I bought all the videos straight away - and got some very strange looks from cashiers, wondering why a teenager was buying "childrens videos
Occasionally I feel awkward knowing that someone knows that I have a ton of Atom videos, but usually I am ok about it. On the other hand, my brother would just die if anyone other than I knew about his Speed Racer and Kimba TWL DVDs. More than that, I have tons of LEGO, that I occasionally turn to when other things become old. I do not care who knows about it, because I really enjoy building things. It is no where near as frustrating as trying to build a computer program with C++, because there are no syntax errors! I also like playing goofy kid games with my neices, but that is because I like my neices, and the games require silliness from the players, which I greatly enjoy. I should have been a papa instead of just an uncle.
Anyway, anything I can do that captures long lost childhood innocence appeal to me, and that was my initial attraction to Atom. I suppose that if I had kids, Atom would not be as important as he is to me. :huh:
Astroboy is actually a cartoon that appeals to all ages, especially the 60s series. Compare it to the Hanna Barbara super hero cartoons of the 60s. The HB toons used dialogue to explain what was obvious. Space Ghost is flying along when the bad guy attacks, but the villian first announces his intention:
"So, there is Space Ghost. I will use my xyz ray and destroy him forever, ha, ha, ha!"
He proceeds to shoot ray at hero.
Space Ghost notices the incoming rays, and says,
"xyz rays. It must be bad guy x. I'd better use my mega shields to deflect those rays before they fry my ass."
He says all that
not while pressing the button to activate the shields, but
before pressing the button. All this time, he is exposed to the enemy's death rays. Then he presses the button, and the shields appear, the bad guy sees them, and says what he will do next, of course before doing it.
Thus, those HB super hero cartoon were so dumb that even a four-year old should have been able to understand them. The creators of Astroboy cartoons figured that anybody watching them should be able to figure out for himself what was going on, so the characters did not bother to explain their actions. While the story would interest viewers of all ages, Astroboy 60s had quite a few gags that only adults would 'get'.
The 80s series also had a few really funny episodes chock full of visual gags that young kids might not understand. The new series relies entirely upon the kids' cuteness for humor, which is ok by me, because now Atom has the chance to be a kid, not merely a "child-alike robot". He plays sports, does kid things, and even pretends.
He is the 'son' I always wanted, but never had.
I am really glad the Cartoon Network came up with Adult Swim, and adult versions of kid cartoons. Space Ghost as a talk-show host, Birdman as a lawyer, Space Ghost's enemy Brak as a liitle kid, and other enemy Zorak as his neighbor. Sealab 2020 became Sealab 2021, with adult comedy, and now
The Venture Bros will spoof Johnny Quest! :wahah:
, Bubblegum Crisis 2040, Aeon Flux, and probably others. They had such incredible feedback from NGE that they started repeating the series concurrently before the first showing had completed, something unheard of for this kind of thing. B) 
, Astro's energy cassetes...)
. Even the opening and ending songs in french were a joy listen to. 
