Astro Boy

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka, The character Astro Boy appeared in the 1951 manga series Captain ATOM where his character became an instant hit in Japan.Astro Boy premiered in Weekly Shonen Magazine in April 1952 until March 1968, the original 73 chapters were published into 23 tankōbon volumes by Kobunsha. It is currently the tenth best-selling manga series of all time with over 100 million worldwide sales. It has been adapted into four Anime series and several films by various production companies. In 1963 Astro, marked his anime debut in the 1963 series produced by Mushi Productions, the first serialized anime to air in Japan and the first dubbed into English for the US. The 1980 remake by Tezuka Productions, known as Shin Tetsuwan Atomu, Astro would go on all new adventures this time in full color.

Plot
Astro Boy is a science fiction series set in a futuristic world wherein androids co-exist with humans. Its focus is on the adventures of the titular "Astro Boy" (sometimes called simply "Astro"), a powerful robot created by the head of the Ministry of Science, Doctor Tenma, to replace his son Tobio, who died in a car accident. Dr. Tenma built Astro in Tobio's image and treated him as lovingly as if he were the real Tobio, but 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, 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.

After some time, Professor Ochanomizu, the new head of the Ministry of Science, noticed Astro Boy performing in the circus and convinced Hamegg to turn Astro over to him. He then took Astro as his own and treated him gently and warmly, becoming his legal guardian. He soon realized that Astro was gifted with superior powers and skills, as well as the ability to experience human emotions.

Astro then is shown fighting crime, evil, and injustice. Most of his enemies were robot-hating humans, robots gone berserk, or alien invaders. Almost every story included a battle involving Astro and other robots.

Other Wikis

 * Osamu Tezuka Wiki (wiki encompassing series from Osamu Tezuka including Astro Boy)