In the Beginning: The Bible Stories facts for kids

In the Beginning: The Bible Stories (手塚治虫の旧約聖書物語, Tezuka Osamu no Kyūyaku Seisho Monogatari, lit. Osamu Tezuka's Old Testament Stories) is an anime (Japanese animation) TV show. It tells stories from the Old Testament. The famous Japanese artist Osamu Tezuka created it.

This show was made by Nippon TV and Tezuka Productions from Japan. They worked with Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI), a government TV company from Italy. Even though it was made in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it first aired in Japan in 1997. This was on a satellite channel called WOWOW. People in the United States, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Australia have also watched it.

In the Beginning was not the first anime to tell Bible stories. Before it, there were two Superbook series and The Flying House. Those shows were made for the Christian Broadcasting Network in the early 1980s.

This series covers many important stories from the Old Testament. These include the Creation story, Cain and Abel, Noah's Ark, and Abraham and Isaac. It also features Joseph, Moses, David, and Solomon. The very last episode shows the birth of Jesus Christ. Some stories, like in the second Superbook series, were told over several episodes.

Unlike Superbook and The Flying House, In the Beginning does not have modern-day characters. There is one special character, Roco the fox. He is like a mascot and helps viewers see the stories. But in the English version, Roco's parts were removed.

Osamu Tezuka often put religious ideas in his manga (Japanese comics). He made a long-running manga called Buddha. Because of this, some people thought he was a very religious Buddhist. But actually, Tezuka was mostly agnostic. This means he believed we cannot know for sure if God exists.

The show's ending song is called "Rainbow Blue." A singer named Reimy performs it.

How the Show Was Made

In the Beginning started with a special request. In 1984, the Vatican asked Osamu Tezuka to create an animated version of the Old Testament. This request came through RAI, the Italian TV company. Tezuka spent two years working on a short pilot film. This film was about the story of Noah's Ark. He wrote the script and helped with the animation.

Sadly, Osamu Tezuka passed away in 1989 before the film was finished. After he died, director Osamu Dezaki took over. He finished the pilot film and supervised the making of all 26 TV episodes.

Who Made the Show Happen

• Director: Osamu Dezaki
• Screenplay (Story): Osamu Tezuka and Tezuka Production Co., Ltd.
• Character Designs (How the characters look): Osamu Tezuka, Shinji Seya
• Animation Direction (Guiding the animation): Masaki Yoshimura, Akio Sugino, Junji Kobayashi, Hideaki Shimada
• Music: Katsuhisa Hattori
• Production (Companies that made it): Tezuka Production Co., Ltd. / Nippon Television Network / Radiotelevisione Italiana

Voice Actors

See also

In Spanish: Seisho Monogatari para niños