Osamu Tezuka's son to complete his father's last film "Legend of the Forest"

by Chris MaGee

Here's another story that's a little bit late, but too interesting to pass up. In 1989 Osamu Tezuka, the "god of manga" was working on a truly bold project. On the surface a tribute to Walt Disney's "Fantasia", but at the same time a summation of the history of animation up to that point "Mori no Densetsu (Legend of the Forest)" would be the crowning achievement of an already legendary career. Using Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 as its soundtrack the film chronicles the fight by woodland animals and magical beings against heartless humans who want to destroy their forest home. (Are you taking notes, Hayao Miyazaki?) In an inside jab at the decline of animation Tezuka the humans in the film are animated with fewer cells, in the same way that cheap animated TV programs are produced, while the animals are portrayed in fully detailed animated glory.

The tragedy of "Legend of the Forest" is that Tezuka succumbed to stomach cancer before it could be completed. It's made the rounds in Japan and North America on VHS for years and in 2003 the completed beginning and end of the film were screened in IMAX in Japan, but now Anime News Network has some exciting news, or disturbing news if you're a Tezuka purist.

Osamu Tezuka's son and current head of Tezuka Productions, the company that licenses his father's creations around the world, Makoto, will be bridging the gap between the two existing portions of the film and complete his father's final work. An established filmmaker in his own right he has directed 13 short films, some of which have starred his friends Tadanobu Asano, Masatoshi Nagase and Masanobu Andō, as well as helmed three animated TV series one of which was based on his father's manga "Black Jack".

No official release date has been announced for the completed "Legend of the Forest" yet.