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Catalogue Notes from Screenings
Programme 1 - TV series
1. ASTRO BOY
Original title: Tetsuwan Atom
Manga origin: Tetsuwan Atom
Manga publication: 1951-68
Director: Osamu Tezuka
Production company: Mushi Productions
Year: 1963-66
Duration: 23" per episodeThe TV series that started it all, from the infiltration of Japanese style into Western TV animation to the tradition of cartoon robots still strong in Japanese anime today. The success of ASTRO BOY in and outside Japan provided the cornerstone for the animation industry there and insured a productive livelihood for Tezuka's independent animation company, Mushi. Incredibly kawaii (cute) to this day - and according to Tezuka, thematically slim when compared to the original manga - ASTRO BOY remains more innocent than puerile; more charming than cloying; more mournful than melodramatic. One of the 193 episodes inspired the 1966 film FANTASTIC VOYAGE, and a similarly inspired Stanley Kubrick approached Tezuka to do storyboards for 2001.
2. KIMBA THE WHITE LION
Original title: Junguru Taitei
Manga origin: Junguru Taitai
Manga publication: 1950-54
Director: Eiichi Yamato
Production company: Mushi Productions
Year: 1965-67
Duration: 23" per episodeThe 3rd TV series Tezuka created with Mushi, KIMBA was the first colour anime series made in Japan. Highly memorable for Australian kids who saw it during its early 70s broadcast, KIMBA contained a certain harshness and sadness atypical of animation then and still now. It is based on the Zen notion of the greatness of nature: 'the great fish eats the small'. Many episodes featured death and injustice as the brutality of man is starkly contrasted against the survival codes of jungle animals. The familial, social and genetic complexities of a lion family (Kimba and his father Leo) who learn to speak English and introduce vegetarian diets to carnivores are amazing flights of the imagination. Unavailable in the west since the mid 70s, one can compare this seminal series with Disney's recent THE LION KING to study just how east meets west.
3. PRINCESS KNIGHT
Original title: Ribon No Kishi
Manga origin: Ribon No Kishi
Manga publication: 1953-56
Director: Osamu Tezuka
Production company: Mushi
Productions Year: 1967-68Duration: 23" per episode Acknowledged as the first anime for girls (and indirectly leading to some of the most mind-boggling gender-specific girls titles [shojo manga & anime] which have proliferated in Japan over the proceeding 30 years), PRINCESS KNIGHT is a truly confounding tale. Set in a lurid fantasy-Europe which makes Disney's penchant for Bavarian castles seem restrained, this is the story of Sapphire who cannot succeed to the throne of Goldland because she is a girl. Thus she parades as a boy, and smites one Franz Charming when she redisguises herself as a blonde girl for a journey into Silverland. If this already doesn't already sound like one of the wild romantic scenarios from the female cross-dressing Takarazuka Revue, complications further arise because when Sapphire was born, a mischievous angel (Tink in the original; Choppy in the American) pushed the heart of a boy into her mouth - so she actually has the hearts of both sexes within her.
4. MARVELOUS MELMO
Original title: Fushigi Na Melmo
Manga origin: Mamaa Chan
Manga publication: 1971
Director: Osamu Tezuka
Production company: Tezuka
Productions Year: 1971
Duration: 23" per episodeIf PRINCESS KNIGHT sounds wild, MARVELOUS MELMO is all the more so because Tezuka's intentions were that this TV series function as sex education for young children. Never released in the west - not suprisingly - the series follows the exploits of Melmo who is given a bottle of transformative growth pills by the spirit of her recently deceased mother. These pills allow Melmo to do things like grow a human embryo of her brother in a bowl of water and transform herself to a sexy teenager who spends most of her stop-and-start teenagerhood wearing her kiddie clothes - now a very short dress and absurdly tight top. Morals, ethics and sex advice abound in this marvellously crazy series.
5. ASTRO BOY
Original title: Tetsuwan Atom
Manga origin: Tetsuwan Atom
Manga publication: 1951-68
Director: Noburu Ishiguro
Production company: Tezuka Productions
Year: 1980-81
Duration: 24" per episode
Technically referred to as the REMAKE OF ASTRO BOY, this series features a karaoke-disco version of the theme (true to the Japanese theme but with English words). Many changes are evident in this slicker version, but the themes are largely intact. The main shift is in the focus on the robotics of Astro Boy. This time his five powers are described not in humanitarian terms but in machine-power terms (trailing the 70s boom in robot anime pioneered by the likes of Go Nagai, Reiji Matsumoto and Yoshiyuki Toshmino). And just as Godzilla became a good guy, Astro Boy in this series would develop strong friendships with many of his mortal robot enemies, thus retaining a key Tezuka theme: robots, monsters, spirits and animals are OK - Man is the problem.Programme 2 - Shorts Vol.1
1. Tales Of The Street Corner
Original title: Aru Machikado No Monogatari
Director: Osamu TezukaProduction company: Mushi Productions
Year: 1962
Duration: 38"Tezuka's work can loosely be divided into three distinct modes of production: his manga - where he could elaborate his ideas with total control; his TV series and manga-derived features - which often transformed his manga ideas; and shorts designed for international film festivals - where he could artistically explore the animation medium and branch out from the otherwise primary prerogative to entertain. TALES OF A STREET CORNER was the first work in this third mode, and as such is heavily based on the then-established artistry of modernist illustrative animation from Eastern Europe. In fact TALES is a pastiche of many European styles and media, with emphasis on the bold poster designs which originated from Russia in the 20s. Of special note in this film is the accent on widescreen cinematic pictorialism - a design principle not usually applicable to manga layouts. Often characterized as an anti-war statement, TALES serves as an introduction to Tezuka's philosophy of life, wherein good can come from bad, a reality from which the innocent are not spared. Interestingly, Tezuka's idea for this film originated in his ideas for music and sound (each character has their own theme and instrument) and he closely monitored the production of the score which then allowed him to elaborate his storyboards.
2. MERMAID
Original title: Ningyo
Director: Osamu Tezuka
Production company: Mushi Productions
Year: 1964
Duration: 8"A whimsical tale of impossible love rendered in severely simplistic stick-figure technique. Tezuka explored a vast range of styles and techniques in his animation which he could not do with his manga. The music score for MERMAID is the first of many done by Isao Tomita, who later went on to provide the distinctive orchestral score for KIMBA and become a recording artist in his own right.
3. DROP
Original title: Shizuku
Director: Osamu Tezuka
Production company: Mushi Productions
Year: 1965
Duration: 4"A companion piece of sorts to MERMAID. DROP utilizes similar brush and wash backgrounds but stylizes its central protagonist in broader caricature as he attempts to pathetically lick a drop of water while shipwrecked at sea. Tezuka made this film in one week as a demonstration to his staff at Mushi that experimental anime could be done quickly and economically.
4. PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
Original title: Tenrankai No E
Director: Osamu Tezuka
Production company: Mushi Productions
Year: 1966
Duration: 39"Tezuka's second major animation short. PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION is Tezuka's inspired response to Disney's FANTASIA. Much of Disney's work did not reach Japan until the late 40s, and the advances that Disney displayed in SNOW WHITE and FANTASIA hit Japanese animators with great force. Tezuka has often been characterized as the 'Japanese Disney'. Certainly he was influenced by Disney, but Tezuka also retained his own personal vision. PICTURES verges on the ostentatious at times, yet it remains a breathtaking ride through various moods and dynamics. Based on Mussorgsky's famous image-narrative score, the version for this film was arranged and conducted by Isao Tomita. On a rare occasion, PICTURES was screened with live orchestral accompaniment.
5. JUMPING
Original title: Jumping
Director: Osamu Tezuka
Production company: Tezuka Productions
Year: 1984
Duration: 6"A tour de force of technique and the imagination. Influenced by the experimental Hungarian animation THE FLY, JUMPING utilizes the point-of-view gag to convey a breathtaking view of how powerful a child's imagination can be. Apart from the technical virtuosity of the animation (containing over 4,000 cels in 6" shot over 2 & 1/2 years) JUMPING is governed by wondrous rhythms as the jumps get bigger. While some have remarked that Tezuka is first a manga artist and second an animator, this film demonstrates the sharp rhythmic and dynamic sensibilities that expand Tezuka's vision from being solely static and visual.
6. BROKEN DOWN FILM
Original title: Onboro
Film Director: Osamu Tezuka
Production company: Tezuka
Productions Year: 1985
Duration: 5"A string of gags based on 20s-style animation and the self-reflexiveness of Windsor McCay's surreal comic strips from the same period. While the gags are familiar, the extent to which Tezuka pushes the medium's break-down is quite extreme. Tezuka himself considered that if this film is booed off by the audience, the screening would be a success.
7. PUSH
Original title: Push
Director: Osamu Tezuka
Production company: Tezuka Productions
Year: 1987
Duration: 4"Another of the whimsical gag shorts, this one centring on a futuristic society of machines at the eternal service of the isolated human being. The repeated 'thank-you - come again' phrase orients the film as a wry comment on the polite rituals of mass consumption in contemporary Japan.
8. MURAMASA
Original title: Muramasa
Director: Osamu Tezuka
Production company: Tezuka Productions
Year: 1987
Duration: 8"One of Tezuka's last shorts. Utilizing a sketchy realist mode of depiction it is a cautionary tale of armament set against a backdrop of samurai lore and iconography. Towards the end of his life, Tezuka was especially outspoken on a variety of global issues. His cautionary address, though, exists in various mystical, poetic and philosophical ways in just about everything he produced.
Programme 3 - Shorts Vol.2
1. AKUEMON
Original title: Akuemon
Manga origin : Akuemon (from the Tiger Book series)
Manga publication : 1973
Director: ?
Production company: Tezuka Productions
Year: 198 Duration: 25"AKUEMON is a good example of animation in the gekiga style which had developed in Japan by the start of the 60s. This was a more seriously-toned adult-oriented narrative form of manga which stressed realistic effect and emotional impact as opposed to the visual symbolism and hi-keyed archetypes displayed in early postwar manga. (While manga - 'comic pictures' - is the umbrella term for all Japanese comics, gekiga - 'drama pictures' - is often viewed as a branch within manga.) Establishing himself in the early postwar period, Tezuka defined much of that period's manga: a mix of kawaii, mysticism, fantasy and playfulness. By the mid-60s, Tezuka not only carved his niche in anime, but also incorporated the gekiga shift of tone which was shaping both industries. Intriguingly, Tezuka did so by retaining a sometimes disturbing cuteness which made his dramatic situations all the harsher. AKUEMON is a tale about a baby's relationship with a cute fox who becomes a human spirit after the baby's mother dies. The original mother's husband is Akuemon (nickname for a savage, animalistic man) who killed the fox's mother. Further twists ensue which make this film a fascinating mix of chintzy fairytale and brooding morality play.
2. THE GREEN CAT
Original title: Midori No Neko
Manga origin: Midori No Neko
Manga publication: 1956
Director: Osamu Tezuka
Production company: Tezuka Productions
Year: 1983
Duration: 24"The original manga on which THE GREEN CAT is based has been regarded as a pioneering science fiction work. The resultant anime is a typically quirky mix of Disney-esque character stylings with involving and ponderous narrative threads. Once again, Tezuka clashes generic traits and iconography to produce a uniquely Japanese mutative approach to story-telling.
3. ADACHI-GA HARA
Original title: Adachi-Ga Hara
Manga origin: Adachi-Ga Hara
Manga publication: 1971
Director: Osamu Tezuka
Production company: Tezuka Productions
Year: 1991
Duration: 25"ADACHI-GA HARA continues the afore-mentioned 'mutative approach' to story-telling. This time, the original manga is based on a traditional Noh play called KUROZUKA which mines the rich vein of Japanese witch mythology. Tezuka sets ADACHI on a desolate asteroid and plays out the involving confrontation between a young space cadet and the hermit crone, leading the story to a suspenseful and sombre ending.
4. LEGEND OF THE FOREST Original title: Mori No Densetsu - Part 1
Director: Osamu Tezuka
Production company: Tezuka Productions
Year: 1987
Duration: 29"The second major artistic work Tezuka produced as a reflection on the art, craft and history of animation (the first being PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION). LEGEND OF THE GREEN FOREST is formally dedicated to Walt Disney and conveys Tezuka's ongoing theme of the importance and value of life in all its forms. Told exclusively with music and no dialogue, the progression of the plot develops in tandem with a sequence of stylistic changes which reflect a micro-history of animation: from early negative line-drawings to Windsor McCay's comic-style simplicity to early Disney SILLY SYMPHONY figuration to Disney's later fleshy renderings to the postwar modernist styles of Tex Avery and so on. The closing of LEGEND also contains a self-reflexive 'battle' of sorts between the innocent animals - drawn in full animation style - to the evil humans - depicted through the limited animation technique (the use of fewer cels) which has governed TV animation around the world since the mid-50s.
Programme 4 - Feature No.1
SPACE FIREBIRD 2772
Original title: Hinotori 2772
Manga origin: Hi no Tori
Manga publication: 1967-72; 1976-80; 1986-88
Director: Sugiyama Taku
Production company: Toho
Year: 1980
Duration: 122"SPACE FIREBIRD 2772 is loosely based on certain futuristic aspects of Tezuka's sprawling HI NO TORI (Phoenix) series of manga, regarded by many as his most outstanding work. FIREBIRD is a similarly long saga which may appear confused and patchy (some say the result of Tezuka trying too hard to 'internationalize' the production), but is nonetheless a valuable anime in terms of how skilfully Tezuka infused Buddist, Shinto and Zen concepts with standard science fiction pondering. FIREBIRD also serves as a potent dose of a non-Western view on life and the cosmos. The opening sequence set solely to 'beautiful' orchestral music shows the creation and birthing of a test tube human male - Godoh - within a bizarrely clinical space station. There he is attended by a sexy mother robot, Olga, who also can change herself into an amazing array of sexy machines and appliances at the service of the developing child. Godoh grows up in this environment until he is a late teenager, after which he goes out into the world for a series of adventures. Only a Japanese animation could depict such a child-rearing environment in such a sexually-coded yet utopian way. Godoh - not unlike Tetsuwan Atom - is ultimately an individual unit who has to develop his social interaction skills by instinct rather than programmed design. This 'loner' figure appears in a lot of Tezuka's work, and usually is conveyed less through heroic actions and more through personal maturation. As such, Godoh reflects not only ways in which the individual functions in the seemingly-controlled Japanese social world, but also the individualistic stance Tezuka himself has taken as a manga and anime artist.
Programme 5 - Feature No.2
THE FANTASTIC ADVENTURE OF UNICO
Original title: Unico
Manga origin: Unico
Manga publication: 1980-84
Director: Toshio Hirata
Production company: Sanrio
Year: 1981
Duration: 90"Put simply, UNICO is a beautiful film - sincerely and perversely. It drips with European kitsch of the same variety that clings like treacle to Disney's postwar work. (Ironically, this hyper-saccharine creation came about after Tezuka visited Los Angeles at the end of the 70s.) If you want an audio-visual definition of what kawaii is all about, you can't go further than UNICO. The style distinctly leans toward shojo manga with an accent on dizzying visual sensations which depict both romantic and Gothic emotional tropes in the story of a baby unicorn befriended by a kitten, a young girl and her aging grandmother. And the handsome satanic prince is menacing yet achingly seductive - a prime force in propelling the melodramatic throbbing of the story. The central character, Unico, once again serves as the innocent loner suffering unending abuse (malicious and thoughtless) at the hands of humans, providing us with a quintessential Tezukian figure.
[This programme is an expansion of the Tezuka material researched and presented in the exhibition KABOOM - EXPLOSIVE ANIMATION FROM AMERICA & JAPAN at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 1994. Special thanks to Mr. Matsutani and Mr. Shimizu of Tezuka Productions; Mr. Ito & Mrs. Matsumoto of Mushi Productions; and Rosemary Iwamura, Minoru Ideta & Tim Patterson for translations and assistance.]
Complete contents of this page © Philip Brophy