Earlier this year, I compiled a list of English-language academic/scholarly publications on Osamu Tezuka and his works since 2010. At that point, I noted that it would be the first part of a comprehensive specialized bibliography of academic writing on Tezuka – and I am now pleased to present its second part, covering book, book chapters, and journal articles that were published before 2010.
The sources for the list are the individual annual bibliographies of English-language academic publications on anime/manga. These are based on searches in various general and subject-specific academic databases, as well as resources such as Google Scholar and Google Books, Microsoft Academic Search, and the Directory of Open Access Journals, major library catalogs, reviews of the bibliographies/notes/works cited sections of items that were already identified for inclusion, and direct contributions by authors. As with any enumerative bibliography, its scope is necessarily limited to only certain types of publications – books, chapters in essay collections and articles in academic/scholarly journals, but not book reviews or articles in newspapers/general-interest magazines. In addition, while I of course acknowledge that plenty of other academic publications mention Tezuka and his works, I make a conscious decision to also limit this bibliography’s scope to publications that deal with Tezuka extensively or significantly. Therefore, this bibliography does not cover broader essays on Japanese comics/animation, such as, for example, Kinko Ito’s A history of manga in the context of Japanese culture and society, or papers on general topics that mention one of Tezuka’s works in passing – such as The frenzy of the visible in comic book worlds (Angela Ndalianis, Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal).
Creator Bibliography – Osamu Tezuka
Part 2 – 1997-2009
The first English-language book on manga, Frederik Schodt’s 1983 Manga! Manga!: The World of Japanese Comics, published in 1983, and his 1996 follow-up, Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga, both discuss Osamu Tezuka’s contributions to Japanese visual culture extensively. However, the first article on Tezuka and his works in an academic journal was not published until 1997. Only a few more similar academic publications appeared over the next eight years. 2006, though, marked a major increase, with six individual titles, including the catalog for a major exhibit of Tezuka’s art organized by Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria. Another indication of the attention that Western scholars were now paying to Tezuka could be seen in the inclusion of essays on his work in the inaugural volume of Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and Fan Arts and the essay collection Reading Manga: Local and Global Perceptions of Japanese Comics.
After that, it was a given that a new essay collection on anime/manga would feature at least one chapter on Tezuka and his works – as did 2008’s Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime and The Japanification of Children’s Popular Culture: From Godzilla to Miyazaki. This culminated with the publication in 2009 of two books on Tezuka – the general-interest The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga (by Helen McCarthy, already the author of a book on Hayao Miyazaki), and the academic study God of Comics: Osamu Tezuka and the Creation of Post-World War II Manga, by Georgetown University professor Natsu Onoda – who previously published two International Journal of Comic Art papers on Tezuka, and has since directed a play based on his manga.
In all, 28 English-language academic publications on Tezuka and his work appeared between 1997 and 2009 – 5 books (one of them, the catalog for the National Gallery of Victoria exhibit, with both original essays and a selection of major pieces on Tezuka that had previously been published in Japan), 10 chapters in edited essay collections, and 13 articles (I am treating Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and Fan Arts as a journal, rather than a book series). Of the articles, 4 were published in Mechademia, 2 in the International Journal of Comic Art, and 1 each in Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Animation Studies, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Japanese Religions, The Journal of Popular Culture, Theory, Culture & Society and Wochi Kochi. The breakdown by year is as follows:
2009: 7 items
2008: 6
2007: 2
2006: 6
2002: 2
1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004: 1 each
The entries are organized by year, and separately, by publication type. The excellent Tezuka in English website also includes a bibliography of scholarly publications on Tezuka and his works that is more extensive than this one. In particular, it lists a number of major Japanese sources, as well as essays that I determined were too broad for the scope of my project.
By year:
2009
Buljan, Katherine. The uncanny and the robot in the Astro Boy episode “Franken”. Animation Studies, Special Issue: Animated Dialogues, 2007, 46-54.
*** OPEN ACCESS ***
Ishii, Anne. Medical manga comes to America. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 180(5), 542-543.
*** OPEN ACCESS ***
Ladd, Fred, with Harvey Deneroff. Astro Boy and anime come to America: An insider’s view of the birth of a pop culture phenomenon. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
Ma, Sheng-Mei. Three views of the Rising Sun, obliquely: Kenji Nakazawa’s A-bomb, Osamu Tezuka’s Adolf, and Yoshinori Kobayashi’s apologia. Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and Fan Arts, 4, 183-196.
*** OPEN ACCESS ***
McCarthy, Helen. The art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga. New York: Abrams ComicArts.
Onoda Power, Natsu. God of comics: Osamu Tezuka and the creation of post-World War II manga. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
Steinberg, Marc. Anytime, anywhere: Tetsuwan Atomu stickers and the emergence of character merchandizing. Theory, Culture & Society, 26(2-3), 113-138.
“Japan’s first weekly, 30-minute animated TV series, Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy), is not only commonly regarded as the first instance of what is now known as `anime’; it is also regarded as the point of emergence of the commercial phenomenon of character-based merchandizing. Interesting enough, it is not so much Tetsuwan Atomu the TV series as the practice of including Atomu stickers as premiums in the candy maker Meiji Seika’s chocolate packages that really ignited the character merchandizing boom. The key to the success of the stickers — along with the use of the already popular figure of Atomu — was their ability to be stuck anywhere, and seen anytime. This anytime-anywhere potential of the stickers arguably led to the new communicational media environment and the cross-media connections that characterize the anime system and the force which drives it: the character. Part historical, part theoretical, this article will explore the thesis that it was the `medium’ of stickers that led to the development of the character-based multimedia environment that is a key example of — and perhaps even a precursor to — the ubiquity of media that is the theme of this journal issue.”
2008
Bird, Lawrence. States of emergency: Urban space and the robotic body in the “Metropolis” tales. Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and Fan Arts, 3, 127-148.
Makela, Lee. From Metropolis to Metoroporisu: The changing role of the robot in Japanese and Western cinema.
In MacWilliams, Mark (Ed.), Japanese visual culture: Explorations in the world of manga and anime (pp. 91-113). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
Otsuka, Eiji. Disarming Atom: Tezuka Osamu’s manga at war and peace (pp. 111-125). Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and Fan Arts, 3, 111-125.
[Translated by Thomas Lamarre. Originally published as Nichibei kõwa to ‘Tetsuwan Atomu: Tezuka Osamu wa naze ‘Atomu o busõ kaijo shita ka (The U.S. -Japan Peace Treaty and Tetsuwan Atomu: Why did Tezuka Osamu disarm ‘Atom’?), Kan, 22, 178-189 (2005)]
Phillips, Susanne. Characters, themes and narrative patterns in the manga of Osamu Tezuka.
In MacWilliams, Mark (Ed.), Japanese visual culture: Explorations in the world of manga and anime (pp. 68-80). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
Ruh, Brian. Early Japanese animation in the United States: Changing Tetsuwan Atomu to Astro Boy.
In Mark I. West (Ed.), The Japanification of children’s popular culture: From Godzilla to Miyazaki (pp. 209-226). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
Yomota, Inuhiko. Stigmata in Osamu Tezuka’s works. Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and Fan Arts, 3, 97-109.
[translated and introduced by Hajime Nakatani]
2007
Patten, Fred. Simba versus Kimba: The pride of lions.
In Alan Cholodenko (Ed.), The illusion of life II: More essays on animation (pp. 275-313). Sydney, Australia: Power Publications.
Schodt, Frederik. The Astro Boy essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the manga/anime revolution. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press.
2006
Benzon, William L. The song at the end of the world: Personal apocalypse in Rintaro’s Metropolis. Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and Fan Arts, 1, 171-173.
Brophy, Philip. Australia: The Osamu Tezuka exhibition: Ten years in the making. Wochi Kochi Magazine, 13, 32-36.
Brophy, Philip (Ed.), Tezuka: The marvel of manga. Victoria, Australia: National Gallery of Victoria.
Gan, Sheuo Hui. Prefiguring the future: Tezuka Osamu’s adult animation and its influence on later animation in Japan.
In Joel David (Ed.), Proceedings of the Whither the Orient: Asians in Asia and non-Asian Cinema conference (pp. 178-191). Seoul: Asia Future Initiative.
*** OPEN ACCESS ***
Gildenhard, Bettina. History as faction: Historiography within Japanese comics as seen through Tezuka Osamu’s manga Adolf.
In Jaqueline Berndt & Steffi Richter (Eds.), Reading manga: Local and global perceptions of Japanese comics (pp. 95-106). Leipzig, Germany: Leipziger Universitatsverlag
Steinberg, Marc. Immobile sections trans-series movement: Astroboy and the emergence of anime. Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 1(2), 190-206.
“This article contrasts the different economies of motion found in cinema and animation, and explores the particular economy of movement and libidinal investment that accompanies Japanese anime, paying close attention to the first anime TV series, Astroboy (Tetsuwan Atomu). Metz and Lyotard argue that cinema generates an impression of reality through its particular economy of motion. Cel animation, in contrast, relies on a different economy of motion. This is especially the case in the specific kind of limited animation found in Japanese anime. This article focuses on the specificities of this kind of animated movement (particularly its emphasis on stillness), and the way Astroboy relied on commodity serialization to generate a particularly immersive image environment – one that set the stage for what is now known as ‘anime’. “
2004
Riley, Yoko. Faust through the eyes of a Japanese cartoonist.
In Osman Durrani (Ed.), Icons of modern culture: Faust (pp. 409-416). Westfield, UK: Helm Information.
2003
Onoda, Natsu. Tezuka Osamu and the Star System. International Journal of Comic Art, 5(1), 141-194.
2002
MacWilliams Mark, Revisioning Japanese religiosity: Osamu Tezuka’s Hi no Tori (The Phoenix) (revised and expanded)
In Timothy J. Craig & Richard King (Eds.), Global goes local: Popular culture in Asia (pp. 177-208). Vancouver: UBC Press. pp. 177-208.
Onoda, Natsu. Drag prince in spotlight: Theatrical cross-dressing in Osamu Tezuka’s early shojo manga. International Journal of Comic Art, 4(2), 124-138.
2000
MacWilliams, Mark. Japanese comic books and religion: Osamu Tezuka’s story of the Buddha.
In Timothy J. Craig (Ed.), Japan pop!: Inside the world of Japanese popular culture (pp. 109-137). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
1999
MacWilliams, Mark. Revisioning Japanese religiousity: Tezuka Osamu’s Hi no Tori (The Phoenix). Japanese Religions, 24(1), 79-100.
1997
Kuwahara, Yasue. Japanese culture and popular consciousness: Disney’s The Lion King vs. Tezuka’s Jungle Emperor. The Journal of Popular Culture, 31(1), 37-48.
By publication type:
Books
Brophy, Philip (Ed.) (2006). Tezuka: The marvel of manga. Victoria, Australia: National Gallery of Victoria.
Ladd, Fred, with Harvey Deneroff (2008). Astro Boy and anime come to America: An insider’s view of the birth of a pop culture phenomenon. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
McCarthy, Helen (2009). The art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga. New York: Abrams ComicArts.
Onoda Power, Natsu (2009). God of comics: Osamu Tezuka and the creation of post-World War II manga. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
Schodt, Frederik (2007). The Astro Boy essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the manga/anime revolution. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press.
Book chapters
Gan, Sheuo Hui (2006). Prefiguring the future: Tezuka Osamu’s adult animation and its influence on later animation in Japan.
In Joel David (Ed.), Proceedings of the Whither the Orient: Asians in Asia and non-Asian Cinema conference (pp. 178-191). Seoul: Asia Future Initiative.
Gildenhard, Bettina (2006). History as faction: Historiography within Japanese comics as seen through Tezuka Osamu’s manga Adolf.
In Jaqueline Berndt & Steffi Richter (Eds.), Reading manga: Local And global perceptions of Japanese comics (pp. 95-106). Leipzig, Germany: Leipziger Universitatsverlag.
Ma, Sheng-Mei. Three views of the Rising Sun, obliquely: Kenji Nakazawa’s A-bomb, Osamu Tezuka’s Adolf, and Yoshinori Kobayashi’s apologia. Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and Fan Arts, 4, 183-196.
MacWilliams Mark (2002). Revisioning Japanese religiosity: Osamu Tezuka’s Hi no Tori (The Phoenix) (revised and expanded)
In Timothy J. Craig & Richard King (Eds.), Global goes local: Popular culture in Asia (pp. 177-208). Vancouver: UBC Press. pp. 177-208.
MacWilliams, Mark (2000). Japanese comic books and religion: Osamu Tezuka’s story of the Buddha.
In Timothy J. Craig (Ed.), Japan pop!: Inside the world of Japanese popular culture (pp. 109-137). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
Makela, Lee (2008). From Metropolis to Metoroporisu: The changing role of the robot in Japanese and Western cinema.
In MacWilliams, Mark (Ed.), Japanese visual culture: Explorations in the world of manga and anime (pp. 91-113). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
Patten, Fred (2007). Simba versus Kimba: The pride of lions.
In Alan Cholodenko (Ed.), The illusion of life II: More essays on animation (pp. 275-313). Sydney, Australia: Power Publications.
Phillips, Susanne. Characters, themes and narrative patterns in the manga of Osamu Tezuka (pp. 68-90).
In MacWilliams, Mark (Ed.), Japanese visual culture: Explorations in the world of manga and anime (pp. 68-80). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
Riley, Yoko (2004). Faust through the eyes of a Japanese cartoonist.
In Osman Durrani (Ed.), Icons of modern culture: Faust (pp. 409-416). Westfield, UK: Helm Information.
Ruh, Brian (2008). Early Japanese animation in the United States: Changing Tetsuwan Atomu to Astro Boy.
In Mark I. West (Ed.), The Japanification of children’s popular culture: From Godzilla to Miyazaki (pp. 209-226). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
Journal/magazine articles
Buljan, Katherine. The uncanny and the robot in the Astro Boy episode “Franken”. Animation Studies, Special Issue: Animated Dialogues, 2007, 46-54.
Benzon, William L. (2006). The song at the end of the world: Personal apocalypse in Rintaro’s Metropolis. Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and Fan Arts, 1, 171-173.
Bird, Lawrence (2008). States of emergency: Urban space and the robotic body in the “Metropolis” tales. Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and Fan Arts, 3, 127-148.
Brophy, Philip (2006). Australia: The Osamu Tezuka exhibition: Ten years in the making. Wochi Kochi Magazine, 13, 32-36.
Ishii, Anne (2009). Medical manga comes to America. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 180(5), 542-543.
Kuwahara, Yasue (1997). Japanese culture and popular consciousness: Disney’s The Lion King vs. Tezuka’s Jungle Emperor. The Journal of Popular Culture, 31(1), 37-48.
MacWilliams, Mark (1999). Revisioning Japanese religiousity: Tezuka Osamu’s Hi no Tori (The Phoenix). Japanese Religions, 24(1), 79-100.
Onoda, Natsu (2002). Drag prince in spotlight: Theatrical cross-dressing in Osamu Tezuka’s early shojo manga. International Journal of Comic Art, 4(2), 124-138.
Onoda, Natsu (2003). Tezuka Osamu and the Star System. International Journal of Comic Art, 5(1), 141-194.
Otsuka, Eiji (2008). Disarming Atom: Tezuka Osamu’s manga at war and peace (pp. 111-125). Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and Fan Arts, 3, 111-125.
[Translated by Thomas Lamarre. Originally published as Nichibei kõwa to ‘Tetsuwan Atomu: Tezuka Osamu wa naze ‘Atomu o busõ kaijo shita ka (The U.S. -Japan Peace Treaty and Tetsuwan Atomu: Why did Tezuka Osamu disarm ‘Atom’?), Kan, 22, 178-189 (2005)]
Steinberg, Marc. Anytime, anywhere: Tetsuwan Atomu stickers and the emergence of character merchandizing. Theory, Culture & Society, 26(2-3), 113-138.
Steinberg, Marc (2006). Immobile sections trans-series movement: Astroboy and the emergence of anime. Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 1(2), 190-206.
Yomota, Inuhiko (2008). Stigmata in Osamu Tezuka’s works. Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and Fan Arts, 3, 97-109.
[translated and introduced by Hajime Nakatani]