One day, a young boy heads out to catch a haul of fish, so that he can afford to get good bread for his mother. While there he finds a golden fish who, in exchange for not killing it, offers him a golden scale which will grant any wish. Choosing delicious bread as his prize, the boy returns home successful. If he could get bread from one scale, what would he get with another?

"Human Metamorphosis," a satirical Manga depicting human society compared to the insect world, focuses on the life of a devious woman. Tomura Toshiko, who is said to be a genius, is a rising star writer. Her novel wins the Akutagawa Prize for the best novel of the year. While she attends the award ceremony, another woman named Usuba Kageri commits suicide in another place. It turns out that Kageri and Toshiko used to live together, and the awarded novel was copied from Kageri's transcript. Toshiko is like a parasite: approaching talented people one after another, squeezing everything out of them and stealing their works for her own fame. Behind her success story, she has her secrets.
(Source: tezukaosamu.net)

In ancient India, the lives of the people are plagued by drought, famine, constant warfare and the injustices of the strict caste system. The intertwining lives of many unhappy souls are drawn together by the birth of the young prince Siddhartha, who embarks on a spiritual journey, becomes Buddha, "the Enlightened One," and attempts to bring about a spiritual rebirth of the people in this desperate age.

(Source: ANN)

Gurai is a Japanese Catholic Priest, who is unable to give up his lifelong sexual relationship with Yuki, a beautiful and sadistic young master criminal. Yuki's malicious crimes have become more and more extreme over the years, claiming many innocent lives, and Gurai is tormented by guilt at his inability to stop them...

(Source: ANN)

The story opens in 1942 as the battle for Guadalcanal rages in the South Pacific during World War II. When two Japanese soldiers, Adachigahara Kitaro and Seki Ichimatsu, run across a dying American soldier who is repeating the word “Zephyrus” over and over and clutching a photograph of a strikingly beautiful woman. From that moment on, the two are ensnared by the beauty with whom all men fall in love with at first sight. Twenty years after the end of the war, the two still can’t get the lovely Zephyrus out of their minds, and when they discover a woman with an uncanny resemblance and the same name is in Japan they send Seki’s son, Gohonmatsu – a Neanderthal-like perpetually-drunken sailor whose only goal is to drink all the liquor in the world – to find out more about her.

A fantasy story for kids featuring a girl named Melmo, who can change her age as she wishes by eating special candies. Melmo's mother dies in a traffic accident, leaving young Melmo and her younger brother Totoo. Anxious, Melmo's mother in heaven asks God to prepare some magical candies, and hands them to Melmo. There are two kinds: Melmo can grow 10 years older to become any sort of adult she wishes by eating a blue candy. By eating a red one, she can become 10 years younger. Using these miracle candies, Melmo disguises herself as a nurse, schoolteacher, policewoman, and overcomes troubles together with her brother, Totoo.

"All things are born and all things die. That is the law of heaven." According to legend, the Bird of Fire called the Phoenix is the eternal spirit of life, death and rebirth. She oversees the cycle of reincarnation and the rising and falling of civilizations and species. Those who can obtain her blood will be granted eternal life, while to others she can grant infinite wisdom, or eternal suffering. Throughout history, from the dawn of civilization to the extinction of the human race, those human souls touched by the Phoenix have hunted her over and over in multiple reincarnations, and their actions in one life determine or reflect the sins and sufferings of other lifetimes.

(Source: ANN)

Note: This is an incomplete series due to Tezuka's death.

A Ball, a beautifull young girl and a fox.
A great short story from the man who brought us Buddha and astroboy!

Ma-chan's Diary is a significant Tezuka work, because it was his first manga. He authored it in 1946 and it ran in Shokokumin Shinbun (Mainichi Elementary Schoolchildren's Newspaper).

It follows the life of a little preschooler named Ma-chan, who lives in post-war Japan. It is presented in the 4-koma (4 panel) format and is 73 strips long.

Collection of various short stories.
(Source: M-U)

In the wilderness of Hokkaido, the Ainu people of Japan live in harmony with nature. Kotan Nakamura is a young Ainu boy living peacefully until he meets a tiger one day. This tiger, Dan, has escaped from a train that was carrying him to a zoo. Together, they discover mysterious ruins hidden underneath the ground.

Within the ruins, Kotan and Dan discover an old man named Upopo living there. He tells the boy and the tiger about three keys to a fantastic treasure. As it so happens, the evil Sekkoku Kou is also searching for the treasure and shoots Upopo. Before he dies, Upopo gives one of the keys to Kotan.

Now, Kotan and Dan find themselves involved in an ugly battle as numerous villains track them down to try to get the three keys so they can claim the treasure.

The story revolves around a mysterious place called "Angel's Island" that resides somewhere on the ocean seas. Living on Angel's Island are a species of merpeople that can live in both the sea and on land. They have the form of a human, but can breath in water as well as on land. Luna is a princess of this species of mermaid living on Angel's Island, but is exiled for breaking some of their rules. As punishment, she is placed inside a sea shell, and set adrift across the sea. Meanwhile Eiji Kusahara, the son of a wealthy Japanese family, meets Soleiu (Luna's older sister) and they try to discover the mysteries behind Angel's Island.

A collection of short stories by Osamu Tezuka.

Haight and Andrews are both successful engineers working for a company that is about to make a breakthrough on nanotechnology that will change the course of history, when Haight discovers and develops a new technology that will help people live better and cure a few diseases, Andrews wants to use this technology for military purposes, aware of these intentions, Haight resings from the company taking all the documents and research about his discovery, Andrews angry at this, prepares a trap for Haight and with his five maniac sidekicks they brutally torture Haight and kill his loved ones, to add more misery, they severed both his arms and left him for dead.
But he is rescued by a mysterious doctor and his assistant, both men are experimenting with the strange power of "The Zetsmos" the ability of control the ghost inside the body while one is still alive, reports of people that had his limbs severed confirm that they can still "feel and move" their limbs even if they are not there, but with the Natural power of the Zetsmos, the body can assimilate any kind of materia and make it part of the body, it can be wood, paper, water, metal and recreate the limb that was gone.
But awakening the Zetsmos is a painful and dangerous process, the bearer have to put himself between life and death to awaken it, But Haight will stop at nothing to hunt down those that made his life a living hell, and he's determined to use the mysterious power to carry on his revenge.
(Source: MU)

Africa, mid-20th century: In the face of the encroachment of mankind, a white lion, Caesar, seeks to give all wild animals a safe haven, free from fear. And, to a very large degree, he is successful. His mistake is to liberate the cattle from nearby villages.
A professional hunter, Viper Snakely, known as Ham Egg in the original Japanese, is called in to stop these raids. He avoids directly attacking Caesar — instead, Snakely records the sounds of Caesar and uses that as bait to trap his mate, Snowene, who then becomes bait in a trap for Caesar. Caesar is killed, and the pregnant Snowene is shipped overseas, destined for a zoo.
Kimba is born on the ship. Snowene teaches him his father's ideals. As a huge storm approaches, she urges Kimba out to leave through the bars of her cage. The storm wrecks the ship, leaving Kimba floundering in the ocean. The fish help him to survive and learn to swim. As he begins to despair, the stars in the sky form his mother, and she encourages him with loving guidance. Guided by butterflies, Kimba makes it back to land.
Kimba lands far from his ancestral home and is found and cared for by some people. Kimba learns the advantages of human culture, and he makes up his mind that when he returns to his wild home he will bring civilized culture to the jungle and stand for peace like his father.
The show follows Kimba's life after he returns to the wild (still a young cub) and shows his learning and growing during the next year. One thing Kimba soon learns is that true peace will require communication and mutual understanding between the animals and humans.

After living in Transylvania for several years, "Earl Dracula" (as Osamu Tezuka's official website calls him in English) has moved to Japan. In the Nerima Ward of Tokyo, he and his daughter, Chocola, and faithful servant Igor have taken up residence in an old-Western style house.
While Chocola attends Junior High School, Earl Dracula is desperate to drink the blood of beautiful virgin women; an appropriate meal for a vampire of his stature. However, each night that Earl Dracula goes out on the prowl he finds himself getting involved in some kind of disturbance which leads to him causing various trouble for the local residents. With nobody in Japan believing in vampires, his very presence causes trouble amongst the people in town.
(Source: Wikipedia)

A fantasy story for kids featuring a girl named Melmo, who can change her age as she wishes by eating special candies.

Melmo's mother dies in a traffic accident, leaving young Melmo and her younger brother Totoo. Anxious, Melmo's mother in heaven asks God to prepare some magical candies, and hands them to Melmo.
There are two kinds: Melmo can grow 10 years older to become any sort of adult she wishes by eating a blue candy. By eating a red one, she can become 10 years younger.

Using these miracle candies, Melmo disguises herself as a nurse, schoolteacher, policewoman, and overcomes troubles together with her brother, Totoo

The story revolves around a mysterious place called "Angel's Island" that resides somewhere on the ocean seas. Living on Angel's Island are a species of merpeople that can live in both the sea and on land. They have the form of a human, but can breath in water as well as on land. Luna is a princess of this species of mermaid living on Angel's Island, but is exiled for breaking some of their rules. As punishment, she is placed inside a sea shell, and set adrift across the sea. Meanwhile Eiji Kusahara, the son of a wealthy Japanese family, meets Soleiu (Luna's older sister) and they try to discover the mysteries behind Angel's Island.