The History of Mushi Pro – 05 – Farewell to Tezuka (1970-1972)

From a Tezuka-centered perspective, the legacy of the Animerama films is difficult to assess. They were certainly pioneering, but the studio had to pay a heavy toll for that, and the mangaka grew increasingly estranged from his own staff. Things went slowly, but Tezuka gave up on Animerama after Cleopatra and, soon, on Mushi Production as a whole. Tezuka and his studio would go their separate ways: among the symbols of that split was the so-called third Animerama movie, Kanashimi no Belladonna.

The History of Mushi Pro – 3 – The beginning of the end (1967-1969)

With the huge debt left by its former acting director and the end of Mushi’s partnership with NBC Enterprises, the studio found itself in an increasingly difficult financial situation from the second half of 1967 onwards. Things would only get worse from there, and every attempt to resolve them ended in failure as Mushi failed to produce any success. By 1969, the signs were clear: the studio's downward spiral could not be stopped.