Astro’s Parents [Astro Boy] (Manga)

Astro Boy (1952-68), Chapter 001 ‘Astro’s Parents’ (アトムの両親), was originally serialized in April 1952 in Shonen.

What it’s about?

Astro Boy, a child-like humanoid robot with enormous power, begins attending elementary school alongside regular human children. Although he quickly becomes an honours student, some of his classmates tease him by throwing his report card into the school’s garbage incinerator – after all, what does it matter because, as a robot, he has no parents to show his grades to. Seeing that Astro is depressed because he doesn’t have a family of his own, his friend Tamao invites Astro over to his house to cheer him up. Afterwards, convinced that having a family will solve Astro’s problems, he visits Dr. Ochanomizu and convinces him to help. Hoping to help Astro feel less alone, Dr. Ochanomizu heads off to a robot factory to secure a set of robot parents for Astro. However, when he is introduced to his new father and mother, it becomes obvious that Astro’s parents, being “younger” than he is, know even less about the world than he does. And so, after a discussion with Astro‘s teacher, Higeoyaji, all three of them begin attending the same elementary school – with Astro‘s parents a couple of years behind him.

What you should know

Following directly on the heels of Astro‘s first appearance as a cold and mechanical robot in ‘Ambassador Atom‘ – at the behest of his editors, Tezuka decided to refocus the series with a much more loveable and human Astro Boy as the main protagonist. So, it would seem quite logical that one of the best ways to make him more sympathetic would be to give him a family. However, never one to miss out on a good joke (or even a bad one), Tezuka throws the family dynamic on its ear by giving Astro robot parents that are even younger than he is. It is interesting to note that Mitchy is cast in the role of Astro’s Mother. Her most famous appearance is in Metropolis (1949) as the robot created by Dr. Lawton, that Duke Red and the Red Party attempt to co-opt for their own megalomaniac political purposes – making her a perfect choice for the role.

Given how short the story is (a mere 12 pages), it is usually gathered up as part of the intro to the next chapter, ‘Gas People‘. However, given its significance as a turning point between ‘Ambassador Atom‘ and the later Astro Boy adventures, it deserves to be treated as a standalone chapter.

Also, it should be noted that, much like ‘Ambassador Atom‘, the version of this chapter differs from edition to edition. English-speaking readers are most likely to be familiar with the comprehensive 23 volume set – based on the Japanese language Akita Shoten collection – that Dark Horse Comics released from 2002-04 (and re-released as a 7-volume omnibus set from 2015-17). However there are a few differences to the story presented in that edition from the one presented in the 400-volume Osamu Tezuka Complete Manga Works edition, published by Kodansha (MT-221).

In the more recent Dark Horse/Akita edition, it is Kenichi (and not Tamao) who takes on the job of convincing Dr. Ochanomizu that Astro should have parents. The Kodansha edition is truer to the original serialization, with some significantly different artwork, but the overall story presented in the Dark Horse/Akita edition is substantively the same. Only truly hardcore fans will want to discover the subtle artwork and panel layout differences between these editions.