Ossan

Although he started out as another of Tezuka’s cadre of scientists, Ossan wasn’t able to keep pace against the likes of Butaru Makeru, Dr. Hanamaru, or Dr. Ochanomizu, and soon found himself relegated to subservient roles in the background. Despite this setback, he continued to thrive in bit parts as servants, police officers, reporters or simply just men in the crowd.

He made his debut in Golden Bat (1947) in the role of the scientist “Dr. Chinchikurin” and was memorable as the scientist in The Mysterious Underground Men (1948), however by the time he appeared in Metropolis (1949), he was cast as Dr. Lawton‘s servant. His memorable role as the loveable drunkard “Marmeladov” in Crime and Punishment (1953) seems to have been a turning point in his career, with most of the roles that followed simple walk-ons or one-liners.

Ossan is primarily based on the Japanese actor Minoru Takase, who is known for his catch-phrase “anone… ossan”. In fact, in The World of the Queen from a Thousand Years in the Future (1948) and White Pilot (1961) Ossan himself actually says Takase’s famous line “Hey, listen pops, you’re killing me…“. However it should be noted that in footnotes regarding the mob scene he appears in inThe Mysterious Underground Men (1948), Tezuka wrote “the faces of all of the characters of this scene originated from Milt Gross” so it is believed that in the process of development of Ossan as a manga character, the likeness of Minoru Takase was combined with Milt Gross’ characters to created something new.

(Source: Tezukainenglish)