Astro Boy Description
Astro Boy is a sci-fi
series set in a futuristic world where androids co-exist
with humans. Its focus is on the adventures of the titular
"Astro Boy" (or simply "Astro"), a powerful
robot created by the head of the Ministry of Science Doctor
Tenma (dubbed Dr. Boynton in the first series English anime
and Professor Balfus in the Canadian dub of the second series)
to replace his son Tobio (or Astor Boyton III in the first
series English anime, Toby in the remake of the first series
English anime). After Tobio died in a car accident, Dr.
Tenma built Astro in Tobio's image and treated him as lovingly
as if he were the real Tobio, but soon realized that the
little android could not fill the void of his lost son,
especially since Astro couldn't grow or express human aesthetics
(in one set of panels, Astro is shown preferring the mechanical
shapes of cubes over the organic shapes of flowers). In
the original 1960 edition, Tenma rejected Astro and sold
him to a cruel circus owner, Hamegg (also called Caccitore),
who abused the performers. In the 1980 edition, Astro naïvely
signed himself away to the circus owner.
While Astro languished in
Hamegg's circus, Professor Ochanomizu (Dr. Packadermus J.
Elefun in the first series & second series, Prof. Peabody
in the Canadian dub of the second series, and Dr. O'Shay
in the third series), the new head of the Ministry of Science,
noticed Astro Boy performing in the circus. He managed to
make Hamegg turn Astro over to him. He brought Astro along
and treated him gently and warmly, becoming his legal guardian.
He soon realized that Astro was gifted with superior powers
and skills, as well as the ability to experience human emotions.
Astro then fought crime, evil
and injustice. Most of his enemies were robot-hating humans,
robots gone berserk, or alien invaders. Each story almost
always included a big robot battle involving Astro. The
series explored issues of morality, responsibility, racism,
prejudice, true heroism, and loss
