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DR. Osamu Tezuka Sensei (the god of manga) would only have become 86 years old today if he was still alive ...
I will always reget that i never got a opportunity to meet him R.I.P
Just made this picture

This is the text in the picture since it's hard to make out :
So you like Anime and Manga i created it !!!
I got my first manga published when i was 17 in 1946.
Got a doctorate when i was 21 and started Otaku Culture in 1963

Could you imagine how much more he would have created if he hadn't passed away so prematurely? Given his already phenomenal output, it boggles the mind.

Thanks for the post, Tetsuwan Atom!

Tezuka is so often compared with Walt Disney. Both of them died young, (Tezuak at age 61, Disney at age 65), both from cancer (they both smoked). The both admired each other's works. Both of them wre involved in animation, and formed their own studio's to produce the product. Both of them created many different characters (Tezuka more than Disney).

Disney's icon was Mikey Mouse, and I'm sure he was proud of him. If Tezuka was the Japanese 'Disney', then Atom was the Japanese Mickey Mouse. It was noted (even by Tezuka) that Atom's pointy cowlicks were set at the same angle as Mickey's ears. Almost every photograph of Tezuka working at his desk has several figures of Atom standing somewhere in view. (I suspect Disney had Mikey figures on HIS desk).

If Walt had been alive during the production of the Lion King, I'm sure he would have given credit to Tezuka for Kimba as the inspiration. The two of them did meet at the NY World's fair in the 60's, if only they could have come together for some sort of collaboration, I'm sure the two studios would have come up with something wonderful.

Finally, Stanley Kubrick had wanted Tezuka to work with him on the filming of 2001, but Tezuka was not able to devote the time to the project. He did later keep a record of the film's soundtrack playing while he worked. I sometimes wonder how the film might have looked with Tezuka's input.