The Book Of Human Insects

Description

The Book of Human Insects is recognised as Tezuka's most cinematic title. Reading much like a thriller, this title twists and turns and features Toshiko Tomura, a timeless leading lady. Toshiko possesses the unique ability to mirror the abilities of others, making her a celebrity at the tender age of 20. As a mimic, her past of murder and plagiarism has created a long-list of enemies that is now catching up to her.

Osamu Tezuka was born on November 3, 1928, in Osaka. He grew up in an open-minded family exposed to comics and Walt Disney. As a boy he also had a love for insects, which he would later as a grown-up incorporate into pen name. Having developed an intense understanding of the preciousness of life from his wartime experience, Osamu Tezuka aimed to become a physician and later earned his degree in medicine, but ultimately chose the profession he loved best- manga artist and animated film writer. Tezuka's manga and animated films had a tremendous impact on the shaping of the psychology of Japan's postwar youth. His work changed the concept of Japanese comics, transforming it into an art form and incorporating a variety of new styles in creating the "story cartoon." Osamu Tezuka lived out his entire life tirelessly pursuing his efforts, passing away at the age of 60 on February 8, 1989. In all, Tezuka produced more than 150,000 pages of graphic storytelling before his death. Posthumously Tezuka's work have won a number of awards in the U.S., including the 2009 Eisner Award given to his series Dororo.

"Brilliant. Just once, I'd like to read a work by Tezuka that wasn't either at least nearly or totally perfectly crafted... A typical complaint nowadays is that the usual comic costs about $4 and takes about 10 minutes (or less) to read. But with Tezuka's work, you're invited to linger over a page for a minute, just taking everything in. One of Tezuka's (many) skills is his deftness with background details, with an emphasis on lived-in spaces that seem to have texture that you could just grip." -MTV Geek "I suppose just reading a story like that could be repugnant to some people, but I found it weirdly enjoyable. It's not like Tezuka sugarcoats his lead's fundamental awfulness, or blatantly asks that we enjoy it as she destroys people-even in that 'hate the player/love the game' way that you saw all over pop culture in the early 1970s. It's most fascinating to me as a big ol' hate letter to the emerging Japanese post-war generation, although Tezuka includes a vile war-era criminal in the book as well." -The Comics Reporter "Epic Tezuka is back! As always, Tezuka builds long, winding plotlines and then brilliantly connects them to each other, creating a massive but memorable network of characters. This journey through the worlds of art, entertainment, crime, politics, and business also presents a deeper message about the dead ends and pitfalls of modern society. Tezuka's ambitions can also be seen in the art, where wild metaphors and images jump off the page" -Anime News Network