Astro Boy (1963 TV series)

***Astro Boy*** (Japanese: 鉄腕アトム, Hepburn: *Tetsuwan Atomu*, "Mighty Atom", lit. "Iron Arm Atom") is a Japanese television series produced by Disney/Warner Bros. Entertainment Television, associated studio by Mushi Production in collaboration with NBC and is premiered on Fuji TV on New Year's Day, 1963 (a Tuesday), and is the first popular animated Japanese television series that embodied the aesthetic that later became familiar worldwide as *anime*.

At its height it was watched by 40% of the Japanese population who had access to a TV. In 1964, there was a feature-length animated movie called *Mighty Atom, the Brave in Space* (鉄腕アトム 宇宙の勇者, *Tetsuwan Atomu: Uchū no yūsha*) released in Japan. It was compiled from three selected episodes from the series—episodes 46 ("The Robot Spaceship"), 56 ("Earth Defense Army") and 71 ("The Last Day of Earth"), respectively; the latter two were filmed and produced in color.

Between 1963 and 1965, 104 episodes were aired in the United States, adapted to the English language. After enjoying success both in Japan and abroad as the first anime to be broadcast overseas, *Astro Boy* was remade in the 1980s under the name *New Mighty Atom* and again in 2003 as *Astro Boy: Mighty Atom*.

## Plot

The first *Astro Boy* anime is set in the year 2013, rather than 2003 of the original manga. Dr. Tenma, a scientist working in the Ministry of Science's Department of Precision Machinery, loses his only son, Tobio, in a car-crash. Out of grief, he orders the production of a "super-robotic" in Tobio's likeness. Though the robotic is the most advanced anyone has ever seen, he is not pleased with it because it does not grow, and in a fit of rage he sells it to the circus. After this, he loses his job at the Ministry of Science and rarely appears again. He harnesses a complicated relationship towards robotics, mainly believing that they should not be treated as humans but as slaves.

In the circus, where robotics exist but are a lot more primitively made than Tobio (now named Atom), they are forced to participate in fighting tournaments similar to gladiator battles. However, Atom wishes to be peaceful. Eventually, he runs into Professor Ochanomizu, the man who succeeded Dr. Tenma at the head of the Ministry of Science; Ochanomizu is treated much differently than Tenma, being regarded as a savior figure by the robots for his affection and kindness towards them that Tenma did not possess. After realising how advanced Atom is compared to the rest of the other robotics, he sets him free from the circus, becoming a surrogate father figure to him.

## Characters

* **Atom** / Astro Boy, A robotic created and modeled upon Dr. Boynton's late son, Astor Boynton. At first, Dr. Boynton enjoyed his company and having his son back, however he rejected the robotic after realizing he could not grow up physically like a real human child. With this, the robotic Astor was sold to the cruel circus owner, The Great Cacciatore, in order to perform in a circus and renamed as Astro. After a fire broke out during a circus show, Astro saved Cacciatore and was granted his freedom, due in part by intervention from Dr. Elefun and following the Law of Robotic Rights being passed to grant robots the ability to lead the same lives as humans. Astro has several special powers, such as flying with rockets, super hearing, 100,000 horsepower, superhuman endurance and a machine gun which lies in his backside. In the final episode, which aired only in Japan, Astro sacrifices himself to save the Earth while carrying a shutter which would normalize the sun, which was threatening all life on the planet.
 Astro is voiced by Mari Shimizu with the exception of episodes 97-106 where he is voiced by Kazue Tagami.
* **Professor Ochanomizu** / Dr. Packidermus J. Elefun, head of the Ministry of Science after Dr. Boynton resigned. He is Astro's father figure and mentor, and is very supportive of him. He also created a robot family for Astro, including a mother, father, and a robot sister named Uran. Afterward, he reactivated the prototype of Astro, Cobalt, as his brother. Dr. Elefun always stands for robot's rights and does not want Astro to take part in unnecessary battles.
 Ochanomizu is voiced by Hisashi Katsuta.
* **Doctor Umataro Tenma** / Dr. Astor Boynton II, former head of the Ministry of Science. He lost his only son, Astor Boynton III, to a deadly traffic accident. Overcome with grief, he vowed to recreate Astor as a great and powerful robot, and used every available resource of the Ministry to create his greatest creation: Astro Boy. Once he activated Astro, he was seemingly mentally better, but grew frustrated with the fact that, as a robot, Astro did not grow physically like a human child. He sold Astro off to a circus owner, the Great Cacciatore, and resigned from the Ministry and was said to have disappeared. However, he has come out of hiding on occasion to assist Astro; one such occasion was to upgrade Astro's systems to allow him to output 1,000,000 horsepower.
 Tenma is voiced by Hisashi Yokomori.
* **Astro Boy's parents**, created by Dr. Elefun in order to make Astro feel more human-like. His mother and father are kind and doting to Astro. They were not part of the cast in the 2003 series.
* **Uran** / Astro Girl, Astro's younger sister and his most recurring sibling. Uran was given to him as a gift on Astro's birthday. She is often tomboyish and usually gets herself in trouble, like allowing a scientist to give her the ability of splitting in two in order to both live a normal life with one body and fight in a robot battle arena with another. However, her strength was halved and her other half was destroyed. She is repaired, but no longer had the ability of splitting in two after Dr. Elefun repaired her.
 Uran is voiced first by Yoko Mizugaki, secondly Reiko Mutō, and thirdly Kazuko Yoshikawa.
* **Cobalt** / Jetto, Astro's older prototype brother. He was thrown away by Dr. Boynton as scrap for being a failed prototype and reactivated by Dr. Elefun when Astro went missing during a search for a deadly H-bomb. The two found each other deep in the ocean due to transmitting on a common frequency, and Cobalt managed to save his brother from certain destruction.
 Cobalt is voiced by Kiyoshi Komiyama
* **Chiitan**, Astro's baby brother (not shown in the English dubbed version). Dr. Elefun had made him alongside other robot babies, but Uran took him as the family's new baby brother.
* **Shunsaku "Higeoyaji" Ban** / Victor Percival Pompous, Astro's schoolteacher and/or neighbor in the original manga; a private detective and surrogate uncle for Astro in the 1960s TV series. He is voiced first by Masaaki Yajima and secondly by Ayao Wada.
* **Shibugaki and Tamao** / Dinny and Specs, two of Astro's friends. Tamao is a very good friend for Astro, while Shibugaki is rather a bully who learns of Astro's moral values after some adventures.
* **Chief Nakamura** / Chief McLaw, Inspector Tawashi's partner who is made for comical relief, he acknowledges Astro's bravery and often tries to defend him from his partner Tawashi, specially when Astro is accused of a crime he did not commit.
 Nakamura is voiced by Shinpei Sakamoto
* **Inspector Tawashi** / Inspector Gumshoe, A police inspector who have a huge distaste for robots and doesn't have much faith in Astro until he manages to prove his worth.
 Tawashi is voiced first by Shingo Kanemoto and secondly by Koichi Chiba
* **Astor Boynton III** / Tobio Tenma, the little boy Astro was modeled after, who dies in the first episode.

## Lists of Episodes

List of Astro Boy (1963 TV series) episodes

## Notes

* This is the first Anime TV show of Disney/SEGA Entertainment Television ever.
* This is the first Anime of Disney/SEGA Entertainment for Television ever.

## Reception

*Astro Boy* was initially very popular, being the first Japanese animated television series to make it to U.S. televisions, with the highest ratings of any show at the time. However, its popularity eventually declined to the point where only 104 of the 193 original episodes were released in the U.S., the reasons being mainly that it was still in black and white when most television sets were switching to color and many of the storylines were considered too violent and depressing for the mainstream audience.

It was named the 86th best animated series by IGN, calling it the first popular anime television series.

## References

**Notes**
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