Next World T02 (French) Paperback – 20 Mar 2008

It seems that a lot of good stories are unappreciated in their time. As with another Tezuka work I love (namely Dororo), fate dealt Next World an unfair hand. The original draft for this had it at over a thousand pages long, with proper character arcs and story development. But, the people in charge told Tezuka that it would be too long for a short work and so the story was shortened to the size it is now.The resulting work is a bit of a mess. It kind of reminds of being in primary school and the day my primary 5 class had to give our first ever talk in front of the class about our favourite films. The resulting talks were rushed, incoherent and poorly planned. Next World is the same, which breaks my heart. In his notes on the story in the book, Tezuka explains that in the hundreds of extra pages he had put in better character developments. Without those pages, all the characters become 2 dimensional. For those like myself who know the extended Canon of the Tezuka comics, it is easy enough. (OK, that character is Kenichi, so he is a goodie and that character is Duke Red so he is going to be dramatic, et cetera) but if a person were coming to Next World with no prior knowledge I imagine NextWorld would be quite alienating. (Pardon the pun.) The plot also reminds me of the various abridged series of popular anime that are popular in YouTube.But, in spite of the length, I do love Next World with a passion. The material that is left is still fantastic, with the signatureTezuka blend of humour and seriousness. It juggles innocent humour and charm with adult themes and concepts and examines political issues that still ring true today. I wouldn't normally say this but it would be fantastic to see a remake of this as a feature length film or short TV series. Then maybe it could get the time needed to develop the characters properly and be as epic as it ought to be.So, in conclusion, Next World is a missed opportunity, but still worth checking out. It is a short read but well worth the time.