Tezuka In English Discussion Forums

Isn't it a bit odd that it's been nearly a decade since the first 'wave of Tezuka releases in English', and that the Jungle Emperor Leo still hasn't been localized yet?

When we think of Tezuka, the two most common things to appear in one's mind would most definitely be Astro Boy and Kimba. And if Kimba doesn't pop up, then Astro most certainly would. Either way, both have had a lot in common way back when they were introduced in English.

Astro Boy is considered to be one of the first anime to be introduced to America, or "Japanese cartoons" as people would call it back then since the term "anime" was pretty much unheard of back then. Or maybe just "cartoons" before people realized they were produced in Japan. And Astro Boy introduced it well, well enough to warrant consideration to dub the 80's, 2003 series and the manga, and retained its (now small) fame here long enough to warrant the movie. When you think about it, it's been 50 or so years since the 60's anime series, and it's still (kinda) going strong (but not as strong as before). That is a powerful legacy, and it certainly has made its impact since.

Along with Astro Boy, many other early Tezuka anime had been introduced. We can't possibly forget about Amazing Three, Princess Knight (Known as 'Choppy & The Princess' in America, 'Princess Knight' was the Australian title), and of course, Kimba The White Lion.

Like Astro Boy, there were two early series, one in the 60's and another in the 80's, which like Astro Boy, were also both dubbed into English. Kimba was another one of the early Tezuka anime, and one that some may consider to have been more successful than Amazing Three (I don't even think A3 was broadcasted, but I could be wrong) and Princess Knight, somewhat in the same vein as Astro Boy. And while not all of the early Leo works were dubbed, we also cannot forget about the movie whose title was properly kept as "Jungle Emperor Leo". Leo, like Astro, is another one of Tezuka's works that had a lot of early exposure when dubbed.

And like Astro, Leo has developed a bit of his own legacy here in America. Heck, it's pretty much undeniable at this point that Disney were most certainly 'inspired' by it to create The Lion King. (Don't argue with me on this, but I will say that there was a staff photo shoot, and that one of the members wore a Kimba costume to it.)

And then luckily for us, Fred Schott, being the great man he is, helped with the translation of the Astro Boy manga, which was then published by Dark Horse during the early years of 2000. Those years is what I mean by the 'first wave of Tezuka in English', which lasted for a bit before quieting down and seemingly never picking back up until fairly recently by Vertical.

The early wave of English Tezuka had brought us Astro, Black Jack (Viz dubbed it back in the late 1990's once), Phoenix, Metropolis, Lost World, Nextworld, Adolf, Buddha and possibly some more. Not to mention a select few anime and everyone's favorite Tezuka-related video game, Omega Factor.

The early wave died down and was eventually picked back up again by Vertical. They've brought us better releases of Black Jack, Apollo's Song, Ode to Kiriko, Ayako, Dororo, some others I might be forgetting...

And to be later released in 2011, Princess Knight! Another one of Tezuka's arguably very iconic works, even though it never really gained a big legacy here in America. Either way, to see another iconic work that is about to be released, well that announcement had literally surprised me when I had first seen it.

But there's something missing. That's right, Leo. We have had quite a bit of Tezuka works released here, some of which had previously had anime dubbed into English. (Astro, Princess Knight, Space Phoenix, so on.) And many of these works are frankly, not that well known in America or some other parts of the world. And yet poor Kimba's own manga has never been localized. For an iconic white lion who has had a pretty good impact on the world, if not as much as Astro's, the very work in which he had debuted in still hasn't been made available in English.

I find this to be rather weird, in some ways. Of all the Tezuka works out there, you'd think companies here would be releasing the more well-known works than things such as Kiriko or Dororo. Could it possibly be what companies would rather focus on? Dark Horse is known to focus more on sci-fi and horror, and Vertical has more of an interest in mature works, I find. And Viz, well, they do have an assortment of things, but maybe they deem Leo too kiddy... but not kiddy enough for their Viz Kids tag? Or simply have no interest in it? (Which is likely the case.) I have to admit, seeing VERTICAL announce Princess Knight had surprised me, for it was a work intended for young girls.

But in some ways, could Vertical also have been preparing itself all along? Had they been strictly releasing the most thought-out, and mature works of Tezuka, hoping to appeal to more audiences before releasing other, more child-like works? Have they been (re)making a name for Tezuka here in America? Were we being 'tested' all along? Perhaps.

That said, seeing Princess Knight being announced has given me some hope for perhaps Leo one day being localized here.

It's not that I'm dying for Leo to be released here, but it would be nice...

But for now, I'll just view it as being a bit weird that no one has bothered with him yet, despite the legacy he has.

Ok... first of all, I didn't say there were cuts to the Kimba the White Lion/Jungle Emperor anime. Tezuka produced Kimba for both the domestic Japanese audience in conjunction with an American release as well. Because of that, NBC dictated a whole bunch of terms to him. So it's not really that the anime itself was altered, it was the authors artistic vision which was sacrificed for political correctness.

While I agree with you in general, people usually understand it's a product of its time. Honestly, Tezuka's work proves to me beyond a doubt that racism was the furthest thing from his mind - but when your only real experience with Africa is the "National Geographic" pictures of tribal customs and the American-influenced media depictions (especially old films... Tezuka was a huge film buff), those depictions are bound to seep into your work.

The problem is that, like it or not the American market is the "breakthrough" market Tezuka Pro is looking for, and they're very concerned about jeopardizing it by releasing "offensive" material. "Comics are for Kids" is the prevalent attitude in North America, so while releasing it in Korea/China is a safe bet (people are unlikely to be offended there), and Europe is relatively safe (culturally graphic novels are more accepted and... besides... who cares what Europeans think...), North America is still considered as taboo.

You don't have to look very hard to prove them right either. Not that long ago the Brooklyn Public Library removed "Tintin in the Congo" for almost exactly the same reason - racist depictions of Africans.

Strangely enough, one ray of hope I see is getting a company like Vertical to do it. For one, they've proved (at least to me) that they're willing by releasing Princess Knight. The other, is that they have a "high end collector" market mentality.

This is similar to how Fantagraphics Books talked the Walt Disney Company (I would say even MORE touchy than Tezuka Pro) into ok-ing a re-release of the complete Mickey Mouse newspaper strip archives. I never thought I'd see that in my lifetime... Not only does Mickey outwit a bunch of "African Monkey Men", he drinks beer, pulls a gun... heck there's a (in)famous sequence where he thinks Minnie is cheating on him and he makes several creative and unsuccessful suicide attempts!

By creating a high-end archive-style book and marketing it with a disclaimer to the obviously adult collector market, Fantagraphics got Disney to agree. Hopefully using the same mentality Vertical can get Tezuka Pro to agree...

First of all, I am quite aware the reasons why Tezuka would depict native Africans as black face. I am aware of the times back then, where traveling overseas almost never happened, and I am VERY quite well aware that Tezuka did watch a lot of American cartoons as a child. Like I said, black face was very common back then. It's really no brainer.

Also, I could have sworn that the Kimba anime had gotten cuts, somewhere. Honestly, you could also say the same for the 2003 Astro Boy anime. They actually partnered with American writers, to decide what would be fitting and acceptable for both countries. And in the end, the dub STILL got huge amounts of cuts and changes.

...And, that's really all I can mention at the moment.

All I'm trying to say is that I have been noticing a change. Such as those Mickey Comics you mentioned, and the Censored Eleven that I mentioned. Heck, even the Golden Collection had released a lot of uncut shorts that would have been considered questionable. And whether Tezuka Productions also notices it or decides to take that risk, well that's still up to them.

Also, I don't think Princess Knight would compare back to Leo if you're going on by obscene/questionable scenes. I only used Princess Knight as an example because of how iconic the work was.

No offense Dr. Jerk - I wasn't trying to say you didn't know the reasons why older material might be objectionable in this day and age. Basically I agree with you - there's no reason not to publish Jungle Emperor in English.

I'm only saying that moving a company as timid as Tezuka Pro sometimes is into realizing that might be difficult. They have a long memory for some things and don't change their minds all that quickly.

Oh, and the example about Princess Knight was not about "racist" material, it was mainly to illustrate that Vertical is interested in putting out more Tezuka material beyond just his mature works.

BTW, I sent you a semi-related PM...

I would've thought the TV series had cuts just because the DVD release was English-only. Now I feel pretty disappointed in Right Stuf they couldn't add a subtitled translation in there...