The 2003 version of Asutoro Bōi: Tetsuwan Atomu(japanese translation) or Astro Boy was directed by Kazuya Konaka and written by Chiaki Konaka. The studio that produced this was Tezuka Productions, which is known for other famous animes like Samurai Warriors and the 1980 version of Astro Boy. Finally the show was licensed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Mill Creek Entertainment. This show was meant to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original 60s black and white anime. The original run of the show was from April 6th, 2003 to March 28th 2004; the anime in all consisted of 50 episodes.
In all Astro boy is Action, adventure, and sci-fi anime. The synopsis of the overall anime is set in 2043 in a place called Metro City, it is a place where robots are commodity in human lives. A famous doctor named Tenma Umatarō other wise known as Dr.Tenma has disappeared right after he was on the cusp of a major construction of an AI robot using a new technology called Kokoro (which is heart in japanese). Professor Ochanomizu, who replaces Tenma as head of the Ministry of Science, discovers a boy robot and brings him to life after giving him the name Astro. Astro discovers that he can fly via rocket boosters in his hands and feet, has superhuman strength, and other such abilities. The series then consists of Astro having to help save Metro City, while discovering his past which connects with Dr. Tenma. He also has to deal with robots and villainous robot-hating humans who threaten his friends, fellow robots and Metro City.
Why I chose this anime. When I was a child Astro Boy would show on Cartoon Network late in the evening. I was drawn to its colorful animation, characters and morals of the show. I also enjoyed the music that played in the background as well as the theme song:
When we watched the original Astro Boy in class I was surprised on how both different and similar the original was to the 2003 version. Sadly I had only watch the dubbed version so watching the subbed version was an experience in itself. The episode I watched was called Power up and it was the first episode of the series. It starts with us seeing the inside structure of Astro while hearing his subconscious asking for his father. We then see Professor Ochanomizu and several other scientist trying to turn Astro on. However there is not enough energy This leads to Professor Ochanomizu calling the energy plant and having them use the energy of the city to power Astro up, this causes the city to black out. However finally with all the energy used Ochanomizu is able to power up Astro and he awakens.
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| Astro Boy's birth |
In the next scene we see Astro being observed by scientist While playing with Ochanomizu. The scientist are shocked that this is this Ultimate robot but Ochanomizu explains that last Astro has the ability to have emotions and process thoughts like a real boy so he will develop as a real boy, even though he is a robot. This is because of his Kokoro that he has in his robot body. Ochanomizu hopes that this will close the gap between humans and robots and they will become friends. However the scientist wave it off as not important and leave.
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| Astro's child like personality |
We then meet Yuko, who is professor Ochanomizu assistant, as well as pet robot flamingo as well as Robita, Astro’s nanny robot. Ochanomizu leaves for a meeting and leaves Robita in charge of Astro. However Astro’s curiosity overtakes him he escapes, and falls off a ledge into the city where he miraculously is able to activate his rocket powered boots and flies. This leads him to explore the city.
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| Astro's escape |
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| Astro's flight |
In the meanwhile we meet Detective Tawashi, who is apprehensive about Astro Boy having Kokoro, saying that a thinking and feeling robot can be dangerous, while Ochanomizu disagrees. They both see Astro’s fall and flight and rush to find him. Meanwhile Astro goes through some misadventures while exploring Metro City. However a rogue robot from the energy plant named Magnamite comes out to destroy the city. Ochanomizu tries to go and stop it but
Magnamite almost kills him, however Astro comes by and saves him. Tawashi then tries to use the police force to stop him but it fails. Astro tries to reason with Magnamite but that fails and Magnamite almost squishes him. This causes Astro to have a quick flashback to an unknown man (which is Tenma) as well as other scenes. This causes Astro to fly Magnamite up, during this they communicate and Astro learns that the robot has too much energy which causes him pain.
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| Astro flying Magnamite up |
Astro then absorbs all the energy saving the day as well as Magnamite. Astro then flies off glowing which is the excess energy turning into light. We then end the episode seeing a mysterious man (who is Tenma) calling Astro “Tobio.”
This anime feels more like a shoju compared to the anime in the 1960.With this anime compared to the old one this one seems to have an ongoing story. For one thing Tenma is seen as an antagonist slash mysterious figure. As Astro seems to think that Ochanomizu is his original owner. Astro Boy is also more childlike in this anime compared to the ones in the 60s as he seems very playful with everything. However like the original Astro still has a good heart and wants to help everyone.
With the way the themes seem to be it seems to be going towards a direction of discrimination, fear and ultimate understanding. The way Professor Ochanomizu talks about Astro being the bridge between man and machine we see as a sort of savior story. However the savior is not overall perfect and still has to grow and develop learning about themselves as well as the people surrounding them. This is what Astro needs to do. He will also figure out his origins as well as connection to Dr. Tenma. This will probably be the whole series and there will be some major arcs compared to the original where most of the story were stand alones, except maybe a few arcs.
Thus Astro Boy will be a very interesting anime to watch to anyone who is interested and shows that have arcs, depths, good characters, and just like watching funny anime's I would suggest this version of Astro Boy.
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Ashley you did follow the directions by providing the background of the anime, giving your reason why you choose it, a synopsis of the episode, some analysis, and a short conclusion. Something to work on would be editing and proofreading. While I was reading I noticed a lot of little mistakes such as; grammar, punctuation, lack of commas, spelling, and capitalization. Your use of visual aids was nice, I like how you incorporated screenshots and a video, it really added to your blog. While you do compare the 2003 adaption to the original from the 60s, I felt like you could have given us a more concrete example from episode 1 which we watched in class. You say that this version seems more like shojo compared to shonen, why is that? Do you prefer that the 2003 version has arcs compared to the 60s which consists of standalone episodes?
ReplyDeleteI actually made a mistake with shojo I meant to put shonnen. I feel it is shonnen due to the fact that it has the action but main character that goes through a self identifying journey to discover himself with the help of his friends. And to answer your question I love the fact that the 2003 has arcs. I believe that an arc helps develop the plot as well as the characters. While it can be fun to watch stand alone episodes it can get monotonous at points with arcs the story grows and draws you in more and more.
DeleteAshley, you did a great job on this blossay prompt. You gave a clear background on the new series and I liked that you included your reason for analyzing Astro Boy. Adding the theme song video was a nice touch because it gave a clear example of how the animation, color, and sound has changed from the original series. I will say that I wish you had gone into a deeper comparison of the how the 2003 series compares to the original series. I would like to know your thoughts on how the improved animation and color impacted the series. Did it make the series better or worse? Do you think the new series had a different target audience then the original series? In the end, I think you did a great job giving us a brief summary and analysis of Astro boy, as well as using images and screenshots effectively!.
ReplyDeleteI honesty felt that the color added onto the show it made it more interesting to watch, and gave a more fast paced identity which I did not get from the old anime. The animation was also a lot sharper which made the action scenes ten times more interesting to watch. I believe that with the target audience it was made for young boys that are interested in robots, but I believe that any person who is older watches the show they will see the underlying adult themes of discrimination and the true meaning of being human.
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