First anime characters to conquer a larger audience outside of Japan

The first anime character to conquer a large audience outside of Japan, Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy gained a huge popularity in the US and other countries as early as in the 1960s through comics and television. Furthermore, Astro Boy was one of the first robot characters with human looks and qualities. Plus Licens now represents the Tezuka properties Astro Boy as well as Black Jack, Jungle Emperor Leo/Kimba the White Lion and Princess Knight in the Nordic countries and Central and Eastern Europe. Says Maria Ornryd, Category Head Media at Plus Licens: "Outside Japan, Europe is today the world’s largest manga consumer market and manga and anime have gone from fandom to mainstream culture among kids. We are happy and proud to work with Osamu Tezuka’s classic properties, groundbreaking in so many ways and continuously gathering new generations of fans."

Created in 1952 by Osamu Tezuka – often called "the father of Japanese comics" – Tetsuwan Atom or "Mighty Atom" is today one of the major icons of Japanese popular culture. The enormous impact of the character played a large part in making human-like robots a natural part of popular culture, and of the public consciousness in general. Renamed Astro Boy, the character was the first anime character to gain a huge popularity outside the Japanese market. The Astro Boy series was aired in more than 30 countries, including the US, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, preparing the way for several Japansese anime series in the English-speaking world!

Plus Licens also represents Tezuka Productions for Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack (a medical fantasy drama partly based on Tezuka's own professional competence as a physician); Kimba the White Lion (popular and influential also in the US, Europe and Australia already in the 1960s and 1970s); and Princess Knight (a pioneer in the shojo manga genre targeting girls).