Shogakukan Creative will publish for the first time Tezuka Osamu Sōsaku Note to Shoki Sakuhin-Shū , a collection of conceptual notes and early works from the manga pioneer Osamu Tezuka, on December 24 in Japan. Tezuka is best known for creating Mighty Atom (Astro Boy), Jungle Emperor (Kimba the White Lion), Hi no Tori (Phoenix), Metropolis, and dozens of other influential manga classics.

75 handwritten notebooks were discovered at Tezuka's Tokyo home in 1993 and 1994, four to five years after his passing. Within these pages, Tezuka had created the early story concepts, dialogue drafts, and preliminary sketches for Mighty Atom, Jungle Emperor, Metropolis, Kurubeki Sekai (Nextworld), and other stories from around 1948 to 1959. Familiar faces such as Jungle Emperor's Leo (Kimba) and Hige-oyaji ("Mr. Mustache," also known as Shunsaku Ban) appear throughout the pages. According to Doshisha University manga history professor Osamu Takeuchi, these post-war notebooks are "valuable documents for understanding how Tezuka adopted techniques from both cinema and literature."

Although selected excerpts from the notebooks have been put on display, the majority of the pages have never been made public before. 10 of the 75 notebooks will be published in Shogakukan Creative's December 24 publication.

Source: Asahi Shimbun, 47News

Image © Tezuka Productions