The Beginning of Anime

"Astro Boy" became extremely popular, and in fact is Tezuka Osamu's most famous work. In 1963, the animated program "Astro Boy" made its debut on TV as the first commercial animated TV program in Japan, produced by Tezuka's Mushi Production. The 30-minute program was aired weekly, receiving high public and critical acclaim, and helped lead the way to Japan's Anime craze.

Plot

The story begins with Dr. Boynton and his eight year old son Toby.  Dr. Boynton is the Minister of Science and Technology for his country, and as such is trying to create a robot with a soul.  He tries many times, and fails many times.  Toby gives him the idea to create a robot in the form of a boy, which was exactly what Boynton needed to hear.  During his haste to finish the project, his forgets to take Toby to an amusement park like he promised.  Toby, distraught, hopes behind the wheel of a car and begins to drive home.  He gets hit by a bus, and dies in the accident.  Dr Boynton then decides to create the robot in his son's image, utilizing all the military technology of the time.  The rest of the Science department becomes worried that the robot will be some kind of monster, and so the order to shut down the project is given.

    In the middle of the night, Dr Boynton sneaks into the compound and finishes his robot, whom takes on the name and appearance of his son Toby.  Dr Boynton allows the department to think he has dismantled the robot, and takes his new son home with him.  However, the new Toby has a hard time adjusting to everyday life, as he has an almost uncontrollable amount of strength.   He continually breaks things and causes general mischief around the house.  One day, Toby seems to malfunction and leaves home.  His father, with the help of some of his fellow scientists, get in a robot retrieval tank and go after him.  The tank goes haywire and Toby saves them all.

    Unfortunatly, this display alerts the Ministry of Science who then fire Dr Boynton for disobeying orders.  They decide to leave and find a new place where Toby can live as a normal boy.  They get on a cruise, and once again Toby must hide his robotic abilities, as robots are not allowed onto the boat.  Of course, he exposes himself through his clumsy nature, and incites his father's anger.  Feeling dejected, he signs on with a travelling circus.

    The circus master is a very cruel man, and mistreats any robot he doesn't think will bring him lots of money.  Toby begins working as a vlown, but when the star of the show malfunctions, getting itself blown up, Toby find himself in the dangerous position.  Luckily, while he was working as a clown, the new minister of science, Dr Elefun vaguely recognized Toby from the crowd.  He began following the show, hoping to find out if this really was Dr Boynton's creation.  After Toby suceeds with the star trick of the show, the circus master refuses to let him leave with Dr Elefun.  Using a trick to make it seem Toby has blown up, he escapes the circus and begins a new life with Dr Elefun with the name Astroboy.  From this time on, the story follows Astro in his attempt to live a normal robot life, while constantly saving humanity from evil, which are usually powerful robots. 

Themes

 Death and Loss - One of the first things the story tackles is the theme of death and loss.  Dr Boynton's son is killed in a car accident, and he has some major problems coping with that.  He buries himself in his work, creating a new son.  This inevitably leads to him losing his job, and later, his new son Astroboy.  His inability to cope results in his coming back later in the series as a villian.

 Predjudice, Bigotry, and Abuse - The largest themes of the cartoon series that seem to go hand in hand.  Robots are hated and feared by many people of the world.  They are believed to be less than human and should be used with little or no regard to how they feel about things.  Tezuka shows these abuses in a harsh light, often drawing them as stupid looking, or brutish.  They seem to lack the intelligence of Astroboy, whom they regard as beneath them.  Their own hate and actions bring about their downfall.

 Self-Descovery - Astroboy, though he looks to be a boy of 8, has only recently been created.  With the addition of all the weapons during his development, Dr Boynton laid a burden upon him that he may not have realized at the time.  Astroboy simple wants to be a normal boy, go to a normal school, and make normal friends.  However, with his power he is called upon time and time again to save humanity.  Throughout the story, Astroboy is trying to find where he fits into society, and how to balance his duty with his desire for a normal life.

Characters

Astroboy  - The hero of the series.  Fashioned after a boy named Toby Boynton, Astroboy is a robot with the strength of 100,000 horsepower (later 1,000,000) and the heart of gold. He has seven amazing powers: flight, multiple languages, analytical skills, headlight eyes, strength, hidden weapons in his back and the ability to tell what's right and wrong.  He first appeared in Episode 1: Birth of Astro Boy.

Uran - Astroboy's little sister, created by Dr Elefun.  She is somewhat more spunky than Astroboy, often throwing little tantrums and being a generally bratty sister.  She too is very strong with 50,000 horsepower strength. Uran first appeared in Episode 25: The Strange Birthday Present.

Professor Elefun -  The new minister of science after Dr Boynton is fired.  He saves Astroboy from a corrupt circus, and then begins teaching him how to cope with life as a robot. He first appeared in Episode 1: Birth of Astro Boy.

Dr. Boynton - Creator of Astroboy and father of Toby Boynton, whom Astroboy looks like.  He was the minister of science until he refused to disassemble the robot that would become Astroboy.  He only appears in Episodes 1: Birth of Astro Boy, and 97: Mystery of The Metal Men.

Film

In 1962, MBS released a Live Action movie, a compilation film made up of episodes from the 1959-60 live action TV series that came before the 60's animated television series which loosely followed the manga. The opening sequence (around 1 minute) is an anime type animation, and the rest is a Black and White movie. The whole movie lasts for 1h15m. It can be clearly seen that it was made at the beginning of Japanese movie making history, as we can see that pistols have their barrels covered with white paper before they are shot, as it can be seen in some of the scenes being cut up to match some dynamic movement and or stunt moves. Special effects and Scenography can be compared to, that time, American B-Class movies (wikipedia).