Osamu Tezuka Archives

Favorite Manga Series, Part 2: Bakuman through What Did You Eat Yesterday? [in The Booklist Reader]

01 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Lists, Repost, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Ready to get graphic? If you’re new to the genre, might I suggest you go directly to the godfather of manga, the late Osamu Tezuka (1928–1989). Astro Boy ring a bell? Speed Racer? Kimba the White Lion? “There’s a reason why the Japanese call [him] the God of Comics,”...

Triton of the Sea (vols. 1-2) by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Eugene Woodbury, edited by Eileen Tse

03 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation, Young Adult Readers

When I say 'brought to you by popular demand,' I have indisputable proof here: 715 supporters put up almost 150% more than the requested funds in answer to Digital Manga's 2012 Kickstarter campaign to bring Triton of the Sea (along with two additional Tezuka titles, Unico and...

Barbara by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Ben Applegate, foreword by Frederik L. Schodt

20 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

For readers familiar with Astro Boy, Buddha, or Black Jack – a few of 'godfather of manga' Osamu Tezuka's signature titles – Barbara might present quite the surprise. This is definitely not your kiddie fare: the front cover warns "explicit content"; the back cover is marked with...

The Twin Knights by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Maya Rosewood

02 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

In order to fully enjoy this manga, you first need to read its prequel, Princess Knight (in two volumes in English translation). Come back when you're finished ...

Atomcat by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Sachiko Sato

28 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation, Young Adult Readers

If you knew nothing about manga history before picking up Atomcat, you would find an entertaining story of a young boy, Tsugio, who shares a love of comic books with his father. Bullied by neighborhood classmates, Tsugio longs for a friend who might have the...

The Book of Human Insects by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Mari Morimoto

21 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

"I was born in an impoverished backwater, and could easily have lived out my days as an insignificant country girl," a young woman modestly professes on stage as she receives the Akutagawa Prize, Japan's highest literary honor for a debut author. Barely out of her...

Message to Adolf (Part 2) by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian

15 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

Official word of warning: this is NOT your kiddies' manga. Both in subject matter and graphics, Message is definitely for mature audiences. So if you have younger ones in the house, be careful not to leave the book lying around. The "godfather of manga" has...

Message to Adolf (Part 1) by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian

12 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, European, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

Considered the "godfather of manga," Osamu Tezuka is internationally renowned for his iconic Astro Boy. Introduced in Japan in 1951 as Tetsuwan Atom (Mighty Atom), Tezuka's signature creation remains an international phenomenon across multiple platforms, rising off the page and landing in television, films, video games, and...

Princess Knight (vols. 1-2) by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Maya Rosewood

10 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

With all that swashbuckling fun, Princess Knight – recently available in full, in English translation, in two volumes – is seemingly one of the godfather of manga's more goofy stories. Up in heaven, God's in the process of deciding gender for each about-to-be-born baby, assigning a girl heart...

Dororo: Omnibus Edition by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Dawn T. Laabs

19 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Oh, what a plethora of choices for accessing this swashbuckling series by the godfather of manga: you could go with the original 1960s manga series in Japanese, watch the 26-part anime from 1969 or the live-action film (available dubbed in English even!) from 2007, play the video...

Black Jack (vol. 3) by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Camellia Nieh

03 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

At the rate I'm reading these, it's a good thing I only ordered the first three volumes to get me started ...

Black Jack (vol. 2) by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Camellia Nieh

02 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

The mysterious doctor is back to do more good with another set of miraculous adventures. Jack's late mentor and savior lends his voice from beyond to remind him once again, "don't underestimate the human body," as Jack attempts to chase a needle tip gone missing...

Black Jack (vol. 1) by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Camellia Nieh

01 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Awful Duds, Bilingual, Biography, Japanese American, Short Stories, Translation

So it's not officially the start of summer by calendar date, but when temperatures get this hot, my eyeballs turn to lighter reading to soothe the heat-addled brain. Given my later-in-life appreciation for manga, Osamu Tezuka always proves to be a reliable go-to choice. In...

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 008 by Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka, co-authored by Takashi Nagasaki, with the cooperation of Tezuka Productions

24 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Oh, tell me it ain't so ...

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 007 by Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka, co-authored by Takashi Nagasaki, with the cooperation of Tezuka Productions

07 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Six out of the seven greatest robots in the world are gone, destroyed by the evil force called Pluto. Professor Tenma watches over the body of Atom, who's now been programmed "with as many personalities as there are people on earth" – six billion, in...

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 006 by Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka, co-authored by Takashi Nagasaki, with the cooperation of Tezuka Productions

24 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Europol's greatest robot, Inspector Gesicht, arrives in Persia on a "hunch" – can robots have hunches? – that he's finally figured out who's behind all the gruesome murders of the world's greatest robots. The trail takes him to Amsterdam where he follows the mysterious Sahad,...

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 005 by Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka, co-authored by Takashi Nagasaki, supervised by Macoto Tezka

03 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

As this volume is currently the last one available in English, I DID try and save and savor it ...

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 004 by Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka, co-authored by Takashi Nagasaki, supervised by Macoto Tezka

03 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Atom's protector, Professor Ochanomizu, is under police protection, but that doesn't stop the dangerously unpredictable Goji, who created the Persian Kingdom's robot army for the Central Asian War, from making his way into the good professor's home and threatening the safety of his daughter and...

Astro Boy (vols. 1-5) by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Frederik L. Schodt, lettering and retouch by Digital Chameleon

20 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Astro Boy, the little-boy-robot-who-could is probably Osamu Tezuka's most recognizable creation. Known as the "godfather of manga," Tezuka created Tetsuwan Atom (Mighty Atom) in Japan way back in 1951, and continued to present his manga adventures for decades. Renamed Astro Boy in the West, in 1963,...

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 002 and 003 by Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka, co-authored by Takashi Nagasaki, supervised by Macoto Tezka

15 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

HOLY MOLY! And I was worried that things couldn't get better after Volume 001. Can we say WOW together? Even if you're not a manga fan, go get this series. I grabbed the original Tezuka Astro Boy series to read again, too, while I'm waiting for...

BookDragon Osamu Tezuka Tag