AstroBoy Online Forums

I have been trying to remember Atom's friends names in Japanese(2003).
I know Kenichi, Shibugaki, and Tamao. I was wondering how you pronounce Tamao. I obviously have not been paying enough attention to that character to hear it.
Also I have seen wiki state Tenma first name only in Japanese, Nagamiya. When I saw that I was like "Wha?". I have seen it all in Japanese and don't remember that. Or is wiki just wrong?
I have also noticed you can spell Denko/Denkou either way. I did not know, I was confused at first seeing it spelled the other way and thought I was wrong.

I think that particular name for Tenma was used exclusively in the 2003 series, no where else. And you seem to have all the names right, except I think that only the second spelling of "Denkou" is correct.

Tamao is pronounced as such; TAH MAOH.

As for Tenma's first name... I know in the manga there was a 'spin off' short series that ran after the completion of the 1960s anime which declared Tenma's first name in a comedic 'rant' referring to a lot of horses. The characters in Tenma's name are heaven and horse. Some may read this as Pegasus.

Anyway, as for his first name I cannot for the life of me remember what the manga stated it was... I think it might have been... Suguru? Or was that the Tenma copy's name in the Black Jack series?

I'd check to see what it was but I'm not at home right now.

Part of his first name was Uma. Not sure if it was the first sylable, or the first name itself followed by a second sylable or middle name.

Well Uma literally means horse so I believe that it WAS in there somewhere.

From what I can tell, Tenma's first name is Umatarou in most versions of Astro Boy, though why it was changed to Nagamiya in the 2003 series is anybody's guess.

Ah... Umatarou that was it. I wasn't even aware of Nagamiya to be honest.

"Earthshine" wrote:Ah... Umatarou that was it. I wasn't even aware of Nagamiya to be honest.

I remember seeing it a long time ago on ANN when I was looking up seiyuu for the 2003 series. Though like I said, I'm not sure what possessed them to change Tenma's first name.

Maybe they thought his name too horsey or something. Who knows.

"Earthshine" wrote:Maybe they thought his name too horsey or something. Who knows.

I suppose. I don't know, I just find it a weird change, considering that his name is consistently Umatarou all throughout the franchise. Oh well, it's not that big a loss.