Osamu Tezuka
...Emperor Leo (Kimba: The White Lion, in America) in the monthly publication Manga Shonen, in 1950, and by Mighty Atom (Astro Boy) in 1952. A plethora of titles followed suit, and by the time of his death in 1989 they had amounted to around 500 comic books and about 150,000 original drawings (Hirao, 1994). Tezuka held strong influence over many young artists themselves, of which formed the Tokiwa-so Group under him. Their chief intent was to produce educational and moral works intended to guide young people. Some artists, though, wrote mangas of their own that focused on their own demographic. The resulting mangas were more realistic and action oriented and appeased the demand of the teens of the time. This style soon became referred to as “geki-ga” which, loosely translated means: action comics. Tezuka incorporated some of these techniques into his own style but avoided the vulgarity and sensationalism of the geki-ga, and when the fans soon tired of the genre Tezuka was still able to produce popular works (History of Manga, Online). Tezuka’s work revolutionized the manga movement. His excellent use of cinematic techniques, and in-depth plots were innovative, to say the least. Tezuka’s portrayal of pro/antagonists was trend-breaking in that his characters were more real, instead of the idealistic, super hero-like characters; Tezuka’s were much more mortal. Heroes in his comics dealt with everyday problems such as anger and lo...