is an anime television spin-off series ''

Astro Boy ''Astro Boy'', known in Japan as , 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 volumes by Akita Shoten. Da ...

'' franchise created by

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu'', – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist and animator. Considered to be among the greatest and most influential cartoonists of all time, his prolific output, pioneering techniques an ...

. Aimed at preschoolers, the series was produced by

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 Astro Boy (1980 TV series), 1980 and Astro Boy (2003 TV series), 2003 ''Astro Boy'' series, and ''Black Jack ...

and Yomiuri TV Enterprises in partnership with Nigerian broadcaster Channels TV. Consisting of eight 11-minute episodes, the series ran in English on Channels TV's children's block of programming between March 22, 2014, and April 26, 2014. It later received a bilingual

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

release in Japan on November 3, 2015.

Production

At the 2013

Annecy International Animated Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring ever ...

revealed that they were in early negotiations to create local adaptations of ''

'' with international companies. The furthest along was a partnership with Nigeria's Channels TV, with whom Tezuka were looking to "re-version" the brand with. The international focus, which was made in part as a response to declining birth rates in Japan, was spearheaded by Makoto Tezuka and was hoped to receive funding from the Cool Japan initiative. The following January, Tezuka Productions officially announced the series. Described as "

edutainment Educational entertainment, also referred to by the portmanteau edutainment, is media designed to education, educate through entertainment. The term has been used as early as 1933. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has inciden ...

" aimed at preschool children, ''Little Astro Boy'' was greenlit for 8 episodes with the intention to focus on the lead's innocence, rather than might. While primarily produced by Tezuka in Japan, as part of being an international co-production, three Nigerian animators traveled to Japan to animate two sequences.

Voice cast

Episodes

References

External links

Tezuka Productions page

Happinet Pictures page
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