The one issue with Tezuka’s work I’ll always have is…it just was made in a time where crappy stuff like black face, and just the “large pale lips black skin” representation of black people anime tended to have was just the norm. Partially because he kind of created the norm but…yeah.
Also man I just realized that Magnamite is…a dust mite lookin’ thing. Manga-Mite. Nice.
Star #4: =Wato Chiyoko=
Through the ages: Three-eyed one manga, Three-eyed one 1990 anime, Black Jack guest star, “Yuko” 2003
See her in action: THREE-EYED ONE 1990 EPISODE 1, 2003 EPISODE 1, BLACK JACK 2004 EPISODE 2
(All credit for scanlated Three-eyed one manga pages go to The Little Corner Scanlation, read the two translated chapters HERE.)
Tezuka character list bio: Number 02
[b]
Wato’s our first foray into characters that really have no right being here but ARE ANYWAY. She’s from a series known as “The Three-Eyed One”, and whenever something like this pops up, I’ll be specifying the series from which they come in the reference pics. If it’s just an unlabeled date (1963, 1980, 2003), it’s Astro Boy.
As far as her role in the game goes, she’s a generic princess to rescue to get the plot movin’. While it’s kind of eyerolly in how she’s presented as someone who’s gonna further educate Astro only to IMMIDIATELY get kidnapped and not actually teach him anything, I can let it slide just because it would not exactly be fun to have to sit through some math classes just to further her characterization. What I CANNOT let slide is the fact that they chose this particular character for the role. See, Wato should have been less
and more
because she is not a girl you normally mess with.
In her story of origin, she plays a supporting role to the protagonist, one Sharaku Hosuke, a wimpy little second-year middle school student. He’s a dude that’s constantly getting bullied and beaten up, and she’s a girl that’s constantly kicking the ass of whoever is bullying Sharaku at the current moment. She always chews the guy out about his weakness, but sticks around anyway, because the whole gimmick of the story is that Sharaku becomes a superpowered evil psychic when the large X-shaped bandage on his head is removed, and she finds that side of him interesting for some reason.
Pictured: Wato planning the next bandage-removing instance after Sharaku straight-up murdered a couple of people. Again, she is not someone you would normally just lug off, possessing some very respectable combat skills and a whole lotta spunk, with maybe a dash of insanity. She’s also fairly intelligent, not to mention beautiful enough to grab the attention of many of the boys at school.
In terms of the bio’s bandage line, it’s a subtle reference – she’s not really carrying the bandages in case someone gets hurt, she’s carrying them so she can seal Sharaku’s evil side again. And incidentally, Sharaku Hosuke is an allusion to “Sherlock Holmes”, much as Wato’s name is to Watson. I personally wasn’t able to read past the second chapter due to a lack of scans, but apparently this is because the characters spend much of their time traveling the world and solving the mysteries of ancient ruins to try to uncover the secrets of Sharaku’s ancestry.
That’s not ~quite~ all there is to her, though. She’s had cameo appearances in a variety of works (like the Black Jack episode up there), and there’s also a character in the 2003 Astro Boy series named “Yuko” who may or may not be based on Wato. While she’s significantly older than the 12-14 year old Wato of old, she strongly resembles the girl and acts as O’shay’s right-hand woman, much as Wato appears as O’shay’s assistant in-game - I won’t say she’s definitively supposed to be the same character, but the resemblance is certainly there and it would better justify her presence at the beginning of the game. In the show, Yuko’s very organized and forceful, is constantly followed by a flamingo robot named Momo, and spends most of her time forcefully telling off the Professor for not getting to his meetings on time. Again, she’d be more likely to be beating those robots over the head than she would be getting hauled away like a sack of potatoes.
Other facts:
-Is often described as a Tomboy, and has been known to crossdress on occasion.
Yikes, I…didn’t realize Wato literally was like “Hmm this small child becomes a horrifying psionic murderer when his bandage is removed. I want to do this again”.
Tezuka’s works are kinda…messed up at times, aren’t they?
Hell yeah! I remember following the SA tread of this, and it seemed to just disappear off my radar, so I’m looking forward to catching up and seeing this game through to the end!
It’s entirely possible it disappeared off the radar of the creator as well, but yeah goal’s def to knock this one out, glad to know you enjoyed it - hopefully a bit moreso now, I’ve tried to upgrade the whole thing as justification for relaunching it.
I like all the background info here! I’ve always wanted to get into Tezuka’s work, but his stuff seems to be either super long or unfinished. It’s nice to get a crash course on all this.
Every time I work on my own writing I remember the Phoenix saga and think “This is not going to be me”. So god damn tragic.
Stage notes!
(quick 
for old-timey depiction of natives included in the post)
The Pacific Ocean acts as the setting in a variety of different Astro boy stories, most often separating a strange, mysterious area or civilization from the Japanese mainland. From undersea cities built by self-replicating robot bombs, to strange messages in bottles leading to a moving sea serpent island, to radioactive ghost ships, the Pacific is chock full of mysteries aplenty for anyone daring enough to explore it.
In the context of this game, Astro’s sent to investigate a strange phenomenon that’s been melting airplanes mid-flight, one which has stymied law enforcement due to the lethally high temperatures surrounding the site. This particular chapter is interesting in that it’s actually a combination of two different iconic Astro boy stories – as such, I’m dividing it into two parts, and going into one of the stories in each.
The first of these two, “The Artificial Sun”, starts off much the same as in-game. A certain area in the North Pacific has suddenly begun experiencing accidents, with passing ships and planes sending out SOS signals, speaking of giant fireballs, and then ceasing transmission. In light of these events, the ICPO sends a bionic detective to investigate the incident, locate the source, and neutralize it if at all possible.
His investigation leads him to two scientists – its creators, Professors Hirata and O’shay. Given that the former has been dead for some time, O’shay becomes the subject of his investigation, and ends up divulging what he knows about the fireball. An artificial sun originally meant to be used as an energy source for the development of far-off planets like Pluto, the thing didn’t work as planned and ended up being stored and forgotten about until it recently disappeared.
Shortly thereafter, a group of thugs come looking to kidnap the doctor, which the detective exploits by disguising himself as O’shay and getting brought to their Island fortress. Astro himself follows them, with the intent of destroying the sun and reclaiming the detective.
The island itself is usually known as “Fire Vase Island” within the works, and while this particular mashup gives naming priority to the other story involved in this chapter, Fire Vase does make a cameo later in the game. There’s more to the story, including a link connecting the two separate locations, but I’ll get more into those in the upcoming boss and character bios. Still, if you want, you can read it HERE, starting on page 152.
In terms of the stage itself, this is the first of the genre-switches within the game. Astro’s flight capabilities make him a prime subject for some sidescrolling shooter action, and while Ikaruga this ain’t, it’s still a fairly fun switch-up. Gameplay depth is achieved through continuous waves of enemies and bullets (which will later require clever and rapid use of dashes to survive), new types of foes and attack patterns (like ones that explode into bullets upon being destroyed), and occasional midbosses, and overall it feels like a different game altogether. If it happens to be your thing, there’s even a multiplier mechanic in place so that you can score attack! Again, it’s not super-complex, especially by Treasure standards, but it’s still entertaining, and the multiple layers of Parallax scrolling coupled with the upbeat music make it a treat for the senses.
Still, Astro controls much the same as he does in grounded stages, able to boost in 8 directions and use most of his weaponry; notably, however, his primary attack is changed from punching to a continuous finger laser. It’s for this reason that I personally recommend focusing on the laser upgrades when powering up, as they’re the most universally useful.
As for the beginning part of Cruciform Island, BOY HOWDY IS THAT A LOT OF RANDOM CHARACTERS AND CAMEOS, POWERUPS FOR EVERYONE. This thing was a pain in the tuchas to prepare for, but at least it gave me something to talk about because lol at that stage design. That is not a maze by any standards, bad Treasure. It’s boring, it has random water pits that I’m pretty sure appear nowhere else, it has REALLY ANNOYING BAT ENEMIES THAT JUST WON’T DIE, and it has a random statue you have to destroy that had me searching all over to see if it had any relevance to the Artificial Sun or Cruciform Island or any other story but nope, looks like it’s just there ~BECAUSE~.
Oh, and if you were wondering, both Sapphire (no, you can’t enter that weird doorway-looking thing on her statue, I’ve tried) and Kimba will get things pertainin’ to them, just not right yet. Random lion kid too, he has no relation to Kimba normally but it works because he’s a bizarre hodgepodge of like 4 different references, it’s great. I won’t get into his dialogue, but do pay attention to the plot, it’s not all just circlejerking for comic nerds I swear. And finally, I just want to note that I’m pretty sure none of the statues or figures dotted around in the background and floor are references, but I could be wrong! This Kappa-looking thing strikes me as especially weird.
Chapter names:
2 – 1: X Point, Pacific Ocean; 2 – 2: Artificial Sun; 2 – 3: Cruciform Island
Boss bios!
Hornet 63-E
Moveset:
Wasp wave: Continually releases pink energy balls from its back, which then fly forwards. Each ball will come in slightly higher or lower than the last one, giving the attack the appearance of a long, segmented chain slowly waving up and down. Thread between the shots, or else just boost up/down.
Focused shot: Fires red energy balls directly at Astro’s current location. Always used simultaneously with Wasp wave, this attack fires at about ½ the rate of the previous one. Carefully move up and down while paying attention to where the pink balls are to avoid both.
Stinger shot: Used when heath is reduced to half. Flies to the top of the screen, firing a thin yellow laser forwards at set intervals until it reaches the top and stops. Fly in-between or below to avoid, and prepare for its follow-up…
Anthophila attack: Pauses briefly after reaching the top of the screen, then charges at Astro’s current location while firing out a spray of red bullets. Will exit off the side of the stage, then reenter for another charge, coming from the left side of the screen at whatever altitude Astro’s currently at. Drop below the initial charge, boost backwards through the return to avoid. Will repeat the Stinger shot – Anthophilia attack pattern continuously until defeated.
The Hornet 63-E is just another giant version of a normal enemy, undeserving of anything more than a name I pulled out of my ass. Astro’s faced off against a hive of robotic hornets before (who had actually enslaved a decent number of humans to do their dirty work), but this one really has no relation to that particular story.
It’s a fairly standard shooter boss, with some mildly difficult-to-dodge patterns but no real long-term danger. Kinda boring overall.
Artificial Sun
Moveset:
Ceaseless pursuit: Immediately upon engaging Astro, the Artificial Sun will begin to home in on his position in an effort to make contact. It’s incapable of making tight turns, and will thus overshoot you a bit if you move out of the way, but its sheer size make it quite dangerous in spite of this. Carefully either circle around the screen or dash back and forth through it while continuously attacking.
Supernova: Upon being brought down to 66% health, the sun will reduce in size, move to the center of the screen, and sprout 8 tentacles from the holes in its body. At this point, it will continuously rotate whilst bouncing off the four sides of the screen in a counter-clockwise, vaguely diamond-esque pattern. While the movement never changes, its SIZE does; as more damage is dealt to the sun, it will steadily expand more and more until it reaches its upper limit. Said limit is ridiculously huge and results in maybe 10% of the screen being safe, and using an arm cannon will make it grow at an extremely rapid rate, so the utmost caution is necessary to avoid being melted to sludge. Carefully thread the needle between the tentacles, and finish it off with an EX attack before you get overwhelmed.
Manga, 1960, 1980 appearances!
See it in action!
The Artificial Sun, on the other end of the spectrum, is super unique and interesting and kinda sorta terrifying. It’s big, it’s bad, it will utterly destroy you if you are not prepared.
Developed to serve as a power source for the colonization of Pluto, and created in part by Dr. O’shay, it’s a powerful piece of technology capable of creating immense heat, and is equipped with dexterous tentacles because…um…well.
In any event, it’s stolen by a man going by the name of Kim Sankaku, leader of a gang of the same name and all-around bad guy. Using it to threaten and extort the countries of the world for money, he controls the thing from a remote island base via a large, organ-like control center; from there, he’s able to send it to any point he wishes, safe under the knowledge that no living thing can approach it.
For that matter, few non-living things are capable of approaching it, and Astro really isn’t an exception. When he tries to fight it head-on, he gets a thorough sunburn for his troubles, ultimately ending up in a rather sorry state with every part of his body having fused into an unrecognizable metallic lump. Though he does eventually get better (thanks in part to absconding with another robot’s limbs), it’s one of his most dire defeats, and he ultimately has to fling the Artificial Sun into the real one via the organ in order to destroy it.
As such, it makes sense that this particular boss fight is one tough cookie. What it lacks in attacks, it makes up for in sheer screen presence, pushing you to the limit as you try to weave in between its continuously expanding appendages. It might not at first seem that dangerous, but as time goes on, well…
Let’s just say you’re unlikely to ever encounter another boss with this much sheer screen presence.
It’s an interesting style of fight, and while it starts to feel a tad bit unfair towards the end there, you’ll always be capable of getting to a safe spot to finish it off, provided you have the necessary skill and reaction time. My only real gripe is that, on higher difficulties, the thing’s huge health (coupled with the lag its growth causes) can make it drag on for a bit longer than it should. The lag also kinda gives it a cinematic feel though, so it’s at least somewhat tolerable.
Overall it’s a super slick encounter, made all the more cool by its entrance from the background, its highly intense boss music, and the giant unblinking eye Treasure apparently felt the need to slap onto its front. That last one is…a little unnerving.
Oh, also, for the sake of thoroughness, HERE’S that picture Inspector Tawashi shows you at the beginning of the stage, HERE’S one of the pages it’s based off of.
Big Rollie
Moveset:
Amazing three manga, anime appearance!
See it in action!
The Amazing Three will be getting their own bio, so I’m not gonna get into them here, but rest assured this bizarre contraption makes at least a ~little~ sense in-context.
The Big Rollie is the three’s primary means of transportation within their original work, having been created by that horse in there and modeled after vehicles from their home planet. It’s capable of moving at 5000 km/h, can travel underwater, and with some modifications, is even capable of traveling through the air – notably, however, it doesn’t have much in the way of offensive capability.
As such, this “boss” fight consists entirely of them bouncing around at steadily greater speeds, capable of doing no more than contact damage. While said contact damage is admittedly fairly high, they’re incapable of deviating from their standard path, and their health is utter rubbish, so if you just hang to one side and laser them continuously, you can finish off the last 33% or so with a well-placed arm cannon. It’s charming, but not particularly dangerous – notably, however, its boss theme is unique to this fight, and is in fact a simplified version of the Amazing Three’s opening song.
Big X
Moveset:
Boost #3: Utilizes the power of “Big X” to increase in size significantly, becoming more powerful in the process. Used immediately at the start of the fight.
Telepunch: Disappears, then reappears in a location near Astro. Unleashes a devastating punch in front of him, then either performs another (if Astro is in front of him) or teleports away again to repeat the attack. If attacked during this, he will be stunned for the duration of the attack, then teleport away upon its conclusion.
Boost #5: Utilizes the power of “Big X” again to increase in size exponentially, becoming explosively powerful and greatly extending his hitbox. Used immediately upon reaching 60% health.
Manga appearance!
See him in action!
Like the Amazing Three, Big X here’s getting a bio all for himself, so hold your horses. All you need to know is that Big X is both his superhero name AND the name of his power source.
Also like the Amazing Three, the boss fight against Big X is a bit simplistic; he’ll teleport around, but he always gives ample reaction time before punching, allowing you to boost towards him and lay a punch combo down before he teleports away. He does have a bit more health than they do, and his “Boost #5” increases his strength exponentially (in hard mode, getting hit by it spells instant death) which makes him ever so slightly more difficult, but that’s about it.
As seen in the manga page up there, though, Big X has actually fought Astro once previously, in much the same manner as we’re seeing here. This particular stage is filled to the gills with characters from other works, so it’s nice to have a fight against someone with precedent. And, once again like the Amazing Three, he gets a simplified version of his anime theme for music. Check the video embedded HERE and skip to 2:30 to hear it - or go here for however long this upload lasts!
Music!
Another batch of great music, with the Pacific Ocean and Artificial Sun ones being personal favorites. The former is just incredibly happy and upbeat, and then suddenly the Sun’s theme kicks in with these super dark and ominous low tones. It’s pretty damn good. And, of course, there’s the cool homages to the W3 and Big X animes – Big X’s even gets an odd little tone in it corresponding to where some kids yell “Yeah!” in his opening.
One other notable thing – the conversation with Rainbow Parakeet has a unique, mysterious musical theme that isn’t otherwise used ‘til later. Keep it in mind~.
#12: Briefing
#13: Strange happenings
#14: Pacific Ocean
#15: Boss theme 3 – Artificial Sun
#16: Cruciform Island
#17: Amazing Three/Comparison anime opening
#18: Cruciform ruins
#19: Big X/Comparison anime opening
#20: Mystery
Star #5: =Amazing Three=
Through the ages: Amazing three manga, Amazing three anime, Pre-transformation, Pukko 1980 cameo
See them in action: 1965 W3 ANIME EPISODE 1, 1980 EPISODE 27 PUKKO CAMEO.
Tezuka character list bio: Number 05
[b]
“The Amazing Three”, known in the east as Wonder Three and often abbreviated as W3, has an interesting history behind it. The bio alludes to this a bit, what with the different names and the line about changing magazines, but it’s a fairly cool story involving industrial espionage, reboots, Kodansha bans, and reconciliations. I’m not going to get super into it here in favor of focusing on the characters, but THIS PAGE has a good synopsis of the whole shebang, would recommend. It’s a pretty decent read!
Also pretty decent: the work itself. I’m not gonna lie, this one’s one of my personal favorites among the many works represented in this game. W3 is cool in that the namesake group isn’t the only trio involved – there’s actually two other main protagonists, a pair of brothers named Shinichi and Kouichi Hoshi, one of which is a hot-blooded, misguided but justice-seeking youth, and the other of which is a secret agent codenamed “F7”, who foils dastardly plots while living under the guise of a humble manga artist. The focus of the plot tends to switch between them, with the W3 watching from afar and assisting when need be, and it makes the story as a whole kind of feel like a bunch of separate-but-related arcs. Sometimes, it’s about Shinichi’s struggles in life as he gets into brawls with corrupt students and adults, while other times it’s about the exploits of his literally James Bond older brother, who’s working to destroy diabolical facilities alongside his fellow Phoenix agents. It’s an interesting story, and it’s all taking place while the W3 themselves look on…and decide whether or not humanity’s so disgusting they have to nuke the entire planet.
The W3 is composed of three members: Bokko, the captain of the crew who takes the form of a rabbit, Pukko, the Lieutenant who takes the form of a Duck, and Nokko, the Engineer of the crew who takes the form of a horse. The lot of them make up unit three of the galactic patrol, a veteran unit well-known for their previous successes, who get sent to Earth after a summit of planets tie a vote pertaining to whether or not the savages on Earth should be destroyed – their role is to observe the Earthlings for a year, determine their worth as a species, and, if they should be found wanting, to blow the entire place up with an anti-proton bomb.
From left to right, that’s Bokko, Pukko, and Nokko; thing is, in order to blend in with the inhabitants of earth, they need to disguise themselves as earth creatures. As such, they employ a device known as a trans-disguiser, sucking up various fauna from their surroundings after landing in rural Japan, splitting up their genes, and combining them with their own to achieve their current forms…which, incidentally, VAPORIZES the initial subjects, at least in the original manga. Yikes.
It’s here that we see them for the majority of the work. They’re supacute, but they’re also more than a little dangerous, packing alien weaponry and tech in their pursuit of justice, as well as their own human sidekick. They end up hooking up with Shinichi after he saves them from a fire, and as such he often tags along with them and gets exposed to various extraterrestrial toys himself.
As far as the individual members go, each of them has their own personality, powers, and role in the story, which I figure I’ll cover here even though they’re more of a single unit as far as the game goes.
Bokko, the rabbit leader, is the most compassionate and human-siding of the three, taking an instant liking to Shinichi upon landing and generally putting the nix on any premature Earth-destroying. Being a rabbit, most of her powers employ her large ears, ranging from the sensible (good hearing) to the less sensible (shooting laser beams with varying effects from them, speaking telepathicaly), but being a CAPTAIN she’s also usually the order-giver, and as such has the powers of the other two at her disposal as well.
Pukko, the duck lieutenant, is the most cynical, hot-headed and human-hating of the three, constantly complaining about their assignment and trying to prematurely detonate the Earth. He’s really stubborn, trying to avoid getting transformed into a duck and hiding things from his captain on multiple occasions, but he’ll grudgingly admit his wrongness when faced with the facts. His appearance is rather funny in that his hairstyle and penchant to show up with guitars is a pretty obvious homage to the Beatles (who were a pretty big thing in the 60s), though said hair is actually a wig that pops off whenever he’s surprised. For whatever reason, this guy’s the one you’ll usually see popping up as cameos in other works, like the linked 1980 Astro episode or this random appearance in the opening of 2004 black jack.
Power-wise, he’s usually packing heat, but being a duck he’s also capable of flight and can create powerful shockwaves by flapping his wings. He can play the guitar a bit too, though whether or not he’s good at it is up for debate. He’s probably my personal favorite, just because of how much of a jerkass he is.
Nokko, the horse engineer, is the most laid-back of the three, following orders but generally just keeping to the sidelines. He can be a bit goofy and comes off as thick at times, but that’s just the way he is. He often acts as the straight man to Pukko’s antics, keeping him in line despite his technically being a lower rank, and is usually the guy who steers the group back on-track and gets things done.
Despite the obvious setback of being hooved, his power is the ability to create basically anything extremely quickly from whatever’s lying around, ranging from an alien surgery table capable of completely reforming someone’s body to the Big Rollie, their iconic mode of transport.
I went a bit into this in the boss bio for the three, but it’s basically an advanced alien all-terrain vehicle capable of going at superfast speeds, all while looking like a grungy old tire. Glorious.
The three are super endearing, it’s a fun story with interesting plots involving poverty, ecology and other social justice topics, and it even has a definitive ending. The anime’s had some trouble over the years, with floods damaging the Japanese negatives and much of the original English dub having been lost to the MISTS OF TIME, but there’s still enough floating around youtube to get a good taste of it. The theme song of the show is especially catchy, I’ve been having trouble getting the voice actors belting out WANNNNNDAAAAA SURRIIIIII out of my head for the last few months, and it’s made even worse given that the battle theme for these guys is based off of it. It’s a fun show and I’d recommend.
And, for the sake of completion, here’s the dudes they reference in the bio: Shinichi Hoshi the sci-fi dude, Noboru Baba the comic artist, and Yasuo Ohtsuka, whose name only googleresults in a Toei/Gibli animator by the name of “Otsuka”. The pages reference his works on Lupin too, though, so I figure the game just misspells it.
Star #6: =Big X=
Through the ages: Manga, Big X manga, Big X anime, 1980 cameo
See him in action: 1980 EPISODE 28, BIG X ANIME SAMPLE, BIG X EPISODE 1 (will probably die soon)
Tezuka character list bio: Number 05
[b]
Unlike many of Tezuka’s other heroes and stories, Big X conforms more to conventional superhero tales, being a good, strong, cleft-chinned male hero. His stories are more black-and-white, good-vs-evil then some of Tezuka’s other works, with his nickname literally being “BIG X, THE MESSENGER OF JUSTICE.” He’s big, he’s strong, he’s infallible, and he punches Nazis, so he basically has everything a hero in the 60’s needed.
Within his story, Big X normally takes the form of mild-mannered Akira Asagumo, a young boy with great potential. 20 years ago, his grandfather, Dr. Asagumo, was a Japanese scientist hired by Hitler himself to assist Germany’s own Dr. Engel in the creation of a new superweapon, codenamed “Big X”. The two conspire together to delay the production of the weapon, and upon Germany’s defeat, Dr. Asagumo entrusts the weapon’s blueprint to his son, Sigeru.
Unfortunately for him, in the current age a group of Nazi sympathizers come to lay claim to the blueprints, absconding with the secret and planning to revitalize the Nazi party with its completion. Sigeru’s own son, Akira, pursues them and manages to reclaim the final product, a drug capable of expanding the human body without limit – thus does he claim the name of the drug as his own, becoming the super hero Big X and fighting the Nazis (and Dr. Engel’s own grandson, Hans) in an effort to prevent whatever diabolical scheme they come up with next.
As the bio states, the initial form the Big X chemical took was that of an injectable drug, but for rather obvious reasons this got changed when it took to the airwaves. Instead, it appears as a sort of ovoid amulet Akira touches to his body when he wishes to transform, allowing him to expand exponentially in size and also apparently materializing his superhero costume out of thin air.
Given that the source of his power is external, and not actually inherent to the boy himself, a lot of the conflict within his work comes from the misplacing/stealing of the drug – once he’s transformed, though, he’s a real force to be reckoned with, possessing punches capable of leveling buildings and strength capable of dealing with whatever form the Nazi monster of the day happens to take, like the V3 robots he mentions.
From what I hear, Tezuka didn’t recycle the character all that much due to the fact that he “came to represent an overly righteous hero trumpeting justice”; still, though, the series gained a decent amount of popularity (due in large part to the fairly violent depictions of war, concentration camps and other atrocities) which meant Big X would pop up on occasion for cameo appearances. In Astro Boy’s case, he appears in the background of a few episodes, and takes a leading role alongside some other cameos in the bonus short chapter “Slippery Catfish in Imminent Danger,” an odd piece that serves more as a means to combine various characters from the series Tezuka had running at the time. You can read it HERE starting on page 93; it even features a short fight scene between Astro and Big X wherein the latter throws out some massive punches, much like in the game. Quite cool.
Star #7: =Rainbow Parakeet=
Through the ages: Manga, 1963, 1980, 2003, Rainbow Parakeet manga
See him in action: 1963 EPISODE 12, 1980 EPISODE 39, 2003 EPISODE 8
Tezuka character list bio: Number 06
[b]
Rainbow Parakeet is an interesting one in that his character has kind of melded with and absorbed another in order to become part of Astro Boy history. In the original “The Artificial Sun” story, a detective named Sherlock Homespun/Holmspun is tasked by the ICPO to investigate the case of the strange fireball terrorizing the world’s oceans. The dude had no resemblance to rainbow parakeet as we see him here, instead looking like his detective namesake with his British attire and pipe smoking, and indeed, as the story goes on, he ends up begrudgingly teaming up with Astro as they do some detective work to track down where the Sun came from and who is controlling it. He’s a master of disguise, which allows him to infiltrate the bad guy’s lair and ends up being a crucial part of the final showdown; still, though, he never shows up beyond this particular story.
Fast-forward to 1980. Osamu Tezuka’s series “Rainbow Parakeet” is starting serialization, and the 1980 Astro Boy series is going strong. In his own series, RP is a master thief, traveling around and filling in for actors in reimaginings of famous real-world plays, stealing both the hearts and the wallets of his audience and evading capture by the officers hounding him. He’s a talented thespian, but he’s also capable of disguising himself as anyone and mimicking their every mannerism, hence his name – he can become any color of the rainbow, and he’s a master of mimicry. I haven’t been able to read it myself due to a lack of translations, there’s a decent bio here (apparently he’s up there with Lupin the 3rd as the original “Dashing Thief” archetype in manga), but the gist is his powers make him quite similar to classic Holmspun. As such, someone had the bright idea to use RP to fill the role in 1980’s take on the Artificial Sun, and thus, the two individuals combined into one.
He didn’t survive unchanged, though. See, while both characters are masters of disguise, Sherlock Holmspun’s take on it is decidedly…unique. At some point during his work, a colleague of his was captured by EVIL MEN, and though he managed to save said colleague, a dynamite trap ended up severely wounding Mr. Holmspun. Unfortunately for him, his personal doctor was out of town, and the robot surgeons they got to operate on him just cut their losses and replaced HIS ENTIRE BODY WITH ROBOTICS…save for his head.
While some would be more than okay with this outcome, others would be less than thrilled, especially if they’re robot racists. And, as it just so happens, Mr. Holmspun falls into that very category!
An ardent hater of robots, this guy staunchly refuses to work with or interact on any level with an artificial being, and his sudden transformation both exasperates his hatred and puts him into a staunch state of denial, insisting that he remains 100% human despite his physical setbacks. It’s kind of funny to see, even if his pigheadedness puts him at odds with Astro within his story.
Still, though, he’s more than willing to put his new augmentations to use in his line of work, as the cybernetics allow him to alter his height and build to whatever he happens to desire. He uses it to mimic O’shay, the creator of the Sun, and get kidnapped in the doctor’s stead, so at the very least it’s not a complete downer. CHECK THIS OUT, it’s a pretty hilarious demo of his powers complete with DUN DUN DUN DUUUUUUN reveal.
Unfortunately for the Sherlock, the way the story ends up playing out involves him getting a bullet between the eyes and his head replaced with a robotic one as well, creating something of a humanoid Ship of Theseus, but for the purposes of this game that never happens. And it’s just as well, Robo-Parakeet looks kinda creepy.
Oh, and as for that line about Kato the Explosive Devil in the Bio – he shows up a couple times in the 2003 anime, but he’s entirely out of his usual character, instead becoming a mad bomber who insists on communicating with creepy clown versions of himself. It’s more than a little weird, but as it says, the Star System basically lets anyone become anything, so whatever. Alternatively, it could be an entire extra layer of reference, as the official Rainbow Parakeet page shows a character named “Clown Tommy” who greatly resembles the thing, but having been unable to read the series directly I couldn’t say.
Other facts:
-Sherlock Homespun’s body requires frequent oiling, lest he rust up and become incapable of movement.
Star #8: =Wally Kisagari=
Through the ages: Manga, 1963, 1980, 2003
See him in action: 1963 EPISODE 7, 1980 EPISODE 4, 2003 EPISODE 27, JUNGLE EMPEROR LEO APPEARANCE
Tezuka character list bio: Number 07
[b]
Wally, Mr. Mustacio, Shunsaku Ban, Edgar Pompous, Daddy Walrus, Higeoyaji – this particular character has gone by many names, in many works. His list of appearances extends so far that it’s over a page long even when zoomed as far out as possible, and rather than say what he IS in it’d be easier to chronicle those works he’s NOT present in.
Suffice it to say, Wally is about as iconically Tezuka as you can get. Based off a middle school friend’s doodle of his father, Wally’s character is as crude as his origins; a rough-around-the-edges, prematurely bald, short-tempered older man, he’s not exactly what you’d expect out of a hero, but damn if he’s not one of the most enjoyable personalities in the Tezukaverse.
What he lacks in refinement, he makes up for in sheer charm: An old-fashioned country style, a boundless font of energy, and a heart of gold all serve to endear this guy to readers and make every appearance a treat. He’s goofy and weird, but also single-minded and diligent; he’s excitable and violent, but also just and morally grounded; he’s old-fashioned and strict, but also accepting and forgiving. He covers tons of bases and comes out all the better for it.
He’s Japanese through-and-through (in his own words, a “true-blue third generation Tokyoite”), living in an old-fashioned Japanese-style house, drinking sake and eating sushi, but while he’s set in his old-fashioned ways he’s far from a crotchety inflexible old guy. Wally’s always up for adventure and open to new ideas, and while his role in the Astro Boy series is primarily that of a schoolteacher he’s often seen tagging along with Astro on his world-spanning adventures, providing his own brand of humor and assistance along the way.
And don’t go thinking said assistance is minor or everything; Wally’s a man of many, many talents, and is quite a capable dude when he needs to be. For starters, he and O’shay are long-time friends (Wally’s father owned the place where a young O’shay lived and practiced inventing crude robotics) which means he has a direct link to the Ministry and its resources. Secondly, he moonlights as an accomplished private detective, with connections to Metro City’s police force and some sizable deduction skills, which means he’s quite adept at tracking down and apprehending those villains too slippery for Astro to deal with by himself. And thirdly, he is an ABSOLUTE BEAST.
Wally’s packing some serious guns under that dapper suit of his, and he will have no qualms manhandling you into submission (or just straight-up throwing you through a bus) if you happen to piss him off enough. He’s a master of many fighting styles, a crack shot with a revolver, and has endurance enough to be literally crucified via electric cabling only to pop back a little later slightly annoyed, so it’s generally a bad idea to get on his bad side. Wonderfully enough, one of the best ways to get on said bad side is to be an asshole racist around him, which means he’s one of the few reasonable people around to help Astro when things get dicey. He’s a good guy all around.
‘Course, I’d be remiss in not giving some mention to his non-Astro works here, seeing how the bio specifically mentions them. As it says, his design has changed a bit (compare 1963, 1980 pictures to see how the eyes changed to just the pupils), but his personality really hasn’t ever done the same – here he is as a good-natured but crass ramen shop owner (The Three-Eyed One), here he appears as a tough but kind safari guide/explorer (Jungle Emperor Leo), now he’s an old-fashioned but goofy Japanese fisherman (Wonder 3), and, oh look, a dude in the bleachers boisterously heckling a competitor for not playing fair (Prime Rose). When he shows his bushy face, you can always expect more or less the same old Wally you’ve come to know and love, no matter how small or large a role he happens to take.
Lastly, I just want to take a moment to mention his role in Metropolis (2001), seeing as I made mention of it in the video.
This was my first intro to Wally the character, and honestly it’s one of the reasons I like him so much. He’s noticeably younger here, but still possesses the same traits his older self does – amazing mustache, goofy mannerisms, professional detectiving, and inherent kindness. It’s a good movie that I’d recommend, it used to have a full version up on Youtube but it looks like it’s been taken down (a fate I fear a large portion of this LP will fall into at some point, ACT NOW, the 2003 episode 1 links are already down in America), you can probably find it pretty easily at a library or something, here’s the trailer. EITHER WAY, it would be a good idea to watch it, as a couple BIG characters later down the line star in that movie and it’ll make their roles have more impact when we get there.
That aside, the picture above depicts Wally (known as Shunsaku Ban) alongside his nephew, Kennichi, as they try to track down the organ smuggler Dr. Laughton. Kennichi’s often depicted alongside Wally and ~might~ be showing up later, but what I really want to mention is that bluish guy up there. He’s a robot detective that gets assigned to assist Shunsaku in his investigation, and he gets his name when Shunsaku absent-mindedly recalls his old dog named “Pero”. Well…
That dog existed. It was Wally’s dog in a chapter of Mighty Atom titled “The Hot Dog Corps”. And, wouldn’t you know it, the story revolves around a woman who kidnaps dogs, removes their brains, modifies them, and puts them into humanoid robots to create a legion of obedient super-soldiers. The result:
Pero becoming a blue-skinned humanoid dude with line markings extending down from his eyes.
What does this have to do with the game, or Astro in general? NOTHING! But it’s just an awesome detail that blew my mind when I was first starting my research for this LP, having watched Metropolis a copious amount of times, and I wanted to share it~.
And as for the X Point on the South Pacific thing, I mentioned in O’shay’s bio I don’t really know anything, and I STILL DON’T, I NEVER WILL, HERE’S THE OUTLINE PAGE.
Lots of pictures in this one but I don’t care, I really really like Wally.
This is really one of those quintessential “things” about Tezuka that is just fascinating to like, think about. Dude loves his gray morality.
Also Rainbow Parakeet is the most fashion aware Inspector Gadget archetype ever and I love it.
Stage Notes!
Cruciform Island, sometimes known as Crucifix or Cross Island, is our second destination within the stage of the same name. A large, remote, and top-secret location off the coast of Japan, Crucifix Island was until recently a benign and unremarkable location.
That all changed when a standard survey of the area revealed it was hiding a fabulously rich vein of Uranium beneath its soil. Immediately upon its discovery, the Japanese government began a covert operation with the sole purpose of harnessing this immense natural treasure trove, and set upon converting the location in its entirety into a mine and storage facility. Though Japan was initially successful in its goal, collecting riches beyond their wildest dreams below the surface of the island (including gems and precious metals), such a lucrative venture could not stay secret for long, and thus did the hungry eyes of the opportunistic turn towards the island.
As you might have already gathered from the mention of him in the Artificial Sun story and the various dialogues with the personalities dotting the island, these eyes manifested themselves in the form of Mr. Kim Sankaku and his gang. The game refers to him and his group as “The Kinsankaku”, but regardless of spelling it’s a name that translates to “The Golden Triangle”. He’s leader of an international criminal enterprise, and each and every one of them wears said golden triangle upon their clothes – if you look closely when Astro jumps down, you can even see Kim himself sporting it.
It’s Kim that ties the threads of this chapter together, bringing two of his schemes together to create an entirely new one, and the stage is lovingly crafted from top to bottom with this in mind. Whereas Sherlock Holmspun fit in with the Sun, Wally was originally a temporary teacher training the robot workers on-site, among them both Astro himself…and an incomplete, rebellious child robot named Pook with the ability to transform. Astro’s fall down a large pipe into the factory area mirrors a similar structural layout in the original story. The large cargo elevator harkens back to the original purpose of the area, and Kim’s dialogue about finding “the treasure” beneath the island but only finding Pook is a great nod to the original work. It’s all very well done and never fails to bring a smile to my face, ESPECIALLY when the game has all the heroes of justice assemble to the villain’s utter bemusement. And, of course, if you want to read the original story for yourself, you can do so HERE.
In contrast to the ruins above, the factory setting is fairly straightforward and free of distractions, save for the V3 robots Kim bought (presumably straight from Hitler). They go down fairly easily, and the lift ride down only lasts as long as the enemies that guard it, but do try to go wild during your descent – a certain someone’s tucked away rather discretely, and while you’ll more than likely find him by kicking the enemies around or throwing out a random arm cannon, it never hurts to be careful.
GAH. What are you doing back there Magma, you are terrifying.
Chapter names:
2 – 4: Dreadful Robots V3; 2 – 5: The Elevator; 2 – 6: Transformable Robot “Pook”
Boss Bios!
Dreadful robot “V3”
Moveset:
Flail: Raises arms above its head twice, then walks straight forwards while flailing its arms wildly. Hits in front of, behind, and above its body, so get out of the way and laser it from a distance.
Butt press: Raises arms above its head once, keeps them there for a short while, then leaps into the air towards your location, attempting to crush Astro with its posterior. Simply move out of the way.
Big X manga, anime appearance!
See it in action!
DREADFUL ROBOT: V3. Big X mentioned these big guys by name, making reference to Kim’s purchase of them from “the evil country Carthage”, but to be honest I don’t know too much more about them given that I can’t find any sizable resources on Big X’s series. Regardless, they show up prominently on cover art, and a fight against one can be seen at 3:15 via the anime link up there, so presumably they’re a recurring foe within Big X’s universe. I’d further posit that it was Germany that created them, but that’s mainly just because I’d like to imagine the Führer tinkering in his robot workshop.
Like many of the other small minibosses encountered so far, the V3 robots aren’t especially threatening, with largely telegraphed and easily dodgeable moves; after taking the first one out, however, you suddenly get FOUR dropped on your head without warning, and unless you already know they’re coming it’s pretty much guaranteed to damage you. Their numbers can be a bit discouraging, but thankfully an arm cannon’ll pierce through all of their large frames and take them out super quick.
…I’m not sure what’s up with that weird gargling noise they make when they’re flailing, though. Hitler has a sense of humor?
Pook
Manga, 1960, 1980 appearance!
See him in action!
Pook, hoo boy. The instant many of you saw the fight begin, one name likely flashed across your mind: Seven Force. Since its debut as Gunstar Green’s personal shape-shifting weapon/ship in Gunstar Heroes, this boss has had multiple cameo appearances and callbacks in varying Treasure works; in fact, there’s actually already been one reference to it in-game (the naming of Astro’s powers as his “Seven Forces”). But Pook here really drives the point home with his shape-shifting boss battle. And, like his predecessors, he is a BLAST to take down.
Contrary to expectations, he only has 4 separate forms within this fight, which is admittedly a little odd; he DOES, however, transition between 7 phases at random as his health bar depletes, meaning you’ll get a couple repeats. I kinda figure he was probably planned to have more forms, like perhaps a dog or horse, but for whatever reason had to be downgraded.
THAT ASIDE. I am going to be holding back on Pook’s individual bio for ~reasons~, so here’s the rundown on this guy: Pook was created by a man named Dr. Tozawa at a time when transformable robots were all the rage. Tozawa went all-out in his creation, but to do so stole funding from the Ministry of Science, and ended up arrested before he could finish up Pook. As such, the robot boy was left in an unfinished state, became bitter and uncontrollable, and was eventually transferred into the underground Crucifix Island robot school. Neither his appearance nor his personality were at all the meek, friendly one seen here, and he frequently got into brawls with the other students; he did, however, care strongly for his creator, and when Tozawa (with two other escapees) orchestrates a prison break and travels to the island Pook is overjoyed to be reunited with his creator.
Tozawa fixes up the little bot, allowing him free reign over his transformative powers, and uses him in an attempted robbery of the island’s riches, but unfortunately for him one of his escapee comrades turns out to be an underling of Kim Sankaku, who kills Tozawa and attempts to exploit Pook for himself. Like in-game, Pook briefly fights for Kim, but ultimately ends up joining forces with Astro when he learns what’s happened to his father. Skunk, the second bad guy shown with Pook in-game, isn’t actually part of this story, but he IS known for manipulating little kid robots – he’ll get more love later, as he’s actually another one of my personal favs.
Pook has a plethora of transformations, each with their own style of attacking, so they’re each getting their own section as well. This LP is nothing if not thorough.
Quntole Force
Claw swipe: swoops down in an arc towards Astro, attempting to hit him with its talons. Jump above the talons, or boost through its body.
Fire breath: moves to one side of the arena and shoots out a variable amount of fireballs diagonally downwards. The fire’s trajectory is also variable, but generally won’t reach the opposite side of the arena, so move away from Quntole and wait it out.
Feather dance: usable at any point, Quntole fires a series of orange feathers upwards past the top of the screen, which then rain down as flaming projectiles. They can either come straight down or at an angle with varying speeds of decent, so watch out and attempt to dodge in-between them. Each feather does paltry damage, however, so don’t worry too much.
Original Pook transformation!
“Quntole” is purported to mean “Condor” in “Quechuan”, the language of the Inca Empire, but as noted by the copious amounts of quotes there I am not exactly an expert on the language. What I CAN tell you is that, like the Cruciform ruins above, this boss fight has a lot of central/south American influences. Recognize this?
That’s one of the famous Peruvian Nazca Lines, and a slightly altered version of it shows up upon the transformation’s initiation. Each of Pook’s forms has one of these glyphs, and it’s a super-cool way to tie him into the ruins he was excavated from. Also cool: this form greatly resembles one of Seven Force’s own transformations!
As far as the form’s battle goes, it’s visually impressive but not very powerful. Quntole’s fire honestly doesn’t harm you a ton, presumably because we’ve already been exposed to heat exponentially more intense, and the only real danger is the heavily telegraphed claw attack. Moreover, Quntole is the largest of Pook’s four forms, and is thus quite easy to punch to death. Cool-looking, but that’s about it.
Leo Force
Aura: conjures up a green energy aura, protecting Leo from any and all forms of damage. Wait it out.
Maul: used if Astro’s standing directly next to him. Grabs you and gnaws you for a bit, dealing MASSIVE damage and sending you flying. Don’t let this happen.
Pounce: roars and jumps towards Astro’s current location, dealing damage if he connects. Boost towards and through him or back away.
Original Pook transformation!
Pook’s always had a lion form for a transformation, but this one’s special. I got into it when he first appeared on the surface, but this guy’s Leo the Lion, better known to western viewers as Kimba the White Lion. His is one of the top three most successful Tezuka works, having been made and remade a copious amount of times; you can watch one of many episodes HERE, or check out the full-length theatrical movie HERE.
Leo’s story is divided into two distinct parts, one focusing on his life as a cub and maturation into an adult, and the other looking at his later life as ruler of the jungle and father to two children of his own, with the latter being where the in-game design is pulled from. He’s a majestic, powerful and intelligent creature, but as far as I’m aware was NOT capable of conjuring up green energy auras and did not possess that gold/red gem that Pook’s forms consistently have. Close enough, anyway.
The fight against Leo Force is simultaneously the easiest and the most difficult phase; Leo force is the hardest-hitting of the four, and is capable of covering large swaths of ground in very short order, but on the flip side of things he has absolutely no method for dealing with enemies behind himself. This means that if you manage to get behind him, it’ll take him a few seconds to turn around and prepare a counterattack, so if you time your strikes right you can punch him in the rear a few times, boost to the other side when Leo turns, and then repeat ad infinitum. As long as you make sure to control the big kitty’s position it’s cake, but if you can’t manage it you’ll take some serious lumps. EX skills are useable, but not entirely recommended, as Leo has a knack for activating his aura and tanking the whole thing.
Hanumaan Force
Simian strike: extends his tail either directly ahead or diagonally upwards towards Astro, tipped with a green energy aura. Has a deceptively long range, so try to stay behind Hanumaan as much as possible.
Grapple tail: Same as above, but follows it up by rapidly pulling himself to his tail’s tip, rather than retracting the tail back to himself. Facilitates rapid movement and can catch you off-guard, so pay attention to his location.
This one does not have an ORIGINAL POOK TRANSFORMATION, because as far as I’ve seen Pook never actually transformed into a monkey. It’s a pretty darn iconic Nazca line though, so WHY NOT.
Its name is presumably derived from the Hindu God Hanuman, who is commonly associated with monkeys, and it’s the fastest of Pook’s forces. Hanumaan strikes swiftly and relentlessly, turns and moves extremely fluidly, and is quite honestly probably the most difficult one for me. His tail extends -just- under the length of the screen, which means you can hypothetically just stay on the opposite end and laser him, but his ability to move to his tail’s location means that won’t be lasting long and you’re probably better off just getting close and punching/supering him as quickly as you can. Alternatively, use your machine guns; they have the fun effect of stunning many enemies in place, Pook included, which’ll give you some breathing room and let you follow up with some punches.
Bahamute Force
Submerge: hides himself within the ground, remaining visible through a moving section of water but otherwise becoming invulnerable. Move about to ensure he’s never directly below you, and prepare to attack.
Splash: leaps out of the ground with a large splash of water, then falls back into it. Damages on the ascent, but NOT on the descent, so read the arc and either time a laser or get a punch in.
Shark slicer: raises his dorsal fin above the surface with a SHINNNG sound, then swims back and forth on the ground in an attempt to cut Astro with it. The speed of this attack varies from so fast it’s impossible to counter to as slow as a snail; if it’s fast, jet in the air a few times to wait it out, and if it’s slow then immediately laser it, hopping over it if it reaches you.
Original Pook transformation!
Bahamute Force is our last form for the day, and while many/most of you probably go straight to the “Final Fantasy” part of your brain upon hearing that name it’s far more likely a reference to Bahamot, the fish that supports the earth in Arabian mythology.
This form delights in hiding from you, staying submerged more often than not and making damaging a pain; as such, immediately upon transformation you should try to get an arm cannon in on it to save yourself some hassle. Afterwards, your best bet is tracing its movements and moving accordingly – trying to snipe it when it emerges is ideal, but it can be tricky to hit Bahamute when it’s using splash, so your real goal here is to get it to expose its dorsal fin. One it does, use a laser finger, but don’t go for more than one – if it decides to use a faster version of the attack, you’ll be trapped and unable to dodge, so instead do a quick hop and check the speed before countering. Bahamute’s a little annoying to damage, so you might want to save your supers for him.
Music!
Only one new track, but that’s okay because it’s Pook’s battle theme and it is great.
Unlike some other Seven Force callback fights, it’s not sporting the classic music or any variation thereof as far as I can tell (the intro notes kinda resemble parts of it?), but on the flipside it has a very…ethnic feel to it. It feels like “ancient ruins boss”, is what I’m saying, and I really like how it sounds.
Star #9: =Magma=
Through the ages: Ambassador Magma manga, A.M. Live-action, A.M. Anime, 1980 cameo
See him in action: 1966 LIVE-ACTION OPENING, 1993 A.M. ANIME EPISODE 2, 1980 EPISODE 28
Tezuka character list bio: Number 30
[b]
It’s a rocket! It’s a man! It’s…A ROCKET-MAN!
“Ambassador” Magma holds a special place in history as the star of the world’s first full-color Tokusatsu, predating even the famous Ultraman. He’s large, he’s metallic, and he has visible bolts, but he’s NOT a robot – don’t be fooled. Like many of Tezuka’s other main stars, Magma’s a fighter of the people, a defender of justice; unlike his peers, however, his duties are a little more…cosmic in scale.
He was born deep within the Earth’s crust, made by a kindly old man known only as “Earth”. He’s a being of living metal, a golden giant, created for the sole purpose of protecting the Earth, and he’s quickly put on full-time duty seeing as the Earth soon finds itself threatened by a menace from outer space – the interstellar conqueror, Goa. Goa’s a force of universal evil, a plague that’s spread across the galaxy, and Earth is but the latest target of his ambitions.
It’s Goa that serves as the primary antagonist of Magma’s story, sending minions and monsters alike down to Earth’s surface in an attempt to ready it for his invasion. In turn, Magma fights the extraterrestrial onslaught off utilizing his host of superpowers: His large size and strength, his laser-firing antennae, his turbo-powered arms, and the arsenal in his chest are all powerful tools in his fight for Earth.
Magma’s not hoofing it alone, though. He’s a family man, and has a Rocketonian wife and son waiting for him to come home, or occasionally going out to do some of the heavy lifting themselves. Wifey’s named Mol, and the kid’s named Gum… and is based upon yet another character.
Defending the Earth’s a full-time job, after all, and the more the merrier, so co-staring with Magma is the Japanese Murakami family. This here’s the father, Atsushi, alongside his wife Tomoko – He’s a newspaper reporter, and is one of many charged by Goa to spread the word of the impending invasion. And this little tyke’s Mamoru, who manages to snap a pic of Goa and gets himself involved when Magma comes looking for the picture and takes a liking to the kid. Gum’s based on him, and as Mamoru’s already in the thick of things, he gets presented with a spiffy little whistle with which he can summon Magma and co. This whistle is the same as the one given to Astro in this game, and can be used to summon any of the three Rocketonians for assistance in fighting the forces of evil; they’ll drop what they’re doing, engage transformation and –
The game doesn’t really make this clear, but the classification “Rocketman” is not hyperbole – Magma is literally a man, that is also a rocket. He (and his family) are all capable of transitioning into a sleek, streamlined vehicular mode, and while it varies between a smooth and rough transition depending on the adaption, the end result is always an elegant, efficient, and deadly fighter more than capable of holding its own in an aerial battle. This allows Magma and Co. to rapidly come to Mamoru’s aid, to fight Goa in the air, and even to transport humans within their bodies – and it’s pretty damn cool besides.
As for Magma’s Astro appearances: They don’t exist! The only time he’s popped up in an Astro work is as a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in the 1980 show, where he showed up (alongside Big X) in a big movie studio packed with various Tezuka characters. Having said that, though, he’s fairly famous in his own right – that live-action thing WAS pretty big at the time, and even got an English dub under the name “The Space Giants”, that links to the first episode for your viewing pleasure. It’s definitely a product of its time, and shows its age, but it’s actually still fairly enjoyable despite this. If you’re looking for something a little more modern, the 1993 OAV series might be more up your alley; it’s nicely modernized (for the ‘90s, at least) and has some pretty great gross alien action.
Other facts:
It’s such a tiny detail, but just the name “Ambassador Magma” is hilarious. It’s like…a really good name that gets across what he is, but it’s still just goof enough to work perfectly. Also god I forgot entirely about Pook and his being a Seven Force styled boss. Treasure loves them some transforming mecha, so I imagine when they discovered Pook was a thing they went full throttle with it, as much as they could.
Stage Notes!
The Tokugawa Lunar Mine & spaceport is but one of the many holdings of the Tokugawa Corporation, a world-spanning conglomerate with fingers in many of the world’s technological and resource-related pies. Its President and CEO, Mr. Tokugawa, is a self-made man who has devoted his entire life towards building the company towards ever further heights, and has since been rewarded handsomely; he’s the single richest man in the world, and one of its most influential figures.
The Lunar Mine is both the top-earning facility of the corporation and the main headquarters of the same. With a complex extending over 1,500 meters below the surface of the moon, and with a myriad of branching offices and stations, it is so efficient and high-yield it single-handedly produces enough energy and fuel to power the entirety of Metro City – one of the largest and most technologically advanced metropolises on the planet. Because of this (and other feats), the Tokugawa group is world-renowned for their business acumen and contributions to society; recently, however, the aging Mr. Tokugawa has been grooming his son Daichi to take the wheel in his stead, despite some misgivings within the upper management relating to said son’s history and activities…
The Tokugawa Mine, and this story’s main premise as a whole, is lifted more-or-less wholesale from a pair of 2003 episodes (numbered 6 and 7 in the English release) created for the third animated Astro Boy show. Notably, however, while both Daichi and his father are new characters, the MAIN focus of the story – Atlas – is a very important recurring cast member, and through his mere presence makes the episodes into something of a reimagining of older plots. Moreover, the whole “moon base” vibe, plus the numerous cameos from entirely unrelated works, make this stage in particular feel like it doesn’t belong to any one distinctive show.
See, Astro Boy’s a series from the 50s and 60s. During this time, certain things had happened, and certain things had yet to happen. It was a time of wonder and scientific discovery, and as a work of science fiction, Astro frequently found himself heading the journey into the vast depths of the final frontier. From tightly-controlled journeys to the distant surface of Mars, to brightly-lit and bustling commercial spaceports, to, yes, expeditions to the moon and whatever secrets it might hide, space has always held a special place within the adventures of Mighty Atom, and the Tokugawa plant is just the latest in a time-honored tradition.
The stage has got some nice scenes and a low gravity gimmick (the artificial gravity device is broken!), but to be honest, it’s also one of my favorite examples of where this game is lacking in polish. Omega Factor’s strengths lie the research and love given to Tezuka’s work history, its strong plotting (for the genre), its charming visuals, and its amazing boss fights, but I cannot deny it’s majorly lacking in the STAGE DESIGN department. Fighting in this game is simplistic and fast; enemies are fodder, nothing more, and serve only as a passage from one section to another. In Metro City and Cruciform Island, they got it right, throwing only a few enemies at a time at you and allowing the player to straight-up skip a large fight scene if they so choose, but HERE the screen has a nasty habit of locking on you, forcing you to sit your ass down and pick off the enemies one by one, and the stage just does NOT accommodate this. Early-on, there’s a big vertical section with a bunch of giant mooks spawning in from nowhere, and because the screen arbitrarily locks on you, you have to spend a minute and a half slooooowly jumping up, punching a few of them, falling down, punching a few more, rinse, repeat. It’s not especially fun, and they really should have either spiced the place up a bit, allowed you to move on, or given you an extra way to bypass the annoyance. And it keeps happening after that too; walk forward, lock, fight lower enemies, fight upper enemies, move forward a bit more – and then they throw godawful bat enemies at you in an environment not at all suited to fighting them!
It just really annoys me, because there’s bits and pieces of what could have been there; the stage follows the layout seen in the pic at the very top of all these words for the most part, but leaves out the cool little vent passages that would’ve let a savvy player bypass the annoying bits! They include environmental obstacles that could’ve been used to make some sort of platforming challenge, but never really get capitalized on! It’s grating at best, but at the very least it culminates in a VERY fun boss battle and a cool scene, so it’s not a total wash.
…now I just have to wait for someone to inform me I’ve missed some giant shortcut all this time.
Chapter names:
3 – 1: Tokugawa Plant on the Moon; 3 – 2: Goblin Roboid; 3 – 3: Power Plant Reactor; 3 – 4: Observation Deck; 3 – 5: Astro Vs. Atlas
Boss bios!
Goblin Roboid
Moveset:
Slam: Rears back and tenses for a moment before slamming one of its beam swords into the ground in front of it. Does a decent amount of damage, but is very highly telegraphed, so just dash through and punish it. The Roboid moves forward a bit upon use, so don’t underestimate its range.
Lunge: Poses with both of its swords behind its back, then attempts a lunging stab low to the ground. Used exclusively when Astro’s a fair distance away from it and covers a decent amount of horizontal ground, but like the slam it’s telegraphed for a good second, so dashing towards and through the Roboid will get you out safely.
Super combo: Rears back while its eye shines a bright red, then immediately performs a slam followed by a lunge. This is the one to watch out for, as it comes out quick and with very little warning; make sure not to commit to a longer punch combo if you’re hurting, as this can easily kill.
Goblin minions: A series of Roboids half the size of the main one will stream in from the sides of the arena as long as the main one survives; each possesses the same moves as the main one, but goes down to a single hit, so just turn around whenever one approaches and smack it.
Astro Boy manga, Duke Goblin manga appearance!
“The Roboids that appear on the moon are the robots from “Duke Goblin.” Since they are controlled by psy power, they cannot act through their own will. The original Astro Boy story features an episode entitled “Roboids” as well. They are super robots who evolved to have the ability to self-reproduce.”
That quote’s an excerpt from Mr. Tokugawa’s extended bio in-game. It is also, incidentally, the only real info you get on these things. I’ve always found their presence to be one of the biggest enigmas in the game; I mean, the V3 robots were justified as being bought by Kim, they went out of their way to establish that, but here it’s just “SUDDENLY: MINIBOSS”. There’s no reason for them to be here, and Astro straight up goes “Goblin shaped Roboid!” like it aint’ no thang, and it’s just ugh, UGH, why are you here Roboid, stop.
REGARDLESS. Roboids are something of an enigma to me outside of the game as well; Duke Goblin’s another one of those lesser-known series, and as such is lacking in both English adaptions and in animations, primarily due to the fact that Tezuka bit the dust shortly after making it. From what I can gather, the Goblin itself is a giant bronze statue created in ancient China, possessing extreme psychic and destructive power but no conscious will or means of animation on its own; it seems like an interesting enough story, but the Roboid seen here only bears a passing resemblance to all the pictures I’ve managed to dredge up of the original Goblin, which makes me suspect that it’s merely a hastily shoehorned-in reference.
Much more relevant, in my opinion, is the Astro Boy story titled “Roboids”, but again, they don’t really resemble the ones seen here, and in fact each have their own distinct look and personality rather than all being carbon copies of each other. The name is a sort of derivative of android, in that androids are robots that look like humans while Roboids are things that look like robots but aren’t, and they starred in a rather lengthy story involving their quest to gather resources from Earth and DESTROY THE HUMAN RACE. They “evolved” from normal robots on a distant planet where their creators died out, and, like the Duke Goblin version, possess some psychic abilities, which is presumably why the two characters are being crossed over here. They’re capable of reproduction, but the force sent down to Earth is pretty soundly routed by Astro and a hodgepodge of other battle bots, leaving Astro the sole survivor, not including a couple non-battle Roboids who skedaddle.
As for the fight against them, they’re more of a threat than the V3s were I’ll give em that, but at the same time there’s only really one attack you have to watch out for, and you’re given more than ample time between enemy attacks to strike back so it’s not too big an issue. They’re very raucous and wield twin lightsabers though, so you certainly won’t be bored.
Atlas
Moveset:
EX dash: Pauses in the air for a moment, then boosts in any of the 8 primary directions at high speed, while holding his fist in an extended position not unlike our own EX dash. Initially only performs a single dash, but as his health depletes, Atlas will begin stringing multiple EX dashes seamlessly together, each time targeting whichever direction will bring him closest to Astro’s current location. On normal mode, it seems he’ll cut it off at four dashes, but on hard, be prepared to dodge SEVEN of these things in a row once he’s hurting. Also, he’s invincible while performing the move. Try your best to guide his dashes away from you, and finish him off before he starts the really nasty chains.
Arm cannon: Pauses in midair, swiftly converts his forearm into a cannon, charges, and fires a MASSIVE blast of energy that covers over half the screen. Extremely damaging, but possesses the same weakness as Astro’s version: Atlas’s back remains vulnerable, so maneuvering around behind him can score you a free hit. Furthermore, your arm cannon actually takes priority and will shield you from his attack, meaning using it upon the move’s activation will allow you to both avoid damage AND counterattack. He’ll often quickly transition into this move whenever his EX Dash lands him in a position with a clear shot, so be ready.
Factor overload: Used upon reaching 50% health, and after the conclusion of the mid-battle dialogue. Becomes briefly invincible, charges up an aura, and produces a large beam of energy which slowly orbits around Atlas’s body for the duration of the second half of the battle. This form removes his ability to use his arm cannon, meaning he’ll do nothing but EX dashes, but this is actually potentially more problematic as Atlas’s rapid movement means you’ll have to predict both the position of Atlas himself AND his energy beam. To make matters worse, while his number of EX dashes resets to 1 upon overloading, both that number and the speed of his beam’s orbit will increase as he’s damaged further, meaning you’ll want to take this form out ASAP. Dashing towards (and through) him, angling in a clockwise/counter-clockwise direction, and simply running away as fast as you can until he stops dashing are all valid tactics for this one.
Manga, 1980 young/grown, 2003 Daichi/Atlas appearances!
See him in action!
Both Atlas AND Daichi are actually getting their own bios, so there’s not much to put here as far as backstory goes. Suffice it to say, Atlas is a major figure in Astro Boy, introduced first as a minor story villain in the comic but then given a repeated role as major antagonist within the 1980s series, to the point that nine of the fifty-two total episodes were devoted solely to the various conflicts between them.
This version, Daichi-Atlas, is a separate character from that Atlas, but carries many of the same traits and motivations. One of the biggest links between him and Astro is the idea that they’re “brothers” in a way; in the 1980s, this was due to being based on the same blueprints, but here, it due to the fact that they were both commissioned for building by grieving fathers and created by the same man – Dr. Tenma, as Atlas so dramatically reveals. Daichi died a while back in an accident, which lead Tokugawa to approach the erstwhile director of the Ministry and request a replica be made, complete with Daichi’s old memories. While people who watched the anime episodes he’s first featured in might be a bit confused by this due to the fact that he’s presented as a mistreated robot kid from the start, rest assured this is just one of those dubbing things where implied death is considered not acceptable for children’s programming and rewritten.
Tenma creates Atlas for two reasons: out of pity for Tokugawa, and out of a desire to see Astro grow and reach his full potential. Atlas represents a lot of major milestones for Astro and possesses many of the same abilities, through his battles with the young robot unwittingly awakening Astro’s own arm cannon ability in a highly-cinematic battle sequence, but his most distinctive ability is probably his possession of a soul, or kokoro, or – as it is presented in the original story and the 1980s anime – his Omega Factor.
The Omega Factor was, initially, the only thing differentiating Atlas from Astro, a device removing the boundary between human and robot by allowing him to perform evil thoughts and actions independently, placing no limitation on Atlas’s free will. It’s a very interesting inversion that the power of unlimited growth and choice was instead given to Astro here, and is the first instance in which Astro Boy: Omega Factor begins to step outside the boundaries of already-existing material to create its own story, its own niche within the various versions of the saga. In the same way, it’s a good example of how close the characters of Astro and Atlas are in terms of their history. This won’t be the last we see of Atlas, by any means.
NERDY STORY ANALYSIS ASIDE. The fight against Atlas is difficult. That’s the truth of the matter. He’s highly mobile, hits hard and fast, uses your own tricks against you, and has a wide-open space in which to chase you down. This also, incidentally, makes the fight against him really, really fun, as you’re given free rein to jet wildly around the screen right along with him and counter his supers with your own versions. This is the kind of non-stop action the game really excels at, and coupled with the amazing boss theme (and stupid amounts of attention to detail when it came to some of his sprites and dialogue), Atlas washes the moderately mediocre taste of his stage right out of my mouth and is just a straight-up treat to fight. Nothing beats predicting his movements and ending point only to get there first and EX dash right through him, or counter his cannon with your own, and as the difficulty level also adjusts the properties of some of his moves you can treat yourself with as easy or as grueling a fight as you want. I can’t even get mad at him when I die, because Astro sloooowly spirals down until he reaches the bottom of the screen while Atlas follows at a distance watching and it’s all great, ALL GREAT.
…and then he goes super mode. This game’s bosses often have surprisingly few powers, but those they do have cover a lot of bases, so even though Atlas doesn’t have a dozen separate attacks you’ll still feel threatened at any given moment. His overload adds another element to watch for and makes it even more important to zip around super fast, and when coupled with the intense (if a little cheesy) speech mid-fight, this is easily the most high-energy fight in game so far.
Music!
Tokugawa plant doesn’t really do anything for me, but I suppose it’s got a decent space vibe going, and the periodic clapping sound is interesting at least, although a different clapping song has already captured my heart. Atlas’s theme has a delightfully epic sound to it though, and continues the trend of really memorable boss themes.
Star #10: Jetter Mars
Through the ages: Jetter Mars anime
See him in action: 1977 Japanese anime opening, Jetter Mars Artificial Sun rip-off
Tezuka character list bio: Number 34
- A super robot that had secretly been developed. The completion date was set for 2015. He was the main character in the self-titled anime released in 1977. He looks similar to Astro because Tezuka designed him as [a] modification of Astro. But unlike the super hero Astro, Jetter Mars is much more human-like. His body was built to grow and change, just as humans do as they age. Dr. Yamanoue appears instead of O’Shay (Dr. Ochanomizu in Japanese). There is a “Yamanoue Hotel” in front of the “Ochanomizu” train station in Japan.
“But OP!”, I hear you say, “You already DID Astro Boy’s bio!”
“Yes, my hyperbolic ham-brained reader” I respond, “But this guy’s different! Kinda.”
Jetter Mars is incredibly interesting to me, not so much in the context of his story, but rather in how he came to exist in the first place. Had Tezuka had his way, Mars might never have even existed; he was and is VERY much a product of circumstances, and is quite frankly one of the most obscure Tezuka characters represented in this game. To understand this character, a knowledge of his background is needed, but if you want to skip the next couple paragraphs then just go ahead and read THIS and THIS, as they’re where I’m pulling most of my info from.
See, Osamu Tezuka’s initial conduit for supplying anime to the world was an animation studio he founded known as Mushi Productions. This was the place responsible for producing the original Astro anime, as well as other Tezuka works (Leo the Lion) and various well-known and respected series like Tomorrow’s Joe. Everything was going swimmingly for them until the 70s, at which point they landed themselves in a bit of financial trouble and went bankrupt; this caused the rights for many of Tezuka’s shows to change hands and fall into hazy legal territory, leaving them temporarily untouchable.
By this time, Tezuka had already moved on from Mushi, founding another animation studio named Tezuka Productions and moonlighting as an animation director at Toei Animation, where he harbored thoughts of remaking, or creating a sequel to, a certain famous series in spectacular full-color.
This proved to be a bit of a problem, as Astro’s rights were presently unobtainable. With an expectant Toei waiting for the next BIG THING from him, and facing difficulty reclaiming his works, Tezuka made a compromise: he retooled Astro’s look and location just enough to get around the legal hurdles, tweaked the story, and marketed it as a brand-new series, one which was neither Astro Boy nor a successor to it: JETTER MARS.
The result was something of an Astro reboot; Mars is his own character with his own backstory, but there are parallels to Astro everywhere you turn, so it’s difficult to avoid comparing the two. His hair, facial structure, underwear and boots are all very clearly inspired by Astro’s; his body was created and fitted with weaponry by a black-haired scientist (Yamanoue) whereas his mind was molded by a more kindly older scientist (Kawashimo); he has a robot sister with a similar hairstyle to Zoran/Uran (the girl that’s shown up briefly at the file screen and beginning of chapters 2 and 3), and he lives in a futuristic world prone to robot and machinery-related mishaps, some of which are ripped wholesale from Astro stories (like the headless robot DamDam featured in the intro). Tons of Tezuka characters also make the rounds in the show, which makes the work as a whole feel somewhat recycled.
HOWEVER. Mars’s series does differentiate itself from Astro’s in a couple ways. His powers are presented a little differently, losing the whole “seven” theming and exchanging legjets for a flight-enabling cape, but more prominent is the change in story tone. Rather than focus on the conflict between humans and robots, Jetter Mars the show instead looks at the development of the young bot’s personal feelings and emotions; as the bio mentions, he’s made more human-like than Astro, capable of growth and maturation, and this also applies to his mind – he comes out a blank slate, with no concept of right and wrong, and his two fathers (Drs. Yamanoue and Kawashimo) have very different plans for him. Yamanoue names him after the Roman god of War, fitting him with weaponry and intending to use him for militaristic purposes, whereas Kawashimo creates his brain and wishes for him to be more a keeper of the peace, with many episodes featuring these two opposing viewpoints and how they cause Mars to grow as both a robot and a person. It’s an interesting concept, but it doesn’t really get fully explored, mainly because of the small scale of this particular series – It was never drawn as a Manga prior to creation, it only lasted 27 episodes, and it was largely forgotten as Tezuka moved on to other things.
The series never got an English dub, and the obscurity makes finding subs a pain, but there are quite a few Spanish-language episodes of questionable quality on Youtube, as well as a single subbed episode I was able to locate, so if you happen to be fluent in the language go ahead and knock yourself out. It’s basically the only place you’re getting a taste of this guy, as he’s never shown up in any other works that I know of – Tezuka all but abandoned him when the public reception to “Mighty Atom, but not” was mixed.
Star #11: Fumoon
Through the ages: Next World manga, Fumoon movie
See her in action: Fumoon movie
Tezuka character list bio: Number 35
[b]
Sometimes, less is more, and the above bio namedrops a stunning amount of different works that really would not translate well to commentary, so I’ve shortened it in the video. However, while the bio might not be bitesized, its subject certainly is – Fumoon, hereafter referred to as Rococo, is a tiny little thing capable of being lifted by a single Wally hand.
She, and her race the Fumoon, debuted in (and are more-or-less exclusive to) a series known as “The Next World"; in it, they’re a race of nuclear mutants, created by extensive atomic testing on a remote (and, previously, extremely beautiful) island known as Batei, a Japanese word meaning horseshoe. As intelligent as any human, they’ve made it their goal to protect the earth from any threat, external or internal, and as it so happens that includes mankind, who’ve been rather careless in their treatment of their planet as of late.
However, we’re not their biggest concern – that’d be the giant death gas cloud that’s been radiating out from a decade-old supernova, one that’s been making its way steadily towards earth and extinguishing everything in its wake. The Fumoon people take it is their cue to get the hell out of Dodge, altering and cramming as many animals as possible onto their space gondola, in the hopes that they can find a new home and start anew – a small hitch in their plan arises, however, when a scientist surveying the island discovers a high-ranking Fumoon and takes it home in hopes of presenting it at a nuclear conference and bringing experimentation to a halt.
Fumoon’s story is chock-full of social commentary, featuring expies of the US and Russia and the damage their pigheadedness causes the world, and while the symbolism and metaphors to serious issues can get a little heavy-handed at times, it’s still worth a watch/read – especially when the tension escalates a bit.
As a race the Fumoon are highly inteligent, devoting much of their time to the scientific and scholarly arts, and while they’re generally a peaceful people, they DO have a certain superiority complex when it comes to dealing with others, which manifests itself in rather sarcastic dialogue, and a sassy Rococo.
In terms of their species appearance, though, Rococo is hardly indicative of Fumoon as a whole. Whereas she’s as graceful and elegant as you’d expect an anime’s heroine to be, her compatriots are…somewhat less so, possessing stouter bodies and less vibrant coloring. However, they DO all share one particular trait – the antennae on their head. Said appendage is capable of doing all sorts of interesting things, like performing acts of telekinesis (complete with glowing eyes) or communing directly with the minds of other lifeforms, a necessary trait given their distinct lack of mouths. Their antennae even helpfully light up when speaking, so you know who’s who.
The Fumoon use their free time to pursue various hobbies, including the studying of the cosmos; this particular pastime is both what alerts them to Earth’s coming crisis, and, presumably, why Rococo is aware of some “Goddess of Justice” leaving the Universe. That particular line honestly never makes complete sense in the game for a multitude of reasons, but again, don’t worry about it too much; the game likes to allude to things in the dialogue of extra characters, and in the case of Rococo here I can’t imagine most people find her in their first playthrough. I sure as heck didn’t, but wanted to show off this bit of foreshadowing and make the trek through Tokugawa plant more visually appealing so you GET HER NOW.
Star #12: Hecate
Through the ages: Princess knight manga, Princess knight anime
See her in action: Princess knight episode 43
Tezuka character list bio: Number 36
[b]
In simple terms, Hecate’s a witch. Or, rather, a witches’ daughter. See, Hecate hails from a series wherein the main character, one Prince(ss) Sapphire, was born erroneously containing both the gentle pink heart of a girl and the courageous blue heart of a boy, while Hecate herself is rather lacking in the femininity department. Hecate honestly doesn’t really care about that rubbish and is more than comfortable with her tomboyish attitude, but unfortunately her mother Madam Hell is less than thrilled – thanks in no small part to her desire to marry Hecate off to a suitable prince, thus grabbing power for her daughter and, by extension, herself. To this end, Hecate’s supposed role in the story is an antagonist’s motivation; Madam Hell wishes to capture Sapphire, extract her girl heart, and give it to her daughter, thus doubling up on fem-ness and catching the eye of an eligible suitor.
It’s not as simple as all that, though. “Princess Knight” spends a lot of time focusing on strong female characters, and while its star has some issues when it comes to that, Hecate really doesn’t; she knows what she wants and does what she pleases, and there’s no room in her plans for gobbling up a ball of stereotypical girlyness. Thusly, whenever her mother manages to capture Sapphire and extract her heart, Hecate sneaks out through the back door and gives it right back to her. She’s a mischievous and headstrong girl, but most certainly isn’t evil, and more often than not finds herself helping the protagonists despite her namesake’s rather ominous title.
Nice or not, though, she IS the daughter of a powerful witch, born through her hellish magic, and as such she’s in possession of some sizable demonic powers herself. She’s capable of the basic stuff like casting fireballs and flying through the air, but much more notable are her transformative abilities; from the standard witchy snakes and spirited felines to the less-standard goats and…mushrooms…Hecate’s form is ever-changing as her mood dictates, and she’s even capable of conferring these powers unto others via potion. It makes her a fun character, as she’s constantly casually showing up in odd forms in front of the less magically inclined, and often leads to her stealing the show whenever she appears.
Like many of the other characters in stage 3, Hecate doesn’t pop up too often in other works, much less Astro Boy. Nevertheless, the series she’s from HAS been redrawn and reprinted on three separate occasions, with the bio’s namedropping of “Nakayoshi” being the third and final of the magazines the remakes ran in. It was a girl’s comic magazine, and Princess Knight is actually fairly well-known as being one of the pioneers in “Shojo” manga, as well as fairly ahead of its time with feminist themes, which made it a good place for a character like Hecate to flourish. Her in-game dialogue doesn’t really give a lot of insight to her character, and she won’t be showing up again, but I like her, or at least her manga version. The anime seems to make her a bit of an airhead as “Zenda”.
