It’s a Brand New World!

Osamu Tezuka is called the manga no kamisama, or “God of Manga,” for good reason. He was a master artist and story-teller who made “comic books” a far more dynamic medium of expression. The global popularity of manga and anime today rests in large part on the foundation he created.

I’ve always hoped more people could enjoy Tezuka’s manga, but until recently there have been many obstacles. Tezuka’s works have been hard to read without an understanding of Japanese and hard to obtain outside of Japan. While many are now being translated and published in other countries, true fans in and out of Japan have also always faced the problem of space. Tezuka specialized in long stories, and his entire collection spans over 400 paperback volumes.

With this wonderful new service we can now enjoy reading classics by the master manga artist on our mobile devices. We can read them any time of day, all over the world, any place—on the plane, at the bus stop, even under the covers at night—without needing big bookshelves or wheelbarrows to cart them around. On my own iPhone, I found myself quickly immersed in old favorites in no time at all, enjoying them all in a brand new way.

* Frederik L. Schodt, author of The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution.