Tag: Osamu Tezuka

Spending My Animated Summer with Netflix

Before we take the week off in recognition of Canada Day and the Fourth of July, even we have to offer our picks on how to spend the start of an animated summer with Netflix. More lists and reviews will be coming after we recharge!

Animated Summer with NetflixJuly is surprisingly quiet for viewers wondering what to watch on the streaming front. Apple TV+ and Prime Video are largely relying on returning series, making it easy to begin your animated summer with Netflix. Disney+ also has a couple of worthwhile additions.

Aside from Sparks of Tomorrow (see my preview), there are no major original animated premieres until August. Fortunately, the wait isn’t long. Kyoto Animation returns with an original television series, Ricky Gervais makes his animated sitcom debut for the streamer, and one of manga’s most influential classics receives a fresh reimagining.

Sparks of Tomorrow
July 5

Sparks of Tomorrow Anime

Produced by Kyoto Animation and based on Hiro Yūki‘s light novel 20 Seiki Denki Mokuroku, the series unfolds in an alternate version of early 20th century Kyoto where steam technology flourishes instead of electricity. The story follows Kihachi Sakamoto, a young inventor who dreams of ushering in a new age alongside his older brother. After tragedy tears those dreams apart, he crosses paths with Inako Momokawa, the daughter of a sake brewer, and together they rediscover hope through science and innovation.

The project also marks Minoru Ota‘s directorial debut and showcases Kyoto Animation’s painterly backgrounds inspired by Impressionist artwork.

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Top Picks from Discotek Deep Dive July Schedule

Discotek’s July lineup brings classic anime fans plenty to celebrate, from Go Nagai’s Devilman to Osamu Tezuka’s daring Animerama work and the ever-charming Sherlock Hound.

Discotek Deep Dive May When looking at Discotek’s deep dive July schedule, I can’t help but smile. For those following Go Nagai’s Devilman saga, the next series release is coming, and there’s more Osamu Tezuka’s works being offered! The late 60s was a prime time for fans of this artist’s works. It is also worth noting his cinematic output didn’t get a wide release.

Honourable mentions go to Astro Boy: The Complete 1980 Series, along with City Hunter and its 1991 continuation, which together do a solid job of capturing what made 90s anime so memorable.

Devilman: The Complete TV Series (1972)

devilman_tv-800x1017Before Go Nagai went full dark with the manga, the original TV series told a more family-friendly version of the story. Teenager Akira Fudo merges with the demon Amon, inheriting his power while holding onto his human soul, and uses that strength to defend Earth from demonic invasions. It’s campy and colourful in all the best 70s ways, and it’s essential viewing for anyone who wants to understand why later adaptations like Devilman Crybaby landed so hard.

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Black Jack Is No Bleak Phantom of the Opera, He Cuts for Compassion

Often mistaken for a cold, enigmatic figure, Black Jack is anything but heartless. This updated OVA release reveals a doctor driven by compassion, challenging rigid medical institutions and reminding us that empathy can matter as much as expertise.

Black Jack Blu-ray
Available to purchase on Amazon USA

Released Dec 16, 2025

MediaOCD has taken a careful, almost surgical approach in updating Black Jack, the OVA series, treating it less like a nostalgia item and more like an essential entry point for a classic manga series that many viewers may have missed reading. Alongside a revised song translation, this release restores the two episodes absent from earlier editions and makes a clear effort to remaster the material for modern digital viewing.

For anyone unfamiliar with the property, this set finally presents the series as a complete experience. I’ll also include a brief guide at the end to help newcomers understand how this fits into the wider world of Osamu Tezuka’s work and the many versions of his famously unconventional doctor, Kurō Hazama.

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Black Jack — The Complete OVA is Set To Strike This December!

Osamu Tezuka’s legendary surgeon returns to the operating table as MediaOCD revives Black Jack — The Complete OVA Series in HD. Directed by Osamu Dezaki, this moody, gothic medical drama cuts deep into questions of morality, justice, and the human soul.

MediaOCDBlack Jack BD Cover has two animated works based on Osamu Tezuka’s past catalogue that will hit home video next year. There’s Black Jack — The Complete OVA Series which will release Dec 16, and sometime next year, A Time Slip of 10,000 Years: Prime Rose, as previously reported.

In revisiting this series, it’s hard not to think of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Both characters are outcasts wielding their instruments of precision—scalpels and razors—as tools of both justice and transgression. Where Sweeney’s craft descends into vengeance, Tezuka’s rogue surgeon walks a more ambiguous line, dissecting not only flesh but the moral anatomy of humanity itself. The OVA’s moody, surgical-gothic tone channels the same sense of tragic artistry—each operation a question of what it truly means to save a life.

From the Press Release:

A riveting “Dr. House meets the X-Files” style medical drama based on the bestselling 1970s manga series by Osamu Tezuka, the Black Jack OVAs depict the adventures of a mysterious but extraordinarily talented physician who solves the most challenging medical cases…for a price. These episodes expanded the popular Black Jack anime franchise and were directed by the legendary Osamu Dezaki, a cofounder of Studio Madhouse. The OVAs were celebrated for breathtaking animation, drama, and use of innovative directing techniques.

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AnimEigo Secures A Time Slip of 10,000 Years: Prime Rose To Release Next Year!

Osamu Tezuka’s A Time Slip of 10,000 Years: Prime Rose is finally surfacing, or rather, coming to North America!

A Time Slip of 10,000 Years: Prime RoseAnime fans have reason to celebrate: AnimEigo is bringing a legendary classic to home media. The distributor revealed its latest acquisition during its panel at Anime NYC, promising an HD Blu-ray release of the fantasy adventure A Time Slip of 10,000 Years: Prime Rose. Collectors and longtime anime enthusiasts alike will have a chance to experience one of  Osamu Tezuka’s most imaginative works in high definition.

From The Press Release:

Osamu Tezuka is widely celebrated as the “Godfather of Manga,” and is renowned for revolutionizing the Japanese manga and anime industries with his imaginative characters, pioneering storytelling techniques, and prolific output, which included more than 700 manga works and 500 anime episodes, including groundbreaking works like Astro Boy, Princess Knight, and Kimba the White Lion.

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Tees Please: Paul Reubens and Astro Boy

Paul ReubensBy James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

This is a new segment on Otaku no Culture, one where we explore the t-shirt, that talkative piece of clothing that has (through the decades) bared powerful political statements, expressed the wearer’s feelings, and has caused fits of laughter or bouts of disgust. I’ll be posting photos sourced from different media and in those posts I will try to give proper credit not only of the photographer but of the manufacturer of that certain tee.

There are times it won’t be possible and we will be asking you, the public, to help us fill in the missing information. In my travels I will also be asking people permission to snap photos of cool tees that I spot in the street. So if I come up to you to ask for a photo, please don’t be shy and know that I won’t be asking to take a snap of your face, just the shirt you’re wearing.

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