Many of us think of the "good ol' days", series such as Starblazers, Robotech, and Voltron and consider them landmarks in anime. However there was a generation before that saw the true pioneering work of anime, the first well known anime of them all, Astro Boy. Astro Boy is known as being a creation of the late Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka started the roots of what animation became in Japan, using techniques from cinema and literary genres to lift animation up from "just for kids" to true storytelling. He put his heart and his spirit into his work, trying to express the most complex things in an understandable fashion. His dedication to story and detail created works that were fantastic for their time and spawned series that are loved even today. He always wanted there to be quality storytelling available to all generations. So it is no surprise that Tezuka Productions would continue to carry the torch long after their founder was gone and create this series of books done in the same spirit.

Published by Digital Manga Publishing, the first volume of the Tezuka School of Animation series is a basic primer on what animation is and what must be kept in mind to make it good, with Astro Boy leading the way on every page. His commentary is always relevant and never annoying; a kind guide to key fundamentals of animation. Unlike How to Draw Manga: Making Anime, Learning the Basics is NOT filled with information such as cell drawing and coloring technique but on movement, timing and expression. This book is filled with basic descriptions on how to depict weight, speed of walking, dynamic action, and how to make certain effects like flame and water realistic. There are a few drawing techniques that are covered, but make up only a small fraction of the books content. Each concept is covered in the simplest fashion, showing obvious right and obvious wrong illustrations to show the point. One example is giving weight to an item and making it feel like pressure is being applied to it using the squash technique which shows the compression of a bouncing ball to give it the feeling of being squished by weight. Effects are shown as a sequence, such as showing how something like flame grows, flickers and tears off into nothing at the tip in only five frames. These concepts are all taken from Tezuka's works and have his particular stamp of his style in how they are portrayed. Some animation tools such as a flipbook section featuring a variety of animal movements.

Although not complex in content, even advanced artists will find reminders of what make animation good and what to keep in mind when creating. This is a book best for the Yu-gi-oh and Digimon generation of aspiring artists. In this era of fancy CG tools, bottom lines, viewer demographics and trends, this is a wonderful book to instill in the animators of tomorrow the timeless appeal of quality and substance; in the end, the goal is having a job well done.