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Phoenix (manga)

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Wikipedia article




is an unfinished manga series by Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka considered 'Phoenix' his "life's work"; it consists of 12 books, each of which tells a separate, self-contained story and takes place in a different era. The plots go back and forth from the remote future to prehistoric times. The story was never completed, having been cut short by Tezuka's death in 1989. Several of the stories have been adapted into anime series and OVAs, and a live-action movie. As of 2007, the entire manga series is available in English-language translations.

Overview



'Phoenix' is about reincarnation. Each story generally involves a search for immortality, embodied by the blood of the eponymous bird of fire, which, as drawn by Tezuka, resembles the 'Fenghuang'. The blood is believed to grant eternal life, but immortality in 'Phoenix' is either unobtainable or a terrible curse, whereas Buddhist-style reincarnation is presented as the natural path of life.

The stories spring back and forth through time; the first, 'Dawn,' takes place in ancient times, and the second, 'Future,' takes place in the far future. Subsequent stories alternate between the past and future, allowing Tezuka to explore his themes in both historical and science fiction settings. Throughout the stories there are various recurring characters, some from Tezuka's famous star system. A character named Saruta appears repeatedly, for example, in the form of various ancestors and descendants, all of whom endure harsh trials in their respective eras.

Tezuka began work on a preliminary version of 'Phoenix' in 1954, and the series continued in various forms until his death in 1989. As it progresses, the stories seemed to be converging on the present day. Due to Tezuka dying before the manga's completion, it is not known how this would have played out. Scholar and translator Frederik L. Schodt, who knew Tezuka in life, wrote that he fantasized about a secret ending, "waiting in a safe somewhere to be revealed posthumously." This was not the case, and Tezuka's final intentions with 'Phoenix' remain unknown; its episodic nature leaves each volume highly accessible nonetheless.

Many of the 'Phoenix' stories feature an intensely experimental layout and visual design. For example, 'Universe' tells the story of four spacefarers who are forced to leave their spaceship in separate escape pods. The panels of the story are organized such that each character has his own vertical or horizontal tier on the page, emphasizing the astronauts' isolation; the tiers combine and separate as characters join and split up. In an astonishing sequence after one character's death, he is represented for a number of pages by a series of empty black panels.

Tezuka was said to have been influenced to create the series after listening to the music of Igor Stravinsky. He also told that he created the image of Phoenix as he was impressed by the Firebird in director Ivan Ivanov-Vano's animation film 'Konyok Gorbunok' (Soyuzmultfilm studio).

Arcs



After several aborted attempts at a first chapter in the 1950s, Tezuka began 'Dawn' in 1967, serialized in 'COM'. The serialization of 'Phoenix' would continue throughout his career, moving to 'Manga Shnen' after 'COM''s closure in the mid-70s. The final volume, 'Sun', was serialized in 'The Wild Age'.

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:The first volume, originally serialized in 1967. This story took place in 24070 AD, in the era of Queen Himiko of the Yamataikoku. Using her army, led by feudal general Sarutahiko, to invade Japan, she seeks the Phoenix and eternal youth.

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:The second volume, originally serialized in 196768. In 'Phoenix's chronology, this is the final story; it took place near the end of mankind. In 3404, the world has become super-modernized, but humanity has reached its peak and shows decline. A young man named Masato Yamanobe is living with his girlfriend, Tamami, a shapeshifting alien. Pursued by Masato's boss, Rock, they eventually take shelter at the isolated base of mad scientist Dr. Saruta, who attempts to preserve life on Earth with the assistance of his robot, Robita. Eventually, nuclear war breaks out.

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:The third volume, originally serialized in 196869. This story took place in 32050 (Kofun period), and is based on the 'Yamato-takeru-no-mikoto' legend. The decadent king of Yamato is trying to have his own version of Japan's history written. Meanwhile, a "barbarian" tribe, the Kumaso, is writing an unbiased history. The king of Yamato sends his youngest son, Oguna, to murder the barbarian chief, Takeru. On his journey, Oguna encounters the Phoenix.

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:The fourth volume, originally serialized in 1969; also known as 'Space'. The story took place in 2577 AD, where four astronauts must escape their ruined spaceship in escape pods. The survivors eventually crash into a mysterious planet. Among them is Saruta, who contends with Makimura for the heart of their female companion, Nana. On this strange planet, they eventually meet the Phoenix.

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:The fifth volume, originally serialized in 19691970. The story occurred in 720752 AD (the period in which the Daibutsu of Tdai-ji was built), during the Nara period. One-eyed and one-armed young man Gao, an ancestor of Saruta, turns into a murderous bandit when he is rejected by his village. He attacks a sculptor, Akanemaru, and the two men's paths diverge, but their fates remain linked. Akanemaru becomes obsessed with the Phoenix to the point that he loses sight of his original dreams, while Gao eventually finds a state of grace despite his continuing hardships. 'H-' is widely considered the masterpiece of the 'Phoenix' series. MSX and Famicom video games, both developed by Konami, were based on this volume. The Viz (English) edition is entitled "'Karma'".

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:The sixth volume, originally serialized in 19701971. The story took place in 24823344 AD. In an age of robotics, technology and science, young Leon dies in a car accident. He is returned to life by scientific surgery, but his now mostly-artificial brain makes him see living things  including humans  as distorted clay figures, while he sees machines and robots as beauties. Leon falls in love with a worker robot, Chihiro, whom he sees as a beautiful girl, and would fight for this forbidden love. He would also find out the secret behind his accident. A side plot features the robot Robita, who previously appeared in 'Future'.

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:Serialized in 'COM', 1971. Published in English by Viz as an appendix to the second volume of 'Civil War' ('Turbulent Times'). Based on the story of the Hagoromo.

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:Published in 'COM', 1971; continued in 'Manga Shnen', 19761978. A science fiction epic about the rise and fall of civilization on the deceptively named desert planet of Eden; and one boy's universe-spanning search for the planet of his ancestors: Earth. Features numerous cameos from other Science fiction-based Phoenix stories, including the shapeshifting alien "Moopies" first seen in 'Future', Makimura from 'Universe' and an early model of the Chihiro robot from 'Resurrection'. Black Jack also made an appearance here, under a different name.

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:Published in 'Manga Shnen', 19781980. The story is about a woodcutter named Benta and his childhood sweetheart, Obu, who are separated and caught up in the events of the Genpei War. Various historical figures, such as Taira no Kiyomori, appear as major and minor characters. Although the character of Gao (from 'Ho-') appears as a 400-year-old hermit and thus links 'Ranse-hen' to the rest of the series, this particular arc stands out for its much more naturalistic approach, with next to no fantasy elements in it (except for those used for comedic effect, such as telephones in the 12th century). The Viz (English) edition is entitled 'Civil War' and is split into two volumes, with 'Robe of Feathers' included as an appendix to the second volume.

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:Published in 'Manga Shnen', 1980. A TV producer who attempts to procure human clones to use in a 'The Most Dangerous Game'-style reality TV program learns the error of his ways when he is mistaken for a clone himself. This episode is notable for only featuring the Phoenix in flashbacks and also for introducing her half-human daughter who does not appear again after this episode.

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:Published in 'Manga Shnen', 1981. The story of a female Buddhist nun (bhikkhuni) who is imprisoned in a time-warp by the Phoenix as punishment for her sins along with her faithful retainer and is forced to become a healer treating the victims of wars from all over time and space including humans, youkai and various extraterrestrials. This chapter was loosely based on the Hyakki Yak emakimono by the famous Japanese artist Tosa Mitsunobu (although in the context of the story it's the complete opposite).

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:Published in 'The Wild Age', 198688. This is the longest story, and was the final volume completed before Tezuka's death. It centers on Harima, a young Korean soldier from the Baekje Kingdom whose head is replaced with that of a wolf by Tang Dynasty soldiers following the defeat of the joint Baekje-Yamato force at the Battle of Baekgang. He then escapes to Japan where he becomes the feudal lord Inugami and becomes caught in the middle of the Jinshin War, as well as joining a greater battle between supernatural forces and time-travelling to a bleak future world ruled by a theocracy that claimed to have captured the Phoenix. This chapter stands in stark contrast to the earlier historical Phoenix stories, which tended to de-mythologize the mythical characters therein, for instance in 'Dawn', many Shinto gods are portrayed as mere humans. In this chapter, however, a wide variety of mythical creatures are shown fighting against Bodhisattva.

;Early Works

:Covers the prototype version of the series from the 1950s.

Characters

*Hi no Tori: Keiko Takeshita/Suzanne Gilad

*Saruta: Tetsuo Komura/Danny Burstein

*Narrator: Akira Kume/Robert O'Gorman

;Dawn

*Nagi: Takeuchi Junko/Michelle Newman

*Saruta Hiko: Tetsuo Komura

*Himiko: Ryko Kinomiya/Fiona Jones

*Hinako: Sakiko Tamagawa/Carrie Keranen

*Susanoo: Eizo Tsuda/James Urbaniak

*Guzuri: Michio Nakao/Jay Snyder

*Yumihiko: Masaki Terasoma/Addie Blaustein

*Chieftain: Akio tsuka/Richard Epcar

*Shaman: Hikaru Miyata

*Soldier: Yousuke Akimoto

*Uzume: Yumi Nakatani/Erica Schroeder

*Vladimir: Ysaku Yara

*Ojiji: Eisuke Yoda/Richard Springle

*Soldier: Dai Matsumoto

*Takeru: Daisuke Namikawa

*Yazuchi: Hirofumi Nojima

*Obaba: Natsuko Sebata

*Kamamushi: Shz Iizuka/David Brimmer

*Chamberlain: Mahito Tsujimura

*Uraji: Marc Diraison

;Resurrection

*Leona: Sasaki Nozomu/Christopher Kromer

*Lamp: Masashi Hirose/Mike Pollock

*Chihiro: Misa Kobayashi/Eden Riegel

*Nielsen: Shinji Ogawa/Ted Lewis

*Reiko: Fumiko Osaka/Kathleen McInerney

*Leona's Father: Mantar Iwao/Marc Thompson

*Young Leona: Reiko Takagi/Christopher Kromer

;Strange creatures

*Iemasa: Tetsuo Komura

*Yaobikuni: Tamie Kubota

*Kataira: Bin Shimada

*Sakonnosuke: Mayumi Asano/Kathleen McInerney

*Kahei: Mike Pollock

;Sun

*Inugami Harima: Yasunori Matsumoto/Gary Littman

*Marimo: Ai Uchikawa/Michelle Ruff

*Karakuni: Richard Epcar as (Sun Chapter)

*Emperor Tenji: Masaru Ikeda/Steven Jay Blum

*Lord ama: Naoya Uchida/Crispin Freeman

*Obaba: Seiko Tomoe/Barbara Goodson

*Ibukimaru: Daisuke Gouri/Michael McConnohie

*Queen Consort: Atsuko Koganezawa

*tomo no ji: Hiroshi Kamiya/Liam O'Brien

*Ritan: Hiroshi Iwasaki

*Takechi no ji: Kenji Nojima/Sebastian Arcelus

*Shogun: Koichi Sakaguchi

*Soldier: Kouji Haramaki

*Kimayumi: Kousei Hirota

*Getsudan: Hisao Egawa

*Kunishi: Yutaka Nakano

*Rubetsu: Takayuki Sugo/Jay Snyder

*Hanguk: Takeshi Watabe

*Hoben: Tamio Ohki/Richard Toth

*Himayumi: Naomi Kusumi

*Soga no Hatayasu: Yuzuru Fujimoto/John Avner

*Soga no Yasumaro: Eiji Yanagisawa

;Future

*Masato Yamanobe: Daisuke Namikawa/Michael Sinterniklaas

*Robita: Shigeru Ushiyama

*Rock: Takuya Kirimoto/Eric Stuart

*Old Masato: Saka Osamu/Michael McConnohie

*Tamami: Yumi Touma/Stephanie Sheh

*Girl: Akiko Nakagawa

*Adam: Takahiro Mizushima

Publication



English edition



Phoenix is currently published in English by Viz Communications. Although the second volume was initially published by the now defunct Pulp manga anthology in a larger edition, in 2002, Viz took over the rest of the manga series, and re-released the second volume. Frederik Schodt, Jared Cook, Shinji Sakamoto, and Midori Ueda, members of a Tokyo group called "Dadakai," had already translated the first five volumes of the series around 1977/78, but after handing these translation to Tezuka Productions, they collected dust for nearly twenty-five years. Finally, Schodt and Cook finished translating the rest of the series and Viz published the entire series in English, starting in 2002 and completing it in March 2008. It has been criticized for being a dumbing-down, including overlapping artwork with unnecessary new narration, and altering character names (such as Sarutahiko to Saruta) to make their reincarnations more obvious to the reader. However, Tezuka was known to update his manga every few years; so the U.S. version could reflect the last known edition of the series.

The Viz editions are released "flipped" (the original right-to-left orientation is reversed for easier reading in English). Some of the shorter stories have been consolidated into one book (based on the Japanese publication), and 'Troubled Times' has been split across two; this resulted in each Viz book having a similar page count. While many of the actual Viz books are out of print, they recently became available again through digital purchase on Kindle. Viz later offered the digital version of Phoenix manga on 2014.

Volumes in English





;Vol. 1 Dawn

:Released March 2003.

;Vol. 2 A Tale of the Future / Future

:This volume was released first, in May 2002, as a stand-alone graphic novel; 'Dawn' was released a year later, as 'Vol. 1', followed by the rest of the series. 'A Tale of the Future' was initially released in a larger size; the series releases, starting with 'Dawn', are digest-sized. 'A Tale of the Future' was reprinted in the smaller size in 2004, titled 'Future', with 'Vol. 2' appended to the title.

;Vol. 3 Yamato / Space

:Collects 'Yamato' and 'Space' in one book; released November 2003.

;Vol. 4 Karma

:Originally titled 'Ho-'; released May 2004. Listed at #2 in Time Magazine's "Best Comix of 2004".

;Vol. 5 Resurrection

:Released December 14, 2004.

;Vol. 6 Nostalgia

:Released March 26, 2006.

;Vol. 7 Civil War, Part 1

:Originally titled 'Troubled Times', and here split into two books; the first was released June 13, 2006.

;Vol. 8 Civil War, Part 2 / Robe of Feathers

:Collects the ending of 'Troubled Times', and includes 'Robe of Feathers'; released September 12, 2006.

;Vol. 9 Strange Beings / Life

:Collects 'Strange Beings' and 'Life' in one book; released December 19, 2006.

;Vol. 10 Sun, Part 1

:Released March 20, 2007.

;Vol. 11 Sun, Part 2

:Released September 18, 2007.

;Vol. 12 Early Works

:Released March 18, 2008.

Adaptations



Live-action film

A live-action film entitled 'Hi no Tori', based on the 'Dawn' storyline, directed by Kon Ichikawa and including some animated sequences directed by Tezuka, was released in 1978. The cast included Tomisaburo Wakayama and Tatsuya Nakadai. It was released in the United States on VHS by Video Action under the cover title 'The Phoenix (Hinotori)' in 1982, using a subtitled print, letterboxed only in the split-screen sequence. To date, the film is available on DVD only in Spain, where it is titled 'Fnix'."The Toho Legacy, Part 3." 'The Japanese Fantasy Film Journal' #15 The film included a brief appearance by Astro Boy, substituting for another character to illustrate his attempts to get on a horse. The score was co-composed by Michel Legrand and Jun Fukamachi.

Anime

Several volumes of 'Phoenix' were adapted into anime. The best-known feature film, 'Phoenix 2772', loosely adapts elements from various 'Phoenix' volumes and other Tezuka works into a complete whole cloth scenario. A second animated feature, 'Phoenix: Karma Chapter' was released on December 20, 1986, and was later succeeded by two sequel OVAs, 'Yamato Chapter' and 'Space Chapter', in 1987.

A 13-episode anime television series also aired in 2004 in Japan, and was released in English in October 2007 by Anime Works. As of 21 June 2017, the anime has premiered in Jamaica on CVM Television.

Episode list



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Video games

A MSX adaptation of 'Karma' was created by Konami.http://www.funet.fi/pub/msx/photos/gamecovers/Hinotori_-Konami-.jpg The Phoenix also made a cameo appearance in the 2003 Astro Boy series and 2004 'Astro Boy: Omega Factor' game for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, along with a number of other Tezuka characters.

*'Hi no Tori Hououhen' (1987, MSX2)

*'Hi no Tori Hououhen: Gaou no Bouken' (1987, Famicom)

*'Black Jack Hinotorihen' (2006, Nintendo DS)

*'DS de Yomu Series: Tezuka Osamu Hi no Tori 1' (2008, Nintendo DS)

*'DS de Yomu Series: Tezuka Osamu Hi no Tori 2' (2008, Nintendo DS)

*'DS de Yomu Series: Tezuka Osamu Hi no Tori 3' (2008, Nintendo DS)

Reception and legacy



The Resurrection arc of 'Phoenix' inspired the lyrical theme of the 2018 song "M.D.O." by heavy metal band Lovebites.

In celebration of what would have been Tezuka's 90th birthday, Evil Line Records released the compilation album 'New Gene, Inspired from Phoenix' on October 30, 2019. It features songs inspired by 'Phoenix' written and performed by various artists, including Glim Spanky, Kizuna AI, Tavito Nanao and Naotar Moriyama.

See also



*List of Osamu Tezuka anime

*List of Osamu Tezuka manga

*Osamu Tezuka

*Osamu Tezuka's Star System

References




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