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Tezuka's Buddha, Princess Knight Planned as Anime Films
posted on by Egan Loo
The Tezuka Productions studio aims to release anime films of its celebrated founder Osamu Tezuka's Buddha and Princess Knight manga in 2010 or later. In Buddha, Tezuka recounted the life of the young prince Siddhartha, the founder of Buddhism, over the course of eight volumes between 1972 and 1983. Vertical released all eight volumes in North America in hardcover and paperback, and the story won Harvey Awards in 2004 and 2005.
The original Princess Knight manga centered on Sapphire, a princess who has been disguised as a boy since birth to protect the throne. She goes on various adventures to fight evildoers under yet another different guise, the "Ribbon Knight." She falls in love with Prince Franz, who unfortunately see her as three different people: as "Prince" Sapphire, and as the "Ribbon Knight," as "Prince" Sapphire's mysterious "sister."
North America's Viz Media published an installment of Tezuka's original 1953-56 Princess Knight manga to mark Shojo Beat magazine's second anniversary in 2007. In Japan, Tezuka created a 1958 Twin Knight sequel that follows the story's next generation. Nakayoshi then published Tezuka's second run of the Princess Knight manga from 1963 to 1966. Kodansha later published six Japanese/English volumes of this second run. Mushi Productions' 1967-1968 television animated version of Princess Knight was adapted into English as Choppy and the Princess, and it has been released sporadically over the past four decades throughout the world. A 1994 theatrical movie was also created in Japan.
A live-action film of Tezuka's MW suspense manga will debut in Japan in July, as well as a new television anime version of Jungle Emperor (Kimba the White Lion) this summer. This October, the IMAGI animation studio is releasing a computer-animated film of Tezuka's Mighty Atom (Astro Boy).
Source: animeanime.jp
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