| Phoenix | |
| Ja Kanji: | 火の鳥 |
| Ja Romaji: | Hi no Tori |
| Phoenix (Manga Shōnen) | |
| Author: | Osamu Tezuka |
| Publisher: | Gakudōsha |
| Publisher En: | Viz Media |
| Magazine: | Manga Shōnen |
| Demographic: | Shōnen |
| First: | July 1954 |
| Volumes: | 1 |
| Last: | May 1955 |
| Phoenix (Shōjo Club) | |
| Author: | Osamu Tezuka |
| Publisher: | Kodansha |
| Publisher En: | Viz Media |
| Magazine: | Shōjo Club |
| Volumes: | 1 |
| Demographic: | Shōjo |
| First: | May 1956 |
| Last: | December 1957 |
| Type: | Manga |
| Author: | Osamu Tezuka |
| Publisher En: | Viz Media |
| Demographic: | Shōnen |
| Magazine: | COM Manga Shōnen (Asahi Sonorama) Yasei Jidai |
| First: | January 1967 |
| Last: | February 1988 |
| Volumes: | 12 |
| Manga parts | |
| Content: |
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| Type: | Live film |
| Phoenix | |
| Director: | Kon Ichikawa |
| Producer: | Kunihiko Murai Kon Ichikawa |
| Music: | Michel Legrand Jun Fukamachi |
| Studio: | Toho |
| Released: | August 19, 1978 |
| Runtime: | 138 minutes |
| Type: | OVA |
| Phoenix | |
| Music: | Fumio Miyashita |
| Runtime: | 48–60 minutes |
| Episodes: | 3 |
| Type: | ONA |
| Phoenix: Dougo Onsen Chapter | |
| Director: | Fumihiro Yoshimura |
| Music: | Yuji Nomi |
| Studio: | Tezuka Productions |
| First: | May 24, 2019 |
| Last: | November 20, 2020 |
| Episodes: | 3 |
| Type: | ONA |
| Phoenix: Eden17 | |
| Director: | Shōjirō Nishimi |
| Producer: | Eiko Tanaka |
| Music: | Takatsugu Muramatsu |
| Studio: | Studio 4°C |
| Licensee: | Disney Platform Distribution |
| Released: | September 13, 2023 |
| Episodes: | 4 |
| Type: | Film |
| Phoenix: Reminiscence of Flower | |
| Director: | Shōjirō Nishimi |
| Producer: | Eiko Tanaka |
| Music: | Takatsugu Muramatsu |
| Studio: | Studio 4°C |
| Released: | November 3, 2023 |
| Runtime: | 95 minutes |
| Related anime | |
| Content: |
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is an unfinished manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka considered Phoenix his "life's work"; it consists of 12 parts, 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 and a live-action film, along with a musical production by the Takarazuka Revue. As of 2008, the entire manga series is available in English-language translations.
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".[1] 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).
After several aborted attempts at a first chapter in the 1950s published in the magazines Manga Shōnen and Shōjo Club,[2] Tezuka began Dawn in 1967, serialized in COM.[3] The serialization of Phoenix would continue throughout his career, moving to Manga Shōnen after COM's closure in the mid-70s. The final volume, Sun, was serialized in The Wild Age.
| Title | Arc | Magazine | Period | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenix (Manga Shōnen (Gakudōsha))(1954-1955) | Dawn(Manga Shōnen) | Manga Shōnen (Gakudōsha) | July 1954-May 1955 | An early version of the Dawn arc. It was put on hold after eight chapters and was left unfinished due to Manga Shōnen's discontinuation. |
| Phoenix (Shōjo Club)(1956-1957) | Egypt | Shojo Club | May 1956-October 1956 | A reworked version of Phoenix aired at young girls. |
| Greece | Shojo Club | November 1956-July 1957 | ||
| Rome | Shojo Club | August 1957-December 1957 | ||
| Phoenix (COM, Manga Shōnen (Asahi Sonorama), and Yasei Jidai) (1967-1988) | Dawn | COM | January 1967-November 1967 | The first part of Phoenix and a reworked version of the Dawn arc in Manga Shōnen (Gakudōsha). |
| Future | COM | December 1967-September 1968 | ||
| Yamato | COM | September 1968-February 1969 | ||
| Space | COM | March 1969-July 1969 | ||
| Karma | COM | August 1969-September 1970 | ||
| Resurrection | COM | October 1970-September 1971 | ||
| Robe of Feathers | COM | October 1971 | ||
| Intermission | COM | November 1971 | A short, one-shot essay manga that goes into detail on the production of Phoenix. | |
| Nostalgia (COM) | COM (COM Comics) | December 1971-January 1972 | An early version of the Nostalgia arc. Discontinued after two chapters. | |
| Civil War (COM) | COM | August 1973 | An early version of the Civil War arc, cancelled after a single chapter due to COMs discontiuation. | |
| Nostalgia | Manga Shōnen (Asahi Sonorama) | September 1976-March 1977 | ||
| Civil War | Manga Shōnen (Asahi Sonorama) | April 1978-July 1980 | ||
| Life | Manga Shōnen (Asahi Sonorama) | August 1980-December 1980 | ||
| Strange Beings | Manga Shōnen (Asahi Sonorama) | January 1981-April 1981 | ||
| Sun | Yasei Jidai | January 1986- February 1988 | The final part of Phoenix to be completed during Tezuka's lifetime. |
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,[6] 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 became available again through digital purchase on Kindle. Viz later offered the digital version of Phoenix manga in 2014.[7]
A live-action film entitled Phoenix, 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 Fénix.[10] 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.
Most 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.[11] 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 aired in 2004 in Japan, and was released in English in October 2007 by Anime Works. The anime premiered in Jamaica on CVM Television in June 2017. A short film by the same staff as the TV series, Phoenix: Robe of Feathers, was released on July 17, 2004.
Dōgo Onsen hot spring bathhouse released a three-episode net anime collaboration with Phoenix in 2019–2020.[12]
A four-episode anime ONA adaptation by Studio 4°C, titled Phoenix: Eden17, premiered worldwide on Disney+ on September 13, 2023.[13] It was directed by Shōjirō Nishimi, with character designs and animations handled by Tatsuzou Nishida, Eiko Tanaka serving as producer, and Katsunari Mano and Saku Konohana writing the series' scripts.[14] [15] A film version with a different ending, Phoenix: Reminiscence of Flower, premiered in Japanese theaters on November 3 of the same year.[15]
In 1987, Konami adapted the Karma arc to the MSX2 computer[16] and the Famicom game console.[17] Despite being based on the same material, they are completely different games (a vertical shoot 'em up and a horizontal platformer, respectively) produced by separate teams.
The Phoenix also made a cameo appearance in the 2003 Astro Boy series and 2004 game for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, along with a number of other Tezuka characters.
Phoenix is considered one of the greatest manga of all time,[18] [19] [20] and is often ranked as one of Tezuka's greatest manga.[21] In 2006, Phoenix ranked 1st in the Japan Media Arts Festival's special 'professionals' ranking (consisting of critics, editors, people working in the industry, etc.) for the greatest manga of all time, which it held to mark its 10th anniversary.[22] In a 2009 poll held by Asahi Shimbun for 'Greatest Shōwa Manga', Phoenix ranked 12th, the 3rd highest Tezuka manga behind Astro Boy and Black Jack.[23]
Mangaka Naoki Urasawa has spoken about how the first time he read Phoenix he was shocked that a work of this quality existed, and that since reading it, he has never been as significantly impacted by anything since, so much so that he would mark it as the moment he became an adult.[24] Comic magazine editor Martin Skidmore called it a 'real contender for comics’ greatest work of any kind'.[25] The Japan Times has referred to it as 'Japanese pop culture at its zenith', stating that it draws critical comparisons to 'everything from Shakespearean tragedy to early Walt Disney'.[26] In an interview, mangaka Hitoshi Iwaaki named it among his favorite manga.[27] [28] In her book The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga
The titular Phoenix is considered an icon of manga, and a sculpture of the character is featured as a prominent permanent exhibition in the Kyoto International Manga Museum.[31] A statute of the Phoenix is also featured outside the Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum.[32]
The Resurrection arc of Phoenix inspired the lyrical theme of the 2018 song "M.D.O." by heavy metal band Lovebites.[33] 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 Naotarō Moriyama.[34]
