Was early Tezuka's masterpiece a 'sexually stimulating' boys' manga?! An explanation of 'Zero Man'!

This time, we will be presenting
what is often called the greatest masterpiece among Tezuka's works, "Zero Man".
A feature-length sci-fi work depicting the conflict between humans and the Zero Man tribe, a race of humans with tails!
The feud with beings of a different form is a root theme in Tezuka's works.

We will be introducing this early Tezuka masterpiece, which incorporates
spectacular themes like the destruction of the Earth and the annihilation of humanity,
so please stay with us until the end.

Now, let's get into the main story.

--------------------------------------

Synopsis

This work was serialized in
"Weekly Shonen Sunday" from 1959 to 1960.

As for the synopsis...

it's not something that can be explained very concisely (laughs).

Actually, this "Zero Man"
is a masterpiece praised by numerous critics, yet it is a work of such overwhelming volume that even those critics are forced to say
"it is difficult to summarize."

It is a grand epic consisting of over 700 pages and 46 chapters in total,
and the story is so diverse that it cannot be described in a single word.

I will dare to explain it, though...

A baby picked up by a Japanese person in the deep mountains of India
is named Ricky and raised.
Actually, this Ricky was born with a tail,
and was a creature called a Zero Man, which had evolved from a squirrel.

Moreover,
the Zero Man were creatures with strength and intelligence surpassing humans, hiding deep in the Himalayas,
and they possessed science far more advanced than humanity.
When Ricky learned of this, he went to the Zero Man's habitat to meet his real parents, only to find that the Zero Man nation was preparing to dominate humans.
The Zero Man tribe is trying to take the Earth from humanity,
but even though he is a Zero Man,
Ricky tries to do his best for the sake of humans.

The main outline of this story is that it is a sci-fi epic where a grand spectacle involving the universe unfolds after this.

In short,
it's like if Goku went to the Saiyans and Vegeta was
trying to wipe out humanity and take over the Earth,
so Goku is saying, 'Hey, hey,
let's all get along, Earthlings and Saiyans alike.'

(Maybe that's a bit different... haha)
Well, you can just think of it as roughly like that.

---------------------

Reckless Weekly Serialization

Now... I should explain that this work was a sci-fi manga that established the long-form weekly serialization style in the newly launched 'Weekly Shonen Sunday'.
1959 was the year that 'Weekly Shonen Magazine' and
'Weekly Shonen Sunday' were launched one after another,
and it was truly a major turning point where manga shifted from being primarily monthly magazines to weekly serialization.

Nowadays, weekly magazines are a completely normal part of daily life, but
at the time, weekly serialization was an incredibly reckless attempt.

Would the manga artist meet the deadline?
Would the ideas hold up?
Or would the children's pocket money hold out?
Amidst various concerns like these, the weekly magazine
was born,
and of course, at the center of it was the well-known Osamu Tezuka.

By forcing through a weekly serialization despite being incredibly busy,
today's weekly serialization became the norm,
but let's save that story for another time.

Speaking of popular artists at the time of the 'Weekly Shonen Sunday' launch,
there was a lineup including Osamu Tezuka, Fujiko Fujio, and Hiroo Terada.

On the other hand, the works published in 'Weekly Shonen Magazine'
were full of works and authors that no one knows even today...

It is clear that at this point, 'Weekly Shonen Sunday' was the mainstream.
By the way, 'Weekly Shonen Magazine' also approached Tezuka-sensei and Fujiko-sensei about serialization at the time of their launch, but 'exclusive contract with Sunday' is rumored to be why they were turned down.
Although it seems it wasn't actually exclusive.

Thus, with the launch of the first weekly magazine, Tezuka-sensei enthusiastically
'Dr. Thrill', a one-shot style detective series, began, but the results were not very impressive.

So, it was cancelled early after 9 episodes,
and starting the following week was this '0-Man'.

Improving on the failure of the one-shot style 'Dr. Thrill',
it was drawn from the start as a grand sci-fi epic, '0-Man'
is said to be the manga that established the current weekly serialization style by switching to a method that makes you wonder what happens next (the following week) and creating a thrilling development every time.

At this point, it goes without saying, but since no one had ever experienced weekly serialization before, the serialization style was also trial and error.
So, when it looked like it wouldn't be popular, he cancelled it early, brought in his specialty sci-fi work, and changed the expression method to make it readable for a long time, so his agility in this area is impressive.

Weekly serialization suited Osamu Tezuka

And this style matched Osamu Tezuka's style.

Originally, Tezuka-sensei was good at epic dramas and worldviews drawn on a grand scale, so the serial style was more convenient for Tezuka manga than the one-shot style.

If you follow the synopsis of this '0-Man'
, you can see that it has a flavor that seems to have inherited the theme of the 1951 release 'Next World'
as it is.

'Next World' is, as you know from 'Manga Michi', a work with a history of having to be condensed from 1,000 pages to 300 pages,
so the story development was choppy, rushed, and lacked explanation, making it an unsatisfactory result for Tezuka-sensei, leaving him with a feeling of indigestion.

As if to clear that frustration,
taking advantage of the characteristics of weekly serialization,
the end of the world, the destruction of humanity theme, a super heavy-weight subject, was pushed past the limit
and it is thought that he reconstructed it into a serial that you would want to read every week.

In fact, this dynamic worldview and story development had a
real-time generation,direct-hit generationmade a
considerable impact.

After all, since a manga that had never existed before had appeared,
I think it had a sparkle that made the eyes of the children who experienced that time shine.

There is no doubt that the generation whose hearts were forever left with the shock of that time
is the reason why they pass down this“Zero Man”as one of Osamu Tezuka'sgreatest masterpieces.

It's what you call“nostalgia goggles.”I think everyone has experienced this.
Even if it's not manga, the feeling of excitement from that time with music or TV shows...
I think it's common for those feelings to deify a work.
It means that shock was present in this
“Zero Man”.

The circumstances surrounding the founding of 'Weekly Shonen Sunday' and“Zero Man”behind-the-scenes stories, etc.
the passion including the historical background of that time
is depicted in Chapter 4 of Volume 1 of Cozy Shokura's“Chaser,”so if you are interested, please take a look. It's super interesting.

This content is chaotic for a boys' manga

While this work became a masterpiece representing Tezuka's works,
the content is truly like frustration that couldn't be expressed in 'The Next World' being poured out, and despite being completed in 4 volumes, the story development is so fast that
the content is packed tightly into 4 books.

Through the conflict between thegrotesque beingsknown as the Zero Man tribe andhumanity,
the foolishness, misery, and selfishness of fighting, it depicts the ego of foolish humanity as much as possible, and it has become a super-production that can even be called ahumanity apocalypse dramathat even incorporates political elements.

It was actually quite complex content for a children's manga,
to the point where you might wonder if this was from an elementary schooler's perspective.

Regardless of whether this is good or bad,
it must have been a very high-sense manga for the children of that time.
The fact that it was still popular
means it can be said that it was a period when the habit of reading manga matured among children.

The appearance of such a manga thatnurtures the readeralso becomes a trigger to greatly expand the base of that culture and contributes greatly to the subsequent development of Japanese manga culture. In this way, a foundation where anyone can easily read manga is created, and manga culture matures rapidly.

In that sense, the historical significance left by this“Zero Man”is significant.

The beauty of streamlines

Finally, I will touch a little on the style and pen touch.

One of the charms of this“Zero Man”is the feature that
the streamlines are remarkably beautiful.Originally, Tezuka-sensei draws rounded lines called the Tezuka touch, but
the pen touch in this work is running so much that you can tell at a glance.
I don't know how to express it, but it's like there is no hesitation in the lines,
or rather, they are alive, and the sense of dynamism is incredible.

As written in the afterword,
Tezuka-sensei was on a roll during this period,
and that state of mind must have been reflected in his pen strokes.
The lines are incredibly sharp and energetic, so I really want you to take a look at that.

Continuing on,
the answer to the question (Tezuka often draws stories about humans with tails) is also included in the afterword,

“For some reason, I feel a strange sexual charm in such characters and end up including them. Could it be related to some kind of sexual psychopathology?”

is what he said.

There it is.
“Sexual charm”—he said it quite clearly himself (laughs).

An indescribable, inexplicable eros—
this is the perverted touch that Osamu Tezuka unconsciously exudes.

An eros that transcends gender, or perhaps an eros that transcends species,
when you mix inandrogynouselements there,
it becomes unnecessarily erotic; that perverted touch is the true essence of Osamu Tezuka.

It’s not about being obscene, but rather the mystery of life, a healthy beauty like the awakening of sexuality.
Many children were struck by this indescribable charm. In that sense, I really want you to see the touch in this“Zero Man”.
It makes you feel a smooth beauty that shows just how much Tezuka-sensei was enjoying drawing it.
Please also check out this article about Tezuka-sensei's perverted pen touch.

So, this time I have presented“Zero Man”.
There is still a ton of material I haven't talked about yet,
but I have given you a brief overview for now.
If I have the chance, I would like to talk about it in more detail in another article.

A shocking work that celebrities and critics alike praise,
it was“Zero Man”, which is often called the greatest masterpiece among Tezuka's works.