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Astro Boy is the American title for the Japanese animated series Tetsuwan Atomu (鉄腕アトム), which roughly translates to "Mighty Atom" (literally "Iron-arm Atom");or Atom boy first broadcast on Japanese television from 1963 to 1966. Astro Boy is the first Japanese television series to display the aesthetic that later became known as anime. It originated as a manga comic series started in 1952 by Osamu Tezuka, the so-called "god-king of manga". After enjoying success abroad, Astro Boy was remade in the 1980s as Shin Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy in the US and other Western countries) and again in 2003. For a while, Astro Boy achieved a similar level of popularity in Japan as Disney's Mickey Mouse. Astro Boy presents some similarities with the Italian puppet Pinocchio [1]. The animated series was produced by Mushi Productions, a studio established and headed by Tezuka. The original Tetsuwan Atomu manga stories are now also available in English, published by Dark Horse Comics in a translation by Frederik L. Schodt. They follow the television series in using "Astro Boy" instead of "Tetsuwan Atomu", as that is the name most familiar to English-speaking audiences. However the names of the other characters, such as Dr. Tenma and Professor Ochanomizu, are those of the original Japanese. Chuang Yi plans to publish a more recent manga version of Astro Boy in Singapore. The 2003 Japanese television series acknowledges the "Astro Boy" name. Although the character is still named "Atomu" ("Atom" in English), the series' onscreen title is Astro Robot Tetsuwan Atomu (with the latter part written in Japanese characters) and the scene in which the newly-activated robot is named has been written so it can support either character name. In the English-language version of the series, the character is of course once more called Astro Boy. 
In the original story, Astro Boy was created in Takadanobaba on April 7, 2003. On the same day in the real world, a city in Japan (Niiza of Saitama prefecture) granted Astro Boy a special citizenship. This is in contrast to the hardship Astro Boy went through in the fiction to be a part of human society, including obtaining a citizenship. In 2004, the character Astro Boy was inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame. The series of graphic albums was nominated for the Harvey Award for Best Presentation of Foreign Material in 2003.
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Manga Plot summaryAstro Boy is a science fiction series set in a future where androids co-exist with humans. Its focus is on the adventures of the titular "Astro Boy", a powerful robot created by the head of the Ministry of Science Dr. Tenma (Dr. Boyton in the first series English anime, Dr. Balfus in the second series) in order to replace his son Tobio (Astor Boynton III in the first series English anime, Toby in the remake of the first series English anime) who died in a car accident. Dr. Tenma built Astro (Atom in the original Japanese) in Tobio's image and treated him as lovingly as if he were the real Tobio, but soon came to the fact that the little android could not fill the void of his lost son, especially due to the fact that he wouldn't grow. In the original 1960 edition, Tenma rejected Astro and sold him to a cruel circus owner, Hamegg (also known as Cachatore), who abused the performers. In the 1980 edition, Astro naïvely signed himself away to the circus owner. While languishing in Hamegg's circus, Professor Ochanomizu (Dr. Packadermus J. Elefun in the first series, Prof. Peabody in the second, and Dr. O'Shay in the third), the new head of the Ministry of Science, noticed Astro Boy performing in the circus. He managed to make Hamegg turn Astro over to him. He brought Astro along and treated him gently and warmly, becoming his new fatherly figure. He soon realized Astro was gifted with superior powers and skills, as well as the ability to experience human emotions. Soon enough, Astro Boy became an android super-hero with a strength equivalent to 100,000 horsepower (75 MW). He has the ability to fly through jets in his arms and legs, lift many times his own weight, magnify his hearing up to 1000 times, deploy machine guns set in his rear-end, and is equipped with an electro-heart that can define people's criminal intentions, and bright eye-lamps to assist his vision. In the more recent series Astro Boy was also given an arm cannon and lasers in his fingers. Astro then fought crime, evil and injustice. Most of his enemies were robot-hating humans, robots gone berserk or alien invaders. Each story almost always included a big robot battle involving Astro as one of the fighters. The series explored issues of racism, prejudice, true heroism, and loss. [edit]
Trivia
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The Astroboy March (1963 version)[edit]
Music by Tatsuo Takei; Lyrics by Don RockwellThere you go, Astroboy, on your flight into space. Rocket hi----gh, through the sk----y For adventures soon you will face. Astroboy bombs away, On your mission today, Here's the count----down, And the blast----off, 
Everything is go, Astroboy! Astroboy, as you fly, Strange new worlds you will spy, Atom ce----lled, jet pro----pel----led Fighting monsters high in the sky, Astroboy, there you go, will you find friend or foe, Cosmic ran----ger, laugh at dan----ger, everything is go, Astroboy! Crowds will cheer you, you're a he----ro, as you go, go, go, Astroboy! [edit]
Astro Boy '80s Series Opening Theme (English Version)Soaring high in the sky He may be small, but only in size. Astro Boy, Astro Boy He is brave and gentle and wise. Stronger than all the rest This mighty robot will pass the test Oh we'll endear him, Oh we'll cheer him The amazing Astro Boy. When you need someone strong Our robot friend is there before long. Astro Boy, Astro Boy He will try to right any wrong. When there's danger nearby No matter who, what, where, when or why He will defend us. He'll befriend us The amazing Astro Boy. [edit]
Astro Boy '80s Series Closing Theme (English Version)Come and join us in our melody A song of happiness for you and me Dream of joys, sing about a boy Name of hero Astro Boy. Come and join us in our fantasy We can all be heroes you and me Dream of joys, sing about a boy Name of hero Astro Boy. Trying not to wait so long So tune in for a fight for life Strong as steel and with a heart of gold Dream of love and all your heartfelt voices will be heard Sharing dreams and bringing joy for all. [edit]
Astro Boy animation: 1963, 1980 and 2003[edit]
1963 seriesThis version originally premiered on Fuji TV, on New Year's Day 1963, but was eventually moved to the NHK network. It was the first anime to be broadcast outside Japan. It lasted for three seasons, with a total of 193 episodes. At its height it was watched by 40% of the Japanese population that had access to a tv. In 1964 there was a feature-length animated movie called Hero of Space released in Japan. [edit]
English versionThe English version was called Astro Boy instead of Mighty Atom due to the existence of a comic book character with a similar name. Of the 193 episodes created in the series, 104 were adapted into the English version by Fred Ladd. The manga was not translated into English, although Gold Key Comics published an unauthorized verson in the states.
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1980 seriesThis series focused more on Astro's robotic skills and also had a somewhat darker storyline. While it still had its fun moments, at times the series could be quite sombre and sad. It wasn't uncommon for robots or human characters that featured in episodes to suffer for their actions or the misdeeds of others. During the course of the series, Astro gained a mother, a father and a sister named Uran. The scripts of this version were largely written by Osamu Tezuka, although others were also involved. The story introduced Astro's evil brother Atlas, who was created from stolen blueprints by Count Walpurgis (Walper Guiss in the American version) who was a European arms manufacturer. Characters also had much different personalities. Astro himself comes across much more child like and innocent than his 2003 counterpart. He seems quite unsure of himself but gains confidence with time. Uran is a mischevious character who sometimes thinks of herself before others but does generally have a good heart desipte how she acts sometimes. In the Japanese version also, when Uran featured in episodes the episodes would have special credits differing from the one normally used. Atlas' character is much like that of the Blue Knight in the 2003 series, always trying to get Astro to side with him and wanting to defeat the humans. Dr. Tenma Hardly features at all in this version of the series. It is implied at the end of the second Episode (third in the Japanese version) that Tenma died while Astro was away being forced to work in Hameggs circus. The series ran for 52 episodes and did not have a proper series ending. The U.S. dub stayed quite true to the original Japanese version yet had a shuffled order of episodes due to the way American syndication worked at the time. The U.S. dub was called The New Adventures of Astro Boy, like before when the series came out there was no translation of the manga but an unauthorized comic book version was released. There are two different English language dubs, one from Canada (the version shown in the US) and the other from Australia. While there was no offical ending to the series the final episode in the Japanese run, "Astro's First Love", featured a special introduction by Osamu Tezuka. The 1980 series has since been released on DVD by Madman Entertainment and Anchor Bay, though there are differences between the Madman and Anchor Bay sets. Madman's set having more deleted scenes and the first 2 episodes unedited in Japanese. However the U.S. Anchor Bay set has an edited Japanese track to go with the U.S. edited episodes and has put in some scenes originally not in the U.S. dub. [edit]
2003 series
In 2003, a new Astro Boy anime series was created to celebrate the birth date of Astro Boy. Under the original English name (instead of Tetsuwan Atom), it kept the same classic art style as the original Astro Boy manga and anime, but was revisioned and modernized with more lush, high-quality, near-theatrical animation and visuals. It combined the playfulness of the early anime with the darker, more serious and dramatic Science Fiction themes of the manga and the '80s anime. The anime broadcasted in Japan (on the same date as Astro's birth in the manga, April 7, 2003) with lots of fanfare. Directed by Kazuya Konaka and written by Chiaki J. Konaka. The show was eventually picked up by Sony Pictures Entertainment. However, Kids WB picked up the broadcasting rights. Fans balked at the Dub, as the original music score was changed and show was given horribly uneven scheduling. It was bounced back and forth between Kids WB and Cartoon Network until it was eventually cancelled. TOM, the host of Toonami, the block that aired the show on the Cartoon Network even made a joke during his review of the video game tie in, Astro Boy: Omega Factor that "Astro has no love here in the States". This could easily be viewed as Williams Street's view of the situation as anime fans with their hands tied by red tape in regards to the situation of being allowed to air the show. The entire series is currently available on DVD in one single boxset. However the US set is not fully complete, with one episode in the set being omitted called "Eternal Boy" and replaced with a clip show episode. This is because the episode features a character very much akin to Disneys version of Peter Pan, which if had been included, may have caused copyright issues with Disney. The order of episodes on the set is in the order they were run in syndication which is different from the Japanese order. As characters such as Astro's sister, Zoran, show up in episodes before the episodes they were introduced in for the Japanese version. This DVD set also has a short feature about the shows development that heavily hints at pressure put on the anime developers by Sony to make Astro more of a hero than a boy. This is reflected in the dub as scenes where Astro has emotional moments or where he is acting child like are cut or the script is changed to Astro saying something different. That said the later episodes of the dub do follow along the same lines of the Japanese script. The series, however, had slightly more success in the UK where it was picked up by the BBC for it's children's block and digital only Children's channel from 2003 to 2005. The shows run lasted about as long as the US one (up to the 2-part episode featuring Pluto) after which the BBC stopped airing new episodes. This may be because (as one presenter commented after an episode) Astro was a darker show compared to the other cartoons CBBC aired. The western dub has never been aired fully on TV in the UK or US. Despite how well Astro may have faired in the UK airing and DVD's being advertised, the series has not been released on DVD in the UK. Same goes with the previous 80's and 60's series (which also did not air in the UK). A trailer from 2001 made for this series when it was in development presented several major differences from the final series. With different designs for characters such as Atlas. With the characters speaking in English (with voices completely different to the voices that would eventually end up in the US dub) and animation not found in the final series. Which presents an interesting view of what originally was planned for this series. [edit]
Japanese version
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English version
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OtherIn 1977 there was an anime called Jet Mars (in the English version Jetter Mars) done by Toei Animation under commission by Osamu Tezuka. It was originally meant to be loosely based on Astro Boy, but in the end turned out to be a carbon copy, with only the characters names changed. This series lasted only 27 episodes. Tezuka met Walt Disney at the 1964 World's Fair, at which time Disney said he hoped to "make something just like" Tezuka's Astro Boy. A feature film was announced in 1999 by Columbia Pictures and Jim Henson production. However, nothing has come of this announcement since then. There were plans for a Japanese-Canadian IMAX coproduction, but it was shelved in 2000 while it was early in production. There is a reported U.S. live-action feature being planned for release in 2006 or 2007. There is an animated feature that according to IMDB is currently in production; and is a Japan/US co-production. [edit]
FactsAstro Boy has its own sushi resteraunt in Gushikawa,Okinawa,Japan called Atom boy [edit]
External links[edit]
English
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Japanese[edit]
ChineseCategories: Astro Boy | Animated television series | Anime | Japanese Superheroes | Manga | Programs broadcast by YTV | Shows on Toonami
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