A feature-length documentary about Osamu Tezuka is trying to fund itself through Kickstarter. Tezuka: God of Manga opened its campaign on Wednesday, and it has until November 13 to hit a US$49,999 goal. As of this writing, it has raised about US$10,726.
The film is set to be finished in 2028, which will mark 100 years since Tezuka’s birth. Backer rewards and the Blu-ray and DVD editions are planned for July 2028.
What the campaign offers
Rewards include an Astro Boy T-shirt, a Blu-ray Disc or DVD of the finished film, a Black Jack giclée print by manga artist Yūko Shimizu, a set of lithograph prints, a Tezuka color manga cover, and a Supporting Producer credit. The physical editions are tied to the 2028 window, so backers should not expect anything in hand this year.
Jason Andrew Cohn is directing. The Bread & Butter Films production team includes Camille Servan-Schreiber, Jinko Gotoh, Glen S. Fukushima, and Roland Kelts.
Who is interviewed
The interview list is the real draw. The film has lined up Katsuhiro Ōtomo (Akira), Riyoko Ikeda (The Rose of Versailles), Naoki Urasawa (Monster, Pluto), Gō Nagai (Devilman), Yoshiyuki Tomino (Gundam), and MADHOUSE co-founder Masao Maruyama (Tokyo Godfathers). Rintarō, who directed Metropolis, is also on board.
Outside the manga and anime industries, the documentary includes fantasy author Ada Palmer (Too Like the Lightning), Samuel Sattin (Unico Awakening), and Jorge R. Gutiérrez (The Book of Life). Manga scholars Fred Schodt (Manga! Manga!) and Helen McCarthy (The Manga Bible) are part of it as well.
Two more names depend on the funding. If the campaign succeeds, the producers plan to schedule interviews with Paul Pope (THB) and Ronald Wimberly (Prince of Cats).
Why Tezuka still gets films like this
Tezuka was born in 1928 and died in 1989. He is best known for Astro Boy, and the phrase people reach for is the “Godfather of Anime and Manga,” a title earned through sheer output and the techniques he helped establish.
Helen McCarthy, who wrote The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga, put his scale in perspective by calling him “more like Walt Disney, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Tim Burton, Arthur C. Clarke, and Carl Sagan all rolled into one incredibly prolific creator.” Tezukainenglish.com notes that in a 40-year career he created more than 700 volumes of manga, an estimated 150,000 pages of drawings, and another 200,000 pages of storyboards and scripts for close to 500 animated episodes.
That is why a documentary can fill a two-hour runtime with people who worked under his influence and still leave names off the list. The Kickstarter is really a test of whether that reach translates into crowdfunding support, and the early number suggests the campaign has work to do before November 13.
For another recent Tezuka project, see our post on Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix Future Arc getting a stage play in February 2027.
Source: Kickstarter campaign for Tezuka: God of Manga, via Anime News Network.
Featured image: Tezuka: God of Manga documentary trailer still, via Bread & Butter Films / Anime News Network.
