Tetsuwan Atom

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 ... that began the trend. Other times you may have heard about a series that defined a whole generation, such as Dragonball Z being the most renowned series of the 90’s. Well, Tetsuwan Atom is THE series that begat and defined ALL anime. Why? Because it is the VERY FIRST anime tv series ever made!

There are of course older animated movies that were made in Japan, way before Atom. The anime was made in mid 60’s the manga was around a decade older, but there already were animated features made even as back as 1910. The thing is all those cannot really be called anime in the traditional sense because the style of animation was not the same and neither were its themes to the most part. You see, up until the 1950’s, animation and graphics were made to look in a very Japanese way to the most part. If you look for classical paintings of Japan’s past, you will find a lot of pictures that depict their way of artistic expression, up until that time. Their trademarks were the almost extinct perspective and the expressionless faces of the people, which were very realistic and reminiscent of the average Asian morphology. Many short features were copying the style of the west of course but those were still seen as foreign influences, not traditional in the broader sense. Also, all western-looking characters of that time were all anthropomorphic animals, while human figures were kept Asian-looking all the way.

When Japan lost in World War 2, the new generation tried to get stronger by mimicking the winning side and amongst them was Osamu to try something entirely new. He made his humanoid character to resemble western cartoon characters, which allowed emotions to be a lot more expressive compared to the emotionless faces of the earlier Asian-looking caricatures. He basically took pointers from Walt Disney and gave his characters huge eyes and easily distinguishable grimaces. Also he allowed for dark themes to be explored instead of being silly fairy tales or war propaganda.

Obviously you can’t judge the show based on its visuals because they are as outdated as they can. There is no color, the animation is super choppy and cartoony-looking characters are off-putting for most even today (look how much One Piece suffers because of it). What you should instead focus on is how much passion and energy was thrown into it at a time when budgets were super small and there wasn’t an audience of tens of millions who would nag on the internet over 5 seconds of someone not wearing his jacket in a fluent enough way. Also keep in mind how artistic and mature it was for the time it came out despite being a show for kids. Lots of dark and depressing themes are explored in it and the outcome is not always “they lived happily ever after”.

The protagonist (and essentially the only character you get to care for) is Atom (or Astro in the dub), a human boy who was killed and was then replaced by a humanoid robot. Seen as a replacement for his creator’s dead son and potentially a powerful weapon, Atom practically fails at both the prime purposes he was made for. His body doesn’t age like a human so his father does not see him as a son and his feelings constantly prevent him from ruthlessly obeying orders from megalomaniac leaders who want to use his advanced weaponry for war. At the same time he is made to care about everything and everyone, using his abilities to protect what he cares for. Every episode is a test of strength or courage Atom faces in a mechanized, and rather dangerous and deprived society. He faces people with cruel hearts and inhuman behaviors, but is also aided by good-hearted people and robots. Every episode features a battle with an evil robot or human that attacks an area or goes against Atom’s moral code. Sometimes he is forced to fight a battle he finds unnecessary (taking orders and such) but does so anyway, just to prove himself useful. Although “too goody” as a character you still see how he is tormented by social norms and he can’t always please everyone.

The premise is inspired by classic stories such as Pinocchio, Frankenstein, and Metropolis, and criticizes the dehumanizing factor of technology. It obviously does it in a very light and episodic way, so it won’t mean much once you get accustomed to the dark sci-fi anime of the late 70’s and beyond. There have been countless shows that dealt with the same themes and with far better visuals, such as the Ghost In The Shell franchise. One could even say that Neon Genesis does the exact same with the relationship Gendo Ikari and Rei have, which is homage to the one Dr. Tenma and Atom have in this show.

Astro Boy is practically surpassed on every field by a show that followed it, but that doesn’t change the fact it was the original inspiration for all anime of the future. Atom’s special attacks are classic mecha weaponry, the big eyes are a staple of the medium, and exploring the dark side of societies is a very interesting theme to this day. It’s not like the franchise died either, as remakes of the show are still being made today with Pluto being the most recent one. Atom’s legacy never died, it just got surpassed and overshadowed by its contemporaries. It’s still the foundation of all anime in general and as such deserves to be remembered, at least as an important historical footnote.

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 ... the titular character thrown into various dangerous situations involving human extremists, rampaging robots, mad scientists conducting dangerous experiments, and even alien creatures. While shallow on the surface, Atom frequently contends with complex issues such as coexistence between humans and robots, ecology, war, grief, and revenge. The anime rarely gets too deep into the philosophical aspects of those deeper issues, but they at least leave some questions open to the viewer, which help keep it engaging despite a somewhat generic “monster of the week” formula.

Similarly to the manga, the animated series is episodic and most episodes adapt a single story, with a handful of more ambitious two-parters in the second half of the broadcast. Episode directors and scriptwriters rotated frequently, and the influence of directors such as Rintarou, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Osamu Dezaki, Eiichi Yamamoto and Osamu Tezuka himself in their respective works is obvious. For example, Yamamoto-directed episodes often have a dramatic and sometimes melancholic tone compared to the rest of the series, a penchant which he maintains in his later works and is most evident in episodes 52 (雪ライオン) and 71 (地球最後の日). On the other hand, Tomino-led episodes vary in tone, but commonly diverge from the typical formulaic structure of the series; episode 139 (盗まれたアトム) is structured as a musical comedy, while the popular Blue Knight (青騎士) story, adapted in episodes 179-180, makes clever use of the opening crawl technique for dramatic effect. These episodes, and others molded by young directors who would go on to become household names in the industry, tend to be the highlights of the series, while episodes produced by committee or by lesser-known directors have fewer idiosyncratic and interesting qualities.

Two episodes were notably produced in color, which was unheard of for a TV anime series at the time, as monochrome broadcasts and TV sets were still the norm; one (episode 56, 地球防衛隊) was fully colored and the other (the aforementioned episode 71) was partially tinted for a muted, contemplative tone. They were later screened in theaters as a compilation film, where audiences were able to view them in color. A handful of episodes also have missing original footage. Some were restored from secondary copies, while others (unfortunately including episode 139) are presented in audio form with restored stills and/or storyboards where they exist.

Production quality improves noticeably over the years. Early 1963 episodes, barring some exceptions like episode 1, use recycled footage liberally and motion is minimized to accommodate the rushed production. Still, some interesting cuts pop up here and there even early on, and the background art is generally superior to the average modern-day TV anime, especially in episodes taking place in foreign locales on Earth. It does take some time to get used to the cheap animation style, which makes sparse use of in-between frames early on, though it becomes noticeably more fluid as the series progresses.

Music is mostly limited to a small set of familiar tracks and character themes which are simple but effective. More notably, the distinctly otherworldly sound effects were largely made by Matsuo Ohno, who was featured in a 2011 documentary about his work on the series called The Echo of Astro Boy’s Footsteps (アトムの足音が聞こえる). While he did not have an extensive career in film and anime, his synthesized soundscape of space likely inspired other composers in the field for years to come.

On average, Tetsuwan Atom is not always compelling, but it is remarkably consistent given the environment in which it was produced. Even episode 34 (ミドロが沼), which was outsourced to Studio Zero and became a legendary production disaster that allegedly led Osamu Tezuka himself to destroy the original film, is surprisingly watchable. Unfortunately, many episodes feel “samey” and directed by the numbers. Only about a fourth to a third of the series merits a discerning viewer’s attention. Despite this, experiencing the series in its entirety offers a unique view on the process of experimentation and refinement that took place over the four-year runtime of an industry pioneer, and provides important context for evaluating its followers. Most compelling is the possibility to view the first directorial works of many highly respected directors, many of which are genuinely engaging. I cannot recommend the full series to the average person, but those interested in the history of the medium may find the experience worthwhile.