Osaka, 1945

A poignant and witty ensemble story about post-WWII Japan, a country caught in the whirlwind of a painful restart and the backdrop for the lives of outsiders still far from any possible recovery. Like Osamu, the author's alter ego, who dreams of telling Hollywood-style stories but ends up working for a publisher of risqué magazines. Or like Satoshi, who finds success as a belt-buckle manufacturer but is consumed by a desire for revenge against General MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in Japan. A brilliant snapshot of a wounded generation, captured with striking sincerity and an autobiographical vein by Tezuka, who experienced the trauma of the air raids on the city of Osaka firsthand.