Successful People - Osamu Tezuka

Osamu Tezuka (手塚 治虫), both a manga artist and an animator, is considered the "God of Manga". He is credited for revolutionizing the the anime industry, and bringing it to where it is today. His redefinition of the genres, and his stylistic large eyes, which has become mainstream to the art, has also given him the nickname "Father of Anime". Collectively he has written en over 700 manga, exceeding 150,000 pages total. However most of his work has never been translated out of Japanese. Some of his most famous works include Astro Boy, Black Jack, Princess Knight, Phoenix, Kimba the White Lion, and Adolf, though he has written much more. This has all been a result of love and passion for his art, but he never always imagined being an anime artist. He is one of five people who has both a professional degree in anime, and medicine. It happened when he was younger, after he was cured of an illness by a doctor. This influenced him into studying medicine at Osuka University. However at the same time he began seriously drawing manga. He eventually got to a crossroad, and had to decide between medicine and manga, the second of which wasn't as rewarding. With the words of his mother, "you should work doing the thing you like most of all," Osamu Tezuka became a full-time anime artist. However his medical degree didn't go to waste, as he used the knowledge he had gained to enhance his anime, such as in the series Black Jack. Ever since he was little he had it worse of. He came from a poor family born third of three sons, and was bullied because of his slim, and small body. He would constantly get inspiration and confidence from his mother's stories and lessons. Even after he became famous and well known, Tezuka still had it hard. It took the majority of his time and effort to maintain his studio, so much that he even had to decline an invitation to work on "a Space Odyssey 2001" by Stanley Kubrick, and yet he never became rich. He did however become famous for his work in Japan, and able to influence an entire generation of anime artist. I think his success, like many others, is due to the guidance he received from the people around him, especially his mother. Of coarse hard work, determination, and talent don't hurt either.

Anime Genres

Anime is a widely used and diverse creative medium for telling stories, and expressing ideas. It comes in many forms and style, and differs from artist to artist. This allows for many genres, and genre types. Ranging from romance to fighting and from adult shows to kid shows, these genres define what anime really is.

Most anime are usually grouped into more than one genre. This is really due a combination of the sheer amount of genres and the way they define them, plus the way anime is created with plots, subplots, and a high amount of development. These are things you don't normally find in American cartoons.



Some Common Genres Include:



General Types: These are types found in most forms of graphic art

• Action- A fast paced, thrilling story, usually including battle, fighting, competition, or death.
• Adventure- A story following someone Else's travels, usually as a journey to obtain, save, or learn something important, associated with action.
• Drama- An emotional story, usually with a high amount of character development, and a relationship theme, related to love/romance.
• Horror- A scary, gory story, usually including things of supernatural origin and darker themes, kept as realistic as possible.
• Sci-fi- A futuristic story, usually involving advanced technology and new sciences
• Progressive- An extremely stylized design for character, and story, can be associated with any other type of genre.
• Fantasy- A story with supernatural, or mythical origins, usually includes superpowers, demons, ghosts, or an unbelievable setting.
• Comedy- A funny story, made comical through unexpected situations and visual exaggeration, usually associated with all other genres except drama.

Demographic: Shows intended audience or targeted age group

• Shojo- Japanese for "Young girl", usually aimed at younger girls, focus on character and plot development, includes idealized love stories.
• Shonen- Japanese for "young boy", usually aimed at younger boys, focus on fighting and battle, associated with mecha, action, and adventure.
• Josei- Japanese for "young woman", usually aimed at mature girls (teens), focus on famalies and mothers, rarest genre, associated with yaoi.
• Seinen- Japanese for "young man", usually aimed at mature boys (teens), focus on more psychological and sexual elements, and more plot development, darker than shonen.
• Kodomo- Japanese for "child", all children shows fall into this category.

Thematic: Used only in Japanese style animation

• Bishojo- Japanese for "beautiful girl", features pretty female leads and characters.
• Bishonen- Japanese for "pretty boy", features elegant, handsome male leads and characters.
• Sentai- Japanese for "fighting team", feature superheros and superhero teams.
• Mecha- Features giant robots, which usually act more like extensions to the pilot, humanoid, related to sci-fi or fantasy.
• Post Apocalypse- Features a post Apocalyptic world, related to sci-fi.
• Maho Shojo- Sub genre of Shojo, Japanese for "magical girl", features a girl of extraordinary origin.
• Maho Shonen- Sub genre of Shonen, Japanese for "magical boy", features a boy of extraordinary origin.
• Moe- Features cute or naive characters, usually females who look younger than they really are.
• Expertise- Features a specific topic in dept, usually like a sport, an art, or cooking.
• Lolicon- Features the sexualization of underage female characters.
• Shotacon- Features the sexualization of underage male characters.
• Historical Setting- A story set in the past, usually featuring real historical events, opposite of fantasy, however not completely accurate.
• School Life- A story which features a school setting, deals with school issues such as romance and education, associated with almost every other genre.

Romantic Genres: Yeah... An entire section

• Harem- A single indecisive male character surrounded by a romance of multiple female characters, usually ending in him choosing one or none at all.
• Reverse Harem- A single female lead is surrounded by a romance of multiple male character, related to Shojo and Josei.
• Magical Girlfriend- Focuses on a romantic between a male lead and a girl or extraordinary origin, such as alien or superhuman.
• Ecchi- Japanese for "indecent sexuality", usually includes sexual humor and fan service.
• Hentai- Japanese for "Perverted", usually mature anime involving erotica.
• Yuri- Japanese for "girl love", focuses on romance between female charters, sometimes involving mature subjects.
• Yaoi- Japanese for "boy love", focuses on romance between male charters, sometimes involving mature subjects.