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Osamu Tezuka's Manga
Unpublished notes to the slide lecture

Part 1: Androgyny & Androids

Themes which characterize the post-nuclear trans-gender aspects of Tezuka's vision

a. METROPOLIS
1949: complete story; based on Metropolis still & images of America

1. Dr. Lawton creates Mitchy (1) (mention Statue of Liberty & how Mitch is modelled on a statue)
2. Mitchy in the city (1) (mention androgyny via flick of switch in her mouth)
3. Mitchy melts after confrontation with Ken'ichi (1)

b. ASTRO BOY
1951-68: serialization; 1963-66: TV series; 1964: feature film; 1980-81: remake TV series

1. Original manga cover (1)
2. The Birth of Astro Boy (video excerpt)
3. The Melanin Family (2 - 1966 manga) (nuclear devastation & melting flesh - compare with BAREFOOT GEN)
4. Astro Boy NBC-TV ad (1) (Americans seemingly unaware of the origins & cultural context of Astro Boy)
5. Tezuka Productions Astro Boy promo (video)

c. PRINCESS KNIGHT
1953-56: serialization; 1963-66: serialization; 1967-68: TV series

1. Tink steals heart & puts it in Saphire's mouth (1 - 1963 version)
2. Saphire is 'sexually socialized' (2 - 1953 version) (mention coding of flowers in Shojo Manga; also eyes & romance, etc.)
3. Franz Charming falls for Saphire (1 - 1953 version) (does he look at all masculine?)
4. Saphire beating up Lord Nylon (1 - TV series) (mention Duke Duralumin, girl's fabrics & the issue of showing her as a plausible boy)

Part 2: Animalism & Anthropomorphism

Themes which rework Disney's approach to the cute-animal syndrome

a. KIMBA THE WHITE LION
1950-54: serialization; 1965: Jungle Emperor TV series; 1966: Jungle Emperor feature film; 1966: Go Ahead Leo TV series; 1966-67: serialization

1. Ham Eggs kills Panja (1 - 1950 version)
2. Leo sees Eliza in the stars; heads on to Arabia (1 - 1950 version)
3. Leo trained at home by Higeoyaji & his family (2 - 1967 version) (mention SCOOBY & SCRAPPY DO)
4. Leo listens to voice of Panja & Eliza (2 - 1967 version)
5. Rene wants to go to the city; fantasizes about it (2 - 1950 version)
6. Grown-up Leo gives his fur to Higeoyaji; Higeoyaji gives it to Rene (3 - 1950 version)

b. THE AMAZING THREE
1965-66: serialization; 1965-66: TV series

1. 4 manga colour pages (1)
2. Transformation of three of the Galaxy Patrol into earth animals - Bokko (rabbit), Nokko (horse) & Pukko (duck) (3)
3. Images from TV series (1965-6) (1)

c. EULOGY TO KIRIHITO
1970-71: serialization

1. Poetic abstraction of the Monmo disease which strikes Kirihito Osanai (2)
2. The guilt of Urabe (Osanai's colleague) .... (1)
3. .... of bringing back & displaying Sister Helen who has contracted Monmo (3) (Animalism as a symbolic disease which turns human into dog)

Part 3: Social reality & critique

Themes which were paraphrased in Tezuka's Festival-oriented shorts

a. CRIME & PUNISHMENT
1953: novel adaptation

1. Original manga cover (1) (set up the cute mis-reading of this image)
2. Raskolnikov pondering crime (2) (unconventional image narration)
3. Raskolnikov's guilt (1) (brooding expressionistic effects)

b. MW
1976-78: serialization

1. Devastation of chemical gas leak in early 60s covered up by government (1)
2. Graphic effects as remembered by Garai (1) 3. Garai's ill-memories turning him t te priesthood (1)
4. Garai's homosexual relationship with Michio - the other survivor of the accidental disaster (1) (mention Michio's plot to find the gas & leak it o the world before he dies)
5. Garai's excusing of Michio's psychosis because MW his affected his brain (1)

Part 4: Mysticism & Morphology

Themes which Tezuka used to explore the cosmology of all life forms

a. BUDDHA
1953: biographical adaptation

1. The cycle of life (4)
2. Images of the well-spring of life, existence & consciousness (1) ("A religious science fiction" according to Tezuka)

b. PHOENIX
1967-88: serialization in 3 series (Note: 11 Books in total) - Series 1 [1967-72] - Books of DAWN, FUTURE, YAMATO, UNIVERSE, HO-O, RESURRECTION; Series 2 [1976-80] - Books of NOSTALGIA, CIVIL WAR, LIFE, STRANGE BEINGS; Series 3 [1986-88] - Book of SUN

1. The Book of Future (1) (abstract pondering)
2. The Book of Resurrection (2) (contemplating the future)
2. The Book of Ho-o (ie. Karma - 4) (the obsessive drive of man & realization of the source of life - made into a film called PHOENIX - KARMA in 1986 - part of a trilogy of films)

c. THE SONG OF APOLLO
197?: complete work

1. The origin of Life! (7) (mention how this relates to MARVELOUS MELMO.)

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