<h1>Words from the front</h1>
The fourth chapter in the Japanese manga series, written for people who are experiencing the Sino-US trade war, the midlife crisis, employment troubles, and life is not going well, "People can only grow through adversity" - these are the words that Ayakoji Yoshiyuki often hangs on his lips.
In the 1960s, Osamu Tezuka, who had experienced a series of brilliant experiences, reached the pinnacle of his life, and at the age of 26 (1954), he was praised by Asahi Weekly as "a popular manga artist with 2 million fans".
In 1954, Asahi Weekly reported heavily on popular manga artist Osamu Tezuka, who had 2 million readers
The 1950s and 1960s were the period of rapid growth of Japanese manga, known as the first rapid growth of Japanese manga, during which Osamu Tezuka and the "Tokiwaso" manga artists headed by him, such as Akitaro Ishimori, Fujio Akatsuka, and Fujiko Shōgun, were born at the same time. F. Fujio, Shinichi Suzuki and others contributed a lot to the rapid growth of this manga.
<h1>An animator who is ahead of the times</h1>
In the mid-to-late 1960s, when Osamu Tezuka began to focus on animation and the management of the company, because in the early years (1942-1944 before the war) under the influence of the animated film "Princess Iron Fan" created by the Man brothers and "Mottaro's Sea Vulture" co-produced by Tsuneyoshi Nobuhito, Tezuka understood that animation was the future direction, and at that time, in Japan, which had just popularized black-and-white television, this idea could be said to be at the forefront of the times.
1967 manga "Dororo" by Osamu Tezuka
Tezuka's 1967 manga "Dororo" was finally wrapped up in 1969 due to lack of energy and other reasons, and the various social and human elements contained in this manga were later commented by many as a turning point of Tezuka manga, in fact, "Dororo" has been separated from the category of juvenile manga and is closer to youth manga.
In the 1950s, Tsuyoshi Takeuchi, a writer who transformed himself from a paper writer to a manga artist
In addition to the divergence of experience in animation and company management, another important reason that prompted Tezuka to abandon the creation of manga such as "Dororo" was the birth of a new genre of Japanese manga, "drama painting", which was developed from the early paper Shibaju, and was fully evolved by the rapid development of the first manga in the 1950s, resulting in the birth of many "drama manga artists".
Playwright Hirata Hiroshi and his manga masterpiece "Humpback City"
<h1>Drama painting is born</h1>
Compared with the juvenile manga of Osamu Tezuka and Mitsuru Yokoyama, "Drama Painting" has an overwhelming charm, and it is far superior to shonen manga in terms of drawing method and connotation, because "drama drawing" is the prototype of youth manga, but readers who watched manga at that time read the manga and felt that it was almost the same as watching a movie, so they named this manga "Drama Painting".
The inaugural issue of the Shonen Weekly Sunday of the Elementary School Library
What type of comic is "Drama Drawing"? Don't worry, let's first look at the influence of this type of manga on Osamu Tsuka, in the 50s and 60s, just when Osamu Tezuka reached his personal peak, the carrier of manga also developed from a monthly manga magazine (one a month) to a weekly manga magazine (one a week).
At the end of the 1950s, various publishing houses came to sign Osamu Tezuka as their exclusive manga artist to support the newly launched Shonen Weekly magazine, including the founding issue of the Elementary School Library, "Shonen Weekly Sunday" and kodansha's inaugural issue "Shonen Weekly Magazine Magazine", while the now famous Shueisha "Shonen Weekly JUMP" was 10 years late, and was officially renamed in 1969.
Kodansha's inaugural issue of Shonen Weekly Magazine
At that time, Toyoda Kameichi, the editor-in-chief of the Shonen Weekly Sunday of the Elementary School Building, offered Tezuka a signing fee of 3 million yen, but Tezuka refused, and Tezuka did not join Kodansha, so Kodansha signed Kojiharimao's robin-like manga "Kojja Harimao" created by Kotaro Ishimori.
Kodansha Shonen Weekly cover that imitates Ishimori's manga Kojiharimao
<h1>The first line of youth comics</h1>
Because Tezuka had other plans, he gave up many opportunities to serialize manga, which also provided room for young manga artists at that time, including many drama manga artists, because the element of young manga in the drama helped the element of elementary school and Kodansha to make rapid progress on the road of youth manga. Among the youth manga in the current elementary school, Mobile Suit Gundam (Yasuo Otagaki), Killing City (Okuhoya), and Peacock King (Makoto Ogino) are all very popular, while the famous "Toumoto D" (Shuichi Shigeno) and "Roninyuki" (Yuhiko Inoue) are all kodansha youth manga.
Dramatist Kaiji Kawaguchi," "The Silent Fleet"
Just a few years after Tezuka abandoned the invitation of the elementary school hall and Kodansha, in the early 1960s, the newly grown "drama painting" almost dominated the Japanese manga industry, and the first generation of Japanese manga artists such as Osamu Tsuka, Shotaro Ishimori, and Mitsuki Yokoyama had a great impact, which was also the first showdown between youth manga and shonen manga.
Teenagers who grew up in the 1950s were known as the "generation of manga", and they already had enough financial ability, and the era of sneaking comics that were called bad books that affected children by movements such as "banished from evil books" was also accepted, and the era of sneaking comics that were forced to be branded as "science comics" ("Astro Boy") and taking fish-eyed beads to avoid the eyes of parents was also gone.
Dramatist Shin Kawasaki's manga Giant Star
For readers who have read a large number of juvenile comics, the rich social experience makes them eager to get deeper comics and more connotative content, so "drama painting" appears. The two biggest characteristics of the drama painting are the complex and realistic realistic painting style and the evocative comic connotation, in the drawing method, the drama painting uses a camera-like angle of looking down and looking up, and adds on the screen on the onomatopoeia, effect line and concentration line, which is very similar to the movie in the visual effect, not only the painting method, but also the processing of the storyboard is also like the film.
Comparison of shonen manga (left) and drama drawing (right).
Some people say that Osamu Tezuka was the first to use film storyboarding in manga, which is irresponsible, because in the late 50s, after seven people led by the drama painter Tatsumi Yoshihiro formed a "drama studio", most of the drama drawing manga in the early 60s used the film storyboarding method, and Tezuka Osamu was also affected, in his studio, almost all editors would borrow "loan script painting" (a kind of borrowed drama painting manga book), and Osamu Tezuka's manga creation was at the critical freezing point under the impact of the drama.
1957 Tezuka's imitation of the manga "Golden Box"
Thinking Tezuka, before the popularity of drama painting in 1957, created a prototype manga "Golden Box" (金のトランク), but the effect was not obvious, in 1967, 10 years later, the 39-year-old Osamu Tezuka created "Dororo", adding a large number of drama drawing elements, although successful, but there is still a gap compared with the real drama painting, discouraged Tezuka busy with corporate affairs finally hastily ended "Dororo", the first confrontation between youth manga and juvenile manga won a complete victory.
1957 Tezuka manga Box of Gold
<h1>Paper Chi Ju and Blowing Conch</h1>
The profound connotation of the drama painting can be traced back to his prototype "Paper Zhiju", "Paper Zhiju" is a folk artist who used an illustration cart to tell stories to make money in the Meiji period, and after the evolution of the times, it has developed from "standing painting" (standing to see) to "flat painting" (holding and looking), because they have to contact different people, so their stories are very vivid and grounded to resonate with lower-class laborers.
Modern paper chi ju entertainer
In 1950, there were 50,000 "paper Zhiju" artists in Japan, they pushed carts, drove small snacks and illustrated picture books to walk the streets and alleys, and China's shouting and selling, "Paper Zhiju" artists used a kind of "Fa Conch Shell" large shell to summon guests, when they heard the sound of blowing Fa Conch, they knew that it was "Paper Zhi Ju" coming, often there were children pranks to blow Fa Conch, and then it was cited as saying big words to deceive people, which is the origin of the allusion of "Hu Blowing Fa Conch".
Paper artists will hide behind picture book illustrations to explain and change illustrations
The popularity of comics has led to the rapid decline of "Paper Zhiju" artists, some of which have turned to the creation of drama paintings, and the core of "Paper Zhiju" has also been continued by drama painters and become the core of youth comics.
<h1>Long winter</h1>
In the 1970s, Osamu Tezuka finally finished dealing with the corporate affairs (bankruptcy) that had left him in a mess, and although he was in debt of 150 million yen, he finally returned to the origin of manga, and Tezuka, the "god of manga" who had passed the confusion, suddenly found that Japanese manga had no place for him!
"No matter what the painting was interesting or popular, it coincided with the collapse of the company, and I was really at a loss until "Doctor Strange Black Jack" (1973), which was a long, long winter for me" – from Osamu Tezuka Kodansha manga memoir.
There are many assistants who fought with Tezuka during the Tokiwaso era and did not abandon Tezuka during the most difficult times, including one who was the former editor of the Shonen Pictorial Newspaper, Fukumoto Kazuyoshi, who liked manga, and fukumoto, who liked manga, finally bravely embarked on the path of a manga artist because he was encouraged by Tezuka, and in 1973, he was the assistant director of Tezuka Studio.
Akita Shoten Manga Weekly "Weekly Shonen Champion"
Akita Shot, editor-in-chief of weekly Shonen Champion, who was founded at the same time as Shueisha's Shonen Jump manga magazine, visited Osamu Tezuka, extended an olive branch to him, and commissioned him to serialize a new manga, which made Tezuka overjoyed, and Tezuka ignited the second spring of his manga career.
The image of Nezo Akimura in the manga of Akita Shoten
Although this kind of youth manga is very popular with adult manga readers, but the biggest disadvantage is his audience, and juvenile manga is an all-age audience, that is, children can also watch adults can also watch, now, both have strict requirements in the subject matter content and painting, 6, 70s drama painting has a large number of content that reflects social factors and a large number of bloody scenes, at that time, Japan is due to the Japan-US security treaty caused a strong dissatisfaction with the manga generation, young people often do things, so, This type of manga was controlled and suppressed, and Osamu Tezuka's 1973 "Doctor Strange Black Jack" once again dominated Japanese manga.
Osamu Tezuka's 70s manga masterpiece Doctor Black Jack
At the beginning of Tezuka's creation of "Strange Doctor Black Jack", he added a lot of inner complaints, the protagonist of this manga is a jianghu doctor who charges a high fee, implying that "morality is only to cover up the vanity of the facts", obviously Tezuka still uses some of the elements of the young manga of the play, but he cleverly avoids social contradictions, and in the name of juvenile manga, he finally fills the manga market again when the show fades out.
<h1>Opportunities are always left to those who are prepared</h1>
In the 1970s, one day, when the manuscript of the "Strange Doctor Black Jack" manga was delivered, Kazuo Aoki, the manga editor of Weekly Shonen Champion, came to get the manuscript, and it was past the deadline for the manuscript, and Tezuka came down from the stairs, but he took the manuscript and asked each assistant, "How do you feel?" "Does it look good?" Most of the assistants replied with trepidation, but one of the young assistants said directly, "I don't think it's very good~", after listening to this sentence, Tezuka frowned, took the manuscript and turned around and walked to the second floor of the workshop, Aoki kazuo was very upset, Tezuka went upstairs while telling Aoki, "Give me another 8 hours!" ”
Akita Shoten's editor-in-chief Akimura Andra Motoyasu in "Osamu Tezuka's Creation Secrets"
Kazuo Aoki hurriedly called the boss and editor of the Akita Bookstore, Nagabimura, to inform him that Akimura roared loudly at Aoki's incompetence, and then agreed to Tezuka's request, Aoki put down the phone, could not stand the grievances and pressure, punched the wall, and suddenly punched a large hole.
……
Eight hours later, Tezuka walked out of the workshop and gave Aoki a brand new stack of manuscripts, Aoki was shocked after reading it, Tezuka actually completed a week's work in 8 hours, and for a time he was very nervous about the rudeness he had just experienced.
<h1>Holes in the walls</h1>
The name of the "God of Manga" once again went away, but the story of Aoki breaking through the wall also spread quickly, according to the responsible editor of Tezuka Studio's "Three-Eyed Boy" (also translated as Mitsume Boy) Takao Oishi recalled, one day at a meeting, a Hokkaido company leader asked, I heard that an editor was angry and smashed the glass, doors and windows of your studio, is it true? The big stone on the spot couldn't help but be funny.
Below the left side of the pillar of Tezuka's studio photo and the wall clock is where Aoki pierced
Life has peaks and valleys, remember Ayakoji's words, "People can only grow if they experience adversity!" ”
Well, the happy time always passes quickly, and it is time to say goodbye again, so let's see you next time~