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Astro Boy (2003 TV series)

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This article is about the 2003 series. For other Astro Boy series, manga, and the videogame see Astro Boy (disambiguation)
Astro Boy (2003 TV series)
GenreAdventure, Mecha, Science Fiction, Shounen
Created byOsamu Tezuka
Anime
Directed byKazuya Konaka
StudioTezuka Productions
Related works

Astro Boy
Astro Boy (1980s)

Astro Boy (2003) is a remake of the 1960s anime series Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka, which was produced by his company, Tekuza Productions, and the anime television network, Animax, who have broadcast the series across its respective networks worldwide, including Japan, Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Asia, and other regions.

In 2003, a new Astro Boy anime series was created to celebrate the birth date of Astro Boy (as well as the 40th anniversary of the 1963 series). Under the original English name (instead of Tetsuwan Atom), it kept the same classic art style as the original Astro Boy manga and anime, but was revisioned and modernized with more lush, high-quality, near-theatrical animation and visuals. It combined the playfulness of the early anime with the darker, more serious and dramatic Science Fiction themes of the manga and the '80s anime. The anime broadcasted in Japan (on the same date as Astro's birth in the manga, April 7, 2003) across Animax and Fuji Television, with lots of fanfare. It was directed by Kazuya Konaka and written by Chiaki J. Konaka.

Though many episodes of the series can be regarded as "free-standing" inasmuch as they don't have anything to do with the series major story arcs, the 2003 series can be regarded as having a well-defined beginning, middle, and end. Although the series appears to initially have two main plotlines (Dr. Tenma's eventual plans for Astro to evolve and another plotline about robot rights), these two story arcs dovetail toward the end of the series.

The show was eventually picked up by Sony Pictures Entertainment. However, Kids WB picked up the broadcasting rights. Fans balked at the Dub, as the original music score was changed and show was given horribly uneven scheduling. It was bounced back and forth between Kids WB and Cartoon Network until it was eventually cancelled. TOM, the host of Toonami, the block that aired the show on the Cartoon Network even made a joke during his review of the video game tie in, Astro Boy: Omega Factor that "Astro has no love here in the States". This could easily be viewed as Williams Street's view of the situation as anime fans with their hands tied by red tape in regards to the situation of being allowed to air the show.

The entire series is currently available on DVD in one single boxset. However the US set is not fully complete, with one episode in the set being omitted called "Eternal Boy" and replaced with a clip show episode. This is because the episode features a character very much akin to Disneys version of Peter Pan, which if had been included, may have caused copyright issues with Disney. The order of episodes on the set is the syndication-released order, which is different from the Japanese order, evidenced by characters such as Astro's sister, Zoran, showing up in episodes before they were introduced. This DVD set also has a short feature about the shows development that heavily hints at pressure put on the anime developers by Sony to make Astro more of a hero than a boy. This is reflected in the dub as scenes where Astro has emotional moments or where he is acting child-like are cut or the script is changed to Astro saying something different. That said the later episodes of the dub do follow along the same lines of the Japanese script.

File:Astro boy.png
Astro Boy

The series, however, had more success in the UK where it was picked up by the BBC for its children's block and digital only Children's channel from 2003 to 2006. The show's first run lasted about as long as the US one (up to the 2-part episode featuring Pluto) after which the BBC stopped airing new episodes. This may be because (as one presenter commented after an episode) Astro was a darker show compared to the other cartoons CBBC aired (even in its edited state). The western dub has never been aired fully on TV in the US. Despite how well Astro may have fared in the UK airing and DVD's being advertised, the series has not been released on DVD in the UK. Interestingly enough, CBBC finished airing recently unaired episodes of Astroboy, thus completeing the entire series in the UK, making AstroBoy one of the rare Anime that airs in the UK in its entirety while not being so in the United States.

The series was also a success with Arabic speaking viewers when it aired on MBC 3 several times along another anime remake that faced the same fate in America, Cyborg 009.

A trailer from 2001 made for this series when it was in development presented several major differences from the final series. With different designs for characters such as Atlas. With the characters speaking in English (with voices completely different to the voices that would eventually end up in the US dub) and animation not found in the final series.

Cast

Japan

English

Theme songs

(Japan)

Openings

  1. "True Blue" by Zone
  2. "Now or Never" by Chemistry meets M-flo

Ending

  1. "Boy's Heart" by Fujii Fumiya
  2. "Tetsuwan Atomu" (A remixed version of the 60's series' theme song.)

(U.S.)

Opening

  • "Astro Boy Theme" by William Anderson
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