I come in peace!

[Ash]

Hiya! I'm Ho-Ling, 20 years old and currently Economics student at the Free University in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Been reading Tezuka ever since Astro Boy was released here, an excellent release that was cancelled after a mere 6 volumes >.< But I was already hooked to Tezuka and jumped to English releases. I'm happy to say I found the Viz Black Jack's quite easily for a mere

[cmoon]

Welcome to the forum! For English readers anyway, this is an exciting time to be into Tezuka (thanks in large part to vertical and viz).

Hahaha, that story with Astroboy lying in Vietnam. I loved that one, but they'd never do an animated version of it. Part of my problem with the various animated series, is that they often don't capture this aspect of Tezuka.

[putrocca]

Welcome, Ash! Great to have you.

Thanks for that info on Dutch releases. If you can point me at any links to web pages that sell Dutch releases online, or publishers' pages that have info and cover art pictures, then I'll make a page on the site for Dutch releases. I've been looking for a long time for someone who could give me that info, so that's very exciting.

It's neat to hear that you write for a Dutch anime/manga column. I write for an American one, Tokyopop.com. Perhaps we can help each other with articles in future, since I know US readers are always interested to hear about anime fandom in other countries - I've done articles on German, Italian and French stuff so Dutch would be fun too, if you'd be interested in helping out.

Once more, glad you found us, and I look forward to discussing Tezuka with you!

[Ash]

you can order the Dutch translation of Buddha (Boeddha) of .

Astro Boy isn't in print since 2002, so can pretty much only be found secondhand. I'm surprised to say has the covers of the Dutch releases as I can't find them even on Dutch sites Unlike the Buddha release Astro Boy isn't based on the English release. The publisher is [url=http://www.standaarduitgeverij.be/home.asp[/url]Standaard Uitgeverij[/url]. If you click on "Uitgaven" and then on "Strips" you'll get in the comic section. Search (zoek) for Astroboy and you'll find the entries for the 6 volumes, without pics though (Can't link directly to it).

has no information about Adolf as for now. On the site of bookstore entries can be found about the first 2 volumes of Adolf though. No release date, but the title will be "De 3 Adolfs" (The Three Adolfs) and one of the volumes is called "Een Naam Drie Levens" (One Name, Three Lives) and the other "Het Geheim van Hitler" (The Secret of Hitler). Don't know which name belongs to which volume though, there's no volumenumber connected to those names.

[putrocca]

[Ash]

Can't think of a good character and/or line, though I can always translate a line for you in Dutch when needed

Oh, and wondering through the site I came across the Say Hello to Black Jack
section. It says "A Dutch release is also underway.", but this is quite old news, they've been releasing this manga for a long time now (in a excruciating slow rate).

And wondering whether you'd need info about "Ribbon no Kishi the Musical", the Takarazuka coproduction with Hello! Project. I have the DVD's, so I can get some nice screenshots if needed.

[Huscheli]

Hello Ash!
Glad to see I don't live in the only country with next to no Tezuka releases

Hope you have a nice time here. ^^

[putrocca]

Thanks again for the info. I've made a Dutch page now - let me know what you think and if you spot any errors:


I also updated the info on the "Say Hello to Black Jack" page.

I would love information and pictures from the Princess Knight Takarazuka musical if you have them - I've been dying to find out more about it.

And it would be fun if you translated something into Dutch for one of the characters to be saying at the top of the Dutch page. How about something from Metropolis, since that's out in Dutch? Like Tima asking "Who am I?" or the announcer in the speach at the beginning saying, "Let it stand forever, our Ziggurat!"

[Ash]

[putrocca]

[Ash]

Meh, studying is boring ^_~ The Ziggurat pic looks nice!

"Ribbon no Kishi - the Musical" is a joint project of Hello! Project and the Takarazuka Revue. Most roles are played by Hello! Project girls with Ebiru Kaoru (Takarazuka artist playing God and king) and Marcia (Queen) as exceptions. It played from August 1 till 27 (ending with a graduation ceremony for Morning Musume Ogawa Makoto, who left for her studies).

The story mostly follows Osamu Tezuka's manga, the biggest change being that Tink has been written out and changed into a more "destiny" type of story. And of course, not based on the whole story, as this musical is pretty long itself already.

Prologue~In heaven the unborn angels await their birth when one of the angels (Yoshizawa Hitomi) finds a boy's soul. Yoshizawa wants to have one of the other angels to eat it, but all are afraid. Then Yoshizawa together with the other angels tricks a angel Sapphire who comes in late (Takahashi Ai) into eating it. Just when she finished it, God (Ebiru Kaoru) comes in and discovers what happened. As Takahashi already had a female soul assigned, she now has two souls. Angered by their actions, God punishes them to be adults, not returning until Sapphire finds happiness. Yoshizawa becomes the Daijin (Cabinet Minister), adversary of Sapphire.

(So Tink is more or less replaced by the angel played by Yoshizawa, who ends up being Sapphire's archenemy)


God scolding the angels, Sapphire looking less than happy.

The rest of the play pretty much follows the first 2 volumes of the Nakayoshi Ribbon no Kishi manga, with the first act explaining how Sapphire must pretend to be a prince and her falling in love with Franz Charming and the killing of the king, with Franz as murder suspect. Sapphire changes into the Ribbon no Kishi, getting the truth from Nylon, who reveals it was all the Daijin's doing.



Sapphire and the Queen lying over the king, with Franz being taken into custody.



The "Ribbon no Kishi" (appears only in this scene ~_~) threatens Sir Nylon.

The Daijin and his henchman Nylon (Ogawa Makoto) are still ever-trying to discover the secret of "prince" Sapphire. They get help from the everliving witch Heketo (Fujimoto Miki), who gives them the toxic which forces the Queen to tell the truth about Sapphire. (Heketo plots to get Sapphire's female soul).



The Daijin holding Heketo's toxic.



The absolute fantastic scene where the Queen goes crazy and reveals Sapphire's secret in front of everyone

The second act is how Sapphire escapes from the prison after, loses her female heart to Heketo to save her mother the Queen from death and getting back into the palace for her revenge on the Dajin, only to have to fight Franz Charming (who is entering Silverland to fight Prince Sapphire). Cue Takarazuka melodrama. And of course, it all ends well and after the whole story the angels return to heaven.

A nice surprise is how in the epilogue a big scroll of Tezuka and his creations come down, while God is singing.





After that God asks the angels what they want to be now and they answer to be a idol group, Morning Musume. Mini-concert commences for the fans. Roll call. That sort of stuff.

[cmoon]

AWESOME!

[putrocca]

Awesome! Those pics are amazing. I'll add them to my main Takarazuka page soon if I can, but it's a busy time of year so I may not get a chance for a while. You're so lucky getting to see it!

[Ash]

There are some clips on youtube for the interested, one of my favorite parts, "Daijin no Negai ~ Majou" (The Minister's Wish ~ Witch), where the Daijin sings about how he wants his son to become king and Heketo appears to give him the toxic.

[Princess Sapphire]