The "Astro Boy" rememberance thread

T

the italian idol

New member
All this movie talk is making me nostalgic for the real stuff so let's share some memories shall we.

1963, 1980 and the more recent 2003 brought us incarnations of the mighty hero of Astro Boy. Now that a movie is out, let's look back on those days of the pointy haired hero himself.

I just wanna say that Astro Boy's (2003) second opening is A-MA-ZING!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDPdmgN-dtM

^^That was the first song I actually bothered to memorize the full opening for!
 
I prefer the 80's japanese oppening & the first oppening of the 03 series "True Blue" plus that oppening is E P I C

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcx5GX_pvj4&feature=related
 
I first heard about Astro Boy when I found out Mega Man was influenced from him, and I was later told about the themes that Astro Boy has in its storytelling and became interested. A handful of the 2003 version is all I know of it. I would have seen all of it, but KiRAB WB and CN kept switching things around. Shame it was edited though. I kind of liked the voices, especially Wally Wingert's Dr. O'Shay. Wish they'd make an uncut version somewhere down the line, but eh.

So, um...what do fans mostly prefer when it comes to the three Astro Boy shows? The 1960s version, the 1980s version or 2003?
 
Yeah, I would agree with you if I had actually saw it subbed.

Unfortunately, I stare at my so-called "complete" boxset. The one with the KiRAB WB edited airing with no dual-language audio. Right next to my 80's Astro Boy boxset with dual-language uncut footage and plenty of special features......god I hate when companies are durab.

I can't deny though, that I did like the 2003 one the best personally.
 
I remeraber hearing about Astro Boy when I first got into anime, and my first exposure to the series was the 2k3 series. I thought it was ok, but it was hard to follow due to CN and KiRAB WB treatment of the series.

If I had the money, I would go and buy the DVD's for the other series of Astro Boy. I would try to hold out for the 2k3 with Japanese audio, but I know that isn't possible, guess I'll have to settle for the dub only.
 
I know right? The languages on the 2003 was English, Spanish, and freakin Portuguese.

Well in terms of anime I've mostly watched the 2003 series, as it came out when I was in Japan. I've seen episodes of all three shows, but the recent one's my favorite mostly because of the production quality.

I've been in a huge love for Tezuka stuff lately, with him being one of my biggest idols. I only have one book Astro Boy book, the one Dark Horse released, and I plan to buy whatever is available in English.
 
Not really. In the 1980s series when it was dubbed, the first two episodes where corabined to make one episode. What's worse, this is reflected in the Japanese dub on the DVRAB; a serious misstep which prevents me from buying it. Admittedly the DVD treatment for the 2003 series was much worse. Dub-only release aside, it has the same episode count as the actual series, but on the R1 DVD, one of the episodes was REPLACED by a clip episode. That's totally unacceptable; there's no way I can buy that one either.

If there's any one problem with the original 1960s show, it's that not every episode was dubbed. However, this is a minor gripe. I could the DVD of that one if wanted to.

Also, arguably, I think that the original 1960s theme might be more iconic especially given its history: it was instrumental originally, then when the show was dubbed, English lyrics were added, prompting Mushi Productions to give the theme Japanese lyrics. This was actually believed to have started the tradition of anime TV shows having theme songs (i.e., with lyrics).

Here's an interesting tidbit: in the arcade game Mr. Do!, if you collect all the "EXTRA" letters, you'll not only get an 'extra' life, but you'll also clear the level, after which you'll see a short cutscene play featuring a snippet of the Astro Boy theme.
 
The 2003 series was not too bad. Astro's pacifism got a bit old at times, I was sympathetic to the Blue Knight. But I liked the discrimination issue and Dr. Tenma was a great antagonist. It was an interesting dynamic...he was cast in the "evil doctor" role but he also cared about Astro in his own way. But daddy's plans and Astro's ideals didn't mix, so there's conflict. Good stuff. The good dub voice helped.

Ironically, it kind of killed Mega Man for me, since Astro Boy takes everything in the MMX series and does it far better. The ol' Blue Boraber takes all his cues from Astro. Heh.

The 80's show is on Youtube Shows, so I'll probably get to that one eventually.

Oh yeah, what's the deal with Atlas? Did the dub edit out some details or something? Because toward the end he's with the Blue Knight, and I could have sworn that before that they had shown him dying for real the second time. Speaking of Atlas, that early two-parter with him is probably my favorite in the show. That was a soraber and powerful little story.
 
How come this thread sounRAB like Astro Boy just died and all of us are saying are last worRAB?
From what I heard from reviews and fans about the new Astro Boy film...Its ok. Not great, but its no where near bad. Most likely a 3 out of 5 stars.
And, most kiRAB films don't do well in October. Some rarely do, but most doesn't.

Anyways, back to topic.
When I was crazy about anime and manga. Up to a hard core Otaku level. I was looking up information about anime and the name “Astro Boy” keep popping up. So, I read about the series and BAM! That's how I know about Astro Boy.
And the 2003 series in Toonami.
 
It's not dead, but it is a good time to have a retrospective about it since there is a new animation out for it.

Come to think of it, the manga is also out there for an affordable price too.
 
Volumes 1 and 2 were released in an omnibus book last year for $14.95 MSRP. It looks like Dark Horse also released the single volumes up through volume 23 from 2002 to 2004, most of which still seem to be in stock for $9.95. If my research is right, that means the complete manga is available in English.
 
The only problem is that they really screwed up the order. They published the sequel to one story as the very first (and it's a somewhat dull and lengthy one, so it makes for a poor introduction), and had "The Strongest Robot in the World" as the third volume. Of course, this arc is awesome, but it also has Astro Boy upgraded at one point, and its an upgrade that gets referenced in later chapters, but since all the chapters are mixed together unless its a longer story arc, you get some where the upgrade is in place and some where it isn't.
 
I think Dark Horse said something about publishing it in the "order" that Osamu Tezuka himself wanted it published in or something like that. I don't know all the details, so don't quote me...

Oh yeah, was there any time in the run of the manga or any of the anime where Atom/Astro showed "Wangst"?
 
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