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Osamu Tezuka's New Year Cards Were NSFW

If you've been reading Anime News Network for at least a year, you'll have noticed we have a yearly tradition of gathering up the anime industry's New Year cards and sharing them with you. New Year cards are an important tradition to the people in Japan and famous mangaka Osamu Tezuka is no exception. The Astro Boy creator often drew at least three different postcard variations to give to friends, colleagues, and family to herald the new year. While that isn't surprising, some of the postcards' artistic content is particularly risque, even if the subjects are mice.

Drawing erotic mice seems like a casual past time for Tezuka. His daughter found drawings of his in a locked drawer that depicted both a sensually posed mouse and snake. The images might seem shocking to fans only familiar with his G-rated work, but Tezuka hasn't ever shied away from controversial and mature content.