| Astro Boy | |
| Ja Kanji: | 鉄腕アトム |
| Ja Romaji: | Tetsuwan Atomu |
| Genre: | Science fiction[1] |
| Type: | tv series |
| Director: | Osamu Tezuka |
| Music: | Tatsuo Takai |
| Studio: | Mushi Production |
| Network: | Fuji TV |
| First: | January 1, 1963 |
| Last: | December 31, 1966 |
| Episodes: | 193[2] (Japanese version) 104 (Dubbed version) |
| Episode List: | List of Astro Boy (1963 TV series) episodes |
| Type: | film |
| Mighty Atom: The Brave in Space | |
| Director: | Rintaro Yoshitake Suzuki |
| Producer: | Koji Bessho Mori Masaki |
| Music: | Tatsuo Takai |
| Studio: | Mushi Production |
| Released: | July 26, 1964 |
| Runtime: | 87 minutes |
| Related works | |
| Content: | |
is a Japanese television series that premiered on Fuji TV on New Year's Day, 1963 (a Tuesday), and is the first popular animated Japanese television series that embodied the aesthetic that later became familiar worldwide as anime.[3] It originated as a manga of the same name in 1952 by Osamu Tezuka, revered in Japan as the "God of Manga".[4] It lasted for four seasons, with a total of 193 episodes, the final episode presented on a Saturday, New Year's Eve 1966.
At its height it was watched by 40% of the Japanese population who had access to a TV.[5] In 1964, there was a feature-length animated movie called released in Japan. It was compiled from three selected episodes from the series—episodes 46 ("The Robot Spaceship"), 56 ("Earth Defense Army") and 71 ("The Last Day of Earth"), respectively. The latter two were filmed and produced in color.
Between 1963 and 1965, 104 episodes were aired in the United States, adapted to the English language. After enjoying success both in Japan and abroad as the first anime to be broadcast overseas, Astro Boy was remade in the 1980s, known in Japan under the name New Mighty Atom, and again in 2003, known in Japan as Astro Boy: Mighty Atom. In English, all 3 series are simply called Astro Boy.
The first Astro Boy anime is set in the year 2013, rather than 2003 of the original manga. Dr. Tenma, a scientist working in the Ministry of Science's Department of Precision Machinery, loses his only son, Tobio, in a car-crash. Out of grief, he orders the production of a "super-robotic" in Tobio's likeness. Though the robotic is the most advanced anyone has ever seen, he is not pleased with it because it does not grow, and in a fit of rage he sells it to the circus. After this, he loses his job at the Ministry of Science and rarely appears again. He harnesses a complicated relationship towards robotics, mainly believing that they should not be treated as humans but as slaves.
In the circus, where robotics exist but are a lot more primitively made than Tobio (now named Atom), they are forced to participate in fighting tournaments similar to gladiator battles. However, Atom wishes to be peaceful. Eventually, he runs into Professor Ochanomizu, the man who succeeded Dr. Tenma at the head of the Ministry of Science; Ochanomizu is treated much differently than Tenma, being regarded as a savior figure by the robots for his affection and kindness towards them that Tenma did not possess. After realising how advanced Atom is compared to the rest of the other robotics, he sets him free from the circus, becoming a surrogate father figure to him.[6] [7]
See main article: List of Astro Boy (1963 TV series) episodes. According to Osamu Tezuka, the main themes of much of the manga he had created, specifically Astro Boy, were that of anti-war, the preservation of nature, and discrimination, which had emanated from his childhood experiencing the devastation of World War II.[8]
Since Mighty Atom ended up being re-written more than ten times, either due to limits on size or duration in the magazines Astro Boy was published in, instead of just simply cutting or scaling down certain parts of the manga, Tezuka would completely redraw certain panels and sections of the manga to fit and flow better with the rest of the story. This means that it is hard to define what the most original, authentic version of the story is. Also, when the manga was to be made into the anime, further revisions had to be made, including a simplifying of the story to suit the less sophisticated, wider target audience the show was aiming to appeal to.
After a while, since the television company that made the series needed an output of fifty-two episodes a year, the anime quickly outpaced the manga, meaning Tezuka also had to create many original stories for the anime series that would not appear in the manga, for the purpose of filling in the gaps.
The anime was produced by Fuji TV. At that time of production, Fuji TV only had a handful of stations in larger cities before the UHF band was opened for more affiliates, and the Fuji Network System itself was not yet configured. There are many NTV or TBS affiliates airing the anime where Fuji Sankei Group's TV stations have not yet opened, in most cases, they were the only commercial TV station in that area.
◎＝Fuji Television, ●＝Nippon Television, △＝TBS, ☆＝NET TV (now TV Asahi)
Tuesday 18:15 – 18:45
Tuesday 18:15 – 18:45
Tuesday 18:15 – 18:45
For the English version, the producers, NBC Enterprises settled on "Astro Boy" after discussions between producer Fred Ladd and representatives from NBC. NBC Enterprises announced that it would begin syndicating 52 episodes on March 12, 1963,[19] and the first episode premiered on September 7, 1963, in the United States. Following the series' success, NBC Enterprises announced it would syndicate an additional 52 episodes on September 16, 1964.[20] The last of these episodes first aired on June 4, 1965, and repeats of the series continued until it was withdrawn by NBC in the early 1970s. A total of 104 episodes were adapted from the first 124 Japanese episodes and changed from their original order. In addition to this, characters' names were adjusted for American audiences. Frederik L. Schodt, who created the English version of the original comic, said that the names were "cleverly" changed for American tastes.[21]
In one Astro Boy manga story Tezuka expressed frustration towards the restrictions passed by American television networks on the adaptation of the newly titled Astro Boy television series.[22] The U.S. version did not air an episode showing a dog being operated on, as the producers believed it was too cruel and grotesque to show. Tezuka criticized this as hypocrisy, as non-Japanese eat and kill animals in manners he described as "grotesque". Tezuka added that many white people in Africa shot animals for sport, yet people in England spread false rumors about Japanese people eating dogs.[23]
In 2007, 2008, and 2009, Cartoon Network broadcast and webcast NBC's syndicated edition of the original 1960s episodes as a part of its late night Adult Swim line-up. Only the first 52 episodes were aired.
The Right Stuf International and Madman Entertainment have recently released the entire dubbed series on DVD in two box sets. The Right Stuf sets also include episodes 1, 20, 34, 56, and 193 in Japanese with English subtitles, a behind-the-scenes film, and an interview with Fred Ladd.
For Right Stuf Inc. Home Entertainment's region 1 Ultra Collector's Edition DVD releases of dubbed episodes of the original 1963 series, the original English masters were destroyed in 1975, due to Tezuka's Mushi Productions filing for bankruptcy. Fortunately, Right Stuf found the best surviving voice track elements and combining them with picture quality from the original Japanese negatives.
Astro Boy was initially very popular, being the first Japanese animated television series to make it to U.S. televisions, with the highest ratings of any show at the time. However, its popularity eventually declined to the point where only 104 of the 193 original episodes were released in the U.S., the reasons being mainly that it was still in black and white when most television sets were switching to color and many of the storylines were considered too violent and depressing for the mainstream audience.[24]
It was named the 86th best animated series by IGN, calling it the first popular anime television series.[25] In February 2004, Cinefantastique listed the anime as one of the "10 Essential Animations", citing the show's "dark themes and Tezuka's use of sci-fi as a conduit to address such issues as war and intolerance."[26]