''Astro Boy'', known in Japan by its original name , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. It was serialized in

Kobunsha Kobunsha ( ja, 光文社 ''Kōbunsha'') is a Japanese publishing company. It publishes literature, manga novels, and women's magazines. Company history Kobunsha was established on October 1, 1945, and belongs to the Kodansha group. The company h ...

's ''Shōnen'' from 1952 to 1968. The 112 chapters were collected into 23 ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

'' volumes by

Akita Shoten is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Teio Akita on 10 August 1948. As of 2020, the company's president is Shigeru Higuchi. Magazines Male-oriented manga magazines ''Shōnen'' magazines * – Bimo ...

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops know ...

published an English translation in 2002. The story follows

Astro Boy ''Astro Boy'', known in Japan by its original name , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. It was serialized in Kobunsha's ''Shōnen'' from 1952 to 1968. The 112 chapters were collected into 23 '' tankōbon'' ...

, an android young boy with human emotions who is created by Umataro Tenma after the recent death of his son Tobio. Eventually, Astro is sold to a robot circus run by Hamegg, but is saved from his servitude by Professor Ochanomizu. Astro becomes a surrogate son to Ochanomizu who creates a robotic family for Astro and helps him to live a normal life like an average human boy, while accompanying him on adventures. ''Astro Boy'' has been adapted into three

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

series produced respectively by the first incarnation of Mushi Production and its direct successor

Tezuka Productions is a Japanese animation studio founded by Osamu Tezuka in 1968. It is known for animating notable works such as ''Marvelous Melmo'', the 1980 and 2003 ''Astro Boy'' series, and '' Black Jack''. It is also the holder of the intellectual property ...

, with a fourth in development. The manga was originally produced for TV as ''Astro Boy'', the first popular animated Japanese television series that embodied the aesthetic that later became familiar worldwide as ''anime''. After enjoying success abroad, ''Astro Boy'' was remade in the 1980s as '' New Mighty Atom'', known as ''Astroboy'' in other countries, and again in 2003. In November 2007, he was named Japan's envoy for overseas safety. An American computer-animated film based on the original manga series by Tezuka was released on October 23, 2009. In March 2015, a trailer was released announcing a new animated series. The success of the manga and anime series led it to becoming a major media franchise consisting of films including a major motion picture, a number of soundtracks and a library of video games. The series was also among the first to embrace mass merchandise including

action figures An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually mar ...

, collectible figurines, food products, clothing, stamps and

trading cards A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other ...

. By 2004, the franchise had generated in merchandise sales. Astro Boy is one of the most successful manga and anime franchises in the world and has become Tezuka's most famous creation. The combined 23 ''tankōbon'' volumes have sold over 100 million copies worldwide, making it Tezuka's best-selling manga and one of the best-selling manga series of all time. The 1963 anime series became a hit on television in Japan and the United States. ''Astro Boy'' has been praised for its importance in developing the anime and manga industry. It has been featured on numerous greatest anime of all time lists and has inspired many other influential authors in the creation of manga.

Plot

''Astro Boy'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

series set in a futuristic world where

robots "\n\n\n\n\nThe robots exclusion standard, also known as the robots exclusion protocol or simply robots.txt, is a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the site they are allowed to visi ...

co-exist with humans. Its focus is on the adventures of the titular "Astro Boy" (sometimes called simply "Astro"): a powerful android created by the head of the Ministry of Science,

Doctor Tenma This is a list of characters from the manga and anime series ''Astro Boy'' created by Osamu Tezuka, including the 1963, 1980, and 2003 adaptations. Major characters Astro Boy The robot boy fashioned after the deceased son of Dr. Tenma, the ...

(known as Dr. Astor Boynton II in the 1960s English dub; Dr. Boynton in the 1980s English dub). Dr. Tenma created Astro to replace his son Tobio ('Astor' in the 1960s English dub; 'Toby' in the 1980s English dub and the 2009 film), who was killed in a car accident (in the 2003 anime, Tobio is shown as having run away from home before the accident, while in the 2009 film, Toby was killed by Peacekeeper, a weaponized robot). Dr. Tenma built and adopted Astro in Tobio's memory and treated Astro as lovingly as if he was the real Tobio. However, Dr. Tenma soon realized that the little android could not fill the void of his lost son, especially given that Astro could not grow older or express human aesthetics (in one set of panels in the manga, Astro is shown preferring the mechanical shapes of cubes over the organic shapes of flowers). In the original 1960 edition, Tenma rejected Astro and sold him to a cruel circus owner, Hamegg (the Great Cacciatore in the 1960s English dub). In the 1980 edition, Hamegg kidnapped Astro while Tenma was trying to find him. In the 2009 film, Tenma rejected Astro simply because he could not stop thinking about Toby, but later during the film (and unlike in either the manga or the three anime cartoons), Tenma realized that Astro made credit to replace Tobio; as a result, Tenma decided that he would readopt Astro. None these events about Astro being rejected (completely or temporarily) or kidnapped in both the 1960 and 1980 cartoons as well as in the 2009 film happened in the 2003 cartoon as Astro's birth was given by

Professor Ochanomizu This is a list of characters from the manga and anime series ''Astro Boy'' created by Osamu Tezuka, including the 1963, 1980, and 2003 adaptations. Major characters Astro Boy The robot boy fashioned after the deceased son of Dr. Tenma, ...

(Dr. Elefun in the 1960 and 1980 cartoons, as well as in the 2009 film; Dr. O'Shay in the 2003 cartoon). After some time, Professor Ochanomizu, the new head of the Ministry of Science (co-head of the Ministry of Science in the 2009 film), notices Astro Boy performing in the circus and convinces Hamegg to turn Astro over to him. (In a

retcon Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subs ...

the story becomes far more violent and complicated). He then takes Astro in as his own and treats him gently and warmly, becoming his legal guardian. He soon realizes that Astro has superior powers and skills, as well as the ability to experience human emotions. Astro then is shown fighting crime, evil, and injustice using his seven powers: 100K horsepower strength, jet flight, high intensity lights in his eyes, adjustable hearing, instant language translation, a retractable machine gun in his hips, and a high IQ capable of determining if a person is good or evil. Most of his enemies are robot-hating humans, robots gone berserk, or alien invaders. Almost every story includes a battle involving Astro and other robots. In one manga episode, Astro takes on the US Air Force, and stops it from bombing some innocent Vietnamese villagers (this was a time-travel episode, in which Astro went back from the 21st century to 1969).

Production

The ''Astro Boy'' series consists of several storylines. Atom (known as Astro Boy or just Astro in English) originally appeared as a supporting character in the Tezuka comic ''Atom Taishi'' (''Ambassador Atom'', sometimes referred to as ''Captain Atom''), which appeared in ''Shonen'', a monthly magazine for boys, in April 1951. Tezuka then created a comic series in which Astro was the main character. Schodt, Frederik L. "Introduction." ''Astro Boy'' Volume 1 (Comic by Osamu Tezuka).

and Studio Proteus. Page 1 of 3 (The introduction section has 3 pages). . According to Schodt, Tezuka created Astro to be a "21st-century reverse-

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel '' The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan ...

, a nearly perfect robot who strove to become more human and emotive and to serve as an interface between man and machine." Schodt, Frederik L. "Introduction." ''Astro Boy'' Volume 1 (Comic by Osamu Tezuka).

and Studio Proteus. Page 3 of 3 (The introduction section has 3 pages). . As Tezuka's art style advanced, Astro Boy "became more modern and cute" to appeal to his audience of boys in elementary school. Schodt, Frederik L. "Introduction." ''Astro Boy'' Volume 1 (manga by Osamu Tezuka).

and Studio Proteus. Page 2 of 3 (The introduction section has 3 pages). . Schodt added that the page layouts used in ''Astro Boy'' episodes "became more creative." When designing supporting characters, Tezuka sometimes created characters that were homages to

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

, the creator of Mickey Mouse and Disney Princesses,

Max Fleischer Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 25, 1972) was an American animator, inventor, film director and producer, and studio founder and owner. Born in Kraków, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became ...

, the creator of Superman, and other American animators. In several of the ''Astro Boy'' stories, the first few pages were in color. Tezuka had a "Star System" of characters where characters from his other works played various roles in ''Astro Boy''. Similarly, several characters in ''Astro Boy'' appear in his other works. Tezuka developed "a type of dialog with his readers" since he developed so many stories during his lifetime. Tezuka also had a habit of introducing nonsensical characters at random moments in order to lighten a scene which was becoming too serious; he sometimes felt trapped by the need to satisfy his young male audience's desire to see battling robots. ''Astro Boy'' was described by Schodt as an "analog," a world where man and advanced technology coexist. As a result, the plots of the ''Astro Boy'' stories often involve issues that stem from this idea. When ''Astro Boy'' was created in the 1950s and 1960s, Japan did not have the reputation for science and technology that it had gained by 2002. This made the "analog" nature of ''Astro Boy ''unique. The novels were originally published by

; 23 volumes of paper backs were printed. The stories do not appear in order by publication date, but in the order that Tezuka and the collection editors considered most appropriate. The collection begins with ''The Birth of Astro Boy'', an episode that Tezuka wrote in 1975 to make the collection of stories easier to understand. The first ''Astro Boy'' story ever written, first published in April 1951, is in volume 15. In addition, Tezuka often re-drew chapters that he had created earlier. Schodt explains that this is the reason some may appear "more modern" than others. For many of his older stories, Tezuka added introductory pages where he himself was portrayed as the narrator. The color pages were reprinted in black and white for the inexpensive paperback versions.

English-language version

The English-language version of ''Astro Boy'' is an adaptation of the Akita Shoten published works by Osamu Tezuka. The artwork was flipped from the original Japanese version so the books could be read from left to right. Frederik L. Schodt translated the English-language version of ''Astro Boy'' and for most of the characters, he used the original Japanese names. Schodt believed that it was necessary to retain the Japanese names wherever possible, as the story was set in Japan. Schodt translated the nickname " Higeoyaji" to "Mr. Mustachio", and decided to use Astro Boy's English name. He explained that "Astro" is close to the Japanese name "Atom", an English word. In addition, Schodt believed that using "Atom" in an American edition of the story would be "going too much against the history". Occasionally, names of Japanese characters had double meanings that were impossible to convey in the English-language translation. Schodt decided that keeping the sound of the names was important, especially when the names were famous. In those cases, Schodt tried to use the double meaning elsewhere in the translation. When dealing with minor foreign characters with humorous-sounding names, Schodt used equivalent English puns wherever it was possible. The editors of the English-language ''Astro Boy'' book did not remove content that could be perceived to be racially insensitive. They explained that in some cases people may be portrayed differently from how they actually were in 2002 (the year of publication of the English version). The editors said that some readers may feel that the portrayals contribute to racial discrimination and, while that was not Tezuka's intent, the issue needed to be explained as some readers may feel offended or insulted by the depictions. They felt that it would be inappropriate to revise the works, because Tezuka had died and there was no way to reverse what he created, and revising his works would violate his right as a creator. They also expressed the belief that editing or stopping publication of the work would "do little" to end racial and ethnic discrimination throughout the world.

Characters

* Mighty Atom / Astro Boy * Dr. Umatarō Tenma / Dr. Boynton / Dr. Balthus, Astro's father and creator. * Professor Ochanomizu / Doctor Ochanomizu / Dr. Packidermus J. Elefun, head of the Ministry of Science *Astro's parents, created by Prof. Ochanomizu in order to make Astro more human-like * Uran / Astro Girl / Zoran, Astro's younger sister * Cobalt / Jetto, Astro's younger brother (appears as older brother in the 1960s anime) *Chi-Tan / Ti-Tan, Astro's baby brother * Higeoyaji / Mustachio / Shunsaku Ban / Mr. Percival Pompous / Daddy Walrus / Albert Duncan / Wally Kisaragi, Astro's schoolteacher and/or neighbor in the original manga and color 1980 TV series; a private detective and surrogate uncle for Astro in the 1960s TV series *Shibugaki and Tamao / Dinny and Specs, two of Astro's friends * Chief Nakamura / Chief McLaw * Inspector Tawashi / Inspector Gumshoe * Tobio Tenma / Astor Boynton III/ Toby Boynton / Toby Tenma, the little boy Astro was modeled after, who dies in the first episode *

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...

, another robot, Astro's nemesis.

Media

Manga

The manga was originally published from 1952 to 1968, followed by a newspaper serialization (1967–1969) and two further series in 1972–1973 and 1980–1981. The original ''Mighty Atom'' manga stories were later published in English-language versions by

in a translation by Frederik L. Schodt. They followed the television series by keeping the character name as "Astro Boy", the name most familiar to English-speaking audiences, instead of "Mighty Atom." Names of the other characters, such as

and

, are those of the original Japanese. Astro Boy (along with some of his supporting characters) appear in a series of "edu-manga" that tell biographies of famous personalities such as Helen Keller,

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

and

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was ...

. Astro Boy and his "sister" appear in prologues and epilogues for each story and learn about the famous person from Dr. Ochanomizu, who acts as narrator for each installment. These manga were published by Kodansha, Ltd. from 2000 to 2002 with English-language versions published by Digital Manga Publishing and seeing print from 2003 to 2005. From 2003 to 2009,

Naoki Urasawa is a Japanese manga artist and musician. He has been drawing manga since he was four years old, and for most of his professional career has created two series simultaneously. The stories to many of these were co-written in collaboration with his ...

wrote the series ''

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...

'', with help from Takashi Nagasaki. It adapts ''Astro Boys arc (which story Urusawa says "has been enshrined as a centerpiece in the literature of our generation") into a murder mystery. In a 2004 manga of ''Tetsuwan Atom'' written by Akira Himekawa, the plot, as well as the character designs, loosely followed that of the 2003 anime series. The artwork is quite different from Tezuka's original. This version of the manga was published in English by

Chuang Yi Chuang Yi Publishing Pte Ltd. ( zh, s=创艺出版社) was a publishing company based in Singapore that specialized in producing domestic and imported comics and comics-related merchandise in English and simplified Chinese. Chuang Yi distributed ...

and distributed in Australia by

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatr ...

. A prequel, '' Atom: The Beginning'' began serialization in 2014. It later received an anime adaptation in 2017.

Unlicensed comics

In 1965, Gold Key published a one-shot comic book, licensed by

NBC Enterprises NBCUniversal Syndication Studios (a.k.a. NUSS), formerly known as NBCUniversal Television Distribution (a.k.a. NUTD), Universal Domestic Television, Studios USA Television Distribution and MCA TV, is the television syndication division of NBCUnive ...

, based on the U.S. version of the ''Astro Boy'' TV show. This was done without any input from Osamu Tezuka, who considered the book an unauthorized or "pirate" edition and denounced the publication as "horribly drawn". Astro Boy also appears in the premium giveaway series, "March of Comics" (# 285) also published by Gold Key in 1966. Editorial Mo.Pa.Sa., an Argentine company, published the comic book ''Las Fantásticas Aventuras de Astroboy'' in the 1970s. In 1987, the Chicago-based comics publisher

NOW Comics NOW Comics was a comic book publisher founded in late 1985 by Tony C. Caputo as a sole-proprietorship. During the four years after its founding, NOW grew from a one-man operation to operating in 12 countries, and published almost 1,000 comic boo ...

issued their own version of ''Astro Boy'', with art done by Canadian artist

Ken Steacy Ken Steacy (born January 8, 1955) is a Canadian comics artist and writer best known for his work on the NOW Comics comic book series of ''Astro Boy'' and of the Comico comic series of '' Jonny Quest'', as well as his graphic novel collaborations ...

, and again done without Osamu Tezuka giving input. The series was cancelled in mid-1988.

Anime

1963 series

The ''Astro Boy'' animated television series premiered on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...

on New Year's Day, 1963, and is the first popular animated

Japanese television Television in Japan was introduced in 1939. However, experiments date back to the 1920s, with Kenjiro Takayanagi's pioneering experiments in electronic television. Television broadcasting was halted by World War II, after which regular televisio ...

series that embodied the aesthetic that later became familiar worldwide as ''

''. It lasted for four seasons, with a total of 193 episodes, the final episode presented on New Year's Eve 1966. At its height it was watched by 40% of the Japanese population who had access to a TV. Only the first two years (a total of 104 episodes) were dubbed in English and shown in the US. (The other 89 episodes were never made available in English.)

1980 series

A full-colour, second remake of the original stories was produced by Tezuka Productions. The series premiered on

NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Televis ...

, October 1, 1980. At total of 52 episodes were produced and aired. The series was directed by Ishiguro Noboru. The series was released on a 7 disc compilation set by

Manga Entertainment Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1987, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyr ...

on November 22, 2005. A further "Greatest Astro Boy Adventures" DVD was released on July 18, 2006.

2003 series

A third series of fifty episodes was produced by Tezuka Productions, Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, Dentsu, and Fuji Television network. It was created to celebrate the birth date of Astro Boy, and was first broadcast in Japan on the same date as Astro's birth in the manga (April 7, 2003) across Animax and Fuji Television. It was directed by Kazuya Konaka and written by Chiaki J. Konaka, with additional writers including Keiichi Hasegawa, Sadayuki Murai, Ai Ohta, Hirotoshi Kobayashi, Kenji Konuta, and Marc Handler.

International co-productions

At the 2013

Annecy International Animated Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (french: Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of J ...

revealed that they were in early negotiations to create local adaptations of Astro Boy with international companies. The furthest along was a partnership with Nigeria's

Channels TV Channels Television is a Nigerian independent 24-hour news and media television channel based in Lagos, Nigeria. The parent company, Channels Incorporated, was founded in 1992, a year before the Nigerian government deregulated the broadcast medi ...

, with whom Tezuka was looking to "re-version" the brand with. The project surfaced the following year as the preschool-oriented '' Little Astro Boy''. During the 2014 Annecy Festival, Tezuka Productions confirmed it was developing more shows. The first, ''Astro Boy Reboot'' would be a co-production with France's Caribara Productions and Monaco's Shibuya Productions. Additionally, it was confirmed that more ''Little Astro Boy'' was on the way. In 2022, it was announced that Thomas Astruc, creator of '' Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir'', would be developing the series along with

Method Animation Method Animation (sometimes called Method Animation Studios or Norman Studios and also known as ON Animation Studios or ON Kids & Family or Mediawan Animation) is a French company which produces CGI-animated shows. It came together in 2014 as the ...

. The series will be 3D, as opposed to 2D as initially planned. The new ''Little Astro Boy'' would later be revealed in 2016 as an entirely separate production with France's Planet Nemo. The series was later named to '' Go Astro Boy Go!'' before debuting in 2019.

Films

In 1962, MBS released a live-action movie, a compilation film made up of episodes from the 1959–60 live-action TV series that came before the 1960s animated television series and, which loosely followed the manga. The opening sequence (approximately one minute) is animated, and the rest is live action. The movie was of 75 minute in duration. Tezuka met

at the

1964 World's Fair The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair was a world's fair that held over 140 pavilions and 110 restaurants, representing 80 nations (hosted by 37), 24 US states, and over 45 corporations with the goal and the final result of building exhibits or ...

, at which time Disney said he hoped to "make something just like" Tezuka's ''Astro Boy''. A Japanese IMAX featurette was made in 2005, based on the 2003–2004 anime, titled " Astro Boy vs IGZA", but has only been shown in Japan. A CGI movie version was released in October 2009 from

Imagi Animation Studios Imagi Animation Studios, also known as Imagi Studios, was a Chinese animation and visual effects studio based in Hong Kong, and established in 2000 by Imagi International Holdings Limited (), a Hong Kong-based investment company. Background I ...

. The English version features the voices of

Freddie Highmore Alfred Thomas Highmore (born 14 February 1992) is an English actor. He is known for his starring roles beginning as a child, in the films '' Finding Neverland'' (2004), '' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' (2005), '' August Rush'' (2007), and ...

as Astro Boy and

Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...

as Dr. Tenma. IDW Publishing released a comic book adaptation of the movie to coincide with the film's release in Oct. 2009; both as a four-part mini-series and as a graphic novel. A live-action Astro Boy movie was announced in 2015 and will be produced by animation studio

Animal Logic Animal Logic is an Australian animation and visual effects digital studio based at Disney Studios in Sydney, New South Wales in Australia, Vancouver in Canada, and Rideback Ranch in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1991, Animal Logic has ...

in collaboration with

and Ranger 7 Films. '' San Andreas'' writers Jeremy Passmore and Andre Fabrizio were confirmed to be part of the writing team in 2016.

Video games

Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casino ...

developed and published their '' Mighty Atom'' video game for the Nintendo

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redes ...

in 1988. It is known for its extreme difficulty level attributed to a one-hit death rule.

Banpresto (formerly Coreland Technology Inc.) was a Japanese video game video game development, developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It had a branch in Hong Kong named Banpresto H.K., which was headquartered in t ...

published the Zamuse-developed release of their '' Mighty Atom'' for the

Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South ...

system in 1994. Like the Konami game, this title follows events in the Manga series. Sega published a pair of games based on Astro Boy. '' Astro Boy: Omega Factor'' for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...

drew from various elements from the series, while ''

'' for the PlayStation 2 was loosely based on the 2003 anime with a slightly darker plot. '' Astro Boy: The Video Game'' is a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

based on the Astro Boy animated feature film from

. It was originally released on October 8, 2009, from

D3Publisher is a Japanese video game developer and publisher founded on February 5, 1992. The company is known for the ''Simple'' series of budget-priced video games. Their games have been released for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Ninten ...

for Nintendo's Wii and DS, and Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable (the only version released in Japan). It features the voices of

Kristen Bell Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress. Beginning her acting career by starring in stage productions while attending the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, she made her Broadway stage debut as Becky That ...

and

. Mobile game publisher

Animoca Animoca Brands (Animoca Brands Corporation Ltd) is a Hong Kong-based game software company and venture capital company founded in 2014 by Yat Siu. It was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange from 23 January 2015 to 9 March 2020. Nota ...

developed a series of six ''Astro Boy'' themed titles for

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

and Android devices between 2013 and 2016: the endless runner ''Astro Boy Dash'', the musical

edutainment Educational entertainment (also referred to as edutainment) is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term was used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entertainmen ...

application ''Astro Boy Piano'', the

shooter Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

''Astro Boy Flight'', the strategy defense ''Astro Boy Siege: Alien Attack'', the

puzzle game A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzl ...

crossover ''Tezuka World: Astro Crunch'', and a second endless runner called ''Astro Boy Zap''. In 2016,

Active Gaming Media Active Gaming Media Inc. (AGM) is a localization company based in Osaka, Japan. Founded in 2008 by CEO Ibai Ameztoy, the company's main focus lies in providing localization services for video games. AGM has since branched out to provide services ...

launched a Kickstarter campaign for ''Astro Boy: Edge of Time'', a

digital card game A digital collectible card game (DCCG) or online collectible card game (OCCG) is a computer or video game that emulates collectible card games (CCG) and is typically played online or occasionally as a standalone video game. Many DCCGs are types ...

featuring drawings by a number of well known artists. While the campaign failed to reach its $50,000 goal, it was eventually released as a

free-to-play Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...

title in Japan on DMM.com and on Steam internationally in April and June 2017. The game was shut down on March 29, 2018. The character has also shown up in video game crossovers alongside Tezuka's other works, including the 2012 Android and iOS mobile game ''Great Battle! Tezuka All Stars''. Astro Boy also appears as a playable character in the crossover

Crystal Crisis ''Crystal Crisis'' is a competitive tile-matching puzzle video game developed and published by Nicalis, released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows via Steam in 2019. It is inspired by Capcom's '' Super Puzzle Fighter I ...

'', released by Nicalis in 2019 for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. ''Eshigami no Kizuna'', a

Compile Heart is a Japanese video game developer founded on June 2, 2006 as a subsidiary of Idea Factory. The company was formerly managed by Compile's former executive Masamitsu "Moo" Niitani, most well known as the creator of the '' Madou Monogatari'' and '' ...

video game that re-imagines Tezuka characters as ''

bishōjo In Japanese popular culture, a , also romanized as ''bishojo'' or ''bishoujo'', is a cute girl character. ''Bishōjo'' characters appear ubiquitously in media including manga, anime, and computer games (especially in the ''bishojo'' game genre) ...

'', is scheduled to be released on mobile platforms in 2019.

Reception and legacy

The manga has sold approximately 100 million copies. ''Astro Boy'' is considered one of the greatest manga and anime series of all time. In a 2006 'experts' ranking for 'Greatest Manga of All Time' held by the

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by a ...

for their 10th anniversary, ''Astro Boy'' ranked 6th, the 3rd highest Tezuka manga on the list after ''

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

'' and '' Black Jack''. In addition, the 1963 anime adaptation ranked 2nd in the 'Greatest Anime of All Time' list. In a 2009 poll held by

Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition a ...

for 'Greatest Shōwa Manga', ''Astro Boy'' ranked 5th, the highest ranked Tezuka manga on the list. ''Astro Boy'' became Tezuka's most famous work. Frederik L. Schodt, the translator of the English-language version of the manga, said it had "extraordinary longevity and appeal across cultures." Schodt said that many of the stories are "sometimes" of "uneven quality." Schodt said that as the time becomes closer to "a true age of robots," ''Astro Boy'' assumes more meaning. Jeff Yang of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

'', in discussing Schodt's ''The Astro Boy Essays'', said "while kids came for Astro's atomic action – just about every installment included Astro harrowing a fellow robot who'd fallen from digital grace with his fission-powered fists – they stayed for the textured, surprisingly complex stories." Astro ranked 43rd on ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' magazine's list of The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters. The 1960s anime was named the 86th best animated series by IGN, calling it the first popular anime television series. The 1980s anime was extremely popular in Australia,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and many parts of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

, with two different English dubs. The dub shown in Australia (and to a lesser extent in the USA) was coordinated by Tezuka Productions and NTV and produced in the USA. Another dub was produced in Canada solely for broadcast there. While the 2003 anime did poorly in North America, having received poor distribution and having been heavily edited, including the removal of its orchestrated soundtrack and much of Astro's childlike innocence, it was better received in the UK on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

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