Astro Boy

Astro Boy
Astro Boy
AstroBoyVolume1.jpg
The cover for Astro Boy volume 1 and 2 compilation by Dark Horse Comics
鉄腕アトム
(Tetsuwan Atom)
Genre Action, Adventure, Science fiction
Manga
Written by Osamu Tezuka
Published by Kobunsha, Kodansha
English publisher Australia New Zealand Madman Entertainment
Canada United States Dark Horse Comics
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine Shōnen Kobunsha[1]
Original run April 1952March 1968
Volumes 23 (List of volumes)
TV anime
Directed by Osamu Tezuka
Written by Yoshiyuki Tomino
Music by Tatsuo Takai
Studio Mushi Productions
Licensed by Australia New Zealand Madman Entertainment
Canada United States The Right Stuf International
Network Fuji TV
English network Australia Network Ten, ABC
United States Syndication 1963-1975 , WNEW-TV NYC 1963-1965, Adult Swim 2007-2008
Original run 1 January 196331 December 1966
Episodes 193[2] (List of episodes)
Related works
Anime and Manga Portal

Astro Boy (鉄腕アトム Tetsuwan Atomu?, lit. "Iron Arm Atom") is a Japanese manga series first published in 1952 and television program first broadcast in Japan in 1963. The story follows the adventures of a robot named Astro Boy and a selection of other characters along the way.[3]

Astro Boy is the first, most popular Japanese television series that embodied the aesthetic that later became familiar worldwide as anime.[4] It originated as a manga in 1952 by Osamu Tezuka, revered in Japan as the "God of Manga."[5] After enjoying success abroad, Astro Boy was remade in the 1980s as Shin Tetsuwan Atomu, known as Astroboy in other countries, and again in 2003. In November 2007, he was named Japan's envoy for overseas safety.[6] An American computer-animated 3-D film based on the original manga series by Tezuka was released on October 23, 2009.

Contents

Production

The Astro Boy series consists of several storylines, many of which are self-contained. Frederik L. Schodt, who wrote the English-language adaptation of the series, said that as Tezuka's art style advanced, Astro Boy "became more modern and 'cute'" to appeal to the audience of boys in elementary school.[7] Schodt added that the page layouts used in Astro Boy episodes "became more creative."[7] When designing supporting characters, Tezuka sometimes placed homages of Walt Disney, Max Fleischer, and other American animators. In several of the Astro Boy stories, the first few pages of each one were in color.[7] Tezuka had a "Star System" of characters where different characters appeared ; several characters in Astro Boy appear in other works written by Tezuka. Schodt explained that Tezuka developed "a type of dialog with his readers" since he developed so many stories during his lifetime.[8] Tezuka often had a habit of introducing nonsensical characters at random moments in order to lighten a scene that he believed was becoming too serious. Tezuka sometimes felt trapped by the need to satisfy the young male audience's desire to see battling robots.[8]

Tezuka used "Astro Boy" to imagine, in a 1950s perspective described by Schodt as "analog," a world where man and advanced technology coexist and the issues stemming from this fact. At the time, Japan did not have a reputation for science and technology that it had gained by 2002.[8]

The collection that was originally issued by Akita Shoten under its Sunday Comics imprint had 23 volumes of paperbacks. The stories do not appear in order by the date of creation. Instead, they appear in the order that Tezuka and the collection editors believed was the most appropriate. The collection begins with "The Birth of Astro Boy", an episode which Tezuka wrote in 1975 to make the collection of stories easier to understand. The first "Astro Boy" story ever written, first published in April 1951, is in Volume 15. Osamu Tezuka often re-drew chapters he had created earlier. Schodt explains that therefore, when comparing two episodes written at the same time, one may appear "more modern" than another because Tezuka revised the art. For many of his older stories, Tezuka often added introductory pages in which he himself was portrayed as the interlocutor. The color pages of the "Astro Boy" stories were re-printed in monochrome for the inexpensive paperback versions.[7]

English-language version

The English-language version of "Astro Boy" is an adaptation of the Akita Shoten collection.[7] The artwork was flipped so the books would read left to right, as how the English language reads.[9] Frederik L. Schodt wrote the English-language version of "Astro Boy". For most characters, he used the original Japanese names. The story was set in Japan with Japanese characters and Schodt believed that it was necessary to retain the Japanese names whenever possible. Schodt translated the nickname "Higeoyaji" to "Mr. Mustachio," as it is a nickname. Schodt decided to use Astro Boy's English name. He explained that "Astro" is close to the Japanese name, "Atom": an English word. In addition, Schodt believed that using "Atom" in an American edition of the story would be "going against too much history." Occasionally, names of Japanese characters had double meanings that were impossible to convey in the English-language translation. Schodt decided that keeping the sound of the names was important, especially when the names were famous. In those cases, Schodt tried to use the double meaning elsewhere in the translation. When dealing with minor foreign characters with humorous-sounding names, Schodt tried to find equivalent English puns wherever he felt it was possible.[8]

The editors of the English-language "Astro Boy" comic did not remove content that could be perceived to be racially insensitive. Some content in the "Astro Boy" series depicts foreign people, such as people from Africa and Southeast Asia. The editors of the English volumes explained that in instances the people may be portrayed differently than how they actually were in the year 2002 in real life (the year of publication of the English version). The editors added that some portrayals may show them from an era from a long time in the past, or may show them to be from very undeveloped lands. The editors said that some readers may feel that the portrayals contribute to racial discrimination, especially against people of African descent. The editors explained that while this was not Tezuka's intent, the editors believed that the issue needed to be explained and addressed as some readers may feel demeaned or insulted by the depictions. The editors expressed the belief that it would be inappropriate to revise the works. The editors explained that because Tezuka was dead, there was no way to reverse what he created, and revising his works would violate his right as a creator. The editors expressed the belief that editing or stopping publication of the work would "do little" to end racial and ethnic discrimination throughout the world.[10]

Plot

Astro Boy is a science fiction series set in a futuristic world where robots co-exist with humans. Its focus is on the adventures of the titular "Astro Boy" (sometimes called simply "Astro"): a powerful robot created by the head of the Ministry of Science, Doctor Tenma (aka Dr. Astor Boyton II in the 1960 English dub) to replace his son Tobio ('Astor' in the 1960s English dub; 'Toby' in the 1980s English dub and the 2009 film), who died in a car accident (ran away in the 2003 anime; vaporized in the 2009 film). Dr. Tenma built Astro in Tobio's image and treated him as lovingly as if he were the real Tobio, but soon realized that the little robot could not fill the void of his lost son, especially given that Astro could not grow older or express human aesthetics (in one set of panels in the manga, Astro is shown preferring the mechanical shapes of cubes over the organic shapes of flowers). In the original 1960 edition, Tenma rejected Astro and sold him to a cruel circus owner, Hamegg (the Great Cacciatore in the '60 English dub).

After some time, Professor Ochanomizu, the new head of the Ministry of Science, noticed Astro Boy performing in the circus and convinced Hamegg to turn Astro over to him. He then took Astro as his own and treated him gently and warmly, becoming his legal guardian. He soon realized that Astro was gifted with superior powers and skills, as well as the ability to experience human emotions.

Astro then is shown fighting crime, evil, and injustice. Most of his enemies were robot-hating humans, robots gone berserk, or alien invaders. Almost every story included a battle involving Astro and other robots. Once, Astro actually took on the US Air Force, stopping it from bombing some peaceful innocent Vietnamese villagers (this was a time-travel episode, in which Astro went back from the 21st century to 1969).[11]

Gold Key Comic

In 1965, Gold Key published a one-shot comic book, licensed by NBC Enterprises, based on the US version of the Astro Boy TV show. This was done without any input from Osamu Tezuka, who considered the book an unauthorized or "pirate" edition and denounced the publication as "horribly drawn".[12]

Astro Boy also appears in the premium giveaway series, "March of Comics" (# 285) also published by Gold Key in 1966.

Now Comics version

In 1987, the Chicago-based comics publisher Now Comics issued their own version of Astro Boy, with art done by Canadian artist Ken Steacy, and again done without Osamu Tezuka giving input. Roundly reviled by AB fans as "trashy writing and sloppy art" from the otherwise talented Steacy, the series was cancelled in mid-1988. Today this version of Astro Boy is largely forgotten.

Characters

Media

Manga

The cover for Astro Boy volume 8 from the Osamu Tezuka Manga Complete Works edition

The manga was originally published from 1951 to 1968, followed by a newspaper serialization (1967–1969) and two further series in 1972-73 and 1980-81.[13]

The original Tetsuwan Atomu manga stories were later published in English-language versions by Dark Horse Comics in a translation by Frederik L. Schodt. They follow the television series in calling the character "Astro Boy", the name most familiar to English-speaking audiences, instead of "Tetsuwan Atomu". Names of the other characters, such as Doctor Tenma and Professor Ochanomizu, are those of the original Japanese.

Astro Boy (along with some of his supporting characters) appear in a series of "edu-manga" that tell biographies of such subjects as Helen Keller, Albert Einstein and Mother Teresa. Astro Boy and his "sister" appear in prologues and epilogues for each story and learn about the famous person from Dr. Ochanomizu, who acts as narrator for each installment. These manga were published by Kodansha, Ltd. from 2000 to 2002 with English language versions published by Digital Manga Publishing and seeing print from 2003 to 2005.

In a 2004 manga of Tetsuwan Atom written by Akira Himekawa, the plot, as well as the character designs, loosely follow that of the 2003 anime series. The artwork is quite different from Tezuka's original. This version of the manga was published in English by Chuang Yi, and distributed in Australia by Madman Entertainment.[14]

Anime series

The beginning anime series was produced by Mushi Productions. It 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 four seasons, with a total of 193 episodes, the final episode presented on New Year's Eve 1966. At its height it was watched by 40% of the Japanese population who had access to a TV. In 1964, there was a feature-length animated movie called Hero of Space released in Japan. It was an anthology of three episodes; The Robot Spaceship, Last Day on Earth and Earth Defense Squadron. The latter two were filmed in color.

English-language version

Promotional artwork for the USA release of Astro Boy

For the English version, the producers, NBC Enterprises settled on "Astro Boy" after discussions between producer Fred Ladd and representatives from NBC. (The title "Mighty Atom" for an atomic powered robot, as "Astro Boy" was thought of back then, was considered too generic " a title for a children's program for American TV. ) Of the 193 episodes created in the series, 104 were adapted into the English version by Fred Ladd, and initially syndicated from September 1963 through August 1965, with repeats continuing until the series was withdrawn from syndication in the early 1970s.

The manga was not translated into English until Dark Horse Comics published it in the 2000s. In 1965 and 1966, Gold Key Comics, under license from NBC Enterprises, published a version of "Astro Boy" in the United States based on the English version of the TV series. [The single issue, "Astro Boy" (1965) and "March of Comics"# 285 (1966)].[15]

  • Billie Lou Watt — Astro Boy/Astro Girl/Mother
  • Ray Owens — Dr. Elefun/Dr. Boynton/Dinny/McClaw/Narrator
  • Gilbert Mack — Mr. Pompous/Father/Specs/Gumshoe/Jetto

The 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.[8]

The English adaptation included an opening theme song [by Tatsuo Takai, lyrics by Don Rockwell] with the words: "There you go, Astro Boy! On your mission today! Here's the countdown and the blastoff! Everything is go, Astro Boy!...." The English show's original producer Fred Ladd, claims that the Japanese producers were so impressed by the adding of lyrics to the (until then) instrumental song that they then added words to the Japanese version, starting the "anime music" trend.[16]

In one Astro Boy manga story Tezuka expressed frustration towards the restrictions passed by American television networks on the adaptation of the first Astro Boy television series.[7] 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.[17]

In 2007 and 2008, Cartoon Network began broadcasting and webcasting 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.

Films

Astro Boy in the 2009 CGI film

In 1962, MBS released a live-action movie, a compilation film made up of episodes from the 1959-60 live-action TV series that came before the 1960s animated television series and which loosely followed the manga. The opening sequence (approximately one minute) is animated, and the rest is live action. The movie runs 75 minutes.

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.[18] 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. At one point, Steven Spielberg also had the remake rights to AB. A Japanese IMAX featurette was made in 2005, based on the 2003–2004 anime, titled "Astro Boy vs IGZA", but has only been shown in Japan.

A computer-animated feature film version was released in October 2009 from Imagi Animation Studios.[19][20][21] The English dub features the voices of Freddie Highmore as Astro Boy and Nicolas Cage as Dr. Tenma. IDW Publishing released a comic book adaptation of the movie to coincide with the film's release in Oct. 2009; both as a four part mini-series and as a graphic novel.

Video games

Konami developed and published Mighty Atom aka Tetsuwan Atom (Family Computer game) for the Nintendo Family Computer System in 1988. It is known for its extreme difficulty level attributed to a one-hit death rule.

Banpresto published the Zamuse developed release of Mighty Atom aka Tetsuwan Atom (Super Famicom game) for the Super Famicom system in 1994. Like its Konami developed cousin, this title follows events in the Manga series.

Sega published a pair of games based on Astro Boy. Astro Boy for the PS2 was based on the 2003 anime, while Astro Boy: Omega Factor for the Game Boy Advance drew from various elements from the series.

Astro Boy: The Video Game is a video game based on the Astro Boy animated feature film from Imagi Animation Studios. It was released in October, 2009 from D3Publisher of America, Inc.[22][23] for Nintendo's Wii and DS, and Sony Computer Entertainment's PS2 and PSP. It features the voices of Kristen Bell and Freddie Highmore.[22]

Reception

Astro Boy became Tezuka's most famous work. Frederik L. Schodt, author of the English-language version of Astro Boy, said it had "extraordinary longevity and appeal across cultures."[8] Schodt said that many of the stories are "sometimes" of "uneven quality." Schodt said that as the time becomes closer to "a true age of robots," Astro Boy assumes more meaning.[8] Jeff Yang of the San Francisco Chronicle said "while kids came for Astro's atomic action -- just about every installment included Astro harrowing a fellow robot who'd fallen from digital grace with his fission-powered fists -- they stayed for the textured, surprisingly complex stories."[24]

Astro ranked 43rd on Empire magazine's list of The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters.[25]

The 1960s anime was named the 86th best animated series by IGN, calling it the first popular anime TV series.[26]

The 1980s anime was extremely popular in Australia, Canada, and many parts of Asia, with two different English dubs. The dub shown in Australia (and to a lesser extent in the USA) was coordinated by Tezuka Productions and NTV and produced in the USA. Another dub was produced in Canada solely for broadcast there.[27][28]

While the 2003 anime did poorly in North America, having received poor distribution and having been heavily edited, including the removal of its orchestrated soundtrack and much of Astro's childlike innocence, it was better received in the UK on the BBC, where it ran in syndication for almost three years as well as other parts of the world such as Dubai based MBC 3.[citation needed]

On April 7, 2003, the city of Niiza, Saitama registered the Astro Boy character as a resident to coincide with his birthdate in the manga.[29][30]

Appearances in other Media

  • Astroboy occasionally makes cameos in Tezuka's Black Jack manga, though as a different character.
  • An Astro Boy toy is featured in one of the episodes of the original Macross.

See also

Wikipe-tan face.svg Anime and manga portal

References

  1. ^ "Tetsuwan-Atomu website of Tezuka Production" (in Japanese). http://tezukaosamu.net/jp/manga_syllabary_search/291.html. 
  2. ^ "Astroboy: An Anime Legend". IGN. http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/316/316850p1.html. Retrieved 2010-10-09. 
  3. ^ Solomon, Charles (2009-10-23). "Astro Boy was role model who revolutionized manga". The Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/oct/23/entertainment/et-astroanime23. Retrieved 2010-08-24. 
  4. ^ Lambert, David (2006-07-01). "Astroboy - Press Release for Astro Boy (1963) - Ultra Collector's Edition Set 1 DVDs!". TVShowsOnDVD.com. http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Astroboy/4850. Retrieved 3 January 2009. 
  5. ^ "Profile: Tezuka Osamu". Anime Academy. http://www.animeacademy.com/profile_tezuka_osamu.php. Retrieved 2007-09-30. 
  6. ^ McCurry, Justin (2008-03-20). "Japan enlists cartoon cat as ambassador". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/20/japan. Retrieved 2008-03-22. 
  7. ^ a b c d e f Schodt, Frederik L. "Introduction." Astro Boy Volume 1 (Comic by Osamu Tezuka). Dark Horse Comics and Studio Proteus. Page 2 of 3 (The introduction section has 3 pages). ISBN 1-56971-676-5.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Schodt, Frederik L. "Introduction." Astro Boy Volume 1 (Comic by Osamu Tezuka). Dark Horse Comics and Studio Proteus. Page 3 of 3 (The introduction section has 3 pages). ISBN 1-56971-676-5.
  9. ^ Tezuka Productions and Dark Horse Comics. Copyright page. Astro Boy Volume 1 (Comic by Osamu Tezuka). Dark Horse Comics and Studio Proteus. ISBN 1-56971-676-5.
  10. ^ Tezuka Productions and Dark Horse Comics. "A Note to Readers." Astro Boy Volume 1 (Comic by Osamu Tezuka). Dark Horse Comics and Studio Proteus. ISBN 1-56971-676-5.
  11. ^ Episode "The Angel of Vietnam."
  12. ^ Schodt, Frederick, The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution Pages 88, 89 & 91, Stone Bridge Press, 2007 ISBN 978-1-933330-54-9
  13. ^ "Astro Boy Corpus from Tezuka in English. Accessed 16 August 2008.
  14. ^ http://www.madman.com.au/actions/catalogue.do?releaseId=11210&method=view
  15. ^ Scott Shaw (2005-02-25). "Astro Boy". comicbookresources.com. Boiling Point Productions DBA Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 2008-01-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20080111100642/http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/oddball/index.cgi?date=2005-02-25. Retrieved 3 January 2009.  (no longer links here)
  16. ^ Fred Ladd with Harvey Deneroff; Astro Boy and Anime Come to the Americas: An Insider's View of the Birth of a Pop Culture Phenomenon Page 24 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers (2009) ISBN 978-0-7864-3866-2
  17. ^ Tezuka, Osamu. Astro Boy Volume 1 (Comic by Osamu Tezuka). Dark Horse Comics and Studio Proteus. 34-35. ISBN 1-56971-676-5.
  18. ^ Kelts, Roland (2006). Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S.. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 44. ISBN 1-4039-7475-6. 
  19. ^ "Imagi International Holdings Limited official page". Imagi International Holdings Limited. http://mirrorus.imagi.com.hk/web/main.php?lang=eng. Retrieved 3 January 2009. 
  20. ^ "Astro Boy News and Headlines". WorstPreviews.com. http://www.beyondhollywood.com/category/astroboy-2009-movie/. Retrieved 3 January 2009. 
  21. ^ "Imagi Studios Announces Astro Boy Licensing Deals". comingsoon.net. Coming Soon Media, L.P.. 2008-11-10. http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=50387. Retrieved 3 January 2009. 
  22. ^ a b "D3P official website". D3Publisher of America, Inc.. http://www.d3publisher.us/PressDetails.asp?ID=177. Retrieved 20 August 2009. 
  23. ^ "Astro Boy: the Video Game official website". http://www.astroboythevideogame.com/. Retrieved 20 August 2009. 
  24. ^ Yang, Jeff. "ASIAN POP / Astro Boy Forever." San Francisco Chronicle. June 6, 2007. 5 of 7. Retrieved on 8 November 2011.
  25. ^ Empire Magazine's Top 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters
  26. ^ "86, Astro Boy". IGN. 2009-01-23. http://tv.ign.com/top-100-animated-tv-series/86.html. Retrieved 2009-01-24. 
  27. ^ Schodt, Frederik L.; The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution Page 161 Stone Bridge Press (2007) ISBN 978-1-933330-54-9 (pbk.)
  28. ^ Jonathan Clements & Helen McCarthy; The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917 (Revised & Expanded Edition) Page 37 Stone Bridge Press (2006) ISBN 1-93333-10-4 (pbk.)
  29. ^ Animenews
  30. ^ Animaxis

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