In the Beginning: The Bible Stories

{{Infobox animanga/Header

| name = In the Beginning: Stories from the Bible

| image =

| caption =

| ja_kanji = 手塚治虫の旧約聖書物語

| ja_romaji = Tezuka Osamu no Kyūyaku Seisho Monogatari

| genre =

}}

{{Infobox animanga/Video

| type = TV series

| director = Osamu Dezaki

| producer = Masami Takagishi
Hime Miura
Hidehiko Takei
Masao Nakamura
Yoshihiro Iwasa
Minoru Kubota

| writer = Tezuka Productions

| music = Katsuhisa Hattori
Reimy

| studio = Tezuka Productions

| network = Rai 1

| network_en = Eternal Word Television Network
Australian Christian Channel
Shine TV

| first = November 30, 1992

| last = May 31, 1993

| episodes = 26

| episode_list =

}}

{{nihongo|In the Beginning: Stories from the Bible|手塚治虫の旧約聖書物語|Tezuka Osamu no Kyūyaku Seisho Monogatari|lit. Osamu Tezuka's Bible Stories}} (In principio – Storie dalla Bibbia) is a Japanese-Italian anime television series based on The Bible's Hebrew Scriptures (Bible) created by Osamu Tezuka. The series was a coproduction between Japan's Nippon TV, Tezuka's Tezuka Productions, and Italy's government-owned broadcaster, Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI). Although the series was in production during a period of several years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was not aired in Japan until April 1 1997, on the satellite channel WOWOW, the same day when the Pokémon anime aired on TV Tokyo, while it premiered in Italy on November 30, 1992 on Rai 1.{{Cite web |title=AntonioGenna.net presenta: IL MONDO DEI DOPPIATORI – ZONA ANIMAZIONE: "In principio – Storie dalla Bibbia" |url=https://www.antoniogenna.net/doppiaggio/anim/inprincipio-storiedallabibbia.htm |access-date=2022-05-24 |website=www.antoniogenna.net}} The series has also been aired on TV in the United States (on the Catholic-oriented Eternal Word Television Network), Spain, Germany, and Australia (on Australian Christian Channel).

In the Beginning: Stories from the Bible marked the fourth time Bible stories formed the basis of a Japanese-animated television series, following the two Superbook series and The Flying House, which were made for Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network by Tatsunoko Production in the early 1980s.

In the Beginning: Stories from the Bible features episodes devoted to most of the major stories of the Bible, including the stories of the Creation, Cain and Abel, Noah's Ark, Abraham and Isaac, Joseph, Moses, David, and Solomon, with the final episode featuring the Nativity of Jesus. As with the second Superbook series, some stories were stretched out over several episodes. Unlike Superbook and The Flying House, however, no contemporary characters from modern times were inserted into the stories, save for the series mascots and viewpoint characters, Roco the fox and Mimi the vixen.

Tezuka's manga work frequently included religious themes, and because of his long-running manga Buddha, he is sometimes perceived as having been a devout Buddhist, but in fact, Tezuka was largely agnostic.Schodt, Frederik L. The Astro Boy Essays. Stone Bridge Press, 2007.

The theme music (for the English version), an ending theme called "Rainbow Blue", is written and performed by Reimy, the only ending theme that has English lyrics both in the Japanese version, in the English version, and in the Spanish Version, and in the Italian version, an ending theme called "He Comes, He Saves You", is written by Paolo Zavallone and performed by Cristina Zavallone, the only ending theme that has English lyrics in the Italian version.

Background

In the Beginning: Stories from the Bible grew out of a request that Osamu Tezuka received from the Vatican by way of RAI in 1984, requesting that Tezuka produce an animated version of the Bible. Tezuka spent two years working on a pilot series for the project based on the story of Noah's Ark and other stories from the Bible, both writing the scenario for the series and working in the production of the animation itself, but Tezuka died on February 9, 1989 before the series was finished. The remainder of the production for the pilot series and the subsequent 26-episode television series was supervised by director Osamu Dezaki.

Episodes

class="wikitable" ! align="center"\|Number ! align="center"\|English title ! align="center"\|Japanese title ! align="center"\|Italian title ! align="center"\|Spanish title
1	The Creation (Adam & Eve, Part 1)	天地創造	I signori della Terra	La Creación (Adán y Eva, Parte 1)
2	Cain and Abel (Adam & Eve, Part 2)	カインとアベル	I figli di Adamo	Caín y Abel (Adán y Eva, Parte 2)
3	The Story of Noah (Noah's Ark)	ノアの箱舟	L' avventura di Noè	La Historia de Noé (El Arca de Noé)
4	The Tower of Babel	バベルの塔	Una torre fino al cielo	La Torre de Babel
5	Abraham, the Forefather	父アブラハム	Abramo il patriarca	El Padre Abrahám
6	Sodom and Gomorrah	ソドムとゴモラ	Sodoma e Gomorra	Sodoma y Gomorra
7	Isaac and Ishmael	イサクとイシュマエル	Ismaele	Isaac e Ishmael
8	Isacc's destiny (Abraham's Sacrifice)	アブラハム、イサクを捧げる	Il destino di Isacco	El destino de Isaac (La Prueba de Abrahám, translated as El sacrificio de Abrahám)
9	Jacob's children (Joseph in Bondage)	ヨセフの夢占い	Venduto dai fratelli	José en Esclavitud (Vendido por sus hermandos)
10	Joseph's triumph	ヤコブ一族の再会	Il trionfo di Giuseppe	El Trinfo de José
11	Moses, The Egyptian	{{lang\|ja\|モーセの誕生}}	Mosè l'egiziano	Moisés el Eqipcio
12	The Fire in the Desert (The Burning Bush)	砂漠の火	Il fuoco nel deserto	El Fuego en el Fesierto (La Zarza en Llamas)
13	Moses and the Pharaoh (Moses & Pharaoh)	モーセとファラ	Mosè e il faraone	Moisés y Faraon (Moisés y el Faraon)
14	The Exodus	エジプト脱出	L'Esodo	El Exodo
15	Laws carved in stone (The Ten Commandments)	十戒	La legge scolpita sulla pietra	Leyes grabadas en piedra (Los Diez Madamientos)
16	Israel's Treachery (The Golden Calf)	イスラエルの裏切り	Il vitello d'oro	La traición de Israel (El Becerro de Oro)
17	New Alliance (Journey to the Promised Land)	約束の地	La Terra Promessa	Nueva Alianza (La tierra prometida)
18	Jericho (The Fall of Jericho)	エリコ	Gerico	Jericó (La Caida de Jericó)
19	One king for Israel	初めての王サウル	Un re per Israele	Un rey para Israel
20	King Saul (David and Goliath)	サウルの敗北	La sconfitta di Saul	David y Goliat (La derrota de Saul)
21	King David	ダビデ王	Il seme di Davide	El rey David
22	King Solomon (The Wisdom of Solomon)	ソロモンの王国	Il regno di Salomone	La Sabiduría de Salomón (El rey Salomón)
23	The Exile of Israel	バビロン捕囚	L'esilio di Israele	El destierro de Israel
24	Release from Bondage	奴隷からの解放	Gerusalemme, Gerusalemme	Liberación de la Esclavitud (Libertad en Babilonia)
25	Prophets in the desert	砂漠の預言者たち	Profeti del deserto	Profetas en el desierto
26	The birth of Jesus	イエスの誕生	Una stella brilla ad Oriente	El nacimento de Jesús

Staff

Animation Created by: Osamu Tezuka
Produced by: RAI-Radiotelevisione Italiana, NTV-Nippon Television Network Corp.,
Executive Production: Tezuka Productions
Executive Producers: Shinichi Okada (Chukyo TV Broadcasting), Masahiro Kurata (Nippon Television Network), Takayuki Matsutani (Tezuka Production), Luciano Scaffa (Radiotelevisione Italiana)
Scenario: Tezuka Productions
Producers: Masami Takagishi, Hime Miura, Hidehiko Takei, Masao Nakamura
Music Composed by: Katsuhisa Hattori
Character Design: Osamu Tezuka, Shinji Seya
Animation Directors: Masaki Yoshimura, Akio Sugino, Shinji Seya, Junji Kobayashi, Hideaki Shimada
Art Directors: Kazuo Okada, Masami Saito
Directed by: Osamu Dezaki
Biblical Advisors: Emilio Gandolfo, Pietro Bovati S.J.
Supervised and Coordinated by: Marco Pagot, Luca Lamonaca
Scenario: Luciano Scaffa, Guerrino Gentilni, Luca Lamonaca
Assistant Directors: Takashi Ui, Yusaku Saotome, Fumihiro Yoshimura, Shinichi Matsumi
Assistant Producer: Sumio Udagawa
Production Managers: Satoshi Kuwabara, Mitsuaki Ōishi, Takeshi Yoshimoto, Masami Takagishi, Koji Shibata, Hime Miura, Hidehiko Takei, Masao Nakamura, Kuniaki Nagayama
Photography: Studio Wood, Takahashi Production, Tezuka Productions, T. Nishimura, Mushi Production, Madhouse, Studio Cosmos
Editors: Masahiro Matsumura, Harutoshi Ogata
Color Direction: Satomi Murai
Finishing Animation: Beijing Xie Le Art Co., Ltd.
Animation Check: Tomoko Kawaguchi, Kaoru Kanō
Animation Production In Cooperation With: J.C. Staff, Mushi Production, Madhouse, Shaft, Tama Production, Asatsu-DK (D.K. 1)
Music Selection: Katsuhisa Yoshino, Yutaka Goda
Sound Effects: Shizuo Kurahashi
Mixer: Nobuyoshi Kamibayashi (Aoi Studio)
Music In Cooperation With: Nippon Television Music Corporation
Coordination: Imago Inc., Tokyo
Production Manager: Enrica Benni