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 Astro Boy is the American title for the Japanese animated series Tetsuwan Atom (鉄腕アトム), which roughly translates to "Mighty Atom" (literally "Iron-arm Atom"); 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 and again in 2003. For a while, Astro Boy achieved a similar level of popularity in Japan as Disney's Mickey Mouse. The animated series was produced by Mushi Productions, a studio established and headed by Tezuka.
The original Tetsuwan Atom 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 Atom", as that is the name most familiar to English-speaking audiences. However the names of the other characters, such as Dr. Tenma and Dr. Ochanomizu, are those of the original Japanese. The 2003 television series acknowledges the "Astro Boy" name. Although the character is still named "Atom", the series' onscreen title is Astro Robot Tetsuwan Atom (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. A feature film is due out somewhere in 2005, with motion capture being the basis for this Columbia Pictures and Jim Henson production. 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. Nagamiya Tenma (天馬博士 Tenma Nagamiya) (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, アトム Atomu 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, Dr. Ochanomizu (お茶の水博士 Ochanomizu Hakase) (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. With the help of his assistant Chiyoko Wato, 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 100,000 horsepower (75 MW) motor. He has the ability to fly, lift many times his own weight, shoot laser beams from his fingers, deploy machine guns set in his back, and is equipped with an electro-heart that can define people's criminal intentions, and bright eye-lamps to assist his vision. The series explored issues of racism, prejudice, true heroism, and loss. External links
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