Osamu Tezuka is one of the most important people in the anime and manga industry. Known as the “Father of Anime and Manga”, or the “Manga God”, without him anime and manga would be very different and probably wouldn’t be as popular as they are today. The documentary is about Osamu Tezuka’s work and how he draws his manga. Unlike the previous documentary, The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, it focuses more on his work than his personal life. Although some of his personal backstory was also mentioned, such as his love of insects when he was a child.
The documentary starts out by showing us his “secret room.” Or rather, the apartment he lives in where he draws his manga. He mentioned that no one other than his wife has ever stepped into his “secret room,” and his colleagues are only allowed to go in to the apartment to a point at his front door. The TV crew and viewers must have felt honored to be able to film in such a place. After the cameras are set up, Osamu Tezuka starts drawing his manga. He doesn’t just draw one manga, but rather he works on multiple manga at a time. Also, he has a specific type of music he plays to go along with which type of manga he drew. After that, we get to go to his house where he shows us that he has a collection of the anime characters that he has created. He also sees a few children catching bugs and teaches them the techniques to catch them. Through this and his explanations, we can see that he truly loves bugs. In fact, he even changed his name to have the kanji (虫) on it, which means bug.
Osamu Tezuka then returns to his workplace and start working on manga. We get to see that he is on a strict deadline and needs to finish many pages within only a few days. After that he needs to head to a convention in France. We get to see him and his colleagues rush to get the manga done. Of course, even with the time pressure, he also explains to the TV crew about his work and his life and what he thinks about it. This second half of the documentary is very relatable to viewers because each of us has been through that “last minute rush.” The deadline is close, and you do not sleep and rush to finish your work. We get to see the effort Osamu Tezuka puts into the work and we feel the pressure that he feels. In fact, he was even drawing on the taxi and even on the plane. He takes a three hour sleep every three days, which is extremely stressful and bad for his health.
Osamu Tezuka had to take on a tremendous amount of work and puts in a great deal of effort into his work. His manga and anime series are among the most famous and the most memorable. This helped me personally appreciate the work and effort the anime and manga creators, as they probably had to put in as much effort as Tezuka to meet deadlines. I have recently read on this website about the creator of One Piece, a popular shounen manga and anime series. He puts in long hours into his work and only sleeps a few hours a day. He, just like Tezuka, has also sacrificed himself to create such amazing works for their fans.
Unfortunately, due to the high amount of stress Tezuka faced and his deteriorating health due to work, he developed stomach cancer and passed away in 1989. I feel that this is really unfortunate because he wishes to continue work for another forty years, until he became a hundred years old. However, he passed away in 1989, four years after this documentary was shot, which was 1985. I have also read articles that even on his deathbed, he urged his body to let him work. Osamu Tezuka was a man that had a passion for his work. Although he did not take good care of his health, his determination and passion is extremely admirable. Many anime and manga creators also have to work long hours with little sleep, which is very stressful and I honestly think they should take a break sometimes. These people’s health is probably worsening each day, and I really think it is important to take care of it because if you pass away, you can’t make anime or manga anymore.
If there is anything we can take away from this documentary, it’s that the anime industry is a hard industry to work in. Both anime and manga are art forms, and convey messages through visuals. This is precisely why it is so hard to make anime and manga. Because not only do you have to think of ideas, but the actual process of making it also takes a lot of time and effort. And not to mention the various other things that goes into the production of anime and manga. My emotions are very mixed now, because while I admire the work and effort these people put into their work, there are consequences that come with it. The only way to reduce stress and pressure put on these people is only through personal means. It’ll all up to each person how they manage their stress.
And some people, who had overworked himself for years like Osamu Tezuka, passed away because of the health complications due to that. Another example would be Henry Thurlow (link), which I mentioned in another article. He also shared that anime is a hard industry to work in, but still does it due to passion. It’s really touching that such passionate and talented people still take in such tough work conditions, just to create art. But, let’s hope that the anime industry will change so that talented people like these can take a break once in a while. For such a thriving yet work intensive industry, it’s not easy to change, but with the popularity of anime around the world, there may be hope for the people working in the industry.
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