Narrative development

case studies

Osamu Tezuka

Osamu Tezuka was a manga artist, who has written over 700 manga series.  He is a major figure in the manga and anime industry and has helped popularise this industry from his great success.

Osamu’s earlier works were influenced by western comics and animations. Some of his most iconic works are Astro boy, Black Jack and Kimba and the White Lion. Astro boy is what he is most known for, which is basically about a robot boy and his adventures with other characters. The manga was first published in 1952 and the anime started in 1963. Many rebooted versions were made of the series, however they kept to the same art style just with smoother animations and visuals.

Osamu introduced cinematic action into manga and popularised in in post war Japan. He began using cinematic techniques to create more dramatic and psychological effects from the influence of German and French films he saw as a child. He used different angles in his frames and depicted the movement of facial expressions through many frames. He wanted to incorporate different emotions through his work so he started creating stories where the ending is not always happy.

Manga

Manga are comics created in Japan, however many refer manga to a comic drawn in a certain art style. Manga contains many different genres from Action to historical drama. Manga is a major part of Japan and has gained a significant worldwide audience. In Japan manga is usually released in a large manga magazine, which contains many manga stories presenting a single episode which is continued in the next issue. Manga is a major part of Japan’s publishing industry and is generally printed in black and white