Cheap Legend of the Forest (Video) (Osamu Tezuka) Price

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Customer Reviews of Legend of the Forest

Let Your Jaw Drop, Let Your Spirits Soar
It is really too bad that this 30-minute mini-masterpiece directed by "The God of Manga (Japanese Comics)" himself, Tezuka Osamu, the creator of Astroy Boy, Black Jack, Kimba the White Lion and numerous other characters and one of the true pioneers of both graphic literature and animated films in Japan, will be missed by most American fans of Japanese animation. Yes, it is a variation on FANTASIA (animation minus dialogue set to classical music) and, yes, Walt Disney did it first, but that by no means detract from the originality and technical marvel evident in this extraordinary animated short. In fact, watching Tezuka's works from 1970s and 1980s such as LEGEND OF THE FOREST will vastly increase appreciation of how this unqualified genius has successfully transformed the American classical animation style into something totally unique, that in turn influenced other, better-known (in the US, that is) anime artists. (Witness Otomo Katsuhiro's recent METROPOLIS, a reverent homage to Tezuka's lasting influence)

The theme is indeed environmentalism, but don't expect any preachy admonition. The first segment, adapted from Tezuka's rather thoughtful and literary short about a flying squirrel raised by an old tree spirit, stylistically traces evolution of animation from 19th-century style etchings, to early Disney and Fleischer cartoons, to modern anime. The second segment tells an epic story of forest faeries, sprites, wizards and animals defending themselves against human industrialists who are cutting down trees. The look-alikes of Superman, SNOW WHITE's witch, Seven Dwarves and other celebrities make brief appearances in a hilarious montage that must be seen to be believed.

It is really a great entertainment for the whole family, and I strongly urge all anime fans to purchase copy of this VHS, and learn to appreciate the Master who started it all.

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A must have for ANY Art fan
The only movie I could probably compare this to is Disney's "Fantasia". The story really isn't the beauty of it. It's a sweet enough story that focuses around a tiny squirrel and the forest fairies and whatnot fighting against humans trying to destroy the forest they live in. The story is an environmentalist's dream. The entire animation peice is written and animated to Tchaikosky's 4th Symphony. Although it was created and animated entirely in Japan, there isn't a trace of it in the animation. It takes all the major American animation styles from the past, and uses one once for each movement of the symphony. The animation styles may be old (like McCay and Disney), but everything about movement and backgrounds is done so beautifully (much better than American animators ever did). It's not rated, and suitable for all audiences. But as a former kid, I'd say that younger children wouldn't find it very interesting for long (there isn't any dialogue at all, only music). No explosions, no Ninja Turtles, just a moving story to beautiful music, animated with amazing skill. This is one of my absolute favorite videos ever. It's a must have for fans of art, fans of animation, fans of Japanese anime, fans of classical music... basically anybody.