Over the past while, I've been watching (and re-reading) Phoenix, a sprawling epic by that towering figuring of anime and manga, Osamu Tezuka. I'd read most of the manga a while ago, but I'd not seen any of the anime based on it. Phoenix concerns itself with some pretty lofty themes; birth, death, the meaning of life, mankind's place in the universe and the quest for immortality. The Phoenix is the classic fire bird that is reborn from the ashes, common to many mythologies both western and eastern - it's called Hi-no-Tori (bird of fire) in Japanese. Throughout the chronology of Phoenix, which spans eons, the birdappears many times. Oftentimes to advise people, influence the development of life, observe or comment on man's folly. It is also an object of desire for people throughout time, as it is said that drinking it's blood will give one immortality. As it turns out, those that do achieve this suffer the most of all.

It's hard to pin down what the Phoenix represents, it refers to itself many times as a galactic spirit, other times as one aspect of the life force of the universe. In any case, it is instrumental at key points throughout history.

Tezuka began work on Phoenix in the mid 60s and continued to write it up until his death in 1989. He had intended to tie all aspects of the story, past, present and future, in the final chapter - unfortunately it remained unfinished. Phoenix contained a lot of experimental artwork and themes that were very advanced for the time such as "Metropolis" and many other fantastic works. Any fan of anime should know this famous legend revered as the "god of Manga" is indisputably the father of all modern Japanese comics and animation. His artistry and powerful story telling brings inspiration to audiences and other mangaka's all over the world.

This 13 episode series was one of the many itterations of ozamu tezuka's Hi no tori manga. This was directed by Ryousuke Takahashi and covers the Dawn, Resurrection, Strange Beings, Sun and Future chapters. Well this was a very impressive series for the most part, I felt that they took too many liberties with certain chapters. In some cases totally changing the setting and cutting out massive chunks of the story in order to fit things in. For this reason I was left with the impression that the latter half of the series was somewhat rushed, it would have worked better if they'd covered a smaller number of chapters in the same amount of episodes. (If you can some how find the manga, i would seriously recommend reading it as its the true spectacle of this classic masterpiece)

All in all, this is a monumental series from one of the greats of anime and manga, "Tezuka" called it his "life's work". If you are up for something that will fascinate, amuse, surprise, shock and promote some interesting debate on the nature of existence, Phoenix is really worth a look.