Tezuka In English Discussion Forums

Has anyone else read Tezuka's Crime and Punishment?

I just read it for the first time and was fascinated. This is the first time I had gotten to read any of Tezuka's very early works which aren't sci-fi. It was neat to see him starting to explore issues like the effect on the human psyche of ideas of self-grandeur and specialness, which become so much more central in later works like Vampires. The work still had a lot of the too-fast pacing and random slapstick which characterize his early work, but also some very beautiful experimental images. Now I understand why some of the literary discussions of Tezuka that I've seen discuss Crime and Punishment as the beginnings of his exploration of the evil side of the psyche, which became such a major theme in the second half of his career. I always feel, when reading Tezuka, that every work is a puzzle-piece, and the more I put together the better I understand the whole image.

So, has anyone else read it?

I think Crime and Punishment was the second Tezuka I read.
The first would have been the Phoenix excerpt in Manga Manga by Schodt.

I like to imagine that he wrote it on a dare.. a seemingly impossible challenge to himself or from someone else.
Obviously, the novel is a massive work. And he translated it into manga.
And not some cheapo, classics in comics - but an original work
with wit and charm and punch, and a faithfulness to the original novel.

I love the experimentation with panels like the sequence when he
goes up and down the stairs. And the sequence in silhouette
of the didactic about ordinary and unordinary people.

Actually I have a few more if anyone is intetrested.
http://www.shitajiki.biz/crimemanga.html

David

I assume there is no english translation...

yup - Fred Schodt translated it and the Japan Times published
it in a bilingual edition in 1990. Out of print but I have been hording
extra copies and sell on my site. Wish they were cheaper.
Sorry about that. David

http://www.shitajiki.biz/crimemanga.html

They're worh every penny

Just to make the format clearer, it's a single volume containing the complete story. The word balloons have English text, with the Japanese written at the bottom of the page. Same format as Princess Knight, but it's a thicker volume with stronger binding than the Kodansha bilingual series.

I just got my copy yesterday! (Thanks David!!)

I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I can't wait. I've been quiet about this until I got my copy in my hands but this is a true hard-to-find English language Tezuka manga gem!

This was the one book I wasn't holding out a lot of hope of finding (mainly because it's out of print, was published only in japan and "obscure"), but thanks to David for hoarding these copies whenever he can find them.

Just to give fair warning, I have only one extra copy left of the bilingual C&P.

David

cool - it is yours - and then there were none..

I don't have extra Princess Knight anymore. sorry

Drop me an email <david@shitajiki.biz>

David

Just curious David, but when you were picking up all those extra Crime and Punishment editions, did you you think to yourself "I don't know who's gonna buy all these... but someday.. SOMEone is gonna appreciate this..."
<insert maniacal laugh>

Geez I hate being a student and low on money and too late and....

I picked up about a dozen copies over the last 4 years, one by one,
out of stacks of old books, collectors shops, and occasionally on line.
I'm a book hound anyway, and in particular it hurt me to see them going to waste.
I was starting to think no body was going to want them - now all gone to good homes.
Very satisifying. I'll renew the search and if I get more will report back

So, you guys, enjoy the read and ina few weeks let's talk about it again.

David