Check out this article about an amazing event in Tokyo featuring all sorts of interesting robots. There are cooking robots, disaster rescue robots, even advertising robots made out of cardboard!
All of the imagination displayed by the creators of many of these new inventions would likely not be possible if not for the spark that ignited it all, Astro Boy. The little fellow on the right sure bares somewhat of a resemblance, huh?
As whimsical and frivolous as some of these robots may seem right now, with every step taken to advance and diversify these technologies, we are getting closer to the kind of world that Dr. Tezuka imagined decades ago.
You can read more about the International Robot Exhibition by starting with "Robo-chefs and fashion-bots on show in Tokyo" via the AFP or by clicking the link below for an archived copy of that article.Robo-chefs and fashion-bots on show in Tokyo
TOKYO — Forget the Transformers and Astroboy: Japan's latest robots don't save the world -- they cook snacks, play with your kids, model clothes, and search for disaster victims.
In a nation that takes its humanoids seriously, the International Robot Exhibition kicked off this week, showing off the latest whirring and buzzing inventions from 192 companies and 64 organisations from at home and abroad.
Many of the cutting-edge machines on show are eye-popping, but industrial robot "Motoman" also put on a mouth-watering performance, deftly flipping a Japanese savoury pancake called okonomiyaki on a sizzling hotplate.
"It is delicious. Please enjoy," said the human-size creation of Yaskawa Electric Corp. in a robotic voice.
For pure dexterity, an artificial hand called the "H-type" was hard to beat -- a robotic hand with a sufficiently deft touch to handle a piece of pound cake without dropping a single crumb.
"This robot hand can pick up food without crushing it, which has been a hurdle for metal arms," said Jun Honda of robot developer Denso Wave.
Denso used small air pumps and a smooth silicon skin for the artificial limb, co-developed with software maker Squse, and says the device may one day be used to help the sick and elderly.
"It could be used to serve food for people who need care," Honda said.
Also aimed at helping people is the snake-shaped "Active Scope Camera", which uses robotic technology to slither serpent-style through the rubble of a disaster zone to take and transmit live video images.
Tohoku University and the International Rescue System Institute jointly developed the instrument, which propels itself forward with thousands of tiny devices called cilia that resemble the legs on a centipede.
Elsewhere, Eager Co. showed off a curvaceous female-shaped humanoid made of layers of cardboard, billed as the first eco-friendly robot.
The maker hopes the figure, with its soundless, smooth and almost seductive movements could find a job as a display window mannequin -- or even on a theatre stage.
"We want to apply this very light-weight robot as a new advertising medium," said Eager's Tsuyoshi Yamashita. "The smooth movements of the robot would help female customers feel safe and have an affinity with the machine."
A robot of the cuter variety is Ropid, 38 centimetres (15 inches) tall, with huge round eyes and boxy arms and legs -- more at home in a toy department than on a factory floor.
Unlike the super-advanced industrial robots elsewhere in the exhibition, this one keeps things simple. It can stand up, walk, run and jump -- but in a loveable way, its creator hopes.
"The challenge is to design a robot in a way to make you believe that you can communicate with it," said its creator, Tomotaka Takahashi. "With his quick actions, he looks like he's really alive."
Friday, November 27, 2009
International Robot Exhibition
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
More of Aya's Red Boots
Here is a new picture of Aya Ueto, the actress who preforms the voice of Astro/Atom in the Japanese version of the CGI Astro Boy movie. Those boots are made for walking, all right.
I shall not divulge the source of this image on the grounds that it may incriminate me.
Helen McCarthy on Anime Today
Not only is Helen very knowledgeable about the life and work of Tezuka, but she's qite enthusiastic about the subject too, as evident by this great interview. Her new book is amazing and I'll have more about it here on ABW soon.
Give it a listen right here and click the link below for the press release with all the details.
Right Stuf's Anime Today Discusses The Art of Osamu Tezuka with Writer and Anime Expert Helen McCarthyContinue reading "Helen McCarthy on Anime Today"...
Nov 20th 2009
Behind the scenes at RightStuf.com, “If you like Gakuen Alice,” reviews, contests & more in episode 106!
GRIMES, IA, November 20, 2009 – Anime producer and mega-online anime retailer Right Stuf, Inc. is pleased to welcome Helen McCarthy – the author of the recent books The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga and Manga Cross-Stitch – to episode 106 of ANIME TODAY.
In this new interview, McCarthy discusses what anime and manga fans can gain by learning about the background of Astro Boy and Black Jack creator Dr. Osamu Tezuka, the relevance of his work to today's audiences, how her biography's pop culture perspective differs from a more academic examination of his career, and which Tezuka works are her very own personal favorites. (The rest of this interview, focusing on her other new book, Manga Cross-Stitch, will air in episode 107 of Anime Today on December 4, 2009.)
A trailblazer in the field of anime writing and journalism, McCarthy's recent published works include 500 Essential Anime Movies, Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation and The Anime Encyclopedia (co-authored with Jonathan Clements). One of the world's foremost experts on Miyazaki and the works of Studio Ghibli, she has also curated several seasons of lectures and screenings at London's Barbican Cinema and is a featured guest and lecturer at conventions and events worldwide, including the recent opening weekend of the Smithsonian Institution's current exhibition, “Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga, Father of Anime.”
Also in episode 106 of ANIME TODAY:
* Chad shares “What's Hot” in the world of anime and manga.
* Shawne tells fans how they can “get in the spirit to save” on DVDs, Blu-ray and more from Media Blasters and its labels
* Rich and Nick take a look at how packages get out from RightStuf.com to customers in the third and final installment of “Best Wishes, Stuf!,” which focuses on how outgoing orders are packed and shipped to anime fans.
* Rich announces the latest Year of the Otaku winners (and new weekly contest), reminds fans about the contest for the Korean drama adaptation of Boys Over Flowers, and announces a new contest marking the launch of the site for Nozomi Entertainment's release of Rental Magica.
* Nick provides a rundown of upcoming conventions, courtesy of AnimeCons.com.
* In a new “If… /Then…” segment, Christy offers recommendations to fans of the Gakuen Alice anime series.
* Listen to clips from Fafner Original Soundtrack 1: No Where from Geneon Music. Also hear tracks from JapanFiles.com artists Blue Trike (“Stand up!!” from the CD Daydream) and nanocycle (“folksonomy” from the CD something burning).
* And finally, ANIME TODAY highlights some of the newest fan reviews from RightStuf.com visitors.
Have a question about anime and manga? Want to comment on one of the podcast's segments? Call our Anime Today Hotline at 1-800-338-6827, ext. 7424. You may hear yourself on a future episode of Anime Today!
Visit www.rightstuf.com and www.animetoday.com for this episode, as well as an archive of all ANIME TODAY episodes and extended liner notes. Listeners can also download and subscribe to ANIME TODAY via the Apple iTunes Music Store.
Meet other anime fans, talk with ANIME TODAY listeners, submit your suggestions for future episodes and more at the new ANIME TODAY forums: http://www.rightstuf.com/ubbthreads/.
Follow ANIME TODAY on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/animetoday.
Find Right Stuf on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/rightstuf.
ABOUT ANIME TODAY
Released every other week, ANIME TODAY is the first commercially-produced podcast aimed at enthusiasts of Japanese animation and comics (“anime” and “manga”). Each episode features fresh content and gives listeners a glimpse into what's new and what's hot in the world of anime and manga. Segments include reviews of titles from all major anime studios, insights into the industry from anime producers, tips on traveling to and around Japan, interaction with listeners, contests, prizes and more.
“If you're into anime and what's happening in the anime market then this is the podcast for you!” - User review on iTunes
ABOUT RIGHT STUF, INC.
Currently celebrating its 22nd year in business, Right Stuf, Inc. was one of the first players in the U.S. Japanese Animation ("anime") industry, as both an anime producer/distributor and a retailer. Right Stuf works to promote knowledge of its own products, as well as the anime and manga industry, in general, through its online storefront at RightStuf.com and a variety of media including podcasts and special publications.
Nozomi Entertainment, Right Stuf's production division, is dedicated to the highest quality releases. True to the Japanese word that inspired its name, Nozomi's focus is on “what fans want.” By focusing on a limited number of anime properties each year, the Nozomi production team ensures each release receives the care and attention to detail it deserves.
From anime classics like Astro Boy, Kimba and Gigantor to modern comedies, dramas and favorites such as The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, His and Her Circumstances, Gravitation, Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars, Ninja Nonsense, To Heart, The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye, Emma: A Victorian Romance, Maria Watches Over Us, ARIA, Gakuen Alice and Rental Magica, Right Stuf and Nozomi Entertainment produce quality programming for fans of all ages and interests. For more information, visit www.rightstuf.com and www.nozomient.com.
Osamu Tezuka: The Political Reading
You can read it at the Herald Scotland website or by clicking the link below for an archived version.
Published on 9 Nov 2009Continue reading "Osamu Tezuka: The Political Reading"...
Teddy Jamieson looks at the work of the Japanese cartoonist who mixes Hitler, Stalin and Buddha into his animations.
Imagine for a moment that Walt Disney, in his later years, had decided to make an animated film about Jesus, mixing up a bit of theology with big-eyed anthropomorphic characters while he did so. Bit of a stretch isn’t it. But let’s stretch it further. Imagine also that Uncle Walt then reckoned that a cartoon about Russian dictator Joe Stalin might be just the thing his audience required.
ou can’t see it, can you? You can’t see the man who gave us Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck messing around with religion and dictatorship (unless of course you are prepared to see Walt himself as dictator, as perhaps some of his overworked, underpaid animators may have done back in the 1930s and 1940s).
But keep this notion in mind when you start thinking about Osamu Tezuka. Because Tezuka – for some the Japanese equivalent of Disney – did just that, or something very similar, in the 1970s and 1980s.
Tezuka is best known in the west for his creation Astro Boy – an animated movie version about the young robot featuring the voices of Nicolas Cage and Charlize Theron will be released in the UK in January – but towards the end of his career he gave readers his version of both Buddha and Adolf Hitler.
Actually, Helen McCarthy, author of a new book about Tezuka, believes that, if anything, the Disney comparison falls short. “He was more like Walt Disney, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby [the two men behind many of Marvel Comics’ greatest characters], Tim Burton, Arthur C Clarke and Carl Sagan all rolled into one incredibly prolific creator,” she writes in The Art Of Osamu Tezuka: God Of Manga.
If that seems a big claim (to say the least) it’s perhaps because we just don’t have the background to judge. After all it’s only in recent years that we have come to recognise that the comic strip is worthy of attention (quite criminal, especially in this country given that effectively the British comic industry could be labelled with a “made in Scotland” sticker), while the concepts of manga and anime – Japanese comics and animation – have by and large bypassed an older audience and plugged directly into the central cortex of the country’s teenagers who subsequently might be better placed to overthrow our stubborn Anglo-American cultural blinkers.
Even if all that comes to pass, however, you are left with the problem of how to get a grip on such a protean talent as Tezuka, a man who is said to have created more than 700 manga series, 170,000 pages of drawings and another 200,000 pages of anime storyboards and scripts (as well as qualifying to practice medicine). On his deathbed in 1989 his last words were “I’m begging you, let me work.”
Disney and Dostoevsky
Tezuka was born in 1928, the eldest son of a well off, well educated middle class Japanese family, who grew up watching Disney films and reading and drawing comic strips. In 1944, he picked up the skin infection ringworm, his arms swelling up as a result. When his mother took him to Osaka University Hospital for treatment a doctor told her that a few more days and her son would have had to have his arms amputated. It’s impossible now to evaluate how that might have changed Japanese popular culture. A year later Tezuka was an eye-witness to the firebombing of Osaka, an experience he would vividly chronicle in manga decades later. Out of this mix of influence and experience came a talent that transformed Japanese publishing.
Astro Boy was the breakthrough. Tezuka was 22 when he created the tiny humanoid robot (known as Mighty Atom in Japan). The comic was published for 16 years and made into one live action and two animated TV series. And although it incorporated many of Tezuka’s concerns – a hatred of discrimination and injustice for starters – its success also mirrored Japan’s postwar obsession with technology and looking to the future (the past being too painful so soon after the war). Tezuka did not invent manga but he did help make them more dynamic. “I felt that existing comics were limiting,” he once said. “Most were drawn as if seated in an audience viewing from a stage ... This made it impossible to create dramatic or psychological effects, so I began to use cinematic techniques ... I experimented with close-ups and different angles and instead of using only one frame for an action scene or the climax (as was customary), I made a point of depicting a movement or facial expression with many frames, even many pages. The result was a super-long comic that ran to 500, 600, even 1000 pages.”
His work appealed to both boys and girls yet as early as 1953 Tezuka’s ambition was clear when he adapted Dostoevsky’s Crime And Punishment into manga form. More adult themes permeated such works as The Phoenix, Buddha and Adolf which often made few concessions for children, as well as anime such as 1001 Nights which McCarthy wryly notes contains “the only known animation of human-crocodile sex”. Before he died Tezuka had started working on an anime adaptation of the Bible. It can be jarring reading some of these adult works. Buddha, published by Harper Collins in the UK, doesn’t shy from death and pain and poverty in its account of Buddha’s education, yet it is encased in a comic strip imbued with visual signifiers that in the west we still read as childish (specifically big-eyed cartoony characters and anthropomorphism).
But in the end that’s our problem not Tezuka’s. And if other manga artists speak more to a contemporary (more cynical) audience than perhaps his work does now, anyone who wants to get a handle on Japanese popular culture in the 20th century can’t ignore him.
It’s now two decades since Tezuka’s death. You can visit a museum dedicated to his art in his home town of Takarazuka. But perhaps for the true impact of his work take a trip to Tokyo. Tokyo looks like the future. And it looks, as McCartney notes, like a manga panel. Walt Disney only has Disneyworld and Disneyland as his architectural legacy. Tezuka has a whole city.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Free Astro Boy Comic on PSP
If you own a Playstation Portable, you may find this interesting. By using a special code, you can get a free issue of the Astro Boy movie adaptation comic by IDW for the PSP Digital comics reader. The code is:
FF3N-H7B6-M2JFThe code should be valid for awhile and there is no apparent limit on how many people can take advantage of this cool offer. Try it out and post a comment to let everyone know how it works! Did I mention it was free?
Source: PlayStation LifeStyle Continue reading "Free Astro Boy Comic on PSP"...
Friday, November 20, 2009
New Atom Angel
Joe McCulloch of comiXology.com has written a fascinating new editorial about the history and politics of Astro Boy, comparing the manga with new movie. It's a great read that takes a very serious look at the character, with a focus on the much discussed chapter where Astro goes back in time and fights the U.S. Militray, who were bombing a village in Vietnam.
Here's a sample.
"So, the funny thing about the new Astro Boy is how much it gets right, which means picking up Tezuka's weaknesses as well as his strengths. A lot of the manga's in-joke charm is preserved, from various Tezuka Star System cameos (including Tezuka himself and his lil' pig-faced critter stand-in) to tactical citation of earlier bits of its own history - some of the ‘60s anime title sequence gets subtly remade as Astro zips around exploring his powers. The original's dour origin premise is dutifully updated, with brilliant Dr. Tenma's beloved son violently killed (sadly, Nicolas Cage restrains himself from chomping into the Dr.'s potentially livewire role) and Astro Boy created as an imperfect twin replacement, the imperfection always figuring into the work's grand theme, since robots are individuals like people are too."Read "New Atom Angel" on comixology.com for the entire piece. Continue reading "New Atom Angel"...
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Weekly Astro Boy Magazine Preview Now Available!
All right iPhone and iPod Touch owners, start your engines!
The free preview of Weekly Astro Boy Magazine is now available for download on the App Store.
This is available in the United States, and I am told that the magazine will be gradually made available in other countries. In the mean time, there is a Flash preview.
This is probably one of the biggest things to ever happen to Tezuka's manga. We are entering a new age of accessibility. Check it out and use the comment feature to let everyone know how you like it! Those of us who are without these devices or who live elsewhere would certainly appreciate it.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
The Only Reviews That Matter - Yours!
As I've said before, I have not cared much about posting reviews of the Astro Boy movie from mainstream media outlets. But if you've been paying attention out there, it's pretty clear to see that many of these reviews just didn't quite get it. While the response from the general public who gave the film a chance has been mostly positive, the critics have, in some ways, spoiled the fun.
Well, I'm not going to let that happen!
It's been several weeks since the film's release in North America and other places around the world, so now that everyone has hopefully had a chance to see it and formulate their opinions, let's do our best to preserve this time. You've read my review, now it's your turn! This post if for you, the AstroBoy World readers, to post your reviews of the film. Let's make this into a time capsule that will be the true voice of how the fans feel about the Astro Boy movie.
Please use the comment feature to leave either a short paragraph review of the film or a link to some sort of permanent website or blog post with your review. Feel free to discuss anything regarding how you feel about it. Let's do our best to make sure that we, the fans, will have a part in deciding how history will judge the Astro Boy movie, so that those boring critics who didn't like it aren't the only opinions that are out there.
So, get posting! Spoilers are allowed, so say whatever you want!
(Readers in the UK and other international locations, hang tight. This will still be active by the time the movie is released in your country.)
Friday, November 13, 2009
Animated Oscar Race Heats Up.
For the first time in the history of the award, 20 films are being submitted for contention for the Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards. The Astro Boy movie is one of them!
Even though the odds of being among the final nominees is slim with such a huge range of quality animated films this year, it's still a great thing to have Astro Boy in the running at this point. If 16 films are submitted and successfully qualify as potential nominees, then there will be 5 nominees up for the award on Oscar night. Otherwise there will only be 3 nominees. Only once before has there been 5 nominees, in 2002 when Hayao Miyazaki won for Spirited Away.
Clearly, having 5 nominations is a lot better than 3. It widens the playing field and gives more exposure to more films and the medium in general. No matter what ends up happening, the Astro Boy movie has done its part to make this year's animation race very exciting. You can read more about this topic thanks to The Hollywood Reporter, The LA Times, and the Associated Press.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Tezuka Festival at the Smithsonian
The Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. is holding a massive tribute to Osamu Tezuka, featuring panel discussions, film screenings (including Unico, shown at right), and more. It's being held at the Freer and Sackler Galleries and it starts this weekend, running from November 13 until December 13 2009.
If you are in the area or can make it down there, you don't want to miss it! If not, there are some essays available to read by some of the notable figures who are participating in the event. See the "Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga, Father of Anime" web page for all the details.
Sources: Helen McCarthy's Blog - Express Night Out
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The "God of Manga" Humanized
Uncle Fred sure is showing up a lot latley!
The A.V. Club has a new interview with Frederik L. Schodt about the work of Osamu Tezuka. No serious new ground is discussed, but it serves as a great reminder of Tezuka's accomplishments and also a as decent introduction to his wide influence.
Here's a piece discussing which of Tezuka works that a new reader might want to start with:
"If you want to see what Tezuka was trying to do and how bold he was, begin with Phoenix. It’s a particularly good work to start with because it’s accessible due to the time it was written, and its themes are quite universal. Some of the other early works—even parts of Astro Boy—have visuals and a density of text that is a little different than what people are used to. But by the time he was really getting going with Phoenix, he had already developed many of the hallmarks of most modern manga—cinematic, dramatic layouts—so it’s visually very beautiful."You can read "The "God of Manga," humanized" on the A.V. Club or click the link below for an archived version.
Interview: The "God of Manga," humanized
Osamu Tezuka scholar Frederik Schodt explains the anime pioneer
by Chelsea Bauch November 11, 2009
Osamu Tezuka pioneered anime (those big, doey eyes were his design), elevated manga comics to a new level of sophistication (less geeky, more general interest), and set the groundwork for mature yet kid-friendly movies (Pixar is eternally indebted). Although this influential Japanese artist-writer-producer’s work has become a founding touchstone of international pop culture, he is still relatively unknown to American audiences. Ahead of The Freer Gallery Of Art’s upcoming film retrospective, Osamu Tezuka: God Of Manga, Father Of Anime, we asked Frederik L. Schodt—a Tezuka scholar, Japanese translator, and the author of seminal text The Astro Boy Essays—to give The A.V. Club's readers a fanboy-worthy guide to the animation icon.
The A.V. Club: Why is Tezuka described as the “God of Manga”?
Fredrik Schodt: In Japan, Tezuka is called the “God of Manga” not because he invented manga—he certainly didn’t—but because he made some innovations in the traditional comic-book format. Tezuka took the basic setup and did something that was very new at the time: a hybrid between comic books and animation. He expanded stories to make them very long and cinematic, so many readers almost felt like they were watching a movie compared to traditional comic books. That allowed other artists to begin employing the same techniques and the same methods, thus elevating the original medium to a full-fledged form of expression. Artists could suddenly depict the same sorts of things that would be depicted in more mature novels or films.
AVC: How was manga different when Tezuka came to it?
FS: Tezuka started out drawing manga when it was a genre of entertainment for children. It wasn’t as popular and wasn’t as mass-media oriented as it is today. So he was drawing mainly for children, and one of the tasks was to take this format and this genre of entertainment for children and to expand it—to make it more accessible to older audiences, and gradually develop it as a full-fledged medium of expression. A lot of his works, especially his early works, may seem cartoony, but later he began exploring much more sophisticated themes, adult themes, and he started creating manga for girls and for older people in their 20s and 30s and 40s.
AVC: Why the change?
FS: Tezuka was an intellectual—he was originally granted a license to practice medicine, although he never did, and he was also very well-read. He was an extraordinary person working in a medium of entertainment for young children, who dreamed of telling stories that would rival the best literature, that would explore ideas that were very sophisticated. If you look at many of the stories he created for children, such as Astro Boy, you’ll see that he was also trying to entertain himself. Themes like religion, racial discrimination, man-machine relationships, and even subjects like terrorism appeared early on in his manga designed for young audiences.
AVC: Did he have other favorite topics?
FS: Tezuka explored ideas of future dystopias and future utopias. He often created stories that had science-fiction themes because he was very curious about the future and very curious about the world in general. He was a real sponge—he soaked up information from multiple sources then reinterpreted it to use in his stories.
AVC: Why do you think Astro Boy succeeded like it did?
FS: The way he designed Astro Boy was particularly international and capable of not only transcending borders, but also transcending the era. It’s an unusual work in the sense that he created it in manga format in ’51-’52, but he set the story in 2003. Even though it’s technically a contemporary story, it’s kind of a message from the past about today—it was an alternative future that Tezuka created to speak to his contemporaries and also to speak to us.
AVC: What did you think of the new Astro Boy movie?
FS: I enjoyed it a great deal. I know that some fans are grumbling about certain ways that the character was interpreted, but I tried to watch it and not compare it to other animated films and not analyze or deconstruct it at all. I really tried to watch it, as close as I could, with the mind of, say, a 10-year-old. I think that if you do that it’s great entertainment and a lot of fun. It’s different from Tezuka’s original story in many ways, but you can also tell that the director has read Tezuka’s original work and some changes had to be made for an American audience and international audiences.
AVC: What are some of the things that don’t translate to American audiences?
FS: A whole canon of Tezuka manga has been published in more than 400 volumes, but in his lifetime he’s said to have drawn more than 150,000 pages. We’ll never see everything that he did in English, and there’s always going to be things that don’t make it over here, which is true of all artists in Japan. There are whole genres of manga that have no market here—mahjong manga or pachinko manga, for instance—because they have no relevance to modern Americans. The converse is true too, of course; it’s just an inevitable part of cross-culture.
AVC: Which Tezuka do you recommend new readers start with?
FS: If you want to see what Tezuka was trying to do and how bold he was, begin with Phoenix. It’s a particularly good work to start with because it’s accessible due to the time it was written, and its themes are quite universal. Some of the other early works—even parts of Astro Boy—have visuals and a density of text that is a little different than what people are used to. But by the time he was really getting going with Phoenix, he had already developed many of the hallmarks of most modern manga—cinematic, dramatic layouts—so it’s visually very beautiful.
Continue reading "The "God of Manga" Humanized"...
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
New David Bowers Interview
Science Fiction website Tor.com has an excellent new interview with Astro Boy movie director David Bowers. This interview took place before the wide release of the film last month, but the writer had seen the film already and was quite knowledgeable, making for a fascinating read with a lot of detail.
Here's a quote about some of the social commentary of the film:
"I think was something that was always there in the Astro Boy thing: there was always the robots being treated as second-class citizens; Tezuka very much cared about the environment; there are a lot of undertones to this movie. I don’t think it’s preachy, though—I can’t stand kids’ movies that are preachy, because it comes across as patronizing—but at the same time, hopefully it’s thought-provoking."The image to the right is a picture I found from the Los Angeles premier of the film, and you can see more here.
Check out Tor.com's "Interview with Astro Boy director David Bowers" or click the link below for an archived version. Thanks again to Robert for the tip!
Posted Monday November 09, 2009 11:03am EST
Interview with Astro Boy director David Bowers
Mike Sargent
David Bowers began his career in animation as an in-between artist* on Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. He went on to be an animator and storyboard artist for varied projects ranging from Count Duckula and Danger Mouse to The Road To El Dorado and Ferngully: The Last Rainforest. He moved up in the ranks to supervising animator and storyboard supervisor on films like Chicken Run and Balto. He directed his first animated feature in 2006, the much underrated Flushed Away, which featured voice performances from Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet and Ian McKellan, to name a few. Bowers is no stranger to the field and process of animation and clearly used to working with top talent; his latest film is Astro Boy.
Astro Boy is one of anime and manga's oldest and most beloved creations and holds the distinction of being the first comic ever to be animated in Japan. Created by the now-legendary “God of Manga” Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy first appeared in 1951 in comic form as “Tetsuwan Atom.” Soon after, he became “Astro Boy,” and Tezuka continued to create every single Astro Boy comic story for 21 years. Tezuka organized Japan's first TV animation studio, Mushi Productions, and Astro Boy was Mushi's first release; it debuted as a weekly series on Fuji television in black and white on New Year's Day 1963. 193 episodes were produced, and the show ended its run in 1966. By the late sixties, Astro Boy had been dubbed into English and sold worldwide. In 1982 a new color version of Astro Boy was created and over 50 episodes were produced during that incarnation.
By now, even if you have never watched a single episode of any version of Astro Boy, most people have heard of him or seen him in some form on necklaces, key rings, phone straps, t-shirts, bags, or any of a myriad of other fashion accessories.
I had a chance to sit down with Director David Bowers just before the film came out to ask him about taking on such a monumental project.
MS: I’m here with David Bowers, who is the director and co-writer of Astro Boy.
DB: Hello!
MS: Dave, you’ve been quoted a lot in the media saying that if people give it a chance, they should like it. What do you think are the main obstacles you have to overcome—is it just the long history and significance? Why would people not want to give it a chance?
DB: I think it’s the opposite of that, actually. I think it’s because Astro Boy hasn’t really been around or a presence for awhile, that I think audiences don’t know who he is. But I think if people do come along, they’ll see this movie that’s full of spectacle, it’s full of heart, it’s got a really, really positive message to it, and hopefully it’s very funny.
MS: It is very funny, and there are a lot of things you did that I liked, quite a lot of things, and I think it works on several levels. I brought my daughter with me—she’s a kid, so she loved it, and I loved it, too. So what were some of the most important things to you that you either wanted to retain from the old Astro Boy or do to make it more modern?
DB: I think the most important thing to me was creating the emotional story of Astro, you know, the relationship with his father and the difficulties that arise—if anyone’s listening that doesn’t know the story, it’s about a brilliant scientist who loses his son and creates a robot replica, but the robot replica doesn’t quite work out the way he wants it to. And I find that story fascinating and I knew that if I could get Astro’s story, his emotional story of not quite knowing who he was, and trying to find out who he was, and eventually realizing that he’s a hero, I could get you really caring for the character—then I could hang all the action and spectacle and special effects and all the jokes and all the new characters and all the characters from the manga that people love onto that.
MS: Well, I agree. There were a lot of little details that as an adult I love…there’s a little joke in there—I won’t give it all away, but someone asks him about his hair and he says, “It’s just gel!” (laughter), little things like that; was it important to you to make it something that adults and kids could see and enjoy and enjoy maybe if you come back in five or ten years and see it?
DB: Yeah, I think so. Somebody asked me what age group I was making the movie for when we were in production, and I gave as an example Star Wars, which when I was a kid and it first came out I was ten years old. I went to see that movie and I loved the droids and I loved the action-adventure, and I loved the lightsabers, and then going back to it a little older, I loved the story of Luke Skywalker, his hero’s journey and his relationship with his father. So I’m hoping it’s a movie that works on different levels for different ages.
MS: Now, what made you pick this? You’ve been doing animation, you’ve been a storyboard artist, you’ve been a story artist, you did Flushed Away—which I thought was hilarious, by the way—what made you want to do this project? What brought you on board, and how did this come to you?
DB: Well, I’ve always loved science fiction, and you rarely get a chance to do science fiction in the animation arena, but also I was aware of Astro Boy. I certainly didn’t know Astro Boy as well as I know him now, but I was aware of him. (It was) just a chance meeting with Maryanne Garger, the producer, who I’ve known from Flushed Away and many other movies before then. I was visiting the studio and I said, “Oh, you’ve got Astro Boy here!” And they said yeah, and I said, “That’s very cool…” I just thought it was a perfect project for me; as I said, I love science fiction, I absolutely love it. I wanted to make a cool science fiction film, a superhero movie, for families.
MS: Well, I definitely think you did, and I’m curious: what were some of the elements that you…You said you wanted to have a lot of heart and it does—towards the end I have to say, you got me, I was very moved! What were some of the things that you thought, either A) you were very strong about, or B) you thought, I wonder if we tinker with this, there might be people who don’t feel…
DB: I don’t know; the only big difference between our Astro Boy and previous versions of Astro Boy is that Dr. Tenma gives Astro Boy his son Toby’s memories, so when Astro Boy wakes up, he thinks he’s a real kid. He has no idea he’s a robot, and the discovery that he’s a robot—and not only a robot, but that the man he thinks of as his father and who he loves doesn’t want him anymore—I think is just more heartfelt. It was more interesting to me, and those questions of identity were interesting, too. As for…you know, I tried to keep as many of the favorite characters in there: Dr. Elefun has a big role (Dr. Ochanomizu, to those who know the original), and Hamegg I thought would be a great villain…President Stone—he’s a new character voiced by Donald Sutherland, he’s terrific in that. Really, I think I just took the things from the manga that spoke to me the most, and there’s just too much in the manga to include everything. There isn’t much in the manga that I don’t like, to be honest with you—it’s just that there’s an awful lot of it.
MS: Well, I have to say, my memory of Astro Boy—I don’t remember there being so much social commentary in there. Now, was that a big addition of yours, or was that something that was always there?
DB: I think was something that was always there in the Astro Boy thing: there was always the robots being treated as second-class citizens; Tezuka very much cared about the environment; there are a lot of undertones to this movie. I don’t think it’s preachy, though—I can’t stand kids’ movies that are preachy, because it comes across as patronizing—but at the same time, hopefully it’s thought-provoking.
MS: Well, I think the best science fiction always says something about the human condition.
DB: Of course! I agree completely.
MS: And on that level I think it works very well, because that’s what it is; there are elements of it that remind you of things that you might be more familiar with, or that kids might be more familiar with, but I think it’s got its own voice, clearly, and its own type of hero…Tell me a little bit about the development of the story: did you have a clear idea what you wanted to happen in this movie, or were you just picking and choosing, cherry-picking from the original anime?
DB: I cherry-picked, not so much from the anime as from the manga, but at the same time the key thing for me was Astro Boy having Toby’s memories, and who are you and what are you, and what is it that makes someone human? At the end of the movie, Astro Boy is proven to have a lot more humanity than a lot of the humans around him…that’s the thing that excited me, and from then on it was just like a giant jigsaw puzzle, trying to find the pieces that fit best and would end up being the most entertaining movie I could make. I must say, because this all sounds very heavy, I wanted to have huge action sequences, and I knew I wanted to have fighting giant robots—I love that stuff. And I wanted us to have the biggest, meanest, giant fighting robot ever and I hope he is—I mean, he’s pretty immense (laughs). He’s bigger than any other fighting robot I’ve seen…
MS: Definitely! Now, what have audience reactions been? I mean, it seems very positive—today, the audience was a mix, a lot of young people, but they loved it, so…
DB: That’s what I’ve found so far, as well. It’s been really great; I mean, people who’ve liked Astro Boy in the past, they’ve said (luckily for me) that they like it and they enjoyed the movie, and people who don’t know Astro Boy have discovered him, and I think that’s great. Ideally for me, people discover Astro Boy through this movie and they’ll start looking back and maybe read the manga and maybe look at some of the earlier TV shows, and sort of find out where it all came from…
MS: Well, you were saying that Astro Boy—in America, he hasn’t been around for awhile—but that’s not quite the story in Japan. He’s an ambassador, practically.
DB: He is, he is. Again, I was very nervous about taking it to Japan, because you have no idea how people are going to react, and also there tends to be a bias against non-Japanese movies, especially a non-Japanese filmmaker making a movie of Astro Boy, and I think people were hesitant… But once people saw the movie, again, they really liked it. Kids particularly—it was great.
MS: That must have been very rewarding…
DB: It was very rewarding. It was a big relief, to be honest.
MS: Okay, now, what’s the release schedule? Is it going to go out all over the world at the same time, or is it going market by market?
DB: October 23rd, it’s going to an awful lot of markets. Some other places, some territories, I think Latin America (and I might be wrong on this) I think it’s mainly in January; in England it’s January, and everywhere else I’m not sure…Most of the world is October 23rd…it’s a huge release.
MS: Now, a couple of other elements behind the scenes that I really enjoyed—you got some great voice talent, and you got John Ottman, who’s a great composer. Now tell me a little bit about getting those elements…
DB: Well, it was great. I mean, we were very lucky. We went out to, really my wish list of amazing actors—you’ve got a movie and it’s got Nicholas Cage and Freddie Highmore and Kristen Bell, and Bill Nighy and Nathan Lane and Eugene Levy and David Alan Grier, you know, all these great, great people… I’m sure I missed somebody out there—Charlize Theron! I don’t think you can get a lot of movies with that kind of cast, but it’s not time-consuming for them: they can do it at their convenience, they can wear their pajamas, they don’t have to wear any makeup, there’s no lighting, and I think some of them find it quite liberating to do a performance in a booth, just using their voices… I’m just very lucky that all these people said yes.
MS: Well, there are a few actors you got who have never done this before, weren’t there?
DB: I don’t think Charlize has done anything like this before… I think Kristen’s done some stuff for a video game… I think so. I know Freddie’s done a little bit of animation before, and Bill Nighy…
MS: He can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned. (laughs)
DB: No, no! I worked with him on Flushed Away, I love him—I cast him twice in Astro Boy, so… it’s just a pleasure.
MS: Now tell me about getting John Ottman.
DB: Well, I wanted a score that felt modern but had a classic feel to it, and I listened to John’s music, and the day I met John we talked about movies that we liked, we talked about the kind of music that we liked for movies, and I talked about the kind of music I wanted for Astro Boy, and he seemed such a great fit. And then he just went away, and wrote this amazing score; I’d come in, I’d talk to him occasionally…I didn’t give too many notes, really. We talked about the whole movie first of all, we spotted it**, I briefed him on what it had to be, what the emotional need was for the music here, or whether it needed to drive, or whether it was exciting, and he just did an amazing job and we recorded it at Abbey Road studios in London with a huge orchestra, and a huge choir, and it’s a spectacular score. I think it sort of harkens back to classic John Williams…I love it.
MS: I think it’s perfect for the film, because like you said, it gives it that kind of epic, heroic, “birth of a hero” kind of feel. Is that always what your intention was?
DB: That was exactly it. That was exactly the intention.
MS: At the end of the movie, which I won’t give away, it’s obvious that we’d love to see more Astroboys, and I love how it goes right into what would be his next adventure. Would you come back and do another one?
DB: I’ve very much enjoyed myself doing the Astro Boy movie, I really have, so I certainly wouldn’t rule it out. It just depends—if people like the Astro Boy movie, then I’m sure we’ll make another one. But for the end of the movie, I just wanted to end on an action/adventure, exciting note—end on a high!
MS: I’m also curious, for you, as an adult now (laughs) there was a sense to me of sort of the kid in all of us, there are certain elements in there, Astro Boy’s kind of at that—he never really says his age, but you get a sense that he’s somewhere between twelve and fourteen—and there’s definitely that sense of wonder, figuring out as an adolescent what you can do, what your body can do, so was that part of what you wanted to bring out, that “kid in all of us” thing?
DB: I think it was, and I really hope that comes across in the scene where he discovers his powers, when he falls down and he finds out he’s got rocket boots, and then he finds out he can do all these amazing things like fly through the clouds, he can drill through solid rock—he’s pretty much indestructible. It’s sort of kid wish fulfillment. It’s quite empowering for kids, I think, to see a superhero who’s also a kid onscreen…I think that’s great. But hopefully, yeah—I’d display a childlike sense of wonder if I suddenly found out my feet had rockets in them!
MS: (laughs) Okay…what did you learn about yourself making this film?
DB: Learn about myself? I learned a little bit more about the kind of movies I like. It was nice as well—at Dreamworks and the other studios I’ve worked with before, you have a huge, huge machine behind you, and it’s great, and it’s hard to mess up. But Imagi, which is a much smaller company—and really, Astro Boy is, to be honest, an independent movie—it’s an amazing crew of incredibly, incredibly talented people, but you don’t have that safety net. You can’t mess up, you know—you have to be pretty definite about what you want to do, so as a director, for me, it was liberating in that I could make decisions and go with my first instincts, and then just stick with those instincts, and it was good. It was good. I’m not sure what I learned about myself…(laughs)
MS: Well my last question is, for you—having been part of a production team, a team player, a storyboard artist laying it all out—now, letting go of all of that and having other people do what you at one time would have done, what is that like for you?
DB: It’s great, because I think I see them doing their jobs from the perspective that I had when I was doing the jobs myself. So as a director, I really try not to stifle people; I really just want to get the best out of them. So, everybody from the story artist through editorial through the animators and the lighters, these are all great people with lots of experience, and as a director you’re foolish not to draw on that experience. These movies really are a collaborative effort, as well, so as a former story artist and animator myself, I know what it’s like to have your ideas crushed. (laughs) So, I try to encourage and get the best out of people.
* in between artist:
In traditional animation you have artists who do the ‘extremes’ [or key frames] which are the extreme gestures or movements of a character, and then you have a series of in between artists who do all of the frames [film is shot at 24 frames per second] of animation in between each gesture of movement to make the movements smooth and seamless.
** After a film has been shot (or some shooting has been completed), the composer is shown an unpolished "rough cut" of the film (or of the scenes partially finished), and talks to the director about what sort of music (styles, themes, etc.) should be used — this process is called "spotting."
Mike Sargent is a nationally-quoted film critic for WBAI-FM in NYC. His late night radioshow’s web site is Lifeislikesciencefiction.com and that just about says it all.
Continue reading "New David Bowers Interview"...
Monday, November 9, 2009
Tim Biskup's Astro Boy
Check out this wild artwork of Astro Boy by renowned artist Tim Biskup!
If you look closely at the background you'll see that it actually says "Atomu" in Japanese. Nice touch!
Source: Boing Boing.
More on Tezuka Manga for iPhone
About.com : Manga has a great new article about the upcoming Weekly Astro Boy Magazine, which will be available soon for iPhone and iPod Touch at a cost of 99 cents per issue. Fred Schodt chimes in with a testimonial about Tezuka's manga being released in this format and the tantalizing prospect of availability on further platforms in the future. Read it for yourself here!
For can read more information about this exciting new service and the free preview issue on the Weekly Astro Boy Magazine website.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Pluto Talk on Anime Today
The Right Stuf's podcast Anime Today has a new episode featuring an excellent interview with translators Frederik L. Schodt and Jared Cook, who talk about their translation of Naoki Urasawa's Astro Boy inspired manga, Pluto. It's a very cool look at their history in manga translation and the process they used in converting Pluto's rich story from Japanese to English. This is a must-listen for anyone who's been reading Pluto, but even if you haven't yet, don't worry. There are only a few minor spoilers.
Unfortunately, the Astro Boy movie had not yet been released at the time of the interview's recording, so they were not able to discuss it in great detail. What they did discuss was what Tezuka would think about all the attention being paid to these new visions of his original works. The answer might suprise you!
Make sure you listen for yourself and click the link below for an archived copy of the press release.Right Stuf's Anime Today Talks Pluto with Translators Frederik L. Schodt and Jared Cook
Nov 6th 2009
Behind the scenes at RightStuf.com, Karakuri Odette, reviews, contests & more in episode 105!
GRIMES, IA, November 6, 2009 – Anime producer and mega-online anime retailer Right Stuf, Inc. is pleased to welcome Frederik L. Schodt and Jared Cook – the translators of the PLUTO: Urasawa x Tezuka manga – to episode 105 of ANIME TODAY.
In this new, three-segment interview, Schodt and Cook discuss their work on Naoki Urasawa's reimagining of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy manga, how Dr. Tezuka may have reacted to the recent adaptations of his work, and their unique, two-person translation process.
Long-time translation partners Schodt and Cook collaborated on the English translations and adaptations of Osamu Tezuka's Phoenix and Princess Knight (excerpt for Viz's Shojo Beat magazine), prior to their work on Pluto. The author of The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom and the Manga/Anime Revolution, Schodt has been recognized with the Osamu Tezuka Culture Special Prize and by the Japanese government with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette for his contributions to the appreciation of manga and Japanese culture worldwide.
Also in episode 105 of ANIME TODAY:
* Chad shares “What's Hot” in the world of anime and manga.
* Rich tells fans how they can find “Revolutionary Savings” on DVDs, Blu-ray, books and music from Bandai Entertainment.
* Rich and Nick take a look at how packages get out from RightStuf.com to customers in the second installment of “Best Wishes, Stuf!,” which focuses on the customer service, accounting and warehouse departments.
* Nick and Rich announce the latest Year of the Otaku winners (and new weekly contest), announce the winners of the Kimba (Jungle Emperor Leo) contest, and kick off a new contest gearing up for this month's release of the Boys Over Flowers Korean drama.
* Rich and Nick provide a rundown of upcoming conventions, courtesy of AnimeCons.com.
* Marie takes a look at the manga Karakuri Odette by Julietta Suzuki.
* Listen to clips from Neon Genesis Evangelion Soundtrack 1 and the Refrain of Evangelion soundtrack from Geneon Music. Also hear tracks from JapanFiles.com artists MORNING GLORY (“Time After Time” from the mini EP Remember) and ketchup mania (“Welcome to Paradise” from their Best of CD).
* And finally, ANIME TODAY highlights some of the newest fan reviews from RightStuf.com visitors.
Have a question about anime and manga? Want to comment on one of the podcast's segments? Call our Anime Today Hotline at 1-800-338-6827, ext. 7424. You may hear yourself on a future episode of Anime Today!
Visit www.rightstuf.com and www.animetoday.com for this episode, as well as an archive of all ANIME TODAY episodes and extended liner notes. Listeners can also download and subscribe to ANIME TODAY via the Apple iTunes Music Store.
Meet other anime fans, talk with ANIME TODAY listeners, submit your suggestions for future episodes and more at the new ANIME TODAY forums: http://www.rightstuf.com/ubbthreads/.
Follow ANIME TODAY on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/animetoday.
Find Right Stuf on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/rightstuf.
ABOUT ANIME TODAY
Released every other week, ANIME TODAY is the first commercially-produced podcast aimed at enthusiasts of Japanese animation and comics (“anime” and “manga”). Each episode features fresh content and gives listeners a glimpse into what's new and what's hot in the world of anime and manga. Segments include reviews of titles from all major anime studios, insights into the industry from anime producers, tips on traveling to and around Japan, interaction with listeners, contests, prizes and more.
“If you're into anime and what's happening in the anime market then this is the podcast for you!”
- User review on iTunes
ABOUT RIGHT STUF, INC.
Currently celebrating its 22nd year in business, Right Stuf, Inc. was one of the first players in the U.S. Japanese Animation ("anime") industry, as both an anime producer/distributor and a retailer. Right Stuf works to promote knowledge of its own products, as well as the anime and manga industry, in general, through its online storefront at RightStuf.com and a variety of media including podcasts and special publications.
Nozomi Entertainment, Right Stuf's production division, is dedicated to the highest quality releases. True to the Japanese word that inspired its name, Nozomi's focus is on “what fans want.” By focusing on a limited number of anime properties each year, the Nozomi production team ensures each release receives the care and attention to detail it deserves.
From anime classics like Astro Boy, Kimba and Gigantor to modern comedies, dramas and favorites such as The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, His and Her Circumstances, Gravitation, Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars, Ninja Nonsense, To Heart, The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye, Emma: A Victorian Romance, Maria Watches Over Us, ARIA, Gakuen Alice and Rental Magica, Right Stuf and Nozomi Entertainment produce quality programming for fans of all ages and interests. For more information, visit www.rightstuf.com and www.nozomient.com.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Red and Blue: The Politics of Astro Boy
One of the biggest talking points brought up in reviews of the Astro Boy movie is that it has an American political message.
While I personally don't see it that way, a lot of people do, and seem to be deeply offended by it, saying that this sort of thing has no place in a children's movie.
Rather than try to get to the bottom of what must be a personal issue for every individual viewer, I'll simply write some of my own thoughts on the topic and leave the comments section open for discussion.
Be warned, spoilers are afoot!
Do keep in mind that I came into this movie from the mindset of an anime fan who already knew the story of Astro Boy. I've also been following the film for two years via this blog. As such, my viewing experience going into the film was more about those kinds of story elements, not political ones. Someone who come into the film at a different angle may be more susceptible to seeing a political side of the film than I am. I'm also Canadian, so while I understand some of the political situation in the United States, I am very much detached from it.
It's interesting looking back to the months leading up to the film now that it seems to have sparked a political debate. At a certain point it became clear that Astro would be powered by the Blue Core energy, rather than more factual scientific atomic power in Osamu Tezuka's original story. Naturally, the use of atomic power in Tezuka's manga stems from the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in World War II and the bomb tests that followed afterward. The word "Atom" carried a lot of weight at the time and had public recognition, hence its inclusion in that story. Tezuka hoped that atomic energy could someday be harnessed in positive ways, but always warned against the over-reliance on science and technology.
So, at first, it seemed to me that using the Blue Core energy as plot point for the film was a way of stripping a complicated and potentially controversial topic from the movie and simplifying the story for a more general audience. And perhaps there is some truth to that, as atomic energy isn't in the public eye today as it was in the 50's and 60's. For its own reasons, the Spider-man movie did the same thing, swapping out the traditional radioactive spider that bites Peter Parker for a genetically engineered one.
I felt that the atomic power was an important part of the Astro Boy story, and felt that it was a bad move taking it out. Astro Boy was Japan's way of taking something bad, turning it into something good, and embracing it. To remove that, I thought, would leave out something that makes the character so intriguing. However, s time went on and more of the movie's plot became public, I began to see things a little differently.
The blue and red cores are more symbols than anything else, representing the positive and negative uses of science and technology. Using these symbols, rather than explaining the science behind everything, makes the issue more easily understood by younger audiences and more universal for international audiences. But understand that the issues raised by Tezuka have not been removed entirely. Instead of outwardly talking about them, they are covertly included in the film. I found this aspect to be rather clever once I saw it that way. The outright use of atomic power may be missing, but a similar interesting concept seems to have developed in its place.
As an artist, I understand that colors have meanings and generate feelings, whether the average person realizes them or not. Blue can represent water, calmness, and tranquility. Red can represent fire, blood, and rage. I suppose the cores could have been any colors, but blue and red seem to be the most obvious choices. The use of red = evil and blue = good isn't exactly a new one. It seems odd to me that people are stuck on this issue being a politically motivated one, as if blue is supposed to represent Democrats and red is supposed to represent Republicans. It is as if a part of the original manga story that was changed for the film to avoid a political issue may have unwittingly started one anyway!
When it comes to President Stone and the Metro City election, I'll grant you that there is a political theme to that part of the plot, obviously. The "It's not Time for Change" banner is a clear reference to the Obama election campaign, though I see it as a visual gag more than anything else. But to say that this has anything to do with the current state of politics would mean that President Stone would have to be analogous to a real political personality. That I can't logically stand behind. President Stone is an unabashedly evil character, who declared war on a whim and bragged about how many ex-wives he had. He is not standing in for George W. Bush or anyone else. He is, quite simply, the villain of the movie. He's just too impossibly evil to be anything else. We may have disagreements over who's doing what in Washington, but is there anybody who is as honestly as rotten to the core as President Stone? I don't think so. His level of villainy is so great that it'd be totally ridiculous if it weren't so entertaining.
The original Astro Boy stories do contain of issues that, I suppose, one could label as political. However, the way I see it, these are not "red vs blue" issues. They are more clearly basic morality issues of right vs. wrong. And these issues are definitely woven into the film. Discrimination is wrong. Pollution is wrong. War is wrong. Is it really so bad to put this in a movie for kids? At the heart of the matter, there's nothing political about it.
While I am surprised at the attention this issue is getting, it really should come as a surprise to no one who is familiar with Tezuka's works that there would be some kind of issue like this in the movie. I know some people say that when they go to watch movies, they go to leave the "real world" behind, and they don't think that kids should be exposed to such complex themes. Well, Tezuka never thought that way when he made his comics. He added all sorts of important issues into his manga. It's only fitting that this movie would do the same. It's too bad that a handful of folks are missing the point entirely and looking in the wrong direction.
But hey, if you see things differently, please leave a comment below and have at it!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Happy Birthday, Osamu Tezuka
On this day, November 3rd, in 1928, a child who would eventually be known as the God of Manga was born. Were he still alive today, he'd be 81.
Even after running this blog for more than one year, I am still reading new things about him that amaze me. He truly was one of the greatest people to ever walk the planet. I have no doubts that he'd have been thrilled to have his likeness appear in the Astro Boy movie.
These past 12 months have been a year long celebration in Japan, paying respect the life and work of Osamu Tezuka to commemorate the 80th anniversary of his birth. Well, here on Astro Boy World, the celebration never stops! There is just so much more to talk about, and so much more that we can all learn from this incredible man.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Astro Boy AMV by MrTEZUKAFOREVER
This is me being a nice guy today!
MrTEZUKAFOREVER has been pretty persistent in asking me to share the Anime Music Videos that were edited together and are shared online. Clearly a lot of work and a lot of love for the character goes into something like this. I thought this one, focusing on the 2003 series, was really great. Enjoy!
You can see more of MrTEZUKAFOREVER's AMVs on YouTube.
I'm not going to plug everyone's stuff just because I'm asked to. Again, this is me being a nice guy today.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Fred Schodt: Astro Boy Forever!
Author, translator, and all around awesome guy Frederik L. Schodt strikes again with an article published in Breeze Issue #39 via the Japan Foundation Los Angeles that explains the virtues and historical significance of Astro Boy better than anyone else ever could.
Here's a small slice.
"Tezuka set his story in a Japan fifty years in the future, and filled scenes in his story with futuristic highways, flying cars, and skyscrapers, as well as robots and new-fangled inventions that few people at the time had imagined. To young fans in then-impoverished Tokyo , most of whom were probably ten or twelve year old boys, it was a hugely exciting world. But at the same time Tezuka was also careful to include both familiar and reassuring scenes. Among the futuristic skyscrapers he always drew some ramshackle old houses of traditional construction."You can read the whole article here, and keep reading for more about a lecture delivered by Fred delivered this past summer. You can also access an archived version of the article by clicking the link below. Thanks again to Robert of The Sci-Fi Block for the tip!
I love the design of the little robot boy character known as Astro Boy. In my dreams I sometimes see him zooming through the clouds and over mountains, rockets firing from his feet, his right arm outstretched in front of him with fist clenched. Or I imagine him attending Ochanomizu elementary school in Tokyo with his human pals, wearing a Japanese school boy uniform and carrying a knapsack. My house is filled with Astro Boy-themed stationary, badges, action figures, towels, clocks, and other assorted gadgets. Needless to say, I am a big Astro Boy fan. But I may be different from others in that I am also fascinated by Astro Boy in ways that relate more to history than immediate entertainment.
Astro Boy is a message to us from the past. Most North Americans probably know him as the star of an old black and white animated TV series of the same name, syndicated by NBC Enterprises in 1963, or as the star of similarly-named series from 1980, 2003, or even the computer graphics feature film of 2009. But the Astro Boy story actually has far deeper roots, for it was first created by Japan 's late Osamu Tezuka as a manga (comic book) series, titled Tetsuwan Atomu , or “Mighty Atom,” in 1951-2. It was a long-running series that Tezuka regularly drew until around 1969, but he also occasionally turned out short episodes in the early 1970s. These stories are now collected and available in English translation as a series of twenty-three paperback volumes from Dark Horse Comics, and to read them is to see Astro Boy in a completely different light than he appears in the TV series or in the recent feature film.
Tezuka—who is known today in Japan as the manga no kamisama , or “God of Comics”—began creating his Astro Boy character for the manga series only six years after World War II. It was a bleak time. Japan was still occupied by Allied forces, bombed-out cities were still being reconstructed, and people were still scrambling to get enough to eat. Tezuka was only twenty-three or four, but he knew the children of defeated Japan needed something positive, something new, to help them look forward rather than back. Encouraged by his editors at Shonen magazine, he tried to give young readers hope and courage, while wrapping his story in a strong pro-peace framework.
Partly inspired, perhaps, by the 19th century Pinocchio story, Tezuka made Astro a ten or eleven year old boy-robot, created by a brilliant-but-unstable scientist named Dr. Tenma, who wanted a surrogate for his real son, Tobio (who had been killed in an auto accident). Astro is eventually disowned by Tenma because, as a robot, he fails to grow like a real human boy. Luckily, however, Astro is taken in by another scientist, Professor Ochanomizu, who—feeling sorry for him—creates an entire robot family for him of a robot father, mother, brother, and little sister. In Tezuka's story, Astro had been created with the cream of Japanese advanced technology, and he had many powers that —quite unlike American superheroes—were all based on pseudo-scientific principles. The most advanced robot of his era, he had rockets in his feet and hands, a computer brain, and searchlight eyes. At the same time, he was so intelligent and natural in his movements that he was fully capable of coexisting with humans and even acting as one. And he did so, enrolling in the fifth grade of the local elementary school. To the delight of young readers in Japan , Astro's parents (also robots) were not as intelligent or advanced as he was, with the result that they enrolled in the first grade of the same school.
Tezuka set his story in a Japan fifty years in the future, and filled scenes in his story with futuristic highways, flying cars, and skyscrapers, as well as robots and new-fangled inventions that few people at the time had imagined. To young fans in then-impoverished Tokyo , most of whom were probably ten or twelve year old boys, it was a hugely exciting world. But at the same time Tezuka was also careful to include both familiar and reassuring scenes. Among the futuristic skyscrapers he always drew some ramshackle old houses of traditional construction. Adult characters often wore Western style suits and ties, but Astro's school teacher occasionally swaggered about with traditional wooden geta clogs. And Astro's schoolmates dressed in the uniforms of the 1950s. At first, the exact time frame of the Astro Boy story was not entirely clear, but Tezuka eventually settled on April 7, 2003 for Astro's birthday (or creation day). This meant that—while drawing Astro Boy in the 1950s as fanciful science fiction for children—Tezuka was in fact creating a story set in our time, today. He gave us, in a sense, a time capsule of an alternative future.
Tezuka was a true intellectual, trained as a scientist (he later became a licensed physician), so even though he was drawing a story mainly for young boys, he had to keep himself entertained. For him, this meant exploring what now seem to be shockingly serious issues for children's fare. For example, Astro was a humanoid robot and had to coexist with humans, but in the story the humans were often prejudiced against robots. In manga episodes like “The Tragedy of Bailey,” Tezuka thus tackled subjects such as civil rights. “There are always people,” he once wrote, “who take offense at stories depicting discrimination in too real or raw a fashion, but making the victim of discrimination a robot rather than a human gives me a lot more freedom, and allows me to be far more provocative.” In other episodes, such as the 1953 episode “Red Cat,” he tackled (with a liberal paraphrasing of a famous 1903 work by novelist Doppo Kunikida) the problem of overdevelopment and its threat to the environment—long before most people had given much thought to pollution or even the finite nature of the earth. In the 1955 “Yellow Horse” episode, he explored drug and addiction issues. In 1967-69, in an episode called “The Angel of Vietnam,” he even dabbled in politics and the explored the morality of the Vietnam War. And in the 1956 story, “Robot Bombs,” he envisioned an issue that has taken on a special urgency for all of us today—suicide bombers.
Our world today does not exactly look like the world that Tezuka envisioned. We do not yet have flying cars, and we rarely see humanoid, intelligent robots. Yet we are surrounded by intelligent machines and systems, and whether they are computers, ATMs, or the amorphous web that we now daily surf, we interact with them nearly every day. And we are thus increasingly forced to confront many of the existential issues that Tezuka raised—not only about war and peace and pollution and nature—but about artificial intelligence, and the coexistence of man and machine. Loosely interpreted, Astro Boy sometimes seems quite prophetic.
There is a second reason that I find Tezuka's Astro Boy series fascinating, and it is independent of the content of either the manga or the animated series, and again more related to history. Astro Boy was not Tezuka's first manga work, and not the last, for he went on to create scores more. But it has become his most famous, and rightly so. There were comic books and cartoons in Japan before the war, but at the beginning of the fifties, with Astro Boy and other now-famous works such as Jungle Emperor (also known as Kimba the White Lion , 1951-54) and Princess Knight (1953-56), Tezuka laid the groundwork for a revolution in the medium. Following Tezuka's lead, more and more Japanese artists began to create longer, more visually-oriented and “cinematic” stories. In the process they elevated the comic book medium from a restricted format mainly enjoyed by children, to a medium of expression that in Japan today rivals film and novels and is also enjoyed by a broad swath of the adult population.
In 1963 Tezuka used money earned from drawing popular manga to create an animation studio, Mushi Productions. For the company's first commercial venture he decided to animate none other than his Astro Boy story for television, thus creating Japan's first domestically produced, weekly, thirty minute animated TV series. It was a feat that resulted in a huge swelling of national pride in Japan at the time. And it also created the template for today's gargantuan manga and anime industries, because the TV version of Astro Boy proved so popular that it spawned a huge merchandise industry, generating toys, stationary, and seemingly endless spin-offs. Executives from NBC Enterprises in the United States also noticed this, and eventually signed a contract with Tezuka and Mushi Productions. With the help of veteran animation producer, Fred Ladd, the series was then cleverly translated and localized for the American market, thus appearing on American television sets as the first weekly animated series from Japan . Later, it would also be broadcast in many other languages around the world, thrilling children everywhere with its originality. So the enormous popularity of Japanese manga and anime in the English-speaking world today can be directly traced back to Tezuka, and to Astro Boy .
Osamu Tezuka passed away in 1989, but long, long ago, he had a vision for both anime and manga that turned out to be correct. As he wrote in the foreword to my 1983 book, Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics , “My experience convinces me that comics, regardless of what language they are printed in, are an important form of expression that crosses all national and cultural boundaries, that comics are great fun, and that they can further peace and goodwill among nations.”
© 2009 Frederik L. Schodt
Frederik L. Schodt is a writer, translator, and interpreter who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the spring of 2009 the Japanese Emperor granted him the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, for his contributions to the promotion of Japanese popular culture in the United States . His latest book is The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution ( Berkeley : Stone Bridge Press, 2007). http://www.jai2.com
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