Astonishing Work Of Tezuka Osamu

Audience Reviews

View More

01/16/2012 Not Exactly [i]Astroboy[/i], Though It Does Feature a Cameo It is difficult to get information about this collection. At least in English. It might be easier in Japanese. But the only way I was able to get a list of what shorts are included was to look it up on Amazon. (Well, there's the DVD menu itself, presumably, but that's not helpful while actually watching the DVD.) Most of the shorts in the collection, if they do have IMDB pages, are difficult to look up from Osamu Tezuka's page. None of them have Wikipedia pages, and the website linked to on the "animated works of Osamu Tezuka" page appears to be members only even to look at the thing. The man is considered by [i]otaku[/i] to be the God of Manga, the Godfather of Anime, but there's a lot more information in English about [i]Naruto[/i]. It's the problem with being interested in the art, not the commercially successful. All of these are listed on the Wikipedia page as "experimental film," after all! The earliest of the shorts is 1962's "Tales of the Street Corner," and it continues through to his thirteen-second segment from a 1988 collection of animated self-portraits of animators. There is the humour of "Broken Down Film" and the horror of "Muramasa." There is "Pictures at an Exhibition," a play on a piece by Mussorgsky, and "Legend of the Forest Part I," set to Tchaikovsky. There is "The Genesis," which for some reason claims to be directed by John Ford. "Male," "Memory," and "Mermaid." "The Drop." "Jumping" and "Push." All animated, and none quite what I expected. The styles vary wildly, even within certain pieces, which does justify the "experimental film" label. In fact, I would say that they don't even have in common a lack of commercial quality. Several of them strike me as the kind of thing which would be quite successful if anyone had heard of them, but I don't think most Americans, at least, have. I would say my favourite was probably "Broken Down Film," which claimed to be from the nineteenth century. At very least, it was a play on the style of cartoons of the '20s and melodramas of the late nineteenth century. It has a certain anarchic, Tex Avery feel to it; the characters are affected by the problems with the film. It was funny, which of course most of the others weren't really trying to be. I also think it was timed just about perfectly, and some of the others dragged a bit. There was one inexplicable bit in the middle where Our Hero and His Girl were in a ballroom in colour, but for the most part, it was a cartoon like some of the [i]Animaniacs[/i] plays on animation history. Predating, of course, but of the same genre. I suppose it's closest to what most Americans would expect of the man who gave us [i]Astroboy[/i]. If they knew anything about him or it at all, which I don't think most Americans do. Even a lot of those Americans who think they're anime fans. Probably the most complex of the works, though not the longest, was "Legend of the Forest." It's the story of a flying circle who is adopted by a tree, as so often happens. It is also a bit of a history of animation. Earlier images are woodcuts; there is a brief clip of the squirrel's father as a praxinoscope and a zoetrope. Eventually, we switch into a bit more of a "Steamboat Willy" style, and we go one through much of early Disney. (The ending is actually reminiscent of [i]Fern Gully[/i], which hadn't been made yet. So presumably its makers had seen this?) And this isn't just my imagination; several of the characters are the trees from "The Flowers and the Trees." And, you know, the head human is Hitler. But someone with an eye for the Golden Age of Disney animation can pick out a half-dozen influences over the course of not-quite half an hour. I wouldn't say each animation style shifts smoothly into the next; if nothing else, the advent of colour to the piece would be a bit jarring. But smoothly enough. As is always the danger in a collection like this, some of the works appealed to me more than others. Quite a few of them seemed a bit obsessed with female anatomy, though "Male" played with that obsession in some entertaining ways. And the subtitles on "The Genesis," also just called "Genesis," seem to have been translated directly out of the Japanese even when, as is the case with the first minute or two, it would have made more sense just to use familiar English versions of the same words. Actually, it led me to wonder if the Japanese was a translation of Greek, Hebrew, or English in the first place; it had to be a translation of one of the three, after all. I don't want to see a couple of the clips again, and they're enough so that I have no real interest in owning the collection as a whole. I wish I could find some other way to get the three or four which really interest me. But, as I've long said, I'm really an anime dilettante, so I guess no one should be surprised at my uneven interest here. See more 06/28/2010 Osamu Tezuka has always been one of my favorite names in animation (and manga as well) These short films were really great, for the most part some were hit or miss, but when they hit, they hit hard. I have separated the review of the material into each short... Story of a Certain Street Corner: 2 stars The first one was a half hour animation, and it was Borrrring. Seriously, nothing happens until about 20 minutes in when he does some interesting things with war allegory, that is why I've given this 2 stars instead of one. Male: 2.5 stars This one was okay, but I felt a bit cheated because most of the animation used a black screen for darkness which seemed to be cutting corners a bit, however the twist at the end was pretty good. Memory: 3 stars This one seemed to be a marriage of surrealism and animation. Pretty interesting stuff but no where near as good as later shorts on the disc. Mermaid: 5 stars I really liked this one. The style was very simple, and it told a story of a boy and his mermaid friend. a lot of cool visuals and animations were used in this one, and the plot is like an inverted Little Mermaid mixed with A Clockwork Orange. Very cool! The Drop: 3.5 stars This one was really cartoony and used irony to its advantage to make a good short. Pictures at an Exhibition: 5 stars This one was AMAZING! It was like a miniature fantasia, we go through this art gallery which depicts various people and uses all sorts of different styles of animation, all set to music. The ending is just spectacular too! (note this is another of three 30 minute animations) The Genesis: 5 stars This one might have been my favorite, it was sort of an alternate reality tale for Adam and Eve. It was really quirky and funny, although some might find it a little sexist. However the short appears to be going towards a different point entirely. Watch out for a lightning fast cameo by Astro Boy here. Jumping: 4.5 stars This was a really cool short involving the perspective of a jumping object. Love the colors and designs in this one. The Broken Down Film: 5 stars This was another cartoony one, which was extremely clever in presentation. Push: 5 stars A great post-apocalyptic themed short! Muramasa: 4 stars Really good samurai themed short. Great visuals, although its a tad slow, otherwise a good one. Legend of the Forest: 5 stars This is the only other half hour animation in the collection that is also very fantasia like, and man is it excellent. The beginning is slow but it picks up fairly fast and the gradual change in animation throughout is phenomenal. The plot is something to behold to. Check it out! Self Portrait: 3 stars I was expecting just a contour line drawing Tezuka himself, but I actually got something original. A slot machine depiction of various faces which end up in Tezuka's face formation at the end. A nice cap (this one is very short, 13 seconds to be exact), Overall this was a solid collection of animation. I recommend it to all types of animation fans. My personal highlights include: Pictures at an Exhibition, The Genesis, Mermaid, and Legend of the Forest. See more Read all reviews

Astonishing Work Of Tezuka Osamu

My Rating

Read More Read Less WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW POST RATING