Masi Oka a Manga Fan

If truth be told, I haven't seen an episode of NBC's Heroes although I have been tracking down news about the show. What caught my interest before was that fan-favorite Masi Oka (who plays Hiro) previously stated that he was a fan of manga such as One Piece.

In a recent interview by Newsarama during the San Diego Comic Con, Oka talks more about the show as well as expands on his love for manga:

“I was definitely a genre fan growing up,” says Oka.. “I was a Star Wars’ fan. I personally didn’t grow up on American comics, either. I saw the movies that portrayed them. I grew up reading Japanese manga. So most of my ‘heroes’ or comic book heroes came from the Japanese manga world. Tezuka Osamu was fantastic. These days I’m a big fan of Urasawa Naoki, who’s doing actually a homage to Osamu-sama. He currently has a series called Pluto, which is loosely based on Mighty Atom.

“But definitely growing up, Tezuka and even more of the kid stuff, like Fujiko Fujio’s Doraemon and the Toriyama Akira’s Dragonball, all those fantastic authors and comic book authors. Manga is a part of our culture and I grew up with that in Japan. I’m fortunate enough to keep in touch with that world in America with imported comic books.”

Another thing that’s making Oka happy is the growing popularity of manga in the U.S.

“It’s fantastic,” he exclaims. “It’s fantastic to see that. There’s also a lot more subtlety with the Japanese Manga and not just One Piece’s and Eyeshield 21’s. There’s a lot more mangas that are deeply rooted in story, more like the romantic comedy or high school life. That’s also very interesting, too. So I’d like to see more of those come to America even though there are cultural differences.”

I might add that most people might know Mighty Atom as Astro Boy.