Japanese imports like Pokémon and DragonballZ have been entertaining American children for over a decade, but Japan’s most iconic manga character — a child robot known as Astro Boy — has only recently been rediscovered by American audiences.
Often called “The Mickey Mouse of Japan,”Astro Boy was first created by Tezuka Osamu in 1952, Japan’s most prominent cartoonist. With their expressive faces and large eyes, Tezuka’s characters set the standard for anime drawing.
Astro Boy was made popular by Tezuka’s story telling. Astro Boy is a futuristic retelling of the story Pinocchio. Astro Boy, although a powerful robot equipped with components to protect the Earth, has twin machine guns in its butt — he is an innocent little boy who views the world as a playground. The themes running through the show are respect for life, and an anti-bigotry message. The morals are tempered with a little bit of sugar or, in this instance, some serious fun butt-kicking.
Astro Boy can be experienced by children today, even if they are not familiar with manga or anime. D3Publisher of America, Inc., has developed a video game that allows children the opportunity to be Astro Boy. Astro Boy: The Video Game is available on Wii and DS as well as PS2 and PSP. It combines immersive storytelling with entertaining gameplay. Astro Boy’s iconic weapons can be used by players of all ages to defeat enemies and unlock new versions of the eponymous characters. Based on the 2009 CG film, the game allows players explore locations from the movie and uses the voice talents of Kristen Bell and Freddie Highmore.
Astro Boy was created in post-war Japan. In this time, technology fear and instability played a significant role in popular culture. While other Japanese films of the present day featured giant monsters destroying Toyko’s home, Tezuka had a more comforting vision. As Tezuka once said, “‘Love all the creatures! Love everything that has life!’ I have been trying to express this message in every one of my works.”
America is facing a difficult time in the global economy and will be reminded of Astro Boy’s story of triumph and redemption.
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