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Tezuka's 700 Manga, 100 Anime to Be Posted for Free
posted on by Egan Loo
Tezuka Productions, the studio created by legendary manga and anime pioneer Osamu Tezuka, will be posting 700 manga titles and 100 anime titles from its late founder on the Internet for free starting this week. For the next three years, all works produced before 2000 will be available for viewing. That includes Mighty Atom (Tetsuwan Atom or Astro Boy), Jungle Emperor (Jungle Taitei or Kimba the White Lion), Princess Knight (Ribbon no Kishi), Black Jack, Phoenix, and many more stories. Tezuka Productions is also planning to set up paid video distribution sites, DVD retail sites, and sister sites in English and Korean. The manga browsing requires a software plugin for Microsoft Windows.
The effort marks the 80th anniversary of Osamu Tezuka's birth on Monday. Tezuka Productions has been digitizing and colorizing all of Tezuka's manga since September 2007. Tezuka's former elementary school also celebrated his anniversary by unveiling a statue of Astro Boy on its doorsteps. Vertical posted an entire chapter from Black Jack in English to celebrate Halloween. IMAGI's computer-animated film adaptation of the Astro Boy manga is slated to open in North America on October 23, 2009.
Source: Nikkei Net IT+Plus
Images © Tezuka Productions
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