The Last Days Of Mushi Pro
By the end of 1970 Osamu Tezuka was gone, leaving the wreckage of Mushi Productions behind him. It was no secret that Tezuka’s feature Cleopatra had doomed the studio; but…
Tag Archives: Osamu Tezuka
Tezuka’s Adult Features: “Cleopatra” (1970)
A year later, Mushi Productions’ second Animerama theatrical feature, Cleopatra, was released in Japan. Unlike A Thousand and One Nights, Cleopatra was a critical and commercial bomb. What went wrong?…
Tezuka’s “Adult” Features: “A Thousand and One Nights” (1969)
In the 1960s Osamu Tezuka’s Mushi Productions was one of the leading producers of TV animation in Japan. Three of his Mushi series had been sold to American children’s television:…
Early Anime Features: “Animal Treasure Island” (1971)
This week we conclude our look at Tōei Dōga’s earliest anime features with a focus on “Dōbutsu Takarajima” aka Animal Treasure Island. The film was originally released on March 20th,…
Early Anime Features: To 1958
Animation in Japan before World War II was very popular, but not to the point of helping any Japanese animation industry. Instead, Japanese theatrical distributors during the 1920s and 1930s…
The Last Black & White Anime
Editor’s Note: Today I’m proud to introduce the debut of a new series of columns that I’m calling “LOST PLANET ANIME”. They will be written by our latest Cartoon Research…
Fred Patten, Tezuka and… “Atomcat”?
Editor’s Note: Fred Patten has been a friend and colleague of mine for over 30 years. A respected comics and anime historian and a veteran of “the golden age of…
CARTOON RESEARCH is compiled and edited by JERRY BECK, a writer, animation producer and author of over 15 books on animation history.