Star #1: =Astro Boy=
Through the ages: Manga, 1963, 1980, 2003, 2009 movie, Pluto Manga
See him in action: 1963 EPISODE 1; 1980 EPISODE 1, 2003 EPISODE 1
Tezuka character list bio: Number 00
– A super robot powered by a 100,000 horsepower engine. Uses his seven forces to fight for justice. It’s said that Astro’s hair was modeled after Tezuka’s hair when in the morning. In the original comic, Astro’s engine was upgraded to 1,000,000 horsepower. Astro first appeared in “Shonen” Magazine in 1951 in the manga “Captain Atom.” Dr. Tenma was a character who tries to banish all aliens from earth, but fails. In 1959, a live-action film was made, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya.
Seeing as this is the first one, I’ll tell you right now: I’m gonna link the 1963 series English dub, the 1980s version in its subbed form, and 2003’s as dubbed. You can probably find the other versions yourself if you have a preference, but that’s how the thread’s gonna work. 1980’s often considered the best, and I kinda agree seeing as it has a nice balance of cute 80s anime charm and action, so if you’re gonna watch only one might wanna make it that, especially seeing as it’s the last one Tezuka had involvement in. Though I do have a love for 2003’s from vague memories of seeing the few episodes that were broadcast on Kid’s WB back in the day, it’s a lot more action-oriented and has some great animation. 1963 is good, but slapsticky and suffers from changes in the dubbing process.
As for the Manga, HERE’S A LINK to an Archive.org page with all the English-translated volumes.
…Or that’s what I’d have liked to have happen, but all the legally-uploaded 1980s Jap episodes (as well as misc. others) got nuked in 2015, so I’m winging it like a plumber in the leaky pipe factory. I’ll fix em as they go down, but future people’ll probably have to fend for themselves. At the moment, all 1980 episodes are uploaded, but they’re cut a bit differently from the originals, and miss a bit of content because of it.
Astro Boy is, for many, the face of classic anime. Modeled to appeal to younger boys, he’s gone through some visual re-works, but his general structure always remains the same: Big emotional eyes, red boots, twin head spikes, and a penchant for running around in his green-black underwear. He’s usually between 9-12 years old, and was born on April 7th, 2003. In Japan, he’s named “Atom” – a reference to atomic power, which he runs on.
Designed by Dr. Tenma, the former head of the ministry of science, his origin story is a tale of tragedy. Modeled after Tenma’s late son Tobio, a young boy who always meets his end in a car crash, Astro’s initial role is to be taken in as his surrogate son. However, after living in peace for some time, Tenma always becomes dissatisfied with his son’s inhuman qualities and rejects him, selling him to a robot circus, or shutting him down, or otherwise cutting Astro out of his life. Astro eventually finds himself saved by one Dr. Ochanomizu, at which point his adventures begin.
In the original comic and series, he was given a set of robotic parents (of which his mother was based on Tobio’s late human mother) by Dr. Tenma, who continued to watch over him, whilst Dr. Ochanomizu provided him with a sister named “Uran”, and later a slightly inferior replication of Astro himself named “Cobalt” for a brother. Only one of them shows up in this game.
If you want to know more about the creation of Astro the comic, Tezuka made a series of pages giving a bit of detail on that particular subject. Here’s links to em:
ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT.
Astro is unique from other robots in a variety of ways. For one, he’s established to possess a superior AI - this takes various forms depending on the series, ranging from possession of human emotions, to having a soul, to containing “Kokoro” (meaning “heart”). In the end, though, they all boil down to “he’s practically human”. In this game, the distinguishing thing is his “Omega Factor”, allowing him to grow as he comes to understand more and more people. This is rather interesting, seeing as the Omega Factor debuted as the unique trait of Astro’s main RIVAL in the manga and 1980s series, but we’ll get to that later.
Another main part of Astro’s persona is his plethora of super powers, referred to in the character list as his “seven forces”. These powers have changed a bit over the years; a complete list is as follows:
- The ability to translate over 60 languages
- Strength equivalent to 100,000 horsepower (included in this game), jumps between this and 1mil depending on the story
- Ability to fly using his arm+leg jets, able to switch to rockets in the vacuum of space (this game)
- Bright eye-lamps, occasionally also functioning as x-rays (this game, bundled with hearing)
- Amplification of his hearing up to 1000x (this game)
- The ability to discern good people from evil ones
- Laser-firing fingers (this game)
- Extremely intelligent, advanced electronic brain capable of learning and making decisions (this game)
- Extreme durability
- Machine guns deployable from his butt (this game, often the ~butt~ of jokes in later works)
- Laser cannon in his arm (this game)
The “Seven forces” name is also used as the name for the omega factor and the 6 upgradable stats.
They’ve cycled in and out depending on the time period, with the destruction generally escalating with the general violence of media (finger laser was added in 1980, cannon in 2003), but the general gist is that he’s strong as heck.
Personality-wise, Astro tends to be as gentle and naïve as a regular child, but springs into action at the first sign of danger or injustice. He enjoys adventure, but usually tries to resolve fights without having to resort to violence. A mediator of sorts between robots and humans, his position is often used as a source of conflict, leading to him being pressured to side with either one side or another, a decision he always staunchly rejects. He’s known for saving the world from ASSURED DESTRUCTION, be it from alien invasions, evil scientists, or explosive devices capable of destroying the world, but often finds himself stymied by those that don’t trust, or outright hate, robots.
As far as weaknesses go, it’s varied throughout the series. In older media, he tended to be capable of tearing through metal like butter and deflecting most sources of harm, but could be stopped by high-powered electro-mag guns or a lack of nuclear energy, which, bizarrely enough, he takes in through a valve…in his anus.
This is not a thing they generally keep in later adaptions.
Strange butt-related quirks aside, he also has an openable chest plate in which resides his mechanical parts, electronic brain, and various gauges he can use to check his power level, which often gets targeted as a way of dealing direct damage. Later on, he becomes more vulnerable to physical damage and disrepair, which is where we see him in this game.
Lastly, he’s occasionally stymied by THE MAN, being unable to apprehend evilpersons due to having no legal grounds for arresting them, which usually results in poor outcomes…until it reaches the point where Astro’s able to interfere.
Oh, and as for that live-adaption thing: Here’s the first part of an episode of it. It came before the original animated series, but does have an animated section recreating the events leading up to Astro’s birth, the same scenes shown in the little bonus title-screen sequence involving the development of electronic brains, artificial skin, and the like.
He’s probably the most recognizable and popular of Tezuka’s characters, and pops up in other works on occasion, though not as frequently as other faces. A superhero with stark differences to the American model of tall, dark, handsome, strong-jawed males, he’s a fun and appealing character that’s survived multiple generations and continues to be featured in works to this day, though he’s never made much of a splash on American shores. Recent works involving him include 2009’s animated “Astro Boy” movie (a decent, though not great, film that was met with complete and utter box office failure and contributed to its producer’s studio closing down), and the aforementioned “Pluto” manga which ran from 2003-2009 (an absolutely excellent work I highly recommend reading).
Other facts:
-Rewards and accolades include placing high on various high-profile top anime and cartoon heroes lists, and his induction into the Robot hall of fame in 2004.
-Red boots were received from a female friend in the circus in the 1980s series
-Weighs 62.7 pounds
-His head is attached with a spring, and frequently comes off as a visual gag in the manga.
-Receives the name “Astro” from Ochanomizu; Prior to it, he’s known as “Tobio” by Tenma. Named either spur of the moment, “Atom” due to the fact he runs on atomic energy, or due to a nearby plate reading “Astro tech omni” upon successfully reviving Astro.
-Often freed from his contract under a corrupt circus manager named HamEgg through the passing of the Robot rights act, giving robots rights equal to humans. This allows him to attend a human school, among other activities, though much conflict comes from this notion of equality.
-He does wear clothes on occasion, but more often than not they find themselves coincidentally blown to bits, leaving him in his classic bare-chested form.