humanity. The story also involves the shortcomings of humanity, and our tendencies towards pointless conflict and violence. There is a parallel to the Cold War in the conflict between the American-like nation of Star and the Russian-like nation of Uran.
Overall, I recommend reading it only if you've read a few Tezuka manga already and are familiar with his Star System. Otherwise it may be too hard to follow and enjoy properly.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 24, 2024
The first in a trilogy of movies adult animation films by Tezuka's Mushi Production known as Animerama, it is very loosely based on One Thousand and One Arabian Nights and features Aladdin as its main character. This version of Aladdin is cowardly and perverted, but also ambitious, adventureous, and unflappable. The film focuses on his adventures, starting when he finds the beautiful slave girl Miriam. Like the other films in the Animerama, it prides itself as "adult animation," and features plenty of female nudity and sexual content, but nothing explicit is ever shown. In place of traditional sex scenes there are some wonderful
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dreamlike psychedelic scenes that would be used to full effect in Belladona of Sadness. There is a large admixture of irreverent humor mixed alongside the serious plot, but unlike in Cleopatra it does not clash with the tone. The heart of the film seems to be in this mix of humor with a serious adventure film, and the film does a decent job with that. It's not an amazing film and it's a little long for what it is, but it's still a good film for what it is. Serious themes, especially rape, torture, and murder, are depicted in the film. The protagonist Aladdin is generally amoral and self-serving, but he still contrasts to the villain, Badli, who is a heartless murder and rapist. The animation is generally good for the time period, and stands up rather well. Overall a decent film, and much better, balanced, and coherent than the later Cleopatra, though not up to the level of Belladona of Sadness.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 23, 2024
Cleopatra is a work which is filled with as much good as it is bad. It is based on the life of Cleopatra, which it paints with very broad strokes. Parts of it are incoherent, especially in the first half, while others are genuinely good historical fiction. The opening scene, which mixes live-action and animation, is the worst thing I have ever seen. It was directed by both Osamu Tezuka and Eiichi Yamamoto, and you can see the signature of both of them here. It has Tezuka's trademark humor, which mostly is just inappropriate and jarring here. It's strange to see Tezuka's typical over-the-top slapstick
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style used in the service of a rape joke. The first half of the movie in generally is often tasteless. There is also an entirely unnecessary science fiction subplot that can be removed without losing anything. When it gets serious and emotional, however, its actually worth watching. Some of the best parts are those which evoke the later psychedelic scenes of Belladona of Sadness. There's something in the idea that this movie would have been better without Tezuka directing. Overall, Cleopatra is a very uneven movie, with as much good as bad. I wish I could be the first positive review, but considering the admixture of plenty of flaws into the film, it doesn't really deserve one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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