Featuring interviews with Katsuhiro Otomo, Riyoko Ikeda, Naoki Urasawa, Go Nagai, Toshiyuki Tomino, Masao Maruyama, Rintaro, Ada Palmer, Fred Schodt, and more!
(May 5, 2026) It’s hard to overstate Osamu Tezuka’s influence on manga and anime in Japan and comic book and animation storytelling around the world. Before there was Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Chainsaw Man, and Jujutsu Kaisen, there was Tezuka’s Astro Boy: the iconic, atomic-powered robot boy. Known in Japan as Tetsuwan Atom, this loveable hero sprang fully formed from the imagination of Tezuka-sensei, AKA the “God of Manga.” In 1963, Tezuka broke new ground by introducing Astro Boy — the bestselling manga of its time — as Japan’s first weekly animated TV program. Now, Peabody Award-winning director Jason Andrew Cohn and the Bread & Butter Films production team (Camille Servan-Schreiber, Jinko Gotoh, Glen S. Fukushima, and Roland Kelts) —will spotlight Tezuka’s life and legacy with TEZUKA! God of Manga, an all-new, feature-length documentary being funded on Kickstarter.
Though he’s sometimes compared to Walt Disney, Tezuka was arguably a much greater cultural force. His incredible storylines — including Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, and hundreds of others — ignited a post-war explosion of creativity that positioned Japan as a global leader in comics and animation to this day and influenced generations of creators around the world.
TEZUKA! God of Manga features interviews with legendary manga and anime creators including Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira), Riyoko Ikeda (Rose of Versaille), Naoki Urasawa (Monster), Go Nagai (Devilman), Toshiyuki Tomino (Gundam), MADHOUSE co-founder and anime producer Masao Maruyama (Tokyo Godfathers), anime director Rintaro (Metropolis), best-selling fantasy author Ada Palmer (Too Like the Lightning), Samuel Sattin (Unico Awakening), Jorge R. Gutierrez (The Book of Life), Helen McCarthy (The Art of Osamu Tezuka), Natsu Onoda Power (God of Comics: Osamu Tezuka and the creation of post-World War II Manga), and the dean of English language manga scholarship, Fred Schodt (Manga! Manga!). Once funded, the producers will schedule additional interviews with artists including Paul Pope (THB) and Ron Wimberly (Prince of Cats).
“TEZUKA! God of Manga celebrates Tezuka-sensei as a preposterously prolific, enigmatic creator who forever altered popular culture by introducing young readers to a brand-new, DIY medium that rocketed around the world,” said Jason Andrew Cohn. “The creative cross-fertilization between artists in Japan and the rest of the world made Tezuka one of the most beloved and influential artists of the 20th century. TEZUKA! God of Manga is a moving, immersive, and visually stunning romp through comics history. This film will celebrate his legacy and introduce his incredible creations to a new generation.”
Tezuka’s remarkable story will unfold in three acts, beginning with his childhood in the suburbs of Osaka in the shadow of the Pacific War. Launching from Tezuka’s dream to create manga and found his own independent animation studio, the film chronicles his ascendence to becoming a national sensation and the subsequent counter-cultural backlash in the 1960s, when young manga readers gravitated away from Tezuka and toward edgier artists in the gekiga movement. The third act explores Tezuka’s remarkable comeback with enduring storylines like Black Jack, which piled on to a creative legacy that extends beyond his estimated 150,000 pages of published manga and dozens of television cartoons and animated films.
The Kickstarter campaign for TEZUKA! God of Manga will feature rare rewards and merchandise from Tezuka Productions; limited-edition, Kickstarter-exclusive collectible prints celebrating Tezuka and his work created by today’s hottest manga and comic artists; and a collectible Blu-ray version of the documentary. If TEZUKA! God of Manga is successfully funded on Kickstarter, filming can continue, and is scheduled to be finished by 2028, the centenary of Osamu Tezuka’s birth.
To support the campaign, visit the campaign on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tezuka/tezuka-god-of-manga?ref=6abznb.
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