Astro Boy

Synopsis

The show is set in the futuristic year of 2003, where a variety of robots have been developed around the world and have begun working at the humans' beck and call, but are nothing more than machines that move on command. In the midst of this, in Metro City, the renowned Dr. Tenma disappears after trying to construct an AI robot with a "heart." Professor Ochanomizu replaces Tenma as head of the Ministry of Science and discovers a boy-like robot and brings it to life and names him Atom (Astro). He soon discovers he can fly via rocket boosters in his hands and feet, and has superhuman strength and other such abilities, and must deal with robots and villainous robot-hating humans who threaten his friends, fellow robots and Metro City, becoming a hero in the process. Atom quickly learns he is a robotic duplicate of Dr. Tenma's dead son Tobio Tenma, and was shut down after seeing how discarded robots were dealt with by his father, an incident similar to what Tobio experienced before dying.

A new arc occurs with the introduction of the Blue Knight, a gallant robot who starts a campaign to free all robots from mankind. Another recurring character, Acetylene Lamp, goes slowly paranoid about the destruction of all robots and becomes a major antagonist of the series. In the final episodes, the Blue Knight declares a new nation for robots, Robotania, located on Antarctica. Lamp deceives the public into believing a house robot pushed a young girl down a flight of stairs, and the girl's father, Duke Red, declares war on Robotania. Most of the core cast becomes involved in the goal to stop the war between man and machine, until Atom convinces the Blue Knight that humans and robots can be friends. The Blue Knight departs Earth on Robotania, which is revealed to be a spacecraft. However, Lamp, who is still paranoid (despite the fact the robots have stopped their crusade against humanity), tries to destroy the spacecraft with a missile, but Atom blocks the attack and is seemingly taken offline.

Dr. Tenma manages to restore Atom, but erases his memories as Atom so that he can remain "Tobio" forever. Eventually, his memories are restored by his friends from school and his sister, Uran. In one final attempt to reclaim his lost son, Dr. Tenma goes to a laboratory in the Ministry of Science and tries to convince Atom to join him in ruling the world but the latter refuses. Dr. Tenma tries to kill himself to end his suffering, but Atom embraces and forgives him, causing Dr. Tenma to break down and embrace his son. Dr. Ochanomizu and the robotic police come to the rescue, and Dr. Tenma is willingly arrested and sent to prison. In the end, humans and robots start happily fresh and come closer together, and Atom appears to shed tears at the conclusion of the series.

Characters

Astro's Family

Atom (Astro) (アトム, Atomu)

Voiced by: Makoto Tsumura (Japanese); Candi Milo, Mona Marshall (pilot) (English)

A robot with the world's best artificial brain and human-like mind. He was developed by the combined efforts of the Ministry of Science, with a huge budget and all the latest technology, and is modeled after Tobio Tenma, the deceased son of Dr. Tenma, his birth father. He lives with Dr. Ochanomizu in his house. Pure, kind-hearted, and with a great sense of justice, he aims to create a world where robots and humans can be friends. In this series, he makes use of a lot of nimble actions such as flight and speed rather than his 100K horsepower strength, and often gets into predicaments due to being outmatched.

Professor Ochanomizu / Dr. O'Shay (お茶の水博士, Ochanomizu-hakase)

Voiced by: Hisashi Katsuta (Japanese); Wally Wingert, Tony Pope (pilot) (English)

A robot scientist and director of the Ministry of Science. He is the first to sense the "budding of the mind" in the evolving robots, and begins to think that robots need human rights and be friends with humans. He is portrayed as being a bit clumsy and quick to anger, but he is very intelligent and compassionate.

Uran / Zoran (ウラン)

Voiced by: Miki Maruyama (Japanese); Susan Blu (English)

Atom's younger sister robot created by Dr. Ochanomizu. She has 50K horsepower strength, but does not have the ability to fly or use weapons like Atom. She is spoiled and selfish, which sometimes annoys Atom, but she also has a kind heart. She loves Atom as her older brother and is proud of him, but she hates being compared to him. In this series, she has the ability to communicate with animals.

Yūko Kisaragi (如月 夕子, Kisaragi Yūko)

Voiced by: Akiko Kawase (Japanese); Faith Salie, Mari Devon (pilot) (English)

Allies

Tamao / Alejo (タマオ)

Voiced by: Motoko Kumai (Japanese); Lara Jill Miller (English)

Atom's classmate at elementary school who first appears in episode 4. He is a mechanical enthusiast who has converted his air pedalo into a sailing ship. He also loves robots, and is proud to have a friend like Atom. He is a hasty and good-natured person. In this series, he wears modern fashion, but keeps his trademark round glasses.

Kenichi / Kennedy (ケンイチ, Ken'ichi)

Voiced by: Yūko Satō (Japanese); Candi Milo (English)

Atom's classmate at elementary school who first appears in episode 4. He is small in stature, but is very clever and is often the leader of the group. He is not prejudiced against Atom as a robot, and treats him like a human being. He is considerate of Atom's loneliness due to his being a robot, and tries to let him participate in competitions such as sports day, which Atom is not allowed to take part in. His dream is to become a soccer player. In this series, his skin has been updated to be darker, reminiscent of Latin or African descent.

Shibugaki / Abercrombie (四部垣)

Voiced by: Susumu Chiba (Japanese); Sandy Martin (English)

Atom's classmate at elementary school who first appears in episode 4. Because of his father's influence, he thinks of robots as machines that work for humans, and is harsh towards Atom at first, but when Atom tries to help him, he changes his mind and they become close. He is a large man, but surprisingly timid, straightforward and likable. In this series, his face has been drastically redesigned to look white, with blond hair, blue eyes, freckles, and buck teeth. Except for the first time, he doesn't treat Atom badly like in the original work.

Reno (リノ, Rino)

Voiced by: Rika Matsumoto (Japanese); Candi Milo (English)

Rivals

Atlas (アトラス, Atorasu)

Voiced by: Nobuyuki Hiyama (Japanese); Greg Cipes (English)

A combat robot that Tokugawa, a wealthy man, commissioned Dr. Tenma to build in order to revive his son, Daichi, who died in an accident. Controlled by Daichi's lonely memories and hatred of humans, including his father, he begins to repeatedly destroy things behind his parents' back. He is later resurrected as a collaborator of Robotania.

Pluto (プルートウ, Purūtō)

Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese); David Rasner (English)

A robot created by Shadow, with a mission to become the strongest in the world. As he interacts with Atom and the others, he begins to develop a sense of "friendship" and "companionship" in his growing electronic brain, and begins to question the idea of "fighting." In addition, the powerful and emotionless Dark Pluto (originally named Borr in the original work) appears. He is later resurrected as a collaborator of Robotania. His design has been drastically changed in this series, with a brown coloring reminiscent of a bison.

Hercules (ヘラクレス, Herakuresu)

Voiced by: Daiki Nakamura

World Robotting champion who was born in Athenia. A proud, knightly robotics warrior, he attacks with the Lightning Spear and a gust of wind called the Spark Shower that comes out of his shield. His relationship with the Blue Knight makes him question his own way of life, and he follows his ideals and decides to break away from humanity as a warrior in the Robotanian army.

Blue Knight (青騎士, Aokishi)

Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka (Japanese); Wally Wingert (English)

A character who has a major role in the second half of the series. He is a robot in the form of a mysterious blue knight who appears where robots are being abused by humans and saves them. He rides the robot horse Ao, uses a saber as a weapon, and can fire a beam by collecting electric shocks. He used to be a robot called "Blue Bon" that repaired the robots of the players in the underworld Robot Crush organized by Hamegg, but he couldn't stand the fact that robots were getting hurt for Hamegg's sake, and as a result of his rebellion, he was thrown out into space, where he was modified by Shadow and given the power of a Blue Knight. Because of his history, he has doubts about robots obeying humans, and he gathers robots that are in sync with his will as his friends. Initially, he fights alongside Atom, but they gradually come into conflict due to their differing opinions. Finally, he reaches the end of his patience with the AI robot Kipp, who was working for Duke Red, and rescues Kipp and other robots of the same type that were about to be dismantled and disposed of by human ego. In Antarctica, he and the robots he had collected declared the founding of the independent nation of Robotania, an ideal world for robots alone. However, after Atom's desperate persuasion and the willingness of some of the robots in Robotania, including Kipp, to coexist with humans, he makes peace with Atom. He agrees to Shadow's departure for the outer solar system, and leaves with the remaining robots of Robotania.

Antagonists

Dr. Tenma (天馬博士, Tenma-hakase)

Voiced by: Shinya Owada, Yugo Takahashi (young) (Japanese); Dorian Harewood, Peter Lurie (pilot) (English)

A genius robot scientist and former director of the Ministry of Science. He is also the creator of Atom and the main antagonist of this series. He is arrogant, self-centered, and extremely misanthropic, and is described as "loving no one" not only by Atom but also by his late son, Tobio. When he was the Director General of the Ministry of Science, he started to develop an intelligent robot to replace Tobio, who died in an accident, and created Atom, but as Atom's mind gradually grew, he began to rebel against him. As a result, he dares to take Atom to the Plant 7, which processes discarded robots, in order to test him. As a result, Atom gets angry at the sight of discarded robots, and destroys the plant. Fearful of the growth of robots with minds, Dr. Tenma uses the "Kill Ring" to force Atom to shut down his system, and then goes on a rampage to destroy all the robots with minds that were under development. This eventually brought him into conflict with Dr. Ochanomizu, and he was expelled from the Ministry of Science. Later, after seeing Atom being rebooted by Dr. Ochanomizu and evolving through the growth of his mind, he came to the conclusion that evolved robots have the potential to surpass humans as a species, and became obsessed with the crazy dream that his robots, including Atom, would rule the world, and turns into a mad scientist. In order to develop Atom into the most powerful robot, he creates his own alter ego, the robot Shadow, and through him causes various incidents in an attempt to make Atom the king of robots and himself the god of robots.

Shadow (シャドウ, Shadō)

Voiced by: Shinya Owada (Japanese); Dorian Harewood (English)

The creator of Pluto and Dark Pluto. He is a robot scientist who was created by Dr. Tenma, who needed someone who could make a stronger robot to evolve Atom, as a robot that would evolve like Atom. At first, he follows Dr. Tenma's instructions and causes a lot of chaos, but as he watches Atom's battles, he begins to change his mind. He was the one who converted Blue Bon, who had been working as a repair robot for Hamegg, into the Blue Knight, and was also his shadow collaborator. However, Shadow understood that conflict would cause unnecessary sacrifices, and in contrast to the Blue Knight, he was thinking of creating an ideal world for robots through a method other than war. During the Robotania riots, his true face under the mask, which was initially entirely mechanical, became the same face as Dr. Tenma's, and he began to rebel against Dr. Tenma. After the reconciliation between Atom and the Blue Knight, he activated the giant spaceship function of Robotania and traveled to the outer solar system with the Blue Knight and the people of Robotania.

Production

The anime was created to commemorate Atom's birthday, April 7, 2003, as established in the original story. Therefore, the broadcast start date was also set to April 2003. The base of the series is different from the original Astro Boy, as it is more of an epic drama with various episodes depicting the coexistence, confrontation, all-out conflict, and reconciliation between robots and humans in a grounded and serious way. The series has a strong retro-futuristic style that is closer to American cartoons than Japanese animation, and some episodes were written by American scriptwriters. Kazuya Konaka, the director of the anime, testified that the American side had a different perception of Astro Boy as a bright and cheerful action-adventure in black-and-white animation, and had doubts about a story with a serious theme like the original.

The series is also a parent-child drama between Dr. Tenma and Atom, and there are several episodes related to other parent-child and pseudo-parent-child relationships. In terms of the setting, many aspects were drastically changed for the family audience. Shinya Owada, who plays Dr. Tenma, was a fan of Astro Boy. Although the series was produced in a 16:9 aspect ratio, it was broadcast in 13:9 at the request of the TV station.

The director, Kazuya Konaka, was a live-action director with no experience in animation, but he was hired because he had directed the 1996 live-action direct-to-video Black Jack film. Although Konaka was unsure about participating in an animated series, he decided to take part in the project because it was a chance to visualize Tezuka's representative work, and he said that he was able to produce the anime with the support of the excellent staff, including animation director Keiichirō Mochizuki. Many of the scriptwriters on the Japanese side worked on the Heisei Ultra series, in which Konaka also participated, but Konaka said that the scriptwriters were a natural group of people from the generation who had a strong attachment to Tezuka's works, and that Hirotoshi Kobayashi and Sadayuki Murai had known each other from outside the Ultra Series. Tezuka Productions wanted to keep the series on 35mm film, while Konaka wanted to use 3DCG, so they stuck to the already dwindling cel production method with a mix of 70% traditional and 30% digital animation.

Mari Shimizu, who had been the voice of Atom since the first anime, gave up the role on April 6, 2003, the day the first episode aired, so Makoto Tsumura took over the voice for this series. Each episode cost more than $250,000.

Home media

In North America, Astro Boy was released on DVD in one single box set by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in its United States edited form. On May 5, 2015, Mill Creek Entertainment re-released the United States edited complete series on DVD in Region 1. On May 2, 2019, Mill Creek Entertainment re-released the series yet again with different cover art and a slipcover.

Other media

Manga

The anime was adapted into a manga illustrated by Akira Himekawa that ran in the March–July 2003 issues of Shogakukan's Shōgaku Gonensei, the April–May 2003 issues of Shōgaku Rokunensei, and the April–August 2003 issues of Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic. Shogakukan later compiled the series into three tankōbon volumes.

It was also released in English in Singapore by Chuang Yi.

Video games

Two video games based on the 2003 TV series were released by Sega. Astro Boy: Omega Factor is a beat 'em up video game developed by Treasure Co. Ltd for the Game Boy Advance receiving release worldwide between 2003 and 2005. An action video game, simply titled Astro Boy, was developed by Sonic Team and released for the PlayStation 2 in 2004 in Japan and North America and in 2005 in Europe.

Theatrical works

Three original theatrical movies were shown exclusively at the 300-inch theater in the Kyōto Station building's "Kyoto Osamu Tezuka World" until its closure on January 16, 2011. All three films lasted 20 minutes and 30 seconds and were directed by Osamu Dezaki, with Mayumi Morita writing the scripts, Masayoshi Nishida serving as animation director, and Masami Saitō serving as art director.

Astro Boy: Mighty Atom Special Episode – The Secret of Atom's Birth (ASTROBOY 鉄腕アトム ～特別編：アトム誕生の秘密～, ASTROBOY Tetsuwan Atomu ~Tokubetsu-hen: Atomu tanjō no himitsu~)

Released on April 6, 2003. A story about Dr. Tenma creating Atom as a replacement for Tobio.

Astro Boy: Mighty Atom Special Episode – Ivan's Planet - Robots and Humans' Friendship (ASTROBOY 鉄腕アトム 特別編：イワンの惑星 ～ロボットと人間の友情～, ASTROBOY Tetsuwan Atomu tokubetsu-hen: Iwan no wakusei ~Robotto to ningen no yūjō~)

Released on September 13, 2003. A story about an abandoned guardsman-type robot named Ivan.

Astro Boy: Mighty Atom Special Episode – The Glorious Earth - You Are Blue and Beautiful... (ASTROBOY 鉄腕アトム 特別編：輝ける地球 ～あなたは青く、美しい...～, ASTROBOY Tetsuwan Atomu tokubetsu-hen: Kagayakeru hoshi ~Anata wa aoku, utsukushii...~)

Released on February 7, 2004. Two hundred years later, on an Earth ruled by robots, a young boy meets Atom, who is no longer in service and is on display.

Robot: To the Astro Boy of My Dreams (ROBOT〜夢のアストロボーイへ〜, ROBOT ~Yume no Asutoro Bōi e~)

A clip that was produced under the planning and supervision of the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan) as video content for its spherical theater, Dome Theater Gaia. It was shown at the Fukuoka Science Museum and other science museums from April 15, 2004, and introduces actual robot technology with the digital animation of Atom.

Reception

The 2003 version of Astro Boy was extremely well reviewed by Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network, receiving a grade of A+ in every category and comments of, "It's perfect."

The series won the award for best work in the Television Category at the 2004 Tokyo International Anime Fair.