The Smithsonian celebrates the work of Osamu Tezuka (Part 3)

By Brian Mah

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What was the first anime you saw?
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Fredrick Schodt: The first series I saw was called Obake no Q-Taro or The ghost of Q-taro in 1965-66. I remember the girls wearing the trademark hairstyle based on the manga. This was about the time when Astro Boy was finishing. Astro Boy was showing in real time, but I remember Obake no Q-Taro more.

Helen McCarthy: Marine Boy, on British TV. The first anime I knew as anime when I saw it was Mazinger Z, but of course that was just in the Spanish comics Steve brought back. Then I saw Mobile Suit Gundam and was hooked.

Natsu Onoda Power: Honestly, I don't remember. The first "TV animation" was probably re-runs of Tom & Jerry, which my brother and I watched obsessively, but that's not Japanese. But (as I explained in my book), Japanese children (at least when I was growing up) didn't really distinguish between Japanese and foreign animations, we just called everything "anime." They were dubbed so my brother and I had no idea which was Japanese and which wasn't. The first "Japanese" animation that I distinctly remember as probably Doraemon.

Yoshihiro Shimizu: As a child I watched Astro Boy, Gigantor, and Popeye.