People who read Metropolis

RoseMary

//Year of release: 1949//
1 Volume (Complete) - available at mangakakalot - //Read from Left to Right//
Anime movie (2001): available at kissanime

"[...] However, might the day not come when humans also become too advanced and, as a result of their science, wipe themselves out?" - A Tezuka Osamu's sci-fi classic with a concept that is interesting and food for thought. I certainly recommend to read this story (going beyond what for someone could be a too cartoonish art-style), but I also have to say that personally what totally impressed me was actually the visually-stunning anime movie, where in my opinion the concept was explored in a very well-crafted and, I'd say, more captivating way. Simply amazing, a masterpiece...exactly what you'd expect from a top-notch production team such as that!

Note: Tezuka said that the inspiration for Michi came from a publicity still from Fritz Lang's film Metropolis (1927) of the female robot's birth scene; and he also liked the sound of the title, so he used the same one. But other than that he hadn't seen the film itself at the time and he didn't even know what it was about, so he said there was no real connection to the film. On the other hand, the anime, which is actually a bit different from the manga, does draw aspects of its storyline directly from the 1927 film. Anyway, for those who haven't seen it yet, I recommend to watch also the film, considered as a work symbol of expressionist cinema and a pioneering science-fiction movie.

The oneshot Metropolis by Kuroda Iou is based on Tezuka's work.