New issues of the Nichi Bei Times (week of August 2) and Reference and Research Book News (August) include reviews of Frederik L. Schodt's The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution, an excellent book for fans and libraries, graphic novel enthusiasts and those curious about cultural history.In the Nichi Bei Times, Ben Hamamoto writes:
"The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution" is a rare sort of book that can appeal to both a very specific and a very broad audience. For die-hard fans of Astro Boy and his creator Osamu Tezuka, there is plenty of new and exclusive content, but for those who don’t know anything about Astro Boy, and maybe never thought they wanted to, it can serve as an introduction to a medium that is vastly underappreciated in the United States.
With this book, Frederik Schodt does an excellent job explaining what Tezuka and Astro Boy mean to Japan and how they made the manga and anime industries what they are today.
Here's the full Book News annotation:
Japanese artist Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989), perhaps best known for his Tetsuwan Atomu (Mighty Atom) stories about an android longing to be more human (published in the US as Astro Boy), had such a cultural impact on Japanese comics and animation that he became known to some as the "God of Manga." In this volume his longtime friend and translator describes the origins and developments of the Mighty Atom series, its reception in Japan, and the stories behind its translation and presentation to Western audiences. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
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