The confessions of a returning watcher.

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Clockwork
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The confessions of a returning watcher.

Postby Clockwork » 3 years ago

And I say watcher, because that’s the format I'm most familiar with.

I figured I'd introduce myself by dumping somethnig of a running commentary on the AB series.

Maybe this is blog-ish material but I can’t bring myself to set up a blog and accrue a watcherbase just to get somebody to read this.
I also figured this place could do with the discussion. Forgive errors, I've spent hours looking at this post aleady.

So. In the order in which I fell into the AB series.

1. Somebody posted the Astro Boy reboot trailer on Discord.
2. Decided to watch 09 movie, I think it’s good :P
3. Decided to watch the 03 anime, watched the JP dub probably about 15 years ago. English dub. (bleh) I liked to watch when I was little.
4. Think it’s fairly safe to say I fell down this hole.
5. Decide to actually read the manga.

I use the names that I'm used to for each continuity, so don’t be surprised if I use the JPN or ENG names depending on context.

2009
• Toby treats Orrin with disrespect.
• When “Toby” asks Orrin to hang out with him, Orrin starts to panic…. Implying this is out of character?
• Yeah I feel like they aren’t the same person. Many people think Tenma just had no idea about his son, which is a perfectly reasonable explanation, but it doesn’t feel quite right to me, either.
• Astro's afraid his freinds wont like him anymore Tenma did a number on him huh.
• Tenma's on thin ice.
• Astro looks really cute, honestly I think it’s a great modernization of his design, the older designs are a “dated cute” and look doll-like. I think that is what was considered cute at the time and it is cute but I think there’s a slight offness about it.
• He wears clothes. Good. Design looks pretty good, it all has red accents which brings it together.
• Astro and Cora are pretty cute as friends.
• No Ken/Tamao/Shib, I’m not worked up about them though, I kind see them as "the friends", which this lot also are.
• No Uran, I feel slightly simular I guess, she's cute but I always felt Atom, Ocahnomizu and Tenma where the characters that had "the dynamic."
• Astro's friends actively looked for him, Tenma didn't come to the realisation until it slapped him in the face, just sayin.
• Feels nicely self-contained, it is nice to see something more like a self-contained arc than smaller adventures.
• Elefun's lines are kind of eyeroll-y but also fitting, he's a sweet old man.

2003
• Ochanomizu is Atom’s Dad that is the hill I will die on.
• Cute
• "I'm gonna send this robot to try and kill you so you will learn to kill."
• I love Tenma because I hate him.
• Atom having the does Tenma even love me situation, like oww.
• Uran is cute, something of a fiery girl sweet boy situation with Atom, her role in the Pluto episode was nice.
• Well that escalated quickly.
• Atom is sweet as pie and he becomes so beleaguered by the end of this, he is constantly trying to stop people killing each other. Pretty sure he can’t shed tears in this continuity and wouldn’t be bloody surprised if he can’t because he ends up looking like he goddamn will.
• Tenma wiped Atom’s memories, not like they define who he is or anything, not like you effectively tried to kill him nah he’s a robot and his files are replaceable, honest.
• Atom and Tobio do feel like they were the same person, their personalities seem exactly the same, and the writers actively show this by having Atom rebel against Tenma almost exactly he same way, almost word-for-word. It’s interesting to see the other side of the coin.
• I can't get over how harsh Atom's deactivation looks, christ did Temna fry him?! Was he trying to kill him?
•This final confrontation with Atom and Tenma is tense.
• I like the fact the credits animation is that scene from the last episode, adds to the sense of closure, that song is so melodic and sappy pfftpf.
• He still makes the action of wiping tears,though. Awwh.
• Wait he just....circumnavigates the planet, he supposed to do that? He could have used that speed before.

You know, one thing I really appreciate 2003 is it's unusual take on the chronology. We're introduced to Atom's new life rather than his old one. I think this goes to show that Atom isn't defined by his past and has a family with Ochanomizu and Uran. Speaking of Ochanomizu, this arrangement also puts focus on Ochanomizu and Tenma as opposites.


Tezuka’s Astro Boy
• This just feels so “off” from what I'm used to haha.
• Astro is very willing to get into a fight.
•Tenma's problem with Astro doesn't feel natural.
• So he goes to Tenma to get upgraded, Tenma tells him it could fry him, he accepts, it fries him. So he can beat up Pluto.
• Astro doesn’t seem taken seriously as a living thing, he feels more like a “funny robot” and his mindset is inorganic.
• I don’t like it.jpg
• Tenma never tried to upload Tobio to Astro, I find this an interesting difference, I’d be interested to see another example where this is the case, especially where Astro still has the organic, natural mindset I'm used to.
• I don’t like it.jpg

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Re: The confessions of a returning watcher.

Postby Tetsuwan Penguin » 3 years ago

I suspect you were first introduced to Astro via the post Tezuka Animes (2009 movie and 2003 anime series). For the older crowd here, it was the other way, we first saw the 1963 or 1980 anime series, then discovered the manga. There was also the Jetter Mars anime done in the 70's. Mars was a 'clone' of Astro that Tezuka created when he lost legal ownership of the Atom anime characters (but not the manga version). So he created Mars as a way to do Atom in color, but he did use many of his star system characters from the Atom anime/manga in Mars.
BTW, Atom's first color appearance in anime was actually in a colorized episode of the 1963 anime, but that episode was never seen on TV in color. When Tezuka created the Kimba anime (it's English language name), he used some of his star system characters from Atom in it, including very brief appearances of Atom as well in two episodes(!). Atom appeared in color in one of these episodes.
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Re: The confessions of a returning watcher.

Postby ASTROBUDDY » 3 years ago

Hello Tetsuwan Penguin! A little bit of clarification is needed here. Dr. Tezuka never "lost legal ownership of the Atom anime characters". When his company Mushi Pro. went bankrupt, he lost ownership of the films produced by Mushi Pro. Jetter Mars was created when the studio, Toei Doga asked Tezuka to provide a character similar to Atom that they would market to younger children. He was only involved with the conception and nothing else. He did use some of the ideas he used for Jetter Mars later in the 1980s "New Astroboy" Series. Technically none of Atom was colorized in the 1960s as that technology did not exist until the 1990s. When NBC the U. S. network that broadcast Astro Boy in the U. S. television syndication market were going to purchase Kimba, the White Lion for syndication in the U.S. they stipulated they would only buy the series if it were in color. So they paid to convert Tezuka's studio for color production. The first films to be made in color were two of the episodes that made up the film, "TetsuWan Atomu--Uchuu no Yuusha" ("Astro Boy, the Brave in Space.") [There are examples of colorized Astro Boy episodes on YouTube as well as the film "Tetsuwan Atomu Uchuu no Yuusha" recently uploaded to YouTube if you wish to make a comparison.]--Astrobuddy

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Re: The confessions of a returning watcher.

Postby Tetsuwan Penguin » 3 years ago

There WAS one episode of the 1963 anime that was shot in a primitive color similar to what Max Fleischer did with Betty Boop (Cinderella). I think the title was the "last days on earth". The episode is available on one of the DVD collections.
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Re: The confessions of a returning watcher.

Postby ASTROBUDDY » 3 years ago

Yes it is the episode known in English as, "Attack from Space." It has color tinted scenes and I believe was one of the first experiments when the staff at Mushi Pro were learning the ropes about color production. It is one of the episodes included in the film, "Astro Boy, the Brave in Space." One of the other episodes is "Earth Defense Squadron" known in English as "Moon Monsters". This one is in full color and was shown in some Japanese theaters. Both episodes are included in the DVD box sets from the Right Stuf; although the color version of "Moon Monsters" is in Japanese with English sub-titles.--Astrobuddy.

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Re: The confessions of a returning watcher.

Postby DrFrag » 3 years ago

It's weird that they didn't switch to colour. The same studio was making Kimba in colour in 1965, and after that they still made the remaining 50+ episodes of Astro Boy in B&W.
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Re: The confessions of a returning watcher.

Postby Tetsuwan Penguin » 3 years ago

There was a color still of Atom in one episode of Kimba.
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Re: The confessions of a returning watcher.

Postby ASTROBUDDY » 3 years ago

Dr. Frag posted:
it's weird that they didn't switch to colour. The same studio was making Kimba in colour in 1965, and after that they still made the remaining 50+ episodes of Astro Boy in B&W.

I would guess the reasons are: one.) The expense! The only reason Mushi started color production was because of money from NBC who would only purchase another series from Tezuka, if the series was in color. The expense to convert the remaining Astro Boy episodes to color might be a factor.Two.) According to Wikipedia, even though Japan had introduced color in 1960 real color broadcasts did not begin until 1968, therefore Japan was still airing B & W shows. three.) possibly also the number of households with color TVs may have been another reason. But I would think the main reason would be economical.

Tetsuwan Penguin posted:
There was a color still of Atom in one episode of Kimba.,

I remember that in the Kimba episode, "The Trappers" the bad guys are watching scenes from the B & W Astro Boy episode, "The Roboids", but I don't know which episode you are referring to. Would you be so kind and tell me? --Astrobuddy

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Re: The confessions of a returning watcher.

Postby Tetsuwan Penguin » 3 years ago

I don't remember the episode name, but in it Kenichi (?) takes Kimba to Paris, and they go into a museum. There is an exhibit of future technology, including a number of robots. As the 'camera' pans to the left, showing each of the robots, I knew what the last one would be!
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Re: The confessions of a returning watcher.

Postby ASTROBUDDY » 3 years ago

Thank you, Tetsuwan Penguin! I googled that and the episode where Roger Ranger (Kenichi) takes Kimba to Paris was "Fair Game" which was included on the Kimba DVD vol. #1 from Rhino Home Video back in 2003. { Released under agreement from Right Stuf International, Inc. Tezuka Prod.Co. Ltd.: Mushi Pro. Ltd.]--Astrobuddy


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