Nightcap: 12/28/25 I am haunted by Tezuka; thoughts on the future, a word of advice for those who cooking their IMDB ratings and some Oscar Shortlist animation

I am an early American adopter of the work of Osanu Tezuka. I was hooked as a child by the series Kimba The White Lion and Astroboy (aka Mighty Atom). I was watching the series as soon as they hit American TV in the 60's. It has been all down hill from there.

I didn't start reading Tezuka's manga until the 1990's when it was more readily available in the US, and it was eye opening. In a weird way it was life changing because the manga was and still is some of the greatest stories I've ever read. None of the anime adaptions (with the exception of Pluto, which is bsed on a managa based on an Astroboy story) has maintained the complexity of Tezuka's graphic work simply because the animation doesn't have the room to tell the stories right.

Over the last few weeks, I find I've been haunted by his masterwork PHOENIX which is multi-part time spanning tale about humanity from birth to death in a far-off future. The phoenix of legend always figures in in some way, either as a character or a symbol. The tales quietly reference each other and echo thematically, but they are all self-contained tales.

The series is out as a download at Amazon at 10 bucks a section, but the print edition is scarce and when I want to track to down the books years ago, I had a hard time, and probably over paid for some volumes. (For the record Tezuka never finished it and while we have the beginning and end pieces there are parts in the middle he never set to paper. 

Trust me if you take the time to read it all (that's the important part because the individual stories do tie together thematically) it will haunt you too.

The other Tezuka tales that haunt me are:

ASTROBOY of course. I've read everything that has come out in English. The stories of a robot boy are all over the place because Tezuka was doing all sorts of things with them. Some are comedy, some tragedy, some action, some serious, some toss offs. It's all over the place much like any long running characters body of work. It inspired Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, a retelling of one of the best Astro stories about a robot killing off other robots that pays homage to the original and deepens the tale in ways Tezuka would have loved.

BUDDHA haunts me. It is the arc of the life of the man who would become Buddha. It's the journey of one man to enlightenment and what he discovers along the way. Covering 8 volumes in the American edition, it is a work that will stay with you long after it's done. At times a tad uneven, the work still manages to be greater than the sum of its parts with the tale revealing much about the nature of mankind and the individual human heart.

DORORO is the story of a ronin who travels with young man who is missing 48 body parts that were given to demons. The pair travel the world attempting to reclaim them. The source of both animated and live action adaptions, DORORO is a hell of an idea that ended up getting abandoned after it being canceled.  I've read that Tezuka was unhappy with details of publication, however, what exists is really good and influenced generations of artists and storytellers because what is here is so gripping you want more or to try and do something similar. 

BLACK JACK is a disgraced and unlicensed doctor with his own sense of right and wrong. Willing to do anything for the right price, he will help those who need it and make sure the privileged feel the pain of their existence, the stories are almost always thought provoking. There are hundreds of stories, almost all a dozen or so pages, the series has spawned both live action and animated adaptions. It's a great kind of fantastic noir with a heart

While Tezuka's work can be all over the place, you should wade in and try him because when he's good he's among the best to ever tell a story.

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After today the year end lists start. 

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If you were curious about some of Oscar animated films on the short list here are some reviews and interviews:

QUINTA'S GHOST
THE GIRL WHO CRIED PEARLS
SNOW BEAR (with interview)
PLAYING GOD (with Interview)

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How do you know a rating on IMDB was cooked?

There are five IMDB reviews four of them are 10 out 10. It has 20 reviews one is a 1 out of 10, two are 7 out of 10 and seventeen are 10 out of 10. It is also not on Rotten Tomatoes

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As I said earlier there will be no Unseen Film Awards this year. I just couldn't do it. Largely the last two or three weeks have just been watching sports, odd TV shows and whatever randomly hit my fancy. I say that because I still have about three dozen 2025 FYC screeners yet to watch and little desire to watch them.

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What will the new year bring? Coverage of Dances with Films New York, Berlin, Rotterdam, and Sundance. After that who knows. 

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As 2025 fades - I wish you all a glorious and magical, in all the right ways, 2026

Tezuka's Barbara (2019) Fantasia 2020

Yosuke Mikura is a novelist with everything it seems. He has rich friends hobnobs with the powerful and has met with great success. But there is a problem he isn't writing up to his old standards and can feel it slipping away.  Things change when he meets the seemingly homeless drunk Barbara. She sparks his creativity as he heads off in a new obsessive direction.

Driven by an excellent jazz score Makoto Tezuka's adaption of his father's 1974 adult manga is film were reality and unreality(or is it?) blur and blend. Very mannered in its construction, everything in every shot seems to be a clue to something (thank you Christopher Doyle). At the same time you can feel Tezuka's hand manipulating the actors.  The result is not so much a work of the heart but of the intellect with a result the film is something I admired much more than I liked.

To be honest while I am a fan of Osamu Tezuka's body of work, I never much cared for his sex infused stories such as BARBARA. It was not that they were bad, but more that of all his stories they seemed to be one one's that he was most clearly writing. I could feel him at his drawing board writing the story where everything else just seemed to be this great stories that simply existed.

Worth a look for the jazz score and because it's a good film, even if you are held at arms length

The animation and art geeks inside me gush over BELLADONNA OF SADNESS(1973) Japan Cuts 2015 plays July 10

Demanding to be as well known as the work of Ralph Bakshi, Jean-Francois Laguionie and Rene Laloux, BELLADONNA OF SADNESS is the third part of the Animara Trilogy released by Mushi Production. The other two parts (1001 NIGHTS and CLEOPATRA) were directed by Osamu Tezuka. This film was started by Tezuka who left the company early in production. The job of directing fell to Tezuka's collaborator  Eiichi Yamamato and he turned in one hell of a film.

Based on Jules Michelet's SATANISM AND WITCHCRFT the film tells the story of lover Jean and Jeanne who marry and run afoul of the local Lord. Jeanne runs off to the words and makes a pact with the devil...

Using music and an artistic style that mirrors classic artists such as Klimt, Beardsley as well as modern artists such as Michael Kaluta, Charles Vess, Moebius, Jeffrey Catherine Jones and others working in the late 60's and early 70's art scene this film is a trip and a half. This film is the very definition of a midnight movie, its so wild and trippy that had the film played the US (until the recent 4K restoration the film has never had an official English translation) back in the 70's it would have been hailed in the pantheon of great cult films like ELTOPO, ERASERHEAD, FANTASTIC PLANET, WIZARDS, and other similar head trip films.

How the hell could this film have remained off the radar for so long?

This film is a masterpiece on pretty much every level...and I need to see it again and again because watching the film for this review I realized that I was missing too much. I was either watching the story and missing the art or I was watching the art and ignoring the subtitles thus losing bits of the story.

This is one of those films that had the right people seen it way back when the history of animation could very well have been changed. Yes Bakshi was doing some similar things as were some European animators, but there is something about what Yamamato did here that is very different. A blending of stills and animation with different styles of art, traditional animation art, water color, magic marker, painting the film is weirdly free of constraints. It uses whatever it needs to to tell that seconds piece of the story. Nothing looks like Disney or Warners or even UPA.

Additionally Bakshi's films and the other animators films got regular releases. The films played in my neighborhood at my theaters. There is no way, outside of the odd art theater BELLADONNA would ever have played outside of midnight, it's too strange, too violent, too disturbing. The film would have played at midnight and gained a cult and become a secret film that all the cool people knew about. It would have been infused into popular culture the way many other midnight films were.

I'm sorry the art and animation geeks inside me have taken control of my fingers and are typing these words to you in the hope you will go see this truly awesome film.

Yes I know the story can be a tad slow and draggy, yes I know the violence (especially some against women) is ugly,  but dear god almighty the art work and the animation not only redeems the film but makes it into one of the truly great animated films of all time.

You must go see this when it plays July 10th at the Japan Society.

For tickets and more information go here.

Legend of the Forest Part 2 Dark Side of the Sun

It was snowing Saturday when I went to the Japan Society for Tezuka shorts

Saturday I went to the Japan Society to catch the special screening of Osamu Tezuka's LEGEND OF THE FOREST  along with his son's Part 2. I figured this was going to be my best shot at not only seeing the film on the big screen but also getting to see the new addition.

Before the film they ran two other Tezuka shorts-

JUMPING which is the world seen from the POV of someone who can jump very high and does so as they leap around the world. Its a very funny film and it was great to hear the few kids in the audience roaring with laughter.

The second film was BROKEN DOWN FILM which is a western cartoon that suffers from scratches, misframed images and broken film. Its a wickedly funny film thats a reminder of the bad old days before digital projection. Its a great film and one that strangely even non- Tezuka fans seemsto know. I say this because I once was explaining who Tezuka was to someone and they stopped to ask if they did BROKEN DOWN FILM.

The main portion of the program was LEGEND OF THE FOREST. I previously wrote up the original film (here) calling it a work of art and a masterpiece and all of that sort of stuff so there is no point in going over it again (if you want to read it it's here).

I do want to talk briefly about the new part which was done my Tezuka's son Macoto Tezka-Simply put its quite lovely.

Done in a computer animation that is slightly more realistic, the film is essentially the romance between two fairies. It begins as the male faerie rescues the girl from a spider's web, which leads into more rescues...and what happens is the film.

At first the style and and the subject matter seem out of place with the earlier two parts but very quickly the film falls in line and you realize it fits perfectly. I would love to see it in the order where it belongs (second) instead of at the end of the piece. Actually what I really would love would be for the final piece to be animated so we could see what Tezuka was aiming at.

The screening was a lovely way to spend a snowy afternoon.

Dark Side of the Sun- The short films of Osamu Tezuka at the Japan Society

As part of the Dark Sun John Zorn series the Japan Society is running 8 short films by Osamu Tezuka on the 20th and A Tale of the Forest on the 21st. Both screenings have additional material running with them, in the case of the short films they are running It’s Me Here, Bellett which is a promotional film for Bellet cars. On the 21st they are running Macoto Tezka’s Legend of the Forest, Part 2. sequel to A Tale of the Forest.

I have not seen the additional materials, however I have seen all of the Tezuka films and if you know what’s good for you you should make an effort to see them.

If you don’t know Osamu Tezuka odds are you’ve run across one or another of his creations. He was the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. He is considered the Godfather of Japanese comics. He was a filmmaker who made a good number of short films over the years, some of which were independently produced by himself.

His films are very much their own things and I know people who are big fans of his comic work being thrown by the short films. Its not that they are bad, rather it's because they are not (for the most part) the epic tales that you find in his comics. Most of the films run a few minutes and just seem a bit odd if you only know Tezuka’s major works.

Personally I like the films. I like them so much that I have them on multiple DVDs because each release has differing extras including commentaries.

The films that are screening at Dark Sun are as follows:

MALE- in a darkened room a male cat complains to the human he shares the room with that he is making too much noise and that he would very much like quiet so that he can get it on with his lady love. The story is a net little black-out story with a sting in it’s tail.

SELF PORTRAIT is a 14 second long film made as part of a project that was put together by various film festivals. Each animator was to make a film about themselves and all of them would be joined up to make a longer film. This brief little ditty was Tezuka’s contribution.

MEMORY- is a comical explanation of how memory works and how memory is different than reality

THE DROP was made by Tezuka alone over the course of a week.It concerns a shipwrecked sailor trying to get some drops of water on the mast of his woe begotten ship. Its a very silly four minutes

MERMAID concerns a boy who rescues a fish, which turns into a mermaid that only he can see... its a lovely fantasy

THE GENESIS- a picture card parody of John Huston's THE BIBLE. More silliness with a fleeting cameo by a certain boy robot.....

PUSH drawn in a style that looks more like Sergio Aragones or Mad Magazine then Tezuka this is the story of a man who buys everything from vending machines...its a wicked satire

MURAMASA- the most detailed, most complex and most beautiful of the films running on the 20th MURAMASA looks like a graphic novel come to life. Its a cautionary tale of a samurai who finds the straw men he cuts turning into real ones. Its supposed to be a an allegory about nuclear proliferation but I don't quite see it. The film is however a masterpiece and a must see.

On Saturday the 21st of February the Japan Society will be running the three completed parts of  LEGEND OF THE FOREST.  Planned as a four part film Tezuka only finished  the first and fourth part (this is Part 1).  Tezuka died before completing the film. However the film was picked up and another segment (this is part 2) was finished by Macoto Tezka, who is actually Tezuka’s son. Part 2 is actually intended to appear between the first and fourth parts that Tezuka completed.

Set to Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony LEGEND OF THE FOREST is a very beautiful piece of animation,at least the potions I've seen, which are the Tezuka completed pieces.

Movement One is about life in the forest told in a manner that reveals the entire history of animation. If you know your  animation history you'll have a blast watching the story unfold with references to great animated films of the past. It follows various animals living in the forest and ends with the arrival of man.

Movement Four has Mankind destroying the forest and the attempts by the magical creatures in the wood trying to save it. Its a real kick in the ass.

The two pieces are truly some of the greatest animation you'll ever see. It will simply blow your mind and seeing the films you will really understand just what Osamu Tezuka was really capable of producing.

I have not seen his son's piece. I'm hoping to get to the Japan Society to see the film. It is my understanding that the work is something special and a piece of art worthy to be inserted into the work his father had started.

For tickets and more information on Friday the 20th's screening go here.