| Astro Boy!
Um, I really don’t have to say anything else other than that, do I? If the name itself fills you with glee, then the only other thing you need to know is that there’s a nice, new bright red DVD box set that belongs on your Christmas list.
Actually, there are a few things you need to know, beginning with the very important fact that Astro Boy has been made into a cartoon series three different times, and you’ll probably want to make sure you’re getting the one you really want. Here’s how to tell them apart:
1. The original black-and-white series came out in 1963, and was the very first Japanese cartoon series to be exported to English-speaking countries. It was a colossal hit, lasting for 193 (!) episodes, 104 of which got translated into English. Sadly, it remains unavailable on home video.
2. The 1980 series, made in colour, is the one most Canadian fans think of when they think of "the original Astro Boy" (or often, "Astroboy"). It’s hand-drawn, has garish colours, ran 51 episodes (52 in Japan) and has just been made into an outstanding DVD set from Manga Video. The box is red in colour.
3. In 2003 (the "futuristic" date in which Astro was constructed in the original 1951 comic book), an all-new big-budget remake of Astro Boy was made, utilizing some CGI technology here and there, tweaking the characters and storyline, and removing Astro’s famous butt-mounted machine gun. It ran for 50 episodes, half of which aired in North America. Sony released an Astro Boy: The Complete Series (2003) DVD set earlier this year, and many disappointed fans bought it by mistake, thinking it was the 1980 series. The set comes in a black box.
If you’re doing Christmas shopping for an anime fan, it is essential to pick the right box set. Clip this column out and keep it. Believe me, people seem to really want to stick with the Astro Boy that they grew up with, which as I pointed out, is probably the ’80s series in the red box. Let’s discuss that set in more detail, now that you know how to find it.
Astro Boy (1980) chronicles the futuristic adventures of a powerful yet pure-of-heart robot constructed by the brilliant Dr. Boynton as a replacement for the doctor’s dead nine-year-old son. Unfortunately, the doctor can only see the differences between the copy and the original, rather than their similarities, and he rejects his surrogate child. The boy is forced into doing dangerous stunts with a robot circus until he’s rescued/adopted by the kindly Dr. Elefun, who renames the lad Astro Boy. Many adventures ensue, as Astro protects and rescues his friends, catches plummeting airplanes, goes to school, saves lives, and is even given robot parents and a troublesome but endearing little sister.
Astro is a fascinating combination of raw destructive power and complete innocence. Brave, honest, compassionate and polite, he seems to possess every possible admirable human quality and virtue. He could never be cruel, but the world in which he lives often is, and the show never shies away from allowing awful things to happen to good people. After all, this is a show in which Astro’s human counterpart dies tragically in a car accident, and Astro himself is cast aside by the man who created him. The final episode of the series, "Astro’s first love," is surprisingly poignant. Still, the heroes never become bitter or disillusioned, and embody the importance of remaining fair and true in an unfair world.
It’s difficult to talk about Astro Boy’s artist/creator Osamu Tezuka without gushing. An ethical pacifist who strove to bring his message to the world via a staggeringly large and influential body of work (he personally drew over 150,000 pages of artwork!), Dr. Tezuka is referred to as "The God of Manga," and is often cited as the reason Japanese adults read comics in public without shame. He received his M.D. from Osaku University in 1946, but abandoned medicine to revolutionize the manga (comic book) and anime (animation) industries. His "big-eyed" style of drawing was adopted by other artists out of respect. Quick, how many anime characters can you think of who don’t have big eyes? That’s how influential Tezuka was.
Manga Video’s box set assembles 51 of the 52 episodes in the original Japanese broadcast order. "Astro Boy vs Atlas," which was originally episode No. 2 and which introduces Astro’s evil twin Atlas, isn’t available here, as it was never broadcast in English. Flashbacks from this episode appear in episode No. 5; "Atlas lives again," which might confuse viewers. (Oh well.) On the plus side, both English and Japanese audio tracks are available (with optional subtitles), and the "deleted scenes" bonus feature includes some interesting moments deemed too "Japanese" to make it into the translated versions, including a musical number!
For all the nostalgic value and historical importance of Astro Boy, the series still has some strange quirks. Shiny black shorts and knee-high red hooker boots are an odd combination to wear while saving the world. Then there’s that machine gun mounted in the little guy’s rear end. That’s just weird. Some of the publicity material says it’s a "hip-mounted machine gun," but that’s just to throw people off – it’s clearly bum-mounted. Kids won’t mind at all, of course. If you’re the right age, you want to be Astro Boy – bum-guns and all. I can hear the playground banter now – "I’ll stop that tank! Quick, pull my finger! Rat-a-tat-a-tat!" |
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