The word ukeru has no single kanji that captures its full meaning. The character 受ける means to receive or to hand over an object, but when we say a manga or anime uketa or ukenai, the word becomes an indicator of whether something has reached the hearts of the audience – those who watch, those who listen. One day, Master Tezuka invited me out. “Tsuki-san, I’m heading to Ginza today. Want to come along?” ...
What Is the Bank System? Long ago, Osamu Tezuka — creator of Astro Boy, the pioneering television anime — devised a method called the Bank System to produce 30-minute episodes every week. “Bank” means to store. Unlike today, animation at that time was drawn on paper, traced onto cels, and painted by hand. Normally, cels were discarded after a production was completed. But Tezuka decided to keep and organize certain cels rather than throwing them away — bust shots, waist shots, close-ups, walking shots, flying shots, crying, laughing, lip-sync shots, and other footage likely to be reused. This was the Bank System. ...