The Influence of Tezuka's Works on Modern Anime
Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 5:26 am
I have noticed that in recent years, animation has been more and more influenced by Osamu Tezuka's pen than previous.
In games like Pokemon, Shinx and its evolutions are influenced by Kimba the White Lion while in Shin Megami Tensei, a certain demon looks like Astro Boy.
In anime I have loved as a child, I noticed that Naoko Takeuchi 's Sailor Moon ,Dragon Ball and Rurouni Kenshin have been collectively influenced by Tezuka's Melmo , Monkey King and Dororo in various degrees of homage. IN Sailor Moon, Usagi and the other senshi have the ability to take disguises in the same way Melmo could change her age and not coinciednetally tackled issues like feminism , rape and homosexuality in the teenage setting. Not sure of the second , but both authors tackled the same character as a parody. For the final one, Kenshin and the main samurai warrior have a serious streak to them that borders on deadly. Also in the midst, Yu-Gi-Oh! was inspired by "The Three Eyed One's concept of a possessed bullied teen , but in the spin of Ancient Egypt.
While in Western animation, The Three Eyed One ,Melmo and Astro Boy/Dororo have played a big role. Take Avatar : The Last Airbender, WITCH, Robot Boy, Samurai Jack, PPG for example. Avatar most noticeably takes the tattoo idea from TTEO and inversed it. Instead of being from an evil civilization, Aang is from a peaceful civilization influenced by Tibetan Buddhism , leading a life in the path of enlightenment and fighting to restore balance while trying to live his people's belief that life is sacred in his actions. There is also reincarnation, with the added bonus of advice from the previous incarnations, so there's a total Phoenix/Buddha influence.
Witch takes the Magical Girl genre into a Western spin and Robot Boy is an amalgamation of the Teenage Robot, Jetter mars and Astro Boy. Samurai Jack has the influence of Dororo & Akira Kurosawa while PPG follows a tongue in cheek model of superheroines who are like Astro Boy . Then there's the Teenage Robot which is the best homage to Astro and retro anime I've ever seen .
I might have missed many more but this is all I got. I don't recall ever seeing this much influence of Tezuka's works in animation before his death and it seems that many have came out of the gutter at once . Maybe it's because of the Astro Boy generation , but I love it and it's why I'm his fan.
In games like Pokemon, Shinx and its evolutions are influenced by Kimba the White Lion while in Shin Megami Tensei, a certain demon looks like Astro Boy.
In anime I have loved as a child, I noticed that Naoko Takeuchi 's Sailor Moon ,Dragon Ball and Rurouni Kenshin have been collectively influenced by Tezuka's Melmo , Monkey King and Dororo in various degrees of homage. IN Sailor Moon, Usagi and the other senshi have the ability to take disguises in the same way Melmo could change her age and not coinciednetally tackled issues like feminism , rape and homosexuality in the teenage setting. Not sure of the second , but both authors tackled the same character as a parody. For the final one, Kenshin and the main samurai warrior have a serious streak to them that borders on deadly. Also in the midst, Yu-Gi-Oh! was inspired by "The Three Eyed One's concept of a possessed bullied teen , but in the spin of Ancient Egypt.
While in Western animation, The Three Eyed One ,Melmo and Astro Boy/Dororo have played a big role. Take Avatar : The Last Airbender, WITCH, Robot Boy, Samurai Jack, PPG for example. Avatar most noticeably takes the tattoo idea from TTEO and inversed it. Instead of being from an evil civilization, Aang is from a peaceful civilization influenced by Tibetan Buddhism , leading a life in the path of enlightenment and fighting to restore balance while trying to live his people's belief that life is sacred in his actions. There is also reincarnation, with the added bonus of advice from the previous incarnations, so there's a total Phoenix/Buddha influence.
Witch takes the Magical Girl genre into a Western spin and Robot Boy is an amalgamation of the Teenage Robot, Jetter mars and Astro Boy. Samurai Jack has the influence of Dororo & Akira Kurosawa while PPG follows a tongue in cheek model of superheroines who are like Astro Boy . Then there's the Teenage Robot which is the best homage to Astro and retro anime I've ever seen .
I might have missed many more but this is all I got. I don't recall ever seeing this much influence of Tezuka's works in animation before his death and it seems that many have came out of the gutter at once . Maybe it's because of the Astro Boy generation , but I love it and it's why I'm his fan.