Osamu Tezuka did a great many things when it comes to the mediums of anime and manga. Beyond revolutionising TV animation in Japan and producing experimental animated shorts, he produced a great many anime and manga, so many in fact that even dedicated fans often find themselves surprised to learn of something that he’d made. This is where we come to the bible anime that Osamu Tezuka worked on during the last years of his life. Do you already know of Osamu Tezuka’s bible anime? You don’t? Let me tell you all about it then.
The genesis for this series (pun intended) began in 1984 when Osamu Tezuka was contacted by the Vatican, indirectly through the Italian TV network RAI, to adapt the bible into an animated series. As you may imagine, Osamu Tezuka was enthusiastic about the project and eventually agreed to adapt the Old Testament, making sure that it was not watered down to pander to kids. He worked on the pilot for the series, an adaptation of Noah’s Ark, for two years before passing away in 1989. Understandably, this left the future of the series in question.
At some point, the legendary anime director Osamu Dezaki stepped in to finish production of the series. When this production finished is not exactly clear but we do know that it was finished in 1992 when the series first aired in Italy on RAI and that it was named In the Beginning: The Bible Stories. Interestingly, the series itself did not air in Japan until 1997 when it aired on WOWOW. The series was released in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, the Philippines and Germany but the English release of the series was predominantly aired on Christian TV channels where it was edited to remove or tone down the violence and nudity as well as to remove artistic liberties such as a fox who serves as comic relief in the stories.
As for the stories themselves, they are mostly stories from the Old Testament, notice I said mostly, told chronologically ranging from Adam and Eve up to the time of the Babylonian captivity across 24 episodes. The last two episodes of the series, 25 and 26, cover the birth of Jesus, something that is covered in the New Testament, not the old. As mentioned before, the series features the nudity and violence that is often overlooked in adaptations of the bible although you have some seemingly child-friendly components such as that fox I mentioned before that provides comic relief and looks cute.
Let’s put aside the fact that I would love to see this series simply because Osamu Tezuka created it and instead talk about some of the other reasons that I’d like to see it one day. First, I’ve heard nothing but praise from those lucky enough to watch it. Second, I’ve heard that the animation in this series is fantastic with an article claiming that it received four to five times the budget of other anime at the time. I don’t know whether this is true or not but I’d nonetheless be eager to see how both Osamu Tezuka and Osamu Dezaki visualised these stories. Finally, a lot of bible stories are actually quite interesting, it’s just that many of them have been watered down so that they’re safe for kids, and so I’d love to see animated adaptations that aren’t afraid to show some of the darker aspects of these stories.
I don’t think the original Japanese version of In the Beginning: The Bible Stories has ever been released in English but I do hope that it does someday. Let me know what you think of Osamu Tezuka’s bible anime, if you knew about it before this article, whether you’ve seen any episodes of it whether they be the original versions or an edited international version and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!