Second Grader
December 1980
Astro Boy’s final regularly serialized series began 1980, to coincide with the release of the new animated television show. This new Astro Boy (1980-81) manga series began appearing in Second-Grader [小学二年生], a monthly magazine targeted at young students learning to read. As such, the stories are much simpler, usually short morality tales aimed at a much younger audience than most Astro Boy stories.
In all, 15 chapters were serialized over the course of the regular monthly feature.
One of Osamu Tezuka’s most successful creations, Astro Boy has been featured in several publications. The Astro Boy manga has also been serialized in the pages of Shonen, and published in Mighty Atom Club, as well as the Sankei Newspaper and several one-shots and other specials.
Publication Information and Chapter Summaries
| Chapter: 001 |
Title: The Robot Disposer ＜ロボット処理車の巻＞ |
| Published in: Second Grader |
Originally published: 80/09 |
| After a robot worker accidentally steps on a watermelon seed that he’d planted, Dr. Fooler flies into a rage and demands that the Ministry of Science do something about the robot population. When Dr. Ochamomizu disagrees, Dr. Fooler builds a giant tank-like robot to deal with the problem himself. When the robot goes out of control, smashing Dr. Fooler’s home in the process, it’s up to Astro Boy to save the day. |
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| Chapter: 002 |
Title: Franken＜フランケンの巻＞ |
| Published in: Second Grader |
Originally published: 80/10 |
| At the Ministry of Science a malfunction occurs with a giant robot becoming activated before completion. He has no head and goes berserk snatching five various heads off the shelves and stacking them upon his shoulders. Out of control he smashes buildings and everything else in his path. Professor Ochanomizu tells Astro that worst of all he will explode in ten minutes unless deactivated. Astro has a big battle and it is tough even for him but he gets the upper hand in the end. Astro is damaged but he is repaired and Ochanomizu says that the robot has been repaired and stabilized and the computer has crafted a real head for him in the style of his own choice. Astro thinks it very funny when he sees what the robot chose but Ochanomizu is outraged. The robot’s head looks exactly like the professor’s own face. |
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| Chapter: 003 |
Title: Astro vs. Atlas ＜アトム対アトラスの巻＞ |
| Published in: Second Grader |
Originally published: 80/11 |
| The evil Count Giss has created a robot boy very similar to Astro named Atlas to destroy him. His assistant is none other than Skunk. The two scoundrels have built Atlas with the exact same powers as Astro. But Giss intends to give him an extra special power. Then Giss gets the idea to modify Atlas to make it possible for him to pee just like a human. When he pees on Astro with special explosive liquid he will blow up on contact. Astro tracks down the castle of the Count and fights with Atlas. Their strength is too evenly matched though and finally Atlas tells Astro he’s going to pee on him. But Astro says that’s not right. You should pee in a toilet not on people. Atlas is persuaded to do the right thing and to the horror of Giss and Skunk he flies into the castle to visit the bathroom. They run for cover as the toilet explodes knocking them out. Atlas is stunned but recovers and helps Astro tie up Giss and Skunk and fly away with them. He says he wants to be a good robot like Astro from now on. |
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| Chapter: 004 |
Title: Pula, The Baby Elephant ＜子ぞうプーラの巻＞ |
| Published in: Second Grader |
Originally published: 80/12 |
| Astro’s old enemy Skunk is using a robot elephant to poach real elephants for their ivory tusks. He pilots it like a tank and uses its trunk to pick the elephants up and smash their heads into the ground. One of the elephants he kills has a poor little baby. Astro discovers the orphan by his mother’s corpse and investigates. Tracking Skunk down he fights him and disables the robot sending it out of control. Astro saves and captures Skunk, smashing the robot. The elephants who are left alive take revenge upon it crushing it flat under their feet. The orphan baby elephant is adopted by the herd. |
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| Chapter: 005 |
Title: Guinness Book Robots ＜ロボットギネスの巻＞ |
| Published in: Second Grader |
Originally published: 81/01 |
| Professor Ochanomizu is visited at his home early one morning by an extremely tiny female robot. She tells him that she is in the Guinness Book of Robots as the world’s tiniest robot and that she nominates Astro for the world’s most powerful robot. But while she talks to him at his breakfast table he accidentally swallows her along with his toast and coffee. Then a jealous fighter robot calls Astro and challenges him to a duel to prove who is really most powerful. Ochanomizu doesn’t approve but begrudgingly accompanies Astro by boat to an uninhabited island in the south seas because the tiny robot inside his stomach insists that Astro must answer the challenge. The robot so eager to duel is waiting on the shore and attacks Astro even though Astro tells him he really doesn’t want to fight. The combat has barely begun when the island suddenly rises up revealing a giant robot. He addresses the two of them saying how years ago he was created just so he could be listed in the Guinness Book of Robots as the world’s largest robot. But because of his size he was useless to humans and so they abandoned him at sea where he became an island. All this bickering and fighting is pointless. There’s no advantage in being the world’s most powerful robot and Astro’s opponent is humbled. Later while the professor is in bed recovering from his stomach complications Astro tells him he has made it into the human’s own Guinness Book. He is the first person in the world to swallow a robot but he is not very impressed about getting this official recognition. |
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| Chapter: 006 |
Title: The Beserk Robot ＜暴走ロボットの巻＞ |
| Published in: Second Grader |
Originally published: 81/02 |
| A renegade defective robot is roaming the streets at night committing acts of vandalism. He attacks Astro’s pet watchdog Jump and he needs to be sent to the vet. Astro’s parents hire a robot watchdog the following day but the delinquent robot attacks it too that night and drinks all its energy through a straw like siphon tube. The third night Astro disguises himself as a watchdog and when the delinquent shows up they fight and Astro defeats him putting him out of commission. Later at the veterinarian’s surgery Uran is so deeply relieved to hear that Jump will recover from his injuries. And so is Astro. |
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| Chapter: 007 |
Title: The Magnet Robot ＜磁石ロボットの巻＞ |
| Published in: Second Grader |
Originally published: 81/03 |
| A beggar man who used to work in a robotic engineering factory has built a robot beggar to assist him in gathering handouts. People are fascinated by the robot and give heaps of coins but the man becomes greedy and overambitious. He builds magnets into the robot so all the peoples’ coins are drawn to him including their wallets. But he doesn’t stop there. He converts the robot into a giant and increases the magnetic force ten times. He sends the robot walking around Japan and it causes chaos and panic as everything metallic is stuck to him including bicycles, cars and other robots. Astro uses a very long indestructible rope with a coin attached on the end to reel the robot in like a fish. He carries him away to an iceberg in the Arctic Sea and drops him on the tip. Unfortunately the magnets catch him before he can fly away. He saves himself with his lasers inside his fingers aiming through the debris at his circuits neutralizing the magnets. With a boom they are shorted out and the giant robot actually is grateful for the relief of all the weight he had been carrying. The beggar man has to answer to the local police who tell him how ashamed he should be of himself. |
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| Chapter: 008 |
Title: Giant Uran ＜ジャイアントウランの巻＞ |
| Published in: Second Grader |
Originally published: 81/04 |
| A woman with a German accent overhears Uran having a temper tantrum about how her brother Astro always gets his way over her after a fight they had over which of them owns an energy cassette. She bullies her poor father into rebuilding Uran into a giant, strong robot girl. He protests that there are rules against such tampering but his daughter is a big, strong woman and he caves into her pressure easily. Uran is pleased to be so large and powerful at first, especially when she is able to force Astro to give her back that energy cassette. However she realizes that in some ways she is not really more powerful than her brother when she presumes to take on a giant monster robot bird built by an evil inventor. She is still much smaller than it and her new super powers are ineffective against it. Astro comes along just in time to save her and destroy the monster bird. Uran is gratefully humbled and Astro demands the man who modified her change her back to normal. His daughter is furious and snaps at him telling him he’s ruined such a perfect robot. He tells her triumphantly that he did at least let her keep one special power. The ability to make loud-mouthed nagging people shut up and Uran chases her away shooting some sticky substance at her head. |
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| Chapter: 009 |
Title: Space Doll ＜宇宙人のお人形の巻＞ |
| Published in: Second Grader |
Originally published: 81/05 |
| This time Astro has to deal with a very weird giant robot spraying a strange sticky liquid all over the place. Just as he punches through the robot’s stomach to find the liquid is actually milk and the robot is absolutely full of it, a UFO appears and draws it up with Astro in the stomach. It turns out the aliens are a family of giants. Mother, Father and their very young daughter. The robot is her baby bottle and play doll combination which was left behind when she was playing on earth and she is at first upset to see it damaged. But next minute she is laughing as her father tries to spray Astro with insecticide and then hit him with a swatter supposing him to be a bug of some kind. Astro picks up and throws the big alien knocking him out but he meets his match in the little girl who wants to play with him in place of her doll. She promises to let him leave after she’s had a bit of fun though and she keeps her promise. Ochanomizu, Mustachio, Uran and everybody else are so delighted to see Astro return even though he is deeply embarrassed because the alien girl sent him back still wearing the dolly dress she had put upon him. |
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| Chapter: 010 |
Title: Ghosts in the Desert ＜砂漠の幽霊の巻＞ |
| Published in: Second Grader |
Originally published: 81/06 |
| Professor Ochanomizu sends Astro to investigate alleged sightings of ghosts in a desert area. He discovers strange specters that all resemble him in one form or another but they are all made out of the sand. He realizes that a long time ago aliens established a factory underground to produce ghosts from the sand to scare off any armies that might threaten their safety while they were living in the desert for awhile. Even though the aliens all left long before Astro came they left all the machinery switched on and Astro hears the full story from one of the sand specters when they attempt to take him prisoner. Since robots don’t feel fear he smashes the machinery dispelling the ghosts forever more and peace is restored to the desert. |
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| Chapter: 011 |
Title: The Space Bug ＜宇宙の虫の巻＞ |
| Published in: Second Grader |
Originally published: 81/07 |
| An astronaut has brought a tiny little insect back from outer space and displays it to people in a glass bubble. It makes a beautiful singing sound that makes everybody so entranced they want to dance to it. Astro suddenly appears to say that his electronic brain can recognize that the “insect” is really a very very small alien and the “song” is in truth a call for help. The astronaut won’t believe him and in a rage demands that he leaves. Shortly afterwards a giant monster comes to earth and terrorizes Tokyo. It locates the building with the glass bubble and grabs it with many tentacles. Astro tries to protect the alien and fights the monster for a little bit. Then the monster suddenly transforms into a cute faced creature and shrinks down. The alien in the bubble pleads with Astro not to attack any more explaining that this is his pet dog from his home planet. Normally he is such a cute small dog as he is now but he sells up into a monster when he gets angry and he was mad because his master was being mistreated on earth. Astro releases the alien from his prison, gives the space dog a cuddle and waves good-bye as they depart together. |
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| Chapter: 012 |
Title: Crazy Duck ＜おかしなアヒルの巻＞ |
| Published in: Second Grader |
Originally published: 81/08 |
| Dr. Foola is up to his old tricks again. Feeling incensed against Professor Ochanomizu because he feels like he’s always making fun of him, Foola builds a robot duck and mails it anonymously to Ochanomizu. The duck constantly follows the professor everywhere honking loudly even at night by his bed. It drives Ochanomizu crazy and he is placed in hospital but even then the duck won’t leave his side. Astro comes up with a plan and has dozens of robots modified to look like the professor roam around the hospital. Seeing so many professors at once the duck’s electronic brain becomes so confused that it short circuits and blows up. Later Astro meets Foola who brags about all the trouble he caused Ochanomizu. Astro is furious and hands Foola a box saying he has a gift for him specially made in return at the Ministry of Science. Foola accepts the parcel but when he opens it a giant robot Cicada bug latches itself onto his back. |
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| Chapter: 013 |
Title: A Feline Guardian Diety ＜ねこのまもり神の巻＞ |
| Published in: Second Grader |
Originally published: 81/09 |
| Astro’s home is overrun by thousands of cats and Astro and all his family are possessed into thinking they themselves are cats by a weird cat like giant calling herself the Guardian Deity of Cats. When Astro’s teacher Mr. Mustachio visits to find out why Astro’s missed school for a very long time he is captured and the Deity announces her intention to raise up cats on rebellion against humans who’ve made pets of them and Astro is commanded to take Mustachio upstairs to the kitchen and chop him up for cat food. Fortunately Mustachio had been able to alert Professor Ochanomizu by phone before being taken by surprise. The professor uses a freeze raygun to stop Astro just in time. He explains to Mustachio that the Cat Deity is a robot from the film studio where they were making a movie about cats possessed by the devil. The robot went haywire and started believing she was real and led all the real cats provided for the movie to freedom. Astro and his family were possessed by very strong radio waves but the professor is able to fix the damage and Astro fights and defeats the robot. All the cats however still think of the robot like their mother and won’t leave her body. Ochanomizu and Mustachio try to make them understand but get themselves badly scratched up and Astro has to drag the robot away with all the cats following. |
| Chapter: 014 |
Title: The Space Shuttle ＜スペースシャトルの巻＞ |
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| Published in: Second Grader |
Originally published: 81/10 |
| Professor Ochanomizu sends Astro to outer space with a small but vitally important piece of a space shuttle launched that morning. The piece was overlooked because of its small size but without it the shuttle may go out of control and crash back on earth. Astro locates the shuttle and installs the piece but the shuttle insists that it look for its mother. Astro tries to explain that its “mother” was only the booster rocket that carried the shuttle into outer space and detached when it was high enough. The shuttle is convinced that it is its true mother so Astro promises to find it. He realizes that it is floating in a space junkyard however unlike the poor shuttle it does not have a computer brain. It is just an empty shell of a rocket. Rather than upset the shuttle Astro carries it back and hiding behind it talks to the shuttle encouraging it to feel confident in its responsibilities as a space shuttle and that though they must go their separate ways “she” is very proud of “her” child. The shuttle is happy to have seen its mother one last time and resumes its normal flight pattern after a cheerful goodbye to Astro’s great relief. |
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| Chapter: 015 |
Title: Showdown on Mt. Fuji ＜富士山の決闘＞ |
| Published in: Second Grader |
Originally published: 81/12 |
| Dr. Foola is making one last attempt to get the better of Astro. He sends him a challenge to a duel with his new robot on Mt. Fuji. Foola has designed and built his robot in the form of a giant unicorn and its horn can extend up to 25 000 miles in only four seconds. Astro latches onto the unicorn’s face and begins punching it. Foola is furious and shoots out the horn but 25 000 miles happens to be the distance around the earth and Foola ends up skewering his own creation from behind resulting in a very humiliating defeat. |
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