Osamu Tezuka

Tezuka Osamu (手塚治虫) (1928 - 1989)

Japanese manga artist and animator, creator of Astro Boy. His prolific output and his pioneering techniques and genres earned him such titles as "the father of manga" and "the god of manga." The distinctive "large eyes" style of Japanese animation was invented by Tezuka, who based it on Walt Disney cartoons of the time.

He was formally trained as a physician, but he instead devoted his life to the production of an enormous body of manga work, the vast majority of which has never been translated from the original Japanese and is thus inaccessible to Western audiences.

Famous creations include Astro Boy, Black Jack, Princess Knight[?], and Kimba the White Lion (upon which Disney's The Lion King was probably based).

External link

• Official site (http://tezuka.co.jp) (in Japanese and English)