Tezuka in English

Timeline of Astro Boy works: (see also the Ministry of Science)

1952-68 – Astro Boy (manga)
1959-1960 - Live Action Series (65 episodes)
1963-1966 – Astro Boy TV I – first series (anime)
1964 – Astro Boy The Brave In Space (anime)
1965 - Gold Key Comics = US comic
???? - March of Comics - US comic
1975 – Astro Boy II (manga)
1980-81 – Astro Boy III (manga)
1980-1981 – Astro Boy TV II (anime)
1987-88 - NOW! Comics - US comic, 20 issues
No Release Date – Astro Boy Shinsengumi Movie (anime)
2003-4 – Astro Boy TV - third TV series (anime) (MoS has details)
2003 - Astro Boy 2003 Movie
2003/4 - Astro Boy: OMEGA FACTOR game for GameBoy Advance
2003/4 - Astro Boy Playstation Game
2005 – Astro Boy Akira Himekawa manga
STILL IN PRODUCTION: New live action, animated and CGI movie projects.

Scroll down for details about each series.

THE CORPUS OF ASTRO BOY

The character of Astro Boy actually appeared for the first time as a secondary character in the manga Captain Atom in 1952. Throught Tezuka's career, Astro appeared briefly in at least 26 separate manga outside the many Astro Boy series.

Astro Boy is not a single work, but a corpus of four separate manga series, several manga specials, three separate animated TV series, two movies, and two recent videogames.

The first manga series, begun in 1952, was one of the big leaps in Tezuka’s popularity, and the main character, Atom in Japan, Astro in English, became and remains an iconic hero of the Japanese people. Astro’s influence over later manga and anime, both robot stories and science-fiction in general, is immeasurable, and much has been written on his significance as a personification of post-war Japan, transforming the terrifying force of atomic power into something useful and progressive, embracing modern technology and looking to the future and universal progress to repair and move on from the damage done in the war. Indeed, so great is Astro’s importance in modern Japanese culture that on April 7th 2003, specified in the original 1952 story as the date of Astro’s creation, was celebrated with parades and festivals across the natoin, and both Astro and his creator Dr. Ochanomizu were issued birth certificates and legally registered as citizens by the government.

The second and third Astro Boy manga series were also written by Osamu Tezuka and were later continuations of the earlier story. Rather than just continuing it, they picked up from unusual places, sometimes setting the narrative forward or backward in time by several decades, to explore different moments in the history of human-robot relations. The three Astro Boy manga series and specials authored by Tezuka are available in a complete English translation printed by Dark Horse Comics, with detailed notes and introductions by Tezuka, reproduced from the Japanese collected edition which he edited.

The first animated series of Astro Boy, consisting of very simple, black-and-white episodes, was begin un 1963 and was the first animated series Japan produced. Both this 1960s series and the later 1980s series were released in the US in English dub very early, and effectively introduced America to anime. These series, and the recent 2003-4 TV series, made to celebrate Astro’s birthdate, are currently available in the US only in dubbed form. The earlier two series were released on VHS, while the 1980s and 2003-4 series saw DVD boxset releases in 2005, and the original 1960s series is expected on dvd in 2006. The first two animated series in particular are far less serious than the manga, with almost all the dark themes and unhappy endings removed and replaced with robotic adventure stories, a trait which Tezuka himself disliked.

The 2003 TV series, while still very different from the original, focuses more on the struggle between humans and robots, and on Dr. Tenma's plans for a robot revolution, and thus may, in some ways, be said to be closer to the original than the animated versions which Tezuka himself worked on. Those who watch the US dub of the 2005 TV series may want to consult our comments on changes made in the US dub of Astro Boy TV 2003.

The most recent Astro Boy manga is a remake drawn by Akira Himekawa closely based on the 2003 TV series – it has had a partial release in Italian.

The first Astro Boy movie has not been released outside Japan, and the Astro Boy Shinsengumi Movie was never released in theaters even in Japan, but only shown in the theater in Osamu Tezuka World in Kyoto.

Two Astro Boy videogames were released along with the new TV series. The Astro Boy Playstation game was essentially a direct videogame copy of the TV series, complete with the same city map and events. It is praised for its excellent mechanics of Astro flying and for its beautiful scenery. The Astro Boy: OMEGA FACTOR game for the Gameboy Advance was actually an omni-crossover combinatino of more than 20 different Tezuka series, featureing dozens of characters from Black Jack to Sharaku, and largely based on the skeleton of the Marine Express TV special. Many claim that this game is very confusing to people unfamiliar with Tezuka, but for Tezuka fans it is a veritable Who's Who of the Tezuka universe.

Several different Astro Boy movie projects are currently in various stages of production and pre-production. These include US and Japanese projects, Live Action, animated and CGI projects, one possibly directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of the Powerpuff Girls and Dexter's Lab. Many of these recent projects have stalled, and Sony's US Astro Boy license has expired, so it is uncertain which of these, if any, will pan out.