Anyone who downloaded Tezuka scans from forums in the 2000s, reading chapter by chapter in amateur translations, knows how big this news is (and, for a change, it is not about my height). Brazilian publisher Veneta announced on Tuesday (November 3), on its social networks, that it will publish Bomba!, a manga by Tezuka Osamu, in Brazil, with release planned for 2027. The date was no accident: November 3 is Tezuka’s birthday (he was born in 1928) and is celebrated in Japan as Manga Day. Format, page count and price have not been announced yet.
The manga
Bomba! is a short work, little known outside the circle of older fans. Tezuka published it between September and December 1970 in the monthly edition of Kodansha’s Shōnen Magazine, and the story was collected in a single volume. It belongs to the phase in which the “god of manga” was trading the adventures of Astro Boy for darker, more adult stories, the same period as works like Ode to Kirihito and Apollo’s Song.
The synopsis released by the publisher introduces Tetsu, a seemingly ordinary student whose love for his teacher turns into violence when another suitor comes between them. Tormented by his family’s past, Tetsu must learn to control his desires and his anger if he wants to find peace in his relationships with others, but the emotions consuming him seem beyond any control. The boy’s explosive anguish takes the shape of a ghost horse called Bomba, and that is where Tezuka’s art and his endlessly creative page composition reach their peak. It is a story of love, envy, revenge and redemption, one that also speaks of the psychological scars left by war.
Tezuka in Brazil
Veneta already publishes Ayako, another adult Tezuka work, and Bomba! is the author’s new title in the publisher’s catalog, according to Blog BBM. Other Brazilian publishers also keep Tezuka in circulation: Pipoca & Nanquim released Vampires, for example. For those who lived through the years when reading Tezuka in Portuguese was nearly impossible, every announcement like this is a small miracle of publishing alchemy.
November is a busy month for manga: Seraph of the End ends on December 4, Sakamoto Holidays entered its final stretch and Kemono Jihen is nearing its climax. All our anime and manga news is on the anime page.
Where to buy
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Sources: Veneta, Crunchyroll News and Blog BBM.
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