The Osamu Tezuka Crossover That Almost Nobody Talks About

The Osamu Tezuka crossover that almost nobody talks about

Everyone in Brazil knows Monica’s gang, it IS the Brazilian counterpart to Peanuts and Little Lulu in many ways, especially Little Lulu, considering it also happens to have a strong, opinionated 6-7 years old girl who typically wears red as the main character.

Anyways, I’m not here to discuss the cultural impact that Monica’s gang had on us Brazilians, I’m actually here to talk about a lesser known spin off with a manga inspired format called Monica Adventures.

The main characters(including Monica herself) now are 15 years old and usually deal with typical teen drama while having many crazy adventures at the same time, the most popular arc of the entire series is the infamous end of the world saga written by Emerson de Abreu, most notably the umbra arc.

However, I noticed that there’s a certain crossover series that nobody talks about, not even the most hardcore fans of Monica Adventures.

And no, I’m not talking about the immensely popular crossover with the superheroes from DC comics.

I’m talking about this crossover:

If you’re young and doesn’t know what I am talking about, there’s an actual Monica Adventures two-part comic called "green treasure" which is about a crossover with many Osamu Tezuka characters, including Princess Sapphire of Princess Knight, and the titular characters of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion.

Monica’s creator, Mauricio de Sousa, was friends with Tezuka back when the latter was alive, and they were planning to make a crossover like this for a long time now.

However, most people(especially kids who grew up with 90s and 2000s anime and manga) in Brazil didn’t exactly grow up with Osamu Tezuka’s works, while SOME of his more well known mangas were released in the country during the early to mid 2000s(most notably Princess Knight, which released in Brazil before it did in the USA), the anime adaptations aren’t that well known, only the 2003 Astro Boy anime and the Princess Knight 60s anime were dubbed here as far as I’m concerned(I know Don Dracula did have a Brazilian dub but it is most likely fully lost media or at the very least only partially found), but even then, they aren’t considered as being extremely popular with anime and manga fans here in the country like Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon are, especially back in the early days.

There’s also the fact that most people who typically read Monica Adventures are kids between the ages of 9-12, yeah, it does have its fans who are older teens and young adults but my point still stands, most of the actual demographic obviously doesn’t know who Tezuka is and would unfortunately care less about his historical importance in the manga industry, I know that because before I even read this crossover back in middle school, I had no idea who Tezuka was and I barely knew anything about his works except maybe for the Astro Boy american animated movie and YouTube videos discussing how The Lion King ripped off Kimba the White Lion.

But then, I’ve actually read this crossover at age 12 and re-read it multiple times throughout the course of my life, all I can say is that while it’s not exactly a masterpiece, it is actually enjoyable and well structured, I did wish it was longer and some plot points felt unnatural like the fact that the main reason why all the characters met each other was because of a visit to a lumberjack business, which actually exists in real life and felt too didactic at times, but other than that, it is an alright crossover.

Would I recommend it to an Osamu Tezuka fan? I guess so? While Astro and Kimba are definitely in character, Sapphire’s initial characterization felt unnecessarily brasher than usual, but she still remains a kind, loyal, strong and decisive heroine like she was in the 60s manga and the anime adaptation(who is also from the 60s), Dr. Tenma and Atlas being antagonists was expected considering their respective roles in the 2003 Astro Boy anime, but what wasn’t expected was Rock Holmes’ appearance and the sudden Black Jack cameo but I digress…

Overall, it is a decent crossover, while it isn’t anything very special and can be very generic at times, the story does pay a nice homage to Osamu Tezuka and his characters, so it’s not outright bad and it does have plenty of good moments.

Any additional resources you have or know of would be greatly appreciated, so please don't hesitate to share them.

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gloomy-octopus

9 months ago

isekai about a nyc apartment block getting teleported into a fantasy realm, and how this group of people who previously have only had incidental contact with one another come together to build a vibrant community in their new circumstances. there's a season-long arc about introducing bagels and pizza to the fantasy world that gets into the details of sourcing ingredients, developing new technologies, and learning how to work with supernatural substitutions.

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gloomy-octopus

2 years ago

yeah.

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gloomy-octopus

2 weeks ago

Tweet 1: Laura Loomer, "WOKE MARXIST POPE"
Tweet 2: @schmoypoho, "to the tune of Pink Pony Club"

I know you wanted me away But I am called to be the first Pope from the USA I heard that there's a special place where God talks directly to me every time I pray

I'm having holy dreams, of ruling the Holy See Hear Santa Monica, her son is calling me Won't make the bishops proud, the USCCB Will see their bro in Christ, I know they're gonna scream

"God, what will you do? You once were our boy, then you went to Peru," oh Fathers I'm on the balcony In my vestments, they elected me as the

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gloomy-octopus

1 year ago

Sustainable fashion for the Solar Punk

If you enjoyed this, consider checking out my Ko-Fi for a printable zine version (or just to support my art :))

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gloomy-octopus

9 months ago

Life Hack: Clothing Repair 🤔

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gloomy-octopus

9 months ago

DIY Basics

-Goth DIY Tutorials Number 1 (Part 1)- Hi there, I decided to start a little DIY series! I’m not the most professional at anything lol but I’ve been doing DIY and crafts my entire life and been part of the goth subculture for 10+ years. I’ve seen a lot of baby bats and people inexperienced in crafts online saying they don’t know how to DIY thrift store clothing to be goth so I’m here to help! I believe DIY is super important to the goth subculture and should be easy and accessible, and if I can stop anyone from buying big fast fashion brands I’ve done my job.

For the first post of this series I thought I’d link some sources for people new to DIY or looking for some easy projects to do yourself (projects will be in part 2)🖤This will help you find a starting point if the idea of DIY is overwhelming.

None of these links are mine! I will be posting my own tutorials as part of this series though:)

Some of the most basic starting points for goth DIY are using fishnet tights as a top (just cut a hole in the crotch and cut off the feet), putting safety pins in everything, adding holes to clothes, and adding pins and patches. I like to make my own patches, either by free handing or stenciling, which I linked a tutorial for in this post.

Helpful tools to have:

gothic-charm-school.com

Gothy DIY Tools – the Essentials! | Gothic Charm School

(I don’t agree with buying from aliexpress but their other sources are great!)

Sewing Tips for Beginners:

corpgoth.blogspot.com

Sewing Your Own Gothic Clothing

Chronicles of an everyday goth gal working in high-tech and wearing business casual with dark flair.

T-Shirt Design Methods:

Obscura Undead

DIY Up-cycle 2: 3 Methods for creating tee shirts — Obscura Undead

Welcome back weird kids! I've returned with another way to enhanced your wardrobe all on your own. This time, I'm solving a couple of proble

Revival Ink

DIY Basic T-Shirt Weaving - 2 Ways

Learn how to transform your t-shirt by cutting and braiding! This DIY tutorial will show you 2 different types of weaves: basic laddering, a

This is just s few ways to weave t-shirts, there are a ton of different ways to do it and YouTube has some great tutorials, especially on Angela Benedict's channel