Choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui is nutty about anime and manga. Speaking to him at a cafe in his native Antwerp, Cherkaoui drops all the right names into his conversation and gets as giddy as an otaku (obsessive) discussing Japanese pop culture.

However, this 35-year-old isn't your usual otaku: he's a lion in the jungle of today's contemporary dance scene, and he's bringing his manga-themed work "TeZukA" to Tokyo next week. Watching him an hour earlier at a dance rehearsal, gracefully moving across a stage, it's delightfully surprising to see his face light up as he starts talking about Osamu Tezuka (1928-89), the "God of Manga" who created one of the world's most beloved characters, Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy).

"One of the reasons why I love Japanese manga is that it is not just about right or wrong," Cherkaoui says. "It always shows a complex range of values. That especially applies to Tezuka's work, and also to Naoki Urasawa's 'Monster' and '20th Century Boy.' Hayao Miyazaki's 'Princess Mononoke' has that element, too."