In the Beginning: The Bible Stories explained

In the Beginning: The Bible Stories
Ja Kanji:	手塚治虫の旧約聖書物語
Ja Romaji:	Tezuka Osamu no Kyūyaku Seisho Monogatari

Type:	TV series
Director:	Osamu Dezaki
Music:	Katsuhisa Hattori Reimy
Language:	Japanese Italian English
Country:	Japan Italy
Studio:	Tezuka Productions
Network:	WOWOW
Network En:	Eternal Word Television Network Australian Christian Channel Shine TV
First:	April 1, 1997
Last:	May 9, 1997
Episodes:	26

is a Japanese-Italian anime television series based on The Bible's Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) created by Osamu Tezuka. The series was a coproduction between Japan's Nippon TV, Tezuka's Tezuka Productions, and Italy's government-owned broadcaster, Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI). Although the series was in production during a period of several years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was not aired in Japan until 1997, on the satellite channel WOWOW, while it premiered in Italy in 1992 on Rai 1.^[1] The series has also been aired on TV in the United States (on the Catholic-oriented Eternal Word Television Network), Spain, Germany, and Australia (on Australian Christian Channel).

In the Beginning marked the fourth time Bible stories formed the basis of a Japanese-animated television series, following the two Superbook series and The Flying House, which were made for Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network by Tatsunoko Production in the early 1980s.

In the Beginning features episodes devoted to most of the major Bible stories of the Old Testament, including the stories of the Creation, Cain and Abel, Noah's Ark, Abraham and Isaac, Joseph, Moses, David, and Solomon, with the final episode featuring the birth of Jesus Christ. As with the second Superbook series, some stories were stretched out over several episodes. Unlike Superbook and The Flying House, however, no contemporary characters from modern times were inserted into the stories, save for the series mascot and viewpoint character, Roco the fox (whose appearances were removed in the United States edit of the English dub).

Tezuka's manga work frequently included religious themes, and because of his long-running manga Buddha, he is sometimes perceived as having been a devout Buddhist, but in fact, Tezuka was largely agnostic.^[2]

The theme music (for the American version), an ending theme called "Rainbow Blue", is performed by Reimy.

Background

In the Beginning grew out of a request that Osamu Tezuka received from the Vatican by way of RAI in 1984, requesting that Tezuka produce an animated version of the Old Testament. Tezuka spent two years working on a pilot film for the project based on the story of Noah's Ark, both writing the scenario for the film and working in the production of the animation itself, but Tezuka died in 1989 before the film was finished. The remainder of the production for the pilot film and the subsequent 26-episode television series was supervised by director Osamu Dezaki.

Episodes

number	english title	japanese title	italian title
1	The Creation	天地創造	I signori della Terra
2	Cain and Abel	カインとアベル	I figli di Adamo
3	The Story of Noah	ノアの箱舟	L' avventura di Noè
4	The Tower of Babel	バベルの塔	Una torre fino al cielo
5	Abraham, the Forefather	父アブラハム	Abramo il patriarca
6	Sodom and Gomorrah	ソドムとゴモラ	Sodoma e Gomorra
7	Isaac and Ishmael	イサクとイシュマエル	Ismaele
8	Isacc's destiny	アブラハム、イサクを捧げる	Il destino di Isacco
9	Jacob's children	ヨセフの夢占い	Venduto dai fratelli
10	Joseph's triumph	ヤコブ一族の再会	Il trionfo di Giuseppe
11	Moses, The Egyptian	Japanese: モーセの誕生	Mosè l'egiziano
12	The Fire in the Desert	砂漠の火	Il fuoco nel deserto
13	Moses and the Pharaoh	モーセとファラ	Mosè e il faraone
14	The Exodus	エジプト脱出	L'Esodo
15	Laws carved in stone	十戒	La legge scolpita sulla pietra
16	Israel's Treachery	イスラエルの裏切り	Il vitello d'oro
17	New Alliance	約束の地	La Terra Promessa
18	Jericho	Staff Director: Osamu Dezaki Screenplay: Osamu Tezuka/Tezuka Production Co., Ltd. Character designs: Osamu Tezuka, Shinji Seya Animation direction: Masaki Yoshimura, Akio Sugino, Junji Kobayashi, Hideaki Shimada Music: Katsuhisa Hattori Production: Tezuka Production Co., Ltd. / Nippon Television Network / Radiotelevisione Italiana Voice cast Mayumi Tanaka – Roco Kinryū Arimoto – Adam Yorie Terauchi – Eve Katsuhiro Kitagawa – Cain Mitsuru Miyamoto – Abel Yuzuru Fujimoto – Noah Sho Saito – Noah's wife Seizō Katō – Abraham Junko Midori – Sarah Ryuji Nakagi – Lot Katsumi Toriumi – Ishmael Tetsuya Iwanaga – Isaac Yonehiko Kitagawa – Jacob Hiroshi Yanaka – Joseph Manabu Ino – Young Moses Tessho Genda – Moses Takeshi Watabe – Pharaoh Osamu Saka – Aaron Mizuka Arima – Miriam Joji Nakata – Joshua Tomomichi Nishimura – King of Jericho Yurika Hino – Rahab Masato Yamanouchi – Samuel Hiro Yuuki – Young David Unsho Ishizuka – David, Abimelech & Cyrus Yu Shimaka – Goliath Takaya Hashi – Saul Akio Ohtsuka – Young Ezekiel Tamio Ohki – Old Ezekiel Ryuzaburo Ohtomo – Nebuchadnezzar Takeshi Aono – Belshazzar Shin Aomori – Solomon Motomu Kiyokawa – Prophet Hiroaki Hirata – Saint Joseph Yuri Amano – Mary Sho Hayami – Messenger of God Hidekatsu Shibata – God Akira Kume – Narrator External links TEZUKA OSAMU OFFICIAL

Notes and References

1. Web site: AntonioGenna.net presenta: IL MONDO DEI DOPPIATORI - ZONA ANIMAZIONE: "In principio - Storie dalla Bibbia" . 2022-05-24 . www.antoniogenna.net.
2. Schodt, Frederik L. The Astro Boy Essays. Stone Bridge Press, 2007.