u/brb1006

In light of the upcoming movie "The Ribbon HERO" inspired by "Princess Knight". I felt like creating a follow up post regarding Tezuka Pro allowing less anime adaptations of Osamu Tezuka's works.

Since the conclusion of the 2003 Astro Boy Anime and the 2004 Black Jack anime (both made from people who were taught by Tezuka himself). Tezuka Productions suddenly stopped allowing newer animated adaptations to Tezuka's works to get created. Causing them to demote Tezuka's characters for merchandise and collaborations in Japan. At first I thought it had to do with the box office bomb of the 2009 Astro Boy Movie scaring them off. We wouldn't get an explanation until Summer 2022.

According to a podcast interview from Samuel Sattin (writer of Unico: Awakening) in "The Anime Nostalgia Podcast". He revealed that during a pitch meeting with Tezuka Productions, the members of the company said that they've been struggling on finding ways to reintroduce Osamu Tezuka's works and characters to newer audiences while "feeling like something Tezuka would write and feel". This is due to them having trouble finding writers (mainly from the young generation) who actually understood Tezuka's mindset and themes for some of his works. Sattin himself had to convince the members that "He actually understood Unico" during his pitch meeting on greenlighting the Unico Reboot series before the Kickstarter campaign was launched (and later picked up by Scholastic).

They're still open on doing newer and modernized takes on Tezuka's works in the comic sphere (with the exception of Phoenix since they considered it "too sacred") as long as they maintain "The Tezuka feel and tone". But they considered it to be "too risky" when it comes to anime and animated reboots focusing on Tezuka Characters. Sure we got Young Black Jack and Atom: The Beginning, but those were based on established manga which are prequels to the Black Jack and Astro Boy Anime.

Since 2022, Tezuka Productions has slowly started becoming interested on doing newer anime adaptations (such as Dororo and Pluto) to reintroduce Osamu Tezuka's characters to a new audience. Especially since Osamu Tezuka's 100th Birthday is right around the corner.

Recently, last year's Anime Expo revealed that a new "Jungle Emperor Leo" (Kimba the White Lion) anime reboot is in the works by N LITE. Alongside an animated adaptation of the Unico Reboot series by Samuel Sattin in early development.

This afternoon, one of Roger Sweet's relatives just broke the news that he passed away peacefully this morning from a Facebook post.:

"Hello, it is with sadness that I post that Roger Sweet, creator of He-Man, along with Mark Taylor, passed away this morning. I talked with his wife (widow) Marlene today, and she told me the news. He passed peacefully at his care facility. I am only posting this as she asked me to do so. She will be updating the gofundme as well, and shutting it down. RIP, Roger, and condolences to his entire family, especially his wife, Marlene. In this picture (which Marlene took and sent me, and used on the gofundme), he is holding my mini-comic, the last fan item he ever signed. He wanted to be sure to get it done for a fan. I will be reaching out to other news outlets as well. Marlene has asked that if anyone can, please try to reach out or post to the studios/actors doing the new movie to ask that they dedicate it to both Roger and Mark Taylor. It would be a nice way to honor them both. Thank you. He gave us all the Power."

Prior to his death, Roger Sweet was diagnosed with dementia on February 24, 2026 and moved to a memory care facility where his wife and family members accompanied him. His wife created a GoFundMe page to help cover the $10,200 monthly cost of his care. Mattel only donated 4k not long after its launch.