TOMORROW THE BIRDS

by Osamu Tezuka

A classic collection from Osamu Tezuka, the Godfather of Manga, now in English! Originally published between 1971 and 1975, this collection of short stories depicts an Earth in which birds become the planet's dominate species.

It started with several minor but unusual attacks by birds against humans, more a nuisance than anything. However, as birds capable of harnessing fire began to appear, using it to set fire to people's homes, things began to escalate. Eventually, a highly intelligent leader of the birds emerges to begin negotiations with humankind on behalf of his people...

What force jump-started the birds' wild jump in evolution? And what will be the fate of humans in this new world order?

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Japanese Literature, Short Stories

324 pages, Paperback

Published April 10, 2024

About the author

Dr. Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫) was a Japanese manga artist, animator, producer and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. He is often credited as the "Father of Anime", and is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, who served as a major inspiration during his formative years. His prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as "the father of manga" and "the God of Manga."

Reviews

[ComicNerdSam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have resigned myself to the fact that, realistically, I will never read everything that my Comics Hero has made. Despite the impact he's had on comics at large he remains known in the west mainly for Astro Boy and softcore furry transformation porn. There's so much yet to be translated for English readers, and a lot of the stuff that has is out of print. Considering how many pages he pumped out in his life, this slow crawl of translation is a sign that I just won’t ever get to experience it all. I say all this to drive home the point that we should cherish the weirder and better works that get imported over here, and Tomorrow The Birds should definitely be cherished.
The main conceit is one of those simple-yet-fertile concepts Tezuka loves to set out on: what if birds ruled the earth instead of humans? And Tezuka does a great job getting that ball rolling. chapter by chapter the invasion and settlement of the titular birds is fleshed out, each entry adding a new and intriguing wrinkle. These are fun, singular stories that takes specific sub-concepts and really explore them. I really enjoyed the direction this book was taking, and was settled in for a collection of quick vignettes.
Egg on my face. I had made a fatal mistake, I forgot how short Tezuka’s attention span could be. A quarter of the way he switches gears, the fast-and-loose pace disappearing almost instantly. The stories get longer, the birds start acting VERY human, and my interest begins to wane. These stories start to become rehashed period pieces, as the story of these new bird rulers just dully retraces human history. I understand the purpose, the “Jesus Bird” segment makes Tezuka’s point very clear, but by the end of the wild west portion (His name’s Geronimo, I get it but so what?) I am completely checked out. It seems this book isn’t anything special after all.
Thank GOD for Tezuka’s short attention span!
He takes us away from all that monotony and delivers a very engaging story that takes full advantage of the concept. Hitman birds, humans struggling to maintain their culture, a twist ending, and a final action scene that really gets the blood pumping. But, it is specifically the story “The Red Beak Party” that brings this book back up to a must-read. This is one of the best Tezuka short stories I’ve read. I won’t spoil any of it, but the way it handles cannibalism, addiction, and the nature of instinct is superb. It’s extremely unnerving, drawing a strange connection between the cannibalistic nature that would exist in a bird society and sexual urge (even if the text itself bluntly rejects this notion). This story is Tezuka operating at his best, and is worth the cover price alone.
This book, as a whole, is a big mess of ideas and creativity. Its ambitious nature is very much welcome but, as happens with a lot of Tezuka’s work, that also leads to some rather strange and shocking moments. Don’t let that push you away, there’s some gold in these pages. Despite the slumping middle and strangely offensive subject matter (I felt the ghost of Ennis here) I maintain this is something to be cherished. This messiness is what makes up the best art, and definitely the best comics. Please bring me more, I’m so hungry for Tezuka books.

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Osamu Tezuka's Tomorrow the Birds, we witness the staggering evolution of birds starting from their own ability to harness fire to eventually begin telepathic communications. The rapid evolution of bird species around the world leads them to challenge mankind for dominance of the planet. Structurally, this manga's chapters are somewhat like vignettes centered around intelligent and sometimes violent birds, but they do form a cohesive narrative from start to finish. Evident inspirations would be Daphne du Maurier's short story, The Birds, and Pierre Boulle's Planet of the Apes, both of which were also shortly after adapted into films by Alfred Hitchcock and Franklin Schaffner, respectively. Whether or not Tezuka was influenced by those works remained unclear to me, as the afterword to this edition only cites Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles and Clifford D. Simak's City as inspirations, though more so for narrative structure and style than for the actual story.

An engaging sci-fi, dystopian tale with tinges of both horror and comedy, Tezuka demonstrates a broad array of storytelling chops. But what was most impressive was how tightly wound the political satire was throughout, with various political factions depicted throughout the narrative. Though there's a lot going on throughout, the narrative somehow manages to be both quaint and subversive, with a fun climax to bring things all together. Though there are moments of heavy-handedness with either the exposition or satire, Tezuka's cartoonish artwork does well to subdue them. The story gets violent at times, but here too does Tezuka's simple cartooning do a great job in making it readily palatable, though this is still a substantially more mature read than most other Tezuka works.

Tomorrow the Birds is an excellent, riveting read, and a truly unique entry in an already diverse bibliography.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seeing some of Tezuka’s more oddball obscure work is such a treat! He does sci-fi so well, and you don’t need to see Bradbury’s name listed in the afterward to know where his primary inspiration for the series came from (for better and worse (aka chapter 7))

[Skjam! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once upon a time, birds did not rule the Earth. That role was taken by the ape-creatures who called themselves “humans.” The humans enslaved birds, killed them for sport, even ate them! But then one day benevolent aliens saw our plight, and arranged to redress this injustice by giving us intelligence. Once we were able to plan and understand language, our natural ability to fly gave us the advantage and we took over, as was our evolutionary birthright. Now we are the masters, and our glorious civilization shall last forever!

This horror-tinged science fiction manga, which was inspired both by Daphne du Maurier’s The Birds and Pierre Boule’s Planet of the Apes, appeared from 1971-1975 in SF Magazine. A big science fiction fan himself, manga author Osamu Tezuka liked working on this more SFnal premise.

The early chapters are more horror-oriented. A heavy smoker keeps songbirds locked in cages all day, feeding them a special food that’s supposed to make them more intelligent and playing songs he wants them to imitate so they’ll make him more money when sold. He doesn’t stop to consider what else his habits might be teaching them.

A man who’s averse to eating poultry survives on a deserted island when his less fastidious fellow castaways do not. But the authorities don’t buy his explanation that they were roasted and eaten by birds, so he doesn’t survive the justice system.

Then the uprising begins in earnest, with mutated magpies leading the invasion of Japan.

Then there’s chapters depicting the struggle back and forth between the subjugated humans and their avian overlords.

This is followed by several stories where the birds have cemented their rule, and Tezuka gets to use bird society as a metaphor for the human society of his time. The best of these is “The Red Beak Party” which depicts the corruption and downfall of a police officer using the particular biology of birds to set up the problem.

Tezuka eventually tired of the series, so he didn’t write their downfall, but closes with a chapter where the aliens are appalled that the Earth birdmen have duplicated the worst aspects of the apeman civilization that preceded them, and maybe they should give the cockroaches a turn instead. The cockroach-man who suggests this is totally not proposing this out of personal bias, unlike the birdman alien who made the original suggestion.

Good: Tezuka’s art is excellent, and there’s many cool ideas on display. Some of the chapters are genuinely chilling.

Less good: Some of the chapters are excessively heavy-handed, especially the saga of “bird Jesus.” And then there’s Chapter 7, “In Rhodesia”, which is why there has to be a disclaimer at the beginning of the book about Tezuka’s outdated depictions of black people. You might want to skip that one entirely.

Content note: Hoo boy. Lots of violence, resulting in deaths of both humans and birds, some very gruesome. Death of children. Torture. Both anthropophagy and cannibalism. Rape, bestiality. Consensual on-page sex too. Male and female human and bird nudity. No human genitalia, but we do see a bird woman pushing an egg through her cloaca. Racism, both human and bird. Miscarriage. Slavery. Someone has their eyes gouged out. This is strong stuff so maybe mature readers only.

This is an interesting volume, but it’s a mixed bag, and may not be to everyone’s taste. Recommended primarily to science fiction fans, especially if you liked Beastars.

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[Kalle Vilenius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Osamu Tezuka’s mind was a fascinating contraption. Tomorrow the Birds is a large-scale science-fiction story, filled with ideas drawn from a variety of sources – Hitchcock’s Birds, Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Maeterlinck’s The Blue Bird, Planet of the Apes, the treatment of the native Americans, various biblical allusion from Moses to Jesus – and somehow makes it all into a (mostly) coherent whole, showcasing wild imagination, a mixture of silly, cartoony gags with both horrific violence and deviant sexuality, making Tomorrow the Birds into a kaleidoscope of life in all its variety. The potential and promises of this book are immense, as birds begin to exhibit behaviours both unnaturally intelligent and malicious towards humanity, setting fires all over the world.

Some spoilers to follow.

Doblood, an avian alien, argues that birds are the intended dominant lifeform for Earth, and thus convinces his alien conglomerate to interfere with evolution by granting birds heightened intelligence, with which they would be able to take back for themselves their rightful place, usurped by humanity. This is what the book’s early stories follow, the birds’ campaign to take over the Earth and destroy human civilization, and it makes for fascinating reading.

Once that is accomplished, the birds evolve into “birdmen” while humans begin to fall into a more primitive state, ala Planet of the Apes. The birdmen society quickly falls into the same trappings as their predecessors did. Hierarchies are formed, human clothing is imitated, even bird “shoes” are used to mimic the appearance of real shoes. There’s racism between birds based on their plumage, even a split between carnivorous birdmen and insectivores, and this latter split becomes fodder for Tezuka’s most twisted inventions.

Tezuka may have been a lover of Walt Disney and Carl Barks, he may have created many child-friendly series and made his reputation with series like Astro Boy, but he was just as easily capable depicting horrors and depravity that would’ve been utterly unthinkable for his colleagues in the American comic book industry; Tomorrow the Birds features depictions of bestiality, brutal executions and tortures and even features a protagonist in one of the more gripping stories who, ostensibly a policeman hunting down cannibals, falls to the temptations of his own predatory instincts and joins them as a child-murdering cannibal. Tezuka’s ability to present his characters with such moral complexity while dealing with disturbingly dark material will surprise those who judge his books only by looking at their artwork.

There is resistance to the birdmen’s imitation of humanity, and another one of the more interesting (and at the same time, depraved) sections of the story is that of Pololo, a messianic figure, a mixture of Moses and Jesus. The humanlike lifestyles and diets of the birdmen are causing their birthrates to plummet, and as the higher classes seek to steal viable eggs from the lower, one such egg is spirited away by a human slave. She hatches the egg by keeping it warm inside of her vagina. The chick hatched is Pololo, and thus having been rescued from persecution goes on to become a preacher, whose words upset the powers that be.

Pololo’s “mother” is killed. Another woman, practically identical, becomes a sort of pet to Pololo after he frees her from captivity. She tries to rape him; there’s no way around it. He calls it bestiality, but is unable to properly resist it, either. The first woman is called Mahria (naturally), and the latter is Magdala (just as naturally). Tezuka is not going for subtlety here, he has points to make about human (and birdman) nature, about the patterns of stagnation and renewal in culture and religion. The persecution and slaughter of Pololo’s followers alternates between goofy and disturbing, these avian martyrs face their ends in the hands of executioners with all the same creativity their human counterparts had.

Sadly, the trajectory of the story never reaches a climax, but fizzles out with a few brief stories, finally concluding with the implications that the cycle of a new dominant species rising and falling will begin again. In the afterword, Tezuka himself admits to losing interest in the series, which is why he never concluded his depiction of the downfall of avian civilization. This is a shame and holds back what could potentially have been an excellent work, Tezuka (pardon the pun) clipped the wings of his manga before it could soar to the heights intended for it. As such, the potential and promises made early on are never realized, but what’s there is worth reading.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

鳥人大系 is a manga by Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atom), Black Jack, and Phoenix. It was originally serialised 1971–75 in the literary, adult SF Magazine, not—like most manga—in a weekly manga magazine like Weekly Shōnen Jump. The title translates more accurately as ‘Birdman Anthology’, but Ablaze Manga have chosen ‘Tomorrow the Birds’ for their 2024 English translation.

It’s a series of loosely connected stories about birds taking over from humans as the dominant species on Earth. In this future, birds evolve into a society that mirrors the human civilization they displaced. Bird society reflects human totalitarian states: censorship, secret police, forced loyalty, propaganda, and fascism. Tezuka, who grew up in Japan before and during World War II, uses this as an allegory. Like the animals in George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945), the birds repeat human history’s mistakes and cruelty.

This provides ample opportunity for a commentary on power, authority, military strength, class, government manipulation, and concentration of wealth. Governments glorify war, manipulate citizens with fear, and sacrifice ordinary lives. Propaganda is everywhere, dissent is punished, and the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

The message is bleak: even after unimaginable destruction, the cycle of oppression and militarism begins again. History—or any intelligent species—keeps repeating the same mistakes, and new leaders rise spreading the same ideas.

There are strong echoes, too, of Planet of the Apes (1968), where humans are dethroned and the new rulers deny humans ever dominated, rewriting history and punishing those that want to learn the truth about the past. Much of this really doesn’t seem so very far-fetched even in non-totalitarian states of today. These ideas are still very much relevant. Luke Animal Farm, Tomorrow the Birds can be read as a cautionary tale.

Everything I’ve read by Tezuka has been brilliant. Buddha (1972–83) is still the high point for me, but Tomorrow the Birds is also top-notch manga. Tezuka was an amateur biologist, and his exquisite, accurate bird artwork really enhances it. Tomorrow the Birds is a beautiful, thought-provoking allegory, and its publication in English will further justify globally the reputation Tezuka already has in Japan as the revered godfather of manga.

[Timothy Grubbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

The birds have taken over the world and supplanted humanity. This is the chronicle for their rise to power…

Tomorrow the Birds by Osamu Tezuka is a bizarre anthology of connected stories with violent and cartoonish (and sometimes offensive) art.

Birds learned to think. How they did was due to a couple of factors.

Then they began their reign of terror by setting fires…

Follow the struggle of humanity to accommodate and attempt to eliminate the their feathered menace…

Humanity failed…

With humans as a slave and later degenerate race…the birds evolved…and became humanoid…

And with this capability…they began their troubles with religious persecution, Wild West style crime, genocide, and even political violence akin tot eh red scare…

Some of these stories get very dark and dystopian…

BIRDS ARE REAL AND THEY ARE PREPARING TO TAKE OVER!!!

[Brandon Telg · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite Tezuka books I’ve read in a while, for the most part. (I’ll get to that in a moment.) The majority of this book is my favorite kind of Tezuka book, using a basic science fiction premise (what if birds took over the world) to explore human nature in a number of different ways. I thought this was up there with some of his best work.

Except for the offensive 7th chapter which tainted the entire thing. Every translated Tezuka book comes with a warning that some elements of his work are representative of thoughts from the time but don’t translate well to modern understandings and sensibilities. This is one of the most glaring examples I’ve seen of this in a while. A blemish on an otherwise great series. If you read this book, just skip that chapter. You won’t miss anything.

[Kosmas Panagiotis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being the first manga from Tezuka for me, I was not sure what to expect. This collection of short stories about how birds became the dominant species really jad me hooked from the beginning to the end. Tezuka through manga and science fiction gives us a lesson on authority, politics and history, concluding that unfortunately everything is condemned to repeat itself. I really enjoyed the references to other books or movies, the detailed bird drawings on the margins of the pages and the twist in the end. For me one of the best manga I have read in a long time, even if it is written in 1970...recommended!

One should be informed that this is not siotable for children, as it contains expilicit violence and other disturbing behaviors and images.

[John JJJJJJJJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

It does me good to reread manga. In my middle and high school years, I could spend the entire day watching anime and reading manga. Today, I'm 22 (born in 1999, for those who'll be reading this review in a few years). This manga reminded me a lot of Simak's City: 19 short stories that follow the Earth as it falls under the control of birds, after aliens spread a substance that makes the birds intelligent. The story takes place over several millennia, on an Earth where humans are no longer in control. Moreover, the further we go in time, the fewer humans there are. Have they disappeared?

Ultimately, Bird Society is a satire of human society with a sci-fi backdrop. For me, it's a real favorite.

[Mee Too · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decided to stop at chapter 7. All the stories were from a certain time and a lot of odd beliefs that are still prevalent today sexism and racism make for weird stories. So I’m good. Hard pass Better things to read.

I know people love to ignore their ignorance and go on an on, reminiscing about how the past was better. blah blah. truth is humans will always choose to follow Ignorance then to stand alone and think for themselves. Always have and always will.

Bravery is not evenly distributed throughout the species.

[Madelynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some tales are like time capsules. The art is beautiful but the story (English) was not great. If Tezuka were alive, I'd want to ask about the sexist aspects. The story has some comedic aspects that lighten what is an otherwise dark tale of human de-evolution. There is no gore, but there are depictions of death. It felt like a collection of short stories, as though you could pick it up and start from the top of any chapter. Overall, I wouldn't read it again but I do not regret consuming it.

[Hadley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bizarre and original idea to explore this future world with birds as the dominant species. Loved the variety of sub-plots but a larger cohesive story line wasn’t there to hold it together. The racist depictions of African Americans was also hard to ignore and dampened the mood, especially the publishers note at the beginning not taking any responsibility for replicating the images…

[Owen Hatherley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I too think we're all screwed as soon as the birds learn to use matches. This is lots of fun in spanning the two Tezuka modes, with the first few parts in his ultracute early style, then getting more and more dystopian and nasty as it goes on, until he gets a bit bored at the end and kills it all off.

[Landon Schmidt-Warnecke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Score: 84
Art: 17/20
Story: 19/20
Characters: 13/20 for a book about the cyclical nature of discrimination, the portrayal of black people is lazy and plays into harmful stereotypes
World-building: 19/20
Writing: 16/20

[Al Capwned · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, the warning about the outdated depictions of the book was definitely needed. Apart from that, the book is pretty cool overall. The satire is spot on most of the time and the pacing is usually great.

[Brandon Moody · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s like the birds x planet of the apes.
Obviously some stories are stronger than others when it comes to an anthology but I’d say this was pretty consistent except the black face chapter that sucked.
The red beak party was definitely the highlight.

[Roeliox · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the weirdest Tezuka series.

Damn those birds for repeating humanity's mistakes !

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well that was the most batshit crazy thing I've ever read.

[Andrew]

one of the most bonkers things i've read in a long time

[Hannah Garden]

Oof.

[Anna Frohling]

South Africa chapter so racist even Elon was scared

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a weird one

[Wavieff · Rating 4 out of 5]

tezuka confirms the myth - he WAS the first furry. bar NONE.

[Mark Wasiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

wild birds book. yet its violent and sexy too. Great illustration and stories that really make you think

[Joey G · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Osamu Tezukas work, I love his art style and I love his character designs. I also love how he drew the bird people. I do love this idea of planet of the apes but with birds. However I might have not been in the right headspace while I was reading it because the story didn’t do it for me