The primary quantity of Phoenix supplied a bleak portrayal of human nature, emphasizing how we’re basically little totally different from the ants and the beasts, and the way our superstitious clamoring for everlasting life is in the end a self-destructive idiot’s errand. Although people have been sometimes in a position to rise above the small-minded views and fanatical loyalties that outlined them, the general portrait of humanity was a grim one, a detailing of a species too preoccupied with private glory to even obtain the philosophical unity with nature of animals. The one balm in opposition to this scorching condemnation was the reassurance that on the very least, the occasions going down have been far, far earlier than our time, a mirrored image of a much less civilized period of humanity.
Phoenix’s second quantity instantly discards that comfort, proudly saying itself as a quantity of the longer term. Human nature is probably malleable, however additionally it is constant throughout the eras. Our quest for eternity will not be halted by developments social, political, or technological; although we declare enlightenment repeatedly, every new conception of society is nonetheless sure by the identical hopes and fears, the identical desperation for recognition and terror at oblivion. Regardless of the period, we scrabble fruitlessly within the filth, gazing with marvel up on the superb phoenix.
We contact down within the 12 months 3404 AD, with Tezuka explaining that the world is getting ready to whole environmental collapse. Life has withered away, and what dregs of humanity survive achieve this by huddling inside 5 subterranean megacities, shelters illustrated by way of overwhelming panels of mighty towers and bustling crowds. Masato Yamanobe lives in Yamato, one such megacity, the place he works as an area patrolman underneath his superior Roc. However Masato has a secret – he’s truly harboring a “moopy” named Tamami inside his house, flagrantly violating the very order he’s paid to guard.
As Roc explains, moopies are alien life types, guests introduced again from a distant planet. With no inherent form of their very own, moopies are in a position to tackle mainly any kind, together with that of a human. They’re naturals at adapting to their surroundings – maybe the precise reverse of human beings, whose pure tendency is to reshape their surroundings in a kind extra pleasing or handy to their very own wants. It’s this tendency that has truly destroyed the world, as we contorted it right into a kind that’s not self-sustaining or supportive of any sort of life. In our quest to reshape the world right into a extra fascinating kind, to make our mark on eternity, we’ve stolen the way forward for the planet.
The introduction of moopies as a brand new sort of sentient being instantly challenges our assumption of human beings because the protagonists of actuality. Moopies are content material with the world as it’s; in actual fact, they’ll even share this contentment, inducing hallucinations in others and thereby transporting them into fantasies of the previous. Roc sees this as an inexcusable retreat from the challenges of the current – mankind is wallowing in sentimental nostalgia, somewhat than going through the pressing disaster of the fashionable world. It was this menace that prompted the order for all moopies to be executed; however after all, Tezuka’s personal perspective at all times stretches past our particular person quests for eternity, providing a quiet query of whether or not moopies are merely right here to consolation us in our previous age, as our species rightfully fades into the previous.
Masato Yamanobe expresses the contradiction of Roc’s command on a extra particular person stage, as he laments his destiny to Tamami. It was when he thought like Roc, destroying moopies with no second thought, that he was really a monster. It was solely by way of his love for Tamami, allegedly a menace to humanity, that he truly turned human. Turning into heartless to be able to make sure the continuation of humanity is in fact a rejection of all that makes humanity worthwhile. If we should sacrifice our kindness, our curiosity and empathy in the direction of these in contrast to ourselves, to be able to survive, then humanity is actually not value saving. If it’s a selection between that or oblivion, then let humanity at giant cross into historical past, and a brand new chapter start.
That query of whether or not humanity is even value saving is central to this quantity, and the solutions offered are hardly ever flattering ones. Our would-be savior arrives within the type of Dr. Saruta, a genius obsessive about recreating the creatures of the previous, once-fertile earth. Although he creates numerous experimental topics, they’re all sure inside his amniotic tubes, incapable of surviving within the open air. Saruta’s youngsters level to the need of life surviving past human arms, to creatures like moopies carrying the spark of enlightenment ahead when human ingenuity fails. Like mankind inside their subterranean cities, the animals of Dr. Saruta can solely dwell a pale imitation of life, an imprisonment of parasites who’re incapable of self-propagation. “Can this be referred to as life?” he wails.
In the meantime, these cowering within the cities have grow to be so disillusioned of their very own potential as to cede their governance to a set of supercomputers. We swiftly study that Roc swears allegiance to “Hallelujah,” the pc governing all of Yamato’s actions. That identify factors to the tragic fidelity of humanity; even this far sooner or later, we body salvation in spiritual phrases, seeing our hope of eternity as a dream offered by an accommodating shaman or deity. Although Roc scorns Masato for not prioritizing humanity over his lover, humanity itself has deserted self-determination, seeing solely the chilly calculations of a pc as able to making the alternatives essential to make sure humanity’s survival.
Via these computer systems, Tezuka asserts that mankind’s nature is steady all through historical past, that we are going to ceaselessly tend to give up our company to the whims of an alleged larger being, and that communal understanding will at all times be thwarted by our choice for inarguable leaders over real, earnest particular person connections. Of their bickering over the relative superiority of this or that supercomputer, Roc and his parallel within the metropolis guided by “Danuba” appear little totally different from the superstitious people of the primary quantity, every sure that their deity is humanity’s true information. And in ceding our company to those computer-gods, it appears equally clear that humanity is already useless – that we’ve deserted the sunshine of inspiration in favor of the cradle of safety, basically making us no distinction from the helpless, static animals of Dr. Saruta’s laboratory.
The considerations dominating Tezuka’s personal world are clear within the attitudes and fears of his far-flung characters. Roc sees the style and particular person decisions of the surviving people as indicators of “decadence” that have to be eradicated. In his willpower to observe solely Hallelujah’s directives, he has ensured humanity exists inside a cage that doesn’t enable for any of the person decisions or beliefs that truly make humanity value defending. Like many navy leaders on the prime of fading empires, he sees austerity, groupthink, and fascism as the one methods to revive humanity’s power. The specifics is perhaps totally different, however the world inside these megacities is in the end akin to that of Germany within the leadup to World Warfare II.
Equally, the final word results of this technique feels each acquainted and inevitable. When Hallelujah and Danuba are introduced into direct dialog, they swiftly determine that the one “logical” reply to their disagreement is battle. These laptop overseers have solely replicated the violence they have been meant to interchange, driving humanity into the identical self-destructive patterns which have recurred throughout human historical past. A pc designed by man will in the end simply reproduce the outcomes of man, echoing the identical livid refusal to see one other’s perspective that knowledgeable the brutal wars of Phoenix’s first quantity.
However Tezuka, as at all times, takes the lengthy view. As humanity’s final remaining sanctuaries are incinerated by nuclear explosions, the second half of this quantity blooms into a fabulous exploration of the lengthy, gradual means of life’s formation. The wealthy visible vocabulary Tezuka solid over a lifetime of writing fantastical comics, comics that may go on to offer a template for manga storytelling, is right here directed in the direction of making the constructing blocks of existence really feel as wondrous as any nice voyage or climactic battle. After a lifetime of imagining thrilling marvels to thrill his audiences, Tezuka has come to comprehend that there’s nothing extra thrilling than the marvel of life itself, and has dedicated his pen to creating that glory comprehensible to all.
With Masato chosen because the observer for the earth’s gradual rebirth, Tezuka presents attractive panels of Masato and the phoenix beside him exploring the constructing blocks of life, drawing a visible parallel between particular person atoms and the glory of the cosmos. The phoenix burdens Masato with a would possibly process: stating that the evolution that gave beginning to mankind was a mistaken course, it now falls to Masato to discover a higher manner. This task is accompanied by one other astonishing collection of panels, as Masato feels the load of eternity collapse inside him, overwhelmed by infinity as he’s turned immortal. Via these panels, Tezuka regularly strives to visually convey one thing that’s past the attain of phrases, to comprehend the grandeur and terror of existence in slim comedian panels.
It will be simple to spend a whole article marveling at Tezuka’s feats of paneling all through this quantity – the manic power provoked by Roc fleeing by way of a literal spiral of panels, the concurrently restrained but impactful punchline of switching to a full white background for Masato’s tried suicide, and even simply the best way diagonal traces are used to create a way of panels nearly tumbling over one another, as if the story itself is impatient to be informed. Phoenix’s second quantity displays a formidable language of motion storytelling, a masterful fusion of medium-specific instruments and dramatic intent. At this level, Tezuka’s paneling is striving for mythological grandeur, and most of the time truly attaining it. His management of pacing and capability for invoking awe are unbelievable.
To dive deeper into only one instance, take the 2 pages under, which themselves supply a tidy microcosm of a number of of Tezuka’s paneling pointers. First we’ve a row of strict dialog between Masato and Dr. Saruta, an easy alternate that’s conveyed by way of equally easy, equivalent sq. panels. Just like the rigorous nine-panel construction of Watchmen pages, these panels are designed particularly to not be seen, to vanish and permit the dialog to circulate unmediated by any thrives of paneling. Then there’s the full-length vertical panel of the rocket itself, a staggering visible setpiece that serves as a tough reset in rigidity, inflicting the viewers to take a breath simply earlier than the power begins to rise once more.
That rise is conveyed by way of the ratcheting depth of the rocket’s pre-flight preparations, conveyed by way of a stack of panels with diagonally positioned gutters, corresponding to to create a way of sliding momentum as every panel leads the attention down in the direction of the following. And eventually, a full web page of panels radiating from the highest left like rays of the solar, creating a way of awe and visible fidelity as the attention is drawn up, up, and away from left to proper, as if we’re watching alongside Masato because the physician’s vessel retreats into the cosmos.
Tezuka’s visible brilliance presents some consolation in what is way from a straightforward, uplifting journey. It’s not simply the person tragedies of quantity two that tug on the coronary heart, but additionally the underlying philosophy, the basic understanding that humanity will not be significantly particular. Masato’s stewardship of the brand new earth doesn’t instantly lead to a brand new humanity; first, the earth is inhabited after which dominated by a species of hyper-intelligent slugs. Their clear similarities to human beings, each within the audacity of their goals and the cruelty of their bigotries, emphasize that humanity was by no means inevitable. We declare our gods give us windfall, however as each volumes one and two emphasize, our gods are at all times of our personal making.
Tezuka’s breadth of perspective emphasizes how people are simply one other type of animal, as involved with survival and self-propagation as every other. People are usually not distinctive or blessed by the gods – they’re merely historical past’s fortunate victors, their dominance a random quirk of destiny. However this thought mustn’t lead us to despair concerning our lack of significance – it ought to lead us to gratitude and taking larger care in managing the environment, understanding as we do that there’s nothing “destined” about our dominance or survival. We have been fortunate up to now, but when we need to protect what’s nice about humanity, we should work with all our would possibly to guard the world we inhabit. “Our progress was deadly,” laments the final slug at it collapses within the wake of a self-inflicted apocalypse. The beasts of the land perceive that they are going to dwell for a time after which cross from the earth – can us “enlightened” beings ever study to just accept the identical?
That’s the hope, no less than. Masato’s journey takes him from passionate, forbidden love all the best way to the top of the cosmos, as he comes to just accept his place throughout the nice circulate of nature, the collective organism identified solely to the phoenix. Masato and Tamami are in the end reunited inside that circulate, wisps dancing in perpetual concord, an important circulate of consciousness that’s the lifetime of the universe. Humanity marches onward, determined for eternity, dropping sight of the bottom beneath in its greedy for the sunshine above. Can we overcome our hubris, our tribalism, our self-destructive greed? Maybe not; maybe all we are able to hope for is that we don’t break the dear reward that’s life on earth alongside us.
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