手冢治虫与“角色之死”

Osamu Tezuka and “the Death of Characters”

近年来,以漫画为代表的日本流行文化风靡全球。漫画这种表现形式曾被认为是“骗小孩的廉价娱乐”,漫画角色通常拥有无论遭遇何种暴力都不会损伤的“不死身”。然而,被尊称为“漫画之神”的日本漫画家手冢治虫却在其作品中创造性地描绘了角色的悲剧性死亡,并严肃地探讨了有关生死的命题。手冢的“角色之死”对当时的漫画读者造成了巨大的冲击,改变了日本人对漫画的固有印象。文章关注手冢早年单行本漫画作品,分析其在这些作品中表现“角色之死”时所采用的表现手法,探究这种手法形成的社会背景和历史脉络。

Japanese culture represented by Manga has swept the world these years. Manga was seen as puerile entertainment for children. Characters in manga were immortal and couldn’t be injured in any cases. However, Osamu Tezuka, known as “god of manga”, creatively portrayed character’s tragic death and discussed about the meaning of life and death in his works. His manga made a profound impact on his readers and changed people’s understanding about manga. This paper pays attention to the new method that Osamu Tezuka used to portray the death of characters in his early works, and analyzes the historical and social context behind this new method.