Analytical Essays

Ongoing Serial: a series of episodes, published over a span of weeks/months/years where the story plot is connected from chapter to chapter and must be read in chronological order for it to be understood properly.
Chapter Serial: a series of episodes, published over a span of weeks/months/years where the story plot is self-contained to a single chapter. There may be an overarching plot, but the stories can generally be read in any order and be understood
Book: an all-in-one self contained story published as a one-off.
Supplement: an an all-in-one self contained story published as a stand-alone supplement to a regular weekly/monthly periodical.
Short Story: an all-in-one, self contained story that was published in a regular weekly/monthly periodical
Anthology: a collection of all-in-one, self contained stories that were published in a regular weekly/monthly periodical but are generally grouped together.

Feel free to read through these Tezuka In English exclusive analytical essays on Osamu Tezuka. Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome! If you would like to contribute an analytical essay based on the works of Osamu Tezuka, please contact us.

Tezuka and Takurazuka Theater: A Brief Introduction

Tezuka’s hometown of Takarazuka, near Osaka, is the home of the famous Takarazuka theater, an all-female musical theater troop, which founded in 1913 by industrialist Kobayashi Ichizo. The audience are largely female as well, and the troop performs plays of a romantic nature, many based on Western fairytales or Japanese historical subjects, as well as some modern subjects and adaptations of Western theatrical subjects from Gone with the Wind to Guys and Dolls.

Rock Holmes: Transformation – Introduction

Most Americans have their first exposure to Rock in the Metropolis movie, encountering him as a stark and absolute soldier, with a gun always in his hand and a sense of loyalty and justice so absolute as to verge on madness. After this, it is unsettling to learn that Rock did not appear in the original Metropolis manga published in 1949, and one is left wondering who this character is and what the story might have been like without him.

Jungle Emperor Leo & Kimba the White Lion – Introduction

Of the iconic characters created by Osamu Tezuka, few are as easily recognizable as the white lion cub known as Leo or Kimba. The white lion and the stories surrounding him make up one of Tezuka’s earliest fully developed works (1950) and would remain important enough to him that he would revisit the stories and characters several times via animation and occasionally in manga.