Ayako

Overflowing with imagery of the Cold War seen through Japan's eyes, Ayako is firmly set in realism taking inspiration from a number of historical events that occurred over the American occupation and the cultural revolution which soon followed. It focuses on the Tenge clan, a once-powerful family of landowners living in a rural northern Japan. The increasing influence of political, economic and social change begins to tear into the many Tenge siblings.

Osamu Tezuka (1928-89) is the godfather of Japanese manga comics. He originally intended to become a doctor and earned his degree before turning to what was then a medium for children. His many early masterpieces include the series known in the U.S. as Astro Boy. With his sweeping vision, deftly interwined plots, feel for the workings of power, and indefatigable commitment to human dignity, Tezuka elevated manga to an art form. The later Tezuka, when he authored Buddha, often had in mind the mature readership that manga gained in the sixties and that had only grown ever since. The Kurosawa of Japanese pop culture, Osamu Tezuka is a twentieth century classic.