013 – Youth Gas [Astro Boy] (Manga)

Astro Boy (1952-68), Chapter 013 ‘Youth Gas’ (若返りガス), was originally serialized on a monthly schedule from February to September 1955 in Shonen.

What it’s about?

A meteorite has crashed in the southern alps of Japan near Mount Komagatake. When investigated by Astro it is discovered that it is emitting a strange gas. Experiments reveal that exposure to the gas rejuvenates plants and animals making them young again. They get an elderly man who used to be a famous dancer to volunteer for a human experiment and he is restored about fifty or sixty years off his age. so now he can go back to performing once more.

The new youth gas attracts the attention of a greedy man named Kurobe Ohno. He sends huge robot servants to steal the gas but Astro destroys them. Ohno is outraged and devises a plan to get rid of Astro. He overhears some bullies from one school picking on Astro’s friend Tamao who goes to a different school. They run away when Astro suddenly turns up. They lament that their school doesn’t have a robot student like Astro and one of them adds if only Astro’s brother Cobalt would enroll in their school.

Upon learning of this Ohno manipulates things with Professor Ochanomizu to put Cobalt into that school. Under the influence of the bullies Cobalt follows their example and they even arrange for Cobalt to fight against Astro in the interschool Robotting Tournament. In the combat Astro and Cobalt both destroy each other and Ochanomizu yells at all the schoolkids in the audience that because of their school rivalries the world has lost two of its greatest robots. He says they’ve both been damaged so badly they’ll never be able to be repaired.

While Japan goes into mourning the villain Ohno sends more of his robots to steal the youth gas. But they are attacked and destroyed by a mysterious robot about Astro’s size in a masked disguise. He realizes too late that the gas was stored inside the robot’s stomachs as it evaporates into the open air. However one of them did survive the battle and Ohno’s two henchmen are relieved that they still have some gas to deliver to their boss. Ohno has the gas transferred to a cylinder and takes it by himself into a private laboratory to make himself young again. The strange robot shows up and accosts the two frightened henchmen. Just as they plead for mercy promising to talk the cylinder accidentally blows up. The robot smashes into the laboratory only just in time to rescue the baby that Ohno has reverted to. If he had stayed exposed to the gas a moment longer he would have faded out of existence. The robot order the henchmen to take responsibility for raising their boss so that this time he grows up to be a good man.

Later Professor Ochanomizu orders the robot to unmask in front of the authorities. It’s none other than Astro himself. Ochanomizu apologizes for the deception saying that he was so angry with humans for making Astro and Cobalt fight that he announced that they couldn’t be repaired to teach them a lesson. He had them sent to his lab where he secretly repaired them. He planned to hide them for awhile but when the youth gas was stolen he knew they needed Astro, so he sent him to investigate in disguise. But everybody forgives and makes up with each other as the kids all promise to never coax robots into fighting anymore.

Astro confesses to the professor that the youth gas is all lost. Ochanomizu says it’s better this way. Before humans have the right to live as long as possible they need to learn to be really good humans..