is the name given to the recurring characters in manga created by manga artist Osamu Tezuka. Throughout his career, Tezuka frequently re-used the same characters in different roles across series; for example, the character Shunsaku Ban appears as a detective in Metropolis and as Astro Boy's teacher in Astro Boy. The name alludes to the Hollywood practice of the star system, and can be seen as analogous to film directors who work with the same actors across multiple movies; Tezuka joked about how much his characters were paid, and occasionally based them on famous western actors. Partial character list Osamu Tezuka himself himself makes frequent appearances, usually just as an in-joke, in nearly all of his works. He can be recognized by his round spotted nose and round glasses and sometimes wears a beret. In the collected Astro Boy volumes, he often introduces stories, and dispenses trivia. He is a major character in the manga The Vampires. Tezuka went so far as to play the role himself in the 1968 TV adaptation of the series. He also makes frequent appearances in the Black Jack anime, in which, as a doctor, he is a former classmate of Black Jack's. Higeoyaji , or Shunsuke Ban, is a bald, portly, middle-aged man with a large chalk-white moustache. He is an often comical and grumpy yet good-natured. He is 42 years old, as mentioned in one of the manga. His facial hair earns him the nickname . In the 1960s English version of the animated Astro Boy, his name was private detective Edgar Pompous, then Percival Pompous. Perhaps because his character was appearing in another animated series based on Tezuka's manga at the time, in the 1980s English animated Astro Boy changed his name to Albert Duncan, and he was given the nickname "Daddy Walrus". His typical role is that of a detective in other Tezuka materials, with sometimes a nephew/assistant named Ken'ichi ("Ken" or "Kennedy" in English versions of the Astro Boy TV series). The 1980s color remake (as well as the original manga) had him appear as Astro Boy's teacher, then as a detective. In the 2003 Astro Boy redeux, he is called Wally Kisaragi, and in the English-language manga, his "Higeoyaji" nickname is translated as "Mustachio". He is featured as either a regular character or a guest star in any of a number of Tezuka works. Shunsaku Ban is often cast