Tetsuwan Atom


Astro Boy

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Mighty Atom
Japanese: 鉄腕アトム
English: Astro Boy
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Information

Type: TV
Episodes: 193
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Jan 1, 1963 to Dec 31, 1966
Premiered: Winter 1963
Broadcast: Saturdays at 19:00 (JST)
Producers: Meiji Seika
Studios: Mushi Production
Source: Manga
Genres: ActionAction, AdventureAdventure, DramaDrama, Sci-FiSci-Fi
Demographic: ShounenShounen
Duration: 26 min. per ep.
Rating: G - All Ages

Statistics

Score: 7.081 (scored by 48384,838 users)
1 indicates a weighted score.
Ranked: #38922
2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity: #5822
Members: 13,710
Favorites: 57

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7.08
Ranked #3892Popularity #5822Members 13,710
Add to My List
Episodes: /193

Synopsis

Devastated over losing his only child in a car accident, Dr. Umatarou Tenma, the director of the Ministry of Science, mobilizes the institution's entire staff to create Atom: an ultimate technology robot made in his late son Tobio's exact image. Aside from unmatched power and intelligence, the robot also possesses the innocence and playfulness of a young boy.

However, Atom fails to meet Tenma's expectations when the latter realizes that Tobio's replacement cannot grow. Unable to recognize Atom for what he is, Tenma wishes to forget the whole affair. Dismissing the feelings of what he considers just a machine, he cruelly sells the android to a robot circus that treats its performers as merely disposable tools. Despite his predicament, Atom shows kindness to his wretched kin and humans alike, sparing no effort in times of crisis to keep everyone safe.

Soon, fortune smiles on the mechanical boy, as Dr. Ochanomizu—a visionary who fights against the abuse of robots—frees him from the circus. Under Ochanomizu's guidance and with a chance to forge a path in their mixed human-robot society, Atom fights tirelessly to make the world a peaceful place while also discovering its vast complexity.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Background

Tetsuwan Atom was the first television anime series to air in a 30-minute programming slot. It was broadcast by Fuji Television and reached over 40 percent viewership rating by the following year. The February 2004 issue of the Cinefantastique American magazine listed it as one of the 10 Essential Anime. It ranked second in the 100 Select Works of Media Arts survey for the animation category, which was held in 2006 by the Japan Media Arts Festival. The series also won several awards: the Special Award at the second Television Reporters Conference in 1964, The Ministry of Health and Welfare Award in 1965, and the Galaxy Award at the fourth Broadcast Critics' Discussion in 1967.

When television producer Fred Ladd helped NBC Enterprises adapt the series for broadcast in the United States in 1963, the title Astro Boy was used instead of the manga's English title Mighty Atom. Only the first 104 episodes were made available in English and aired in an alternative order, with adjustments for the American audience.

In North America, Right Stuf International released several VHS tapes of the series between 1989 and 1995; the company returned with all 104 episodes on DVD—as a collection of two 11-disc sets—from March 27, 2006, to August 29, 2006. A subsequent mini collection of two five-disc sets and an independent five-episode DVD Astro Boy: The Beginning also became available on October 6, 2009.

Characters & Voice Actors

Atom

Main
Shimizu, Mari
Japanese

Dr. Ochanomizu

Main
Katsuta, Hisashi
Japanese

Tenma, Umatarou

Supporting
Yokomori, Hisashi
Japanese

Pluto

Supporting

Uran

Supporting
Mutou, Reiko
Japanese

Hige Oyaji

Supporting
Yajima, Masaaki
Japanese

Atlas

Supporting
Mitsueda, Akihiko
Japanese

Ham Egg

Supporting
Ebata, Takashi
Japanese

Tenma, Tobio

Supporting

Tawashi

Supporting
Kanemoto, Shingo
Japanese

Staff

Tezuka, Osamu
Director, Episode Director, Script, Original Creator
Tomino, Yoshiyuki
Episode Director, Script
Dezaki, Osamu
Episode Director, Storyboard, In-Between Animation, Key Animation
Rintarou
Episode Director


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Opening Theme

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"Tetsuwan Atom (鉄腕アトム)" by Kamitakada Shounen Gasshoudan (上高田少年合唱団)
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Ending Theme

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Reviews

Dec 30, 2007
Preliminary (7/193 eps)
Created in 1952, Osamu Tezuka revolutionized american cartoons forever when Astro Boy came to our American televisions in 1963. It is recognized as one of the first popular animes to be in America.

Osamu Tezuka offers to younger audiences along with teenagers who have nothing better to do. It's cute brand of comedic satire brought in audiences of both genders. Action and a funny, yet dramatic storyline set in the distant future of 2003 (oh no!) make it so popular to everyone.

my father remembers watching Astro Boy as a kid, and now the old cartoon has come back once more. Astro Boy is now aired on ...
May 1, 2023
Mixed Feelings
This review focuses on the original Japanese version (193 episodes) as released on the Tetsuwan Atom Complete BOX DVD sets and is slightly updated from my previous preliminary review.

Tetsuwan Atom is the first “full-length” (30-minute) weekly TV anime. With an ambitious project devoid of a high production budget, Osamu Tezuka pioneered production methods like limited animation, use of recycled footage, and outsourcing animation work when there was hardly any precedent to learn from. Especially early on, this was in many ways an experiment, and it cannot be viewed under the same critical lens as even subsequent 60s works.

In its most basic premise, Tetsuwan Atom has ...
Mar 18, 2023
Mixed Feelings
FunnyFunny
Preliminary (3/193 eps)
I was around 9 when I first watched the first 10 episodes of Astro Boy on VHS. I had no idea at the moment that it was the 80’s remake of an older show, which in turn was actually a legend in the field as it revolutionized how anime look and feel decades before we had the internet to hype everything with little effort. And here I am some decades later myself, making a small essay on the damn thing. You may have heard from time to time about a series that begat a whole new genre, such as Tetsujin-28 being the first mecha series ...

Interest Stacks

30 Entries · 5 Restacks
50 Entries · 7 Restacks

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