Story
"Atom ("Astroboy") was a robot created by Dr. Tenma as a surrogate to Tenma's own son who had been killed in a traffic accident. At first, Tenma loved Atom as if he were his own son but came little by little to hate him, because Atom was a robot and as such could not grow up or mature. After being sold to a circus, Atom was adopted by kind, understanding Dr. Ochanomizu who infused him with a sense of purpose. Since then Atom has been defending humanity from all kinds of dark menaces."
Historical Significance
Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astroboy, was the most important figure in the development of modern Japanese anime and manga (cartoons and comics). Most of the styles and genres commonly seen in anime and manga, from oversize eyes to robot sci-fi epics, were made popular by the man who came to be known as the "Godfather of Japanese Comics".
Tetsuwan Atom (known as Astroboy in the West) is the most famous of Tezuka's creations. Tetsuwan Atom ran as a comic strip for 17 years from 1951 to 1968. The story was originally called "Atom-Taishi" but Tezuka soon revised the story, calling it Tetsuwan-Atom (Mighty Atom). Debuting in 1963, "Atom" was the original smash hit of Japanese anime and was translated into many languages. The show was remade in colour in 1980 (translated into English in 1983), and a third series of episodes was produced in 2003 (the year that the original story was supposed to have taken place!).
Astroboy Manga in English
In 2002, Dark Horse publishing began releasing an English-translated edition of Tezuka's original comics, under the title "Astroboy". Apart from changing the character names to match the TV cartoon names that Westerners are familiar with, these translated comics are as close to the original as possible.
References
Information Sources: "The World Encyclopedia of Comics" by M. Horn (1976), "Astro Boy Deluxe DVD Collection" by Manga Video & Anchor Bay Entertainment (2005), Tezuka Productions Official Site (English Version).
Data
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Book - Astroboy (Manga 1951)
DVD - Astroboy (TV 1963)
DVD - Astroboy (TV 1980)
DVD - Astroboy (TV 2003)