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.

In 1981, after giving a talk at a medical university, a medical researcher who had been in the audience contacted Tezuka and sent him some documents detailing his own family history in medicine. In fact, Osamu Tezuka is part of a medical dynasty of sorts.

By 1965, Astro Boy (1963-66) was already entering it's third year in production, Mushi Productions had started work on a new animated television series known as Wonder 3 (1965-66), and was gearing up for it's latest ground-breaking series - the first full-colour animated television program in Japan, Jungle Emperor (1965-66).