NHK is preparing a live-action TV special about one of manga’s most important figures, and this one sounds like it will hit harder than a normal biopic.
Announced via Osamu Tezuka’s official website, Tezuka Osamu no Sensō — which translates to Osamu Tezuka’s War — is based on Tezuka’s autobiographical short manga Paper Fortress (Kami no Toride). The special is scheduled to premiere in August, with filming set to begin in May around the outskirts of the Kansai area.
For anime and manga fans in Malaysia and SEA, this is the kind of project worth watching even if you normally only follow new seasonal shows. Tezuka is not just “old-school manga history” — his work sits right at the foundation of how Japanese manga and anime storytelling evolved. A drama focusing on his wartime memories and later creative struggles gives fans a more human look at the person behind that legacy.
The special stars Kengo Kōra as Osamu Tezuka. Anime and film fans may recognise Kōra from projects such as The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Shin Godzilla, and Miss Hokusai. Konosuke Harada, known for Sabakan, will play Tetsurō Osamu, the protagonist of Paper Fortress.
Rather than adapting only one short story, the NHK special will also pull from another autobiographical Tezuka work, God Father’s son (Godfather no Musko), which follows Tezuka during his student years. That gives the drama two major emotional lanes: Tezuka’s youth during World War II, and his difficult period in the 1970s.
That 1970s angle is especially interesting. The special will cover the period when Tezuka was dealing with two heavy setbacks: the bankruptcy of his anime studio Mushi Productions and the cancellation of one of his manga series. According to the announcement, this rough chapter pushed Tezuka to look back on his wartime childhood, leading him to create both God Father’s son and Paper Fortress.
So instead of being a simple “great man biography”, Tezuka Osamu no Sensō will move between two timelines: Tezuka in Tokyo in 1973, and his alter ego Tetsurō Osamu in Osaka in 1945. That structure should make the special more than just nostalgia — it is about how trauma, failure, memory, and creativity can feed into each other.
For Malaysian fans, the timing also feels relevant because anime culture here is bigger than ever, but most conversations focus on new releases, merch drops, conventions, and streaming hits. A project like this is a reminder that the medium’s biggest names were shaped by very real historical pressure. It gives newer fans a reason to look beyond the latest hype cycle and understand why creators like Tezuka still matter.
The special is directed by Wataru Suzuki, whose credits include The Mystery Collection of Enmado Sara and Scarlet. The script is written by Ryōko Kuwahara, known for Happiness comes from eating, sleeping and waiting.
Tezuka-related works are also getting attention elsewhere. His Phoenix (Hi no Tori) manga is inspiring a live manga performance called Mangalogue: Hi no Tori, running from April 22 to May 16 at MoN Takanawa: The Museum of Narratives’ Box1000 theaters. Phoenix also inspired a stage play in July 2024 at Theatre West in the Tokyo Metropolitan Theater, based on the manga’s Karma arc, also known as Hō-ō-hen.
No SEA broadcast or streaming details were included in the announcement, so Malaysian fans will need to wait and see how this one becomes available outside Japan.
Source: Anime News Network