Metropolis (manga)
Encyclopedia
, also known as Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis or Robotic Angel (in Germany, due to an objection by the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation) is a Japan
ese manga
by Osamu Tezuka
published in 1949. It has been adapted into a feature length anime
, released in 2001. It has some parallels to the 1927 film of the same name
, though Tezuka stated that he had only seen a single still image of the movie in a magazine at the time of creating his manga.
s flourished and became extinct when they advanced beyond their ability to adapt to change. Giant mammals, such as the saber-toothed tiger and the mammoth
, came and went the same way. Humans, Earth's current dominant life form, had one special asset - intelligence - enabling them to advance further than all creatures before them. Dr. Bell wondered if, one day, humans might advance beyond the point of no return and render themselves extinct.
In the summer of 19XX, a bulletin reveals that a prolonged investigation by the United Nations
Police has discovered a plot by a murderous secret society known as "The Red Party", led by master of disguise Duke Red
, has infiltrated the International Scientists Conference held in Metropolis. While Duke Red orders his henchman Acetylene Lamp
to follow Dr. Charles Lawton, M.D.
, all the scientists notice that the Sun is now covered with sunspots, causing its radiation levels to rise. Lawton, back in his laboratory, had almost given up on his thirty-year experiment into synthetic cells
(imitation eukaryotes composed of non-organic material and designed to mimic organic cells, in order for enough of them to be fashioned into true-to-life prosthetic organs and body parts) when he noticed the sunspots had irradiated his tank
of synthetic proteins and brought them to "life". So had Duke Red, who ordered Lawton to create an entire human body out of synthetic tissue
, its face modeled after a marble statue and possessing several superpowers. Fearing his creation would be used for evil, Lawton brought it to "life" and destroyed his lab, making Duke Red believe their creation had been destroyed.
In reality, Lawton had rescued the artificial human and was raising it as his own child in secret, thanks to some help from Dr. Bell. When "Michi" ("his" name) accidentally rendered its "father" unconscious and went out to play, he stopped a truck from running over a girl selling flowers. When the boy was mobbed by an awestruck crowd, another boy named Ken'ichi dragged him to the Dam Dharma Museum
and the statue it was modeled after. They learned from the curator that it was called "The Angel of Rome", possessing the most beautiful face in the world - not knowing that Dharma himself was a member of the Red Party who supplied the statue to Duke Red.
The Red Party paid Lawton a visit, resulting in Lawton being mortally wounded, which was witnessed by Detective "Moustachio" from Japan who, unfortunately, had to release them because he had no arrest warrant
. Lawton showed Moustachio a film telling the whole story of Michi's creation, as well as a journal detailing all of his powers. Arriving at his Japanese-American relatives' home, he discovered his nephew, Ken'ichi ("Ken" for short), had brought home a friend from the museum - Michi. Revealing Lawton's death
and true paternal status, Moustachio entrusted Michi to Ken'ichi's care while he consulted Superintendent General Notarlin of the Metropolis Police Department.
Notarlin introducing him to Police Inspector Ganimarl (a parody of Ganimard, easily defeated foe of Arsène Lupin
,) from France and Sherlock Holmes
from England, Moustachio went with them to a monster sighting behind the Dharma Museum where they were attacked by giant rats (which bear a striking resemblance to Mickey Mouse
,) and crashed - into a fake tree which led Moustachio to the Red Party's underground headquarters. His presence discovered, Moustachio attempted to escape, aided by Fifi, one of the Red Party's slave robots (No. 14), but was caught and Fifi destroyed. Duke Red, describing himself as the "Napoleon of the Electronic Age" (in reference to the "Napoleon of Crime
"), revealed that the Red Party was developing a chemical weapon
called Toron Gas as well as responsible for the man-made sunspots, using a substance called omothenium (which intercepts gravity) to raise the Earth's temperature enough to melt the Antarctic
ice cap in order to build their new headquarters upon the defrosted continent. Unable to get Moustachio to hand over Michi (the former unwittingly revealing the android's custody with Ken'ichi), the Red Party locks him in a chamber to become their first guinea pig.
Michi is introduced as a new student at Ken'ichi's junior high school, as well as Emmy, the violet-seller girl Michi had saved - unknown to the class, Emmy's schooling was being sponsored by a strange old man in exchange for luring Michi to her gangster older sister. At home, Ken'ichi accidentally discovered Dr. Lawton's journal revealing Michi as an artificial human with cybernetic 10000 hp super-powers - including helium-induced flight, gills in his ears to breathe under water, and a sex-change button in his throat - which Ken'ichi tested successfully at home.
At the Metropolis Police Department, Dr. Yorkshire Bell had been summoned by Notarlin to examine the giant rats (scientifically named Mikimaus
waltdisneus
) and revealed that giant animals and vegetables were growing all over the world because of the sunspots. Holmes arrived to reveal Duke Red as responsible for the sunspots as well as his current disguise - the strange old man helping Emmy. Ganimarl tracked the man to Emmy's home, where the man was being held up for more money by her sister's gangster friends. Exposed, Duke Red gassed Ganimarl unconscious and left him in disguise for the police to find, and threatened Emmy's sister to deliver Michi to him.
Back at Red Party headquarters, Moustachio realised the Toron Gas hadn't been released because the giant rats had overrun the underground base (courtesy of Moustachio unintentionally leaving the entrance open). Disguising himself within the skin of one of the rats, Moustachio found the base's CPU
and a short-circuited slave robot (No. 56). Reactivating the robot, he ordered it to immediately destroy the CPU and then destroy the Red Party's food and water supplies at the right time, then played dead so Duke Red's henchman would dispose of the rat's corpse (with him in it).
Ken'ichi and Michi arrived at school to find the police questioning Emmy about whether her sister belonged to the Red Party. The other schoolchildren learned about Emmy's sister's criminal connection and attempted to expel her, but Michi saved her; Emmy returned the favor by telling Michi she knew the location of Michi's father (still abiding by Duke Red's plan) but she was abducted by a giant wasp. Michi saved her again and Emmy admitted to lying about Michi's father. Ken'ichi insisted Emmy stay in his house for protection, but her sister and her friends entered and demanded Ken'ichi bring Michi to them. He did, first activating Michi's gender switch; the gangster's left because they wanted Michi the boy, not Michi the girl. After Ken'ichi informed Emmy of Michi's true nature, they discovered Michi had run away.
Moustachio arrived at the Metropolis Police Department to inform Notarlin and Ganimarl that Duke Red had been infiltrating the police to spy on them - as Sherlock Holmes! Duke Red had the police arrest Notarlin and Ganimarl, having recruited more than half of them into the Red Party, and left Moustachio free, telling him Michi had escaped and the Red Party had to pursue him. The Red Party used their mobile headquarters - the Atlantis, a 200,000-ton luxury liner
- to hold Notarlin and Ganimarl while pursuing Michi; little knowing that girl-Michi had unknowingly stowed away onto the ship, was discovered, and recruited as a cabin girl
.
Michi discovered the crew's true identities and used the ship's radio to contact the police, who sent a search plane with Ken'ichi on board to find it. Michi was caught and admitted her name; Duke Red pressed the gender switch to turn "her" back into "him". When Michi mistook Duke Red to be her father, Duke Red revealed Michi's artificial nature and criminal purpose. As a result, Michi's mind snapped and he attacked the Red Party, the henchmen discovering he was also bulletproof. Confronting the Red Party's slave robots, Michi convinced them (led by No. 56) to destroy the food and water supply and scuttle the ship. The Red Party attempted to abandon ship but were arrested by Notarlin and Ganimarl, who escaped their cell in the confusion, and then thrown overboard by the robots. Notarlin and Ganimarl, having fled up the mast, watched as the robots condemned Duke Red to being incinerated in the ship's boiler, then were rescued (after a fashion) by Ken'ichi's search plane.
The party were then downed by Michi and witness "his" declaration of war against the human race, marching towards Metropolis along the ocean floor. Unable to contact Moustachio because of the sunspots interfering with radio transmissions, they drifted towards Long Boot Island, where a surviving member of the Red Party told them the omothenium radiation emitter had created the sunspots but also enlarged all flora and fauna, his colleagues having been eaten by giant ants. Destroying the emitter, they saw the man-made sunspots disappear right before their eyes.
Receiving warning of the robot army, Moustachio had the police declare martial law
and remove the populace to underground shelters. Dr. Bell warned Moustachio that a poisonous gas, which destroyed human brains to reduce them to animals - was being released; Moustachio recognised it as Toron gas, Michi and the robots having destroyed the Red Party's underground gas cylinders, and among the first victims were looters along with Emmy's sister.
Michi knocked down Metropolis' skyscrapers by hand while the slave robots took on the people on the ground. While the ordinary robots were easily dealt with, Ken'ichi attempted to reason with Michi, then challenge him (successfully) using judo
. When Michi gained the upper hand, his body started to smoke and he fell off the roof. While the citizens wanted Michi's destruction, a broadcast by Dr. Bell informed them of Michi's mental breakdown due to Duke Red and that he was dying; because the sunspots were gone, their unique radiation which powered Michi's synthetic cells faded away, and his body was disintegrating.
As everyone, including Michi's classmates, witnessed the end of science's greatest work of art, Dr. Bell reflected, as he had at the beginning of the story, if humanity's advancement was capable of engineering its self-destruction.
was deluged by Osaka
-made Akahon manga ("red book", due to the red ink used on the covers). Various publishing companies wanted to break away from the junk comic books and start releasing "real" books, so Tezuka proposed creating an epic, full-length science-fiction graphic novel.
Having only half a year to create a 160-page story, Tezuka assembled a basic plot from elements of unpublished work, the inspiration for the central character coming from a publicity still of the female robot from Metropolis
(even though he had never seen the film or even known what it was about). When the manga was released, the response from the public was far greater than he imagined and that many students were inspired to become manga artists
because of it.
The setting was based on pre-war Manhattan
and Chicago
, Emmy and her sister partly from Les Misérables
, Michi's powers from Superman
(perhaps, although Tezuka never made the connection between the title of his work and Superman's city), Michi's burning from The Invisible Ray, and Michi's death scene from The Monstrous Fellows of the Country Underground (another Tezuka manga from 1948).
The characters Duke Red
and Notarlin made their debut in Metropolis, and both of them featured in later works. The character of Michi became the prototype for both the lead characters of Astro Boy and Princess Knight
, neither of which may have come into existence without him/her (Michi even made a cameo as Hoshie Tenma, Astro Boy's mother).
, some of his characters from other manga appeared in Metropolis, in different roles and with different names. Others appeared here for the first time but were later used by Tezuka in other manga.
, the manga is published in English by Dark Horse Comics
with translations provided by Kumar Sivasubramanian and Studio Proteus
, and editing consulting by Toren Smith
.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
by Osamu Tezuka
Osamu Tezuka
was a Japanese cartoonist, manga artist, animator, producer, activist and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack...
published in 1949. It has been adapted into a feature length anime
Metropolis (anime)
Metropolis is a 2001 [anime] film and loosely based on the 1949 Metropolis manga created by the late Osamu Tezuka, itself inspired by the 1927 German silent film of the same name, though the two do not share plot elements. The anime, however, does draw aspects of its storyline directly from the...
, released in 2001. It has some parallels to the 1927 film of the same name
Metropolis (film)
Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist film in the science-fiction genre directed by Fritz Lang. Produced in Germany during a stable period of the Weimar Republic, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and makes use of this context to explore the social crisis between workers and...
, though Tezuka stated that he had only seen a single still image of the movie in a magazine at the time of creating his manga.
Plot
The story begins with a scientist, Dr. Yorkshire Bell, noting those dinosaurDinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s flourished and became extinct when they advanced beyond their ability to adapt to change. Giant mammals, such as the saber-toothed tiger and the mammoth
Mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...
, came and went the same way. Humans, Earth's current dominant life form, had one special asset - intelligence - enabling them to advance further than all creatures before them. Dr. Bell wondered if, one day, humans might advance beyond the point of no return and render themselves extinct.
In the summer of 19XX, a bulletin reveals that a prolonged investigation by the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Police has discovered a plot by a murderous secret society known as "The Red Party", led by master of disguise Duke Red
Duke Red
Duke Red is a fictional character created by Osamu Tezuka. His first appearance was in Metropolis, and quickly became one of Osamu Tezuka's most notable villains. While several of Tezuka's characters would reappear in different roles throughout his works, Duke Red was almost always portrayed as a...
, has infiltrated the International Scientists Conference held in Metropolis. While Duke Red orders his henchman Acetylene Lamp
Acetylene Lamp
For the lighting device, see Acetylene lamp, also known as Drake, is a fictional character created by Osamu Tezuka who recurrently appears in his works, usually in a villainous role.-Description:...
to follow Dr. Charles Lawton, M.D.
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
, all the scientists notice that the Sun is now covered with sunspots, causing its radiation levels to rise. Lawton, back in his laboratory, had almost given up on his thirty-year experiment into synthetic cells
Cell (biology)
The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
(imitation eukaryotes composed of non-organic material and designed to mimic organic cells, in order for enough of them to be fashioned into true-to-life prosthetic organs and body parts) when he noticed the sunspots had irradiated his tank
Storage tank
A storage tank is a container, usually for holding liquids, sometimes for compressed gases . The term can be used for reservoirs , and for manufactured containers. The usage of the word tank for reservoirs is common or universal in Indian English, American English and moderately common in British...
of synthetic proteins and brought them to "life". So had Duke Red, who ordered Lawton to create an entire human body out of synthetic tissue
Tissue (biology)
Tissue is a cellular organizational level intermediate between cells and a complete organism. A tissue is an ensemble of cells, not necessarily identical, but from the same origin, that together carry out a specific function. These are called tissues because of their identical functioning...
, its face modeled after a marble statue and possessing several superpowers. Fearing his creation would be used for evil, Lawton brought it to "life" and destroyed his lab, making Duke Red believe their creation had been destroyed.
In reality, Lawton had rescued the artificial human and was raising it as his own child in secret, thanks to some help from Dr. Bell. When "Michi" ("his" name) accidentally rendered its "father" unconscious and went out to play, he stopped a truck from running over a girl selling flowers. When the boy was mobbed by an awestruck crowd, another boy named Ken'ichi dragged him to the Dam Dharma Museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
and the statue it was modeled after. They learned from the curator that it was called "The Angel of Rome", possessing the most beautiful face in the world - not knowing that Dharma himself was a member of the Red Party who supplied the statue to Duke Red.
The Red Party paid Lawton a visit, resulting in Lawton being mortally wounded, which was witnessed by Detective "Moustachio" from Japan who, unfortunately, had to release them because he had no arrest warrant
Arrest warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....
. Lawton showed Moustachio a film telling the whole story of Michi's creation, as well as a journal detailing all of his powers. Arriving at his Japanese-American relatives' home, he discovered his nephew, Ken'ichi ("Ken" for short), had brought home a friend from the museum - Michi. Revealing Lawton's death
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
and true paternal status, Moustachio entrusted Michi to Ken'ichi's care while he consulted Superintendent General Notarlin of the Metropolis Police Department.
Notarlin introducing him to Police Inspector Ganimarl (a parody of Ganimard, easily defeated foe of Arsène Lupin
Arsène Lupin
Arsène Lupin is a fictional character who appears in a book series of detective fiction / crime fiction novels written by French writer Maurice Leblanc, as well as a number of non-canonical sequels and numerous film, television such as Night Hood, stage play and comic book adaptations.- Overview :A...
,) from France and Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
from England, Moustachio went with them to a monster sighting behind the Dharma Museum where they were attacked by giant rats (which bear a striking resemblance to Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
,) and crashed - into a fake tree which led Moustachio to the Red Party's underground headquarters. His presence discovered, Moustachio attempted to escape, aided by Fifi, one of the Red Party's slave robots (No. 14), but was caught and Fifi destroyed. Duke Red, describing himself as the "Napoleon of the Electronic Age" (in reference to the "Napoleon of Crime
Professor Moriarty
Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and the archenemy of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, described by Holmes as the "Napoleon of Crime". Doyle lifted the phrase from a real Scotland Yard inspector who was...
"), revealed that the Red Party was developing a chemical weapon
Chemical warfare
Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from Nuclear warfare and Biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical...
called Toron Gas as well as responsible for the man-made sunspots, using a substance called omothenium (which intercepts gravity) to raise the Earth's temperature enough to melt the Antarctic
Antarctic
The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...
ice cap in order to build their new headquarters upon the defrosted continent. Unable to get Moustachio to hand over Michi (the former unwittingly revealing the android's custody with Ken'ichi), the Red Party locks him in a chamber to become their first guinea pig.
Michi is introduced as a new student at Ken'ichi's junior high school, as well as Emmy, the violet-seller girl Michi had saved - unknown to the class, Emmy's schooling was being sponsored by a strange old man in exchange for luring Michi to her gangster older sister. At home, Ken'ichi accidentally discovered Dr. Lawton's journal revealing Michi as an artificial human with cybernetic 10000 hp super-powers - including helium-induced flight, gills in his ears to breathe under water, and a sex-change button in his throat - which Ken'ichi tested successfully at home.
At the Metropolis Police Department, Dr. Yorkshire Bell had been summoned by Notarlin to examine the giant rats (scientifically named Mikimaus
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
waltdisneus
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
) and revealed that giant animals and vegetables were growing all over the world because of the sunspots. Holmes arrived to reveal Duke Red as responsible for the sunspots as well as his current disguise - the strange old man helping Emmy. Ganimarl tracked the man to Emmy's home, where the man was being held up for more money by her sister's gangster friends. Exposed, Duke Red gassed Ganimarl unconscious and left him in disguise for the police to find, and threatened Emmy's sister to deliver Michi to him.
Back at Red Party headquarters, Moustachio realised the Toron Gas hadn't been released because the giant rats had overrun the underground base (courtesy of Moustachio unintentionally leaving the entrance open). Disguising himself within the skin of one of the rats, Moustachio found the base's CPU
Central processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
and a short-circuited slave robot (No. 56). Reactivating the robot, he ordered it to immediately destroy the CPU and then destroy the Red Party's food and water supplies at the right time, then played dead so Duke Red's henchman would dispose of the rat's corpse (with him in it).
Ken'ichi and Michi arrived at school to find the police questioning Emmy about whether her sister belonged to the Red Party. The other schoolchildren learned about Emmy's sister's criminal connection and attempted to expel her, but Michi saved her; Emmy returned the favor by telling Michi she knew the location of Michi's father (still abiding by Duke Red's plan) but she was abducted by a giant wasp. Michi saved her again and Emmy admitted to lying about Michi's father. Ken'ichi insisted Emmy stay in his house for protection, but her sister and her friends entered and demanded Ken'ichi bring Michi to them. He did, first activating Michi's gender switch; the gangster's left because they wanted Michi the boy, not Michi the girl. After Ken'ichi informed Emmy of Michi's true nature, they discovered Michi had run away.
Moustachio arrived at the Metropolis Police Department to inform Notarlin and Ganimarl that Duke Red had been infiltrating the police to spy on them - as Sherlock Holmes! Duke Red had the police arrest Notarlin and Ganimarl, having recruited more than half of them into the Red Party, and left Moustachio free, telling him Michi had escaped and the Red Party had to pursue him. The Red Party used their mobile headquarters - the Atlantis, a 200,000-ton luxury liner
Cruise ship
A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...
- to hold Notarlin and Ganimarl while pursuing Michi; little knowing that girl-Michi had unknowingly stowed away onto the ship, was discovered, and recruited as a cabin girl
Cabin boy
A Cabin boy or ship's boy is a boy who waits on the officers and passengers of a ship, especially running errands for the captain....
.
Michi discovered the crew's true identities and used the ship's radio to contact the police, who sent a search plane with Ken'ichi on board to find it. Michi was caught and admitted her name; Duke Red pressed the gender switch to turn "her" back into "him". When Michi mistook Duke Red to be her father, Duke Red revealed Michi's artificial nature and criminal purpose. As a result, Michi's mind snapped and he attacked the Red Party, the henchmen discovering he was also bulletproof. Confronting the Red Party's slave robots, Michi convinced them (led by No. 56) to destroy the food and water supply and scuttle the ship. The Red Party attempted to abandon ship but were arrested by Notarlin and Ganimarl, who escaped their cell in the confusion, and then thrown overboard by the robots. Notarlin and Ganimarl, having fled up the mast, watched as the robots condemned Duke Red to being incinerated in the ship's boiler, then were rescued (after a fashion) by Ken'ichi's search plane.
The party were then downed by Michi and witness "his" declaration of war against the human race, marching towards Metropolis along the ocean floor. Unable to contact Moustachio because of the sunspots interfering with radio transmissions, they drifted towards Long Boot Island, where a surviving member of the Red Party told them the omothenium radiation emitter had created the sunspots but also enlarged all flora and fauna, his colleagues having been eaten by giant ants. Destroying the emitter, they saw the man-made sunspots disappear right before their eyes.
Receiving warning of the robot army, Moustachio had the police declare martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
and remove the populace to underground shelters. Dr. Bell warned Moustachio that a poisonous gas, which destroyed human brains to reduce them to animals - was being released; Moustachio recognised it as Toron gas, Michi and the robots having destroyed the Red Party's underground gas cylinders, and among the first victims were looters along with Emmy's sister.
Michi knocked down Metropolis' skyscrapers by hand while the slave robots took on the people on the ground. While the ordinary robots were easily dealt with, Ken'ichi attempted to reason with Michi, then challenge him (successfully) using judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
. When Michi gained the upper hand, his body started to smoke and he fell off the roof. While the citizens wanted Michi's destruction, a broadcast by Dr. Bell informed them of Michi's mental breakdown due to Duke Red and that he was dying; because the sunspots were gone, their unique radiation which powered Michi's synthetic cells faded away, and his body was disintegrating.
As everyone, including Michi's classmates, witnessed the end of science's greatest work of art, Dr. Bell reflected, as he had at the beginning of the story, if humanity's advancement was capable of engineering its self-destruction.
Afterword
Osamu Tezuka noted that, after his breakthrough manga Shin Takarajima ("New Treasure Island") was released in 1947, KansaiKansai
The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Mie, Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, and Shiga. Depending on who makes the distinction, Fukui, Tokushima and even Tottori Prefecture are also included...
was deluged by Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
-made Akahon manga ("red book", due to the red ink used on the covers). Various publishing companies wanted to break away from the junk comic books and start releasing "real" books, so Tezuka proposed creating an epic, full-length science-fiction graphic novel.
Having only half a year to create a 160-page story, Tezuka assembled a basic plot from elements of unpublished work, the inspiration for the central character coming from a publicity still of the female robot from Metropolis
Metropolis (film)
Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist film in the science-fiction genre directed by Fritz Lang. Produced in Germany during a stable period of the Weimar Republic, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and makes use of this context to explore the social crisis between workers and...
(even though he had never seen the film or even known what it was about). When the manga was released, the response from the public was far greater than he imagined and that many students were inspired to become manga artists
Mangaka
is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
because of it.
The setting was based on pre-war Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Emmy and her sister partly from Les Misérables
Les Misérables
Les Misérables , translated variously from the French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims), is an 1862 French novel by author Victor Hugo and is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century...
, Michi's powers from Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
(perhaps, although Tezuka never made the connection between the title of his work and Superman's city), Michi's burning from The Invisible Ray, and Michi's death scene from The Monstrous Fellows of the Country Underground (another Tezuka manga from 1948).
The characters Duke Red
Duke Red
Duke Red is a fictional character created by Osamu Tezuka. His first appearance was in Metropolis, and quickly became one of Osamu Tezuka's most notable villains. While several of Tezuka's characters would reappear in different roles throughout his works, Duke Red was almost always portrayed as a...
and Notarlin made their debut in Metropolis, and both of them featured in later works. The character of Michi became the prototype for both the lead characters of Astro Boy and Princess Knight
Princess Knight
is a Japanese manga that ran through four serializations from 1954 to 1968, as well as a 1967 Japanese children's animated series. It was dubbed into English and brought over to Western audiences in 1970, where it was called Choppy and the Princess. In 1973, this series was dubbed in Portuguese and...
, neither of which may have come into existence without him/her (Michi even made a cameo as Hoshie Tenma, Astro Boy's mother).
Cast
Due to Osamu Tezuka's Star SystemOsamu Tezuka's Star System
Over the course of his career, Osamu Tezuka reused the same characters in different roles in different stories. The way that Tezuka used the characters in his "star system" can be seen as somewhat analoguous to a film director frequently casting members of a regular "stable" of actors in different...
, some of his characters from other manga appeared in Metropolis, in different roles and with different names. Others appeared here for the first time but were later used by Tezuka in other manga.
- Michi as Himself/Herself: The artificial humanoid created by Dr. Lawton to be used as a powerful weapon by the Red Party. However, he/she is not aware of any of this.
- Ken'ichi Shikishima as "Ken'ichi": A good-hearted, but naive, boy who becomes good friends with Michi. However, after Michi turns himself/herself against humanity, Ken'ichi has to see if he has to strength to fight his best friend.
- Shunsaku Ban as "Detective Moustachio": A detective on the search for Dr. Charles Lawton. As luck would have it, he is present when the Red Party guns down Dr. Lawton. Together with Ken'ichi, he uses his detective skills to try and find Michi's parents.
- Makeru Butamo as "Dr. Charles Lawton": A scientist hired by Duke Red to create the perfect humanoid, one that could look and act just like a human. However, Dr. Lawton doesn't want his creation to be used as a weapon, nor does he want anyone else getting their hands on his greatest creation. To this end, he takes Michi and runs to try and escape the Red Party.
- Duke RedDuke RedDuke Red is a fictional character created by Osamu Tezuka. His first appearance was in Metropolis, and quickly became one of Osamu Tezuka's most notable villains. While several of Tezuka's characters would reappear in different roles throughout his works, Duke Red was almost always portrayed as a...
as Himself: A power mad politician with aspirations for world domination. - Doctor Hanamaru as "Dr. Yorkshire Bell": A calm, wise scientist with a sage-like beard, who studies the radioactive sunspots and strange happenings around the city alongside Notaarin.
- Notaarin as Himself: The superintendent general of the Metropolis police force, who hunts out Duke Red and the Red Party.
English translation
In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the manga is published in English by Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
with translations provided by Kumar Sivasubramanian and Studio Proteus
Studio Proteus
Studio Proteus is a Japanese manga import, translation and lettering company, founded in 1986 by Toren Smith and based in San Francisco. Other staff included translators Dana Lewis and Frederik Schodt, letterer Tom Orzechowski and translator/letterer Tomoko Saito...
, and editing consulting by Toren Smith
Toren Smith
Toren Smith is a manga translator and founder of Studio Proteus. He was born in Alberta, Canada, learned to read by the age of four, and by the age of 12 had won his first award for writing from the Calgary Stampede and Exhibition. By thirteen he had sold his first magazine article, an...
.
See also
- Osamu TezukaOsamu Tezukawas a Japanese cartoonist, manga artist, animator, producer, activist and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack...
- List of Osamu Tezuka manga
- List of Osamu Tezuka anime
- Osamu Tezuka's Star SystemOsamu Tezuka's Star SystemOver the course of his career, Osamu Tezuka reused the same characters in different roles in different stories. The way that Tezuka used the characters in his "star system" can be seen as somewhat analoguous to a film director frequently casting members of a regular "stable" of actors in different...
- Lost World (manga)Lost World (manga)is a manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka.- Characters :Shunsaku BanKenichi ShikishimaMakeru ButamoSekken Kao-Publication:In Japan, Lost World was published in two books by Fuji Shobo...
- Metropolis (anime)Metropolis (anime)Metropolis is a 2001 [anime] film and loosely based on the 1949 Metropolis manga created by the late Osamu Tezuka, itself inspired by the 1927 German silent film of the same name, though the two do not share plot elements. The anime, however, does draw aspects of its storyline directly from the...
- Nextworld (manga)
- FumoonFumoonis a Japanese science-fiction animated movie by Osamu Tezuka. It is based on the manga Nextworld.-Storyline :Created in a time when the Cold War was becoming hotter, Nextworld is Osamu Tezuka's parody of the tense relationship between the USA and Russia...