![\"Astro](\"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/astroboy-1960s.jpg\")
<\/a>Astro Boy<\/em> (1963-66)<\/p><\/div>\n Osamu Tezuka is well-known as being the “father of Japanese television animation”. \u00a0When he first decided to try his hand at animation, he quickly realized that, as a small independent studio without the resources of Walt Disney or Toei Animation, the only viable projects would be producing short, simple animation for television commercials; most likely a frustrating and unsatisfying experience. \u00a0So, instead he decided to do something that had never been tried in Japan – a weekly television anime series.<\/p>\n Understanding that he would be competing with the production costs of live-action television programming, Tezuka made a conscious decision to produce his anime as\u00a0as a loss-leader on a shoestring budget. \u00a0This meant he needed to adapt\u00a0high-quality story concepts to a form of limited animation that required only 10 frames per second or so (as opposed to the standard 24-29) and relied on an image bank of re-usable cells that could be combined and re-combined in new ways to prolong the action sequences.<\/p>\n The process worked, and when the original Black & White\u00a0Astro Boy<\/em> (1963-66)<\/a>\u00a0television anime first hit the airwaves on\u00a0Fuji TV on January 1, 1963, it\u00a0was an instant hit, capturing nearly 40% of the audience. \u00a0The success allowed Tezuka to build Mushi Productions into a true animation studio that would go on to produce full-colour animated television programs for Jungle Empror<\/em> (1965-66)<\/a> and Princess Knight<\/em> (1967-68)<\/a>,\u00a0as well experimental animation\/live-action hybrid’s shuch as Vampires<\/em> (1968-69).<\/p>\n Always trying to improve the finished product, Tezuka returned to several of his key series, either as re-imaginings, such as Jetter Mars<\/em> (1977)<\/a> or re-makes such as Jungle Emperor<\/em> (1989-90)<\/a>. \u00a0In fact, the legacy Tezuka built in regards to television anime has survived his death and Tezuka properties, such as Astro Boy<\/em> (2003)<\/a> continue to be developed for the television anime audience to this day.<\/p>\n