Tezuka’s Manga (1980-89)

Still going strong

Rainbow Parakeet (1981-82)

Although Tezuka spent the last decade of his life primarily focused on his award-winning work in experimental animation, there are still several important manga series of note. Having shed most of the darkness that permeated his work in the 1970s, his manga work in the 1980s is much more balanced – brighter, but not sliding to either extreme pessimism nor optimism.

Early in the decade, he turned his life-long love of the theatre into an adventure series featuring a gentleman thief, Rainbow Parakeet (1981-82), with each chapter being modeled after a play or some other piece of literature. Despite it’s criminal aspects, the series remains light-hearted and just plain fun. This new-found balance is also evident in Midnight (1986-87), a series modeled, to some degree, on his 1970s hit, Black Jack (1973-83). While it is conceivable that the adventures of an unlicensed night-time taxi driver could have been quite dark had Tezuka tackled the series in the 1970s, as a series of the 1980s it remains relatively light-hearted as well.

The 1980s also saw Tezuka move away from the straight social commentary pieces and focus instead on more realistic historical drama. The first of these, A Tree in the Sun (1981-86) draws on Osamu Tezuka’s own ancestors to tell the tale of Dr. Ryoan, one of the first western-educated medical doctors. Unlike the earlier Black Jack (1973-83), A Tree in the Sun (1981-86) focuses on a more realistic portrayal of the infancy of medical knowledge and sets it against the backdrop of the opening of Japan to the west.  The second major historical drama, and one of Tezuka’s last major works, Message to Adolf (1983-85) tells the story of three individuals named “Adolf” – a Jewish boy living in Japan, a half-Japanese/half-German boy, and the infamous leader of Nazi Germany. Not so much a commentary as an exploration of the price of war, specifically Word War II and it’s aftermath.

Finally, it seems somewhat fitting that Tezuka’s final manga series, the unfinished Neo Faust (1988) sees Tezuka return, almost full circle, by revisiting a manga from the very beginnings of his career, Faust (1950) – to the very end, blurring the line between classic literature and the manga form.

Tezuka's Manga (1946-49)

The 1940s feature the works of Osamu Tezuka’s youthful exhuberance – those that pave the way for modern manga and show just a hint of his later genius.

Tezuka's Manga (1950-59)

The 1950s feature the first of Osamu Tezuka's works where the artwork, though still showing its Disney-esque roots, catches up to his storytelling.

Tezuka's Manga (1960-69)

The 1960s see Tezuka hit his artistic stride. Although throughout the decade much of his energy was devoted to getting his animation, both artistic and commercial, off the ground, in his manga work his storytelling and artwork show a maturity that only...

Tezuka's Manga (1970-79)

With the failure of the company he founded, Mushi Productions, much of Tezuka's work in the 1970s reflects his darker mood. Despite this, and indeed because of it, the 1970s really show Tezuka at his best.

Tezuka's Manga (1980-89)

Although Tezuka spent the last decade of his life primarily focused on his award-winning work in experimental animation, there are still several important manga series of note.