Astroboy (anime, 2003)

The series consists of fifty episodes. Although many episodes have nothing to do with the plot of the storyline arches, the 2003 series can be viewed as having a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end. Although the series seems to initially have two main plot lines — Dr. Tanma’s plans for developing Astro as the king of robots and another about the rights of robots — the two arcs converge into one at the end of the series.

In the city of Metro City, the famous scientist Dr. Tanma disappears after an attempt to build an AI robot using a new technology called Kokoro ("heart"). Professor Elifan (OShei, Otianomizu) replaces Tenmu as head of the Ministry of Science and discovers a boy-robot, reactivates him and calls him Astro. Soon, Astro discovers that he can fly using rocket boosters in his arms and legs, has superhuman strength and other abilities, and he has to fight criminals and robots who hate people and threaten his friends and Metro City, and become a hero. Astro quickly learns that he is a robotic clone of Dr. Tenma Tobio’s lost son, and that he was turned off after seeing how the robots were destroyed, having experienced the same things that Tobio experienced before he died.

A new storyline arises with the advent of the Blue Knight, a robot that begins to fight for the liberation of all robots from the power of humanity. Another character, Mr. Drake, paranoidly craves to destroy all robots and becomes the main antagonist of the series. In the final episodes, Blue Knight creates a new city for robots, Robotonia, located in Antarctica. Drake makes the public believe that the robot pushed the little girl from the stairs (although he did not do this), and the girl's father, General Red, declares war on Robotonia. A big battle begins between robots and humans, but Astro hardly manages to convince the Blue Knight that humans and robots can be friends. Blue Knight is sent to Robotonia, which turns out to be a spaceship and declares that he and those robots that are afraid of humanity are sent into space to look for a new home. Nevertheless, Drake, who is still eager to destroy robots (despite the fact that robots stopped their crusade against humanity), tries to destroy the spacecraft with a rocket, but Astro stops her, but the rocket explodes and Astro turns out to be almost destroyed.

Dr. Tenme manages to restore him, but he erases his memories like Astro (so that he can remain “Tobio” forever). In the end, his memories are restored with the help of his friends from school and his sister, Uranus. In the last attempt to return his son, Dr. Tanma goes to the laboratory at the Ministry and tries to convince Astro to join him and rule the world, but he refuses. Dr. Tenma tries to kill himself to end the suffering, but Astro embraces and forgives him, causing Dr. Tenmu to break loose and embrace his son. Professor Elefan and the police robots came to the rescue on time, and Dr. Tanma, this time not resisting, was arrested and sent to prison. At the end of the series Astro, Tenma, people and robots try to leave the past behind and live the future. People and robots are getting closer to each other, the conflict has been settled, and Astro seems to have shed a bit at the end of the series.

• Astro : A robot with a "heart", an improved form of artificial intelligence. Astro looks like a boy who is a superhero for Metro City. He is constantly trying to improve relations between humanity and robots, despite the numerous attempts of both parties to destroy him. He can fly with the help of rocket boosters hidden in limbs and has great strength. Astro was built by Dr. Tanma in an attempt to recreate the dead son Tobio, but Asstro rebelled against Tanma when he saw how the robots were brutally destroyed at the Ministry of Science and was disconnected by his “father”, but not destroyed. Thanks to this, Professor Elefan was able to reactivate him.
• Prof. Elifan (in various versions of the translation of Dr. OShei, Otianomizu) : Head of the Ministry of Science, an elderly man with a big nose and bunches of gray hair on the sides of the head. He reactivated Astro and is his guardian and protector. Eliphan, like Astro, is very concerned about the relationship between humanity and robots, often protected by Astro when he is accused. He is portrayed as a bit awkward and hot-tempered, but very intelligent, kind and compassionate.
• Dr. Tanma : Creator Astro. Dr. Tanma is a former scientist at the Ministry of Science who lost his beloved son Tobio after he showed him how the robots that had been thrown were melted. He built Astro to replace Tobio, but found that Astro turned out to be more powerful than he thought, and turned it off. Dr. Tanma becomes somewhat insane and believes that robots should rule people and Astro should be their leader. In the final episodes, he tries to persuade Astro to go to his side, but fails. He tries to kill himself, but Astro still manages to "get through" to his "father" and he abandons his plans and willingly puts himself in the hands of the authorities. Despite all his madness, Tanma loves Astro as much as her late son. The series did not show how Astro was created; events happen later. ^[3]
• Uranus : Astro's younger sister, built by Dr. Elefan using the same AI technology as Astro. She can talk to animals and understand their language, she is friends with a bird, which she called Pekola. Hyperactive, capricious, stubborn, she sometimes envies Astro because of the attention he receives and often gets offended and capricious, but she also cares and protects her brother. Also half uranium is weaker than brother. Claims to be the biggest fan of robot bola, especially the player of the robot Harley.
• Yuko : the secretary of Dr. Elephane. She often fusses and repeatedly reminds him of the schedule, which he must abide by. She has a robot assistant, an ostrich named Momo.
• Inspector Tavashi : A police inspector with a big nose that looks like a shoe brush. In the beginning, he is very doubtful and distrustful of the robots, but gradually changes, starting to trust those who are close to him, including his colleague Delta and Astro. And in the finals he stands up and saves the robots, in particular, it is clear that he is sincerely worried about his colleagues, the police robots. He often argues with Dr. Elephane.
• Epsilon : a robot girl that protects the wildlife of Metro City, above all marine animals. In addition, she can change the weather, however, uses her abilities for peaceful purposes. Like Astro, he believes that the war between robots and humans is not the way out. Hinted that she is the sister of the Delta, although it was created in Australia.
• Delta : Special forces robot, ARRS commander, special forces units to fight robots. The detachment, including Delta, was created by order of the Police Department of the Ministry of Science. The names of the other four robots have not been named. They also have the same body structure, only the head design is different. A distinctive feature of the Delta - red "collar". Despite all their capabilities, they do not know much about the realities of the world - at first they can’t imagine that a robot can execute an order that it doesn’t like, because they are treated differently than other robots. Delta itself is shown as rather stubborn, proud, rather straightforward, and tries not to show emotion. Over time, his other qualities also manifest themselves - he is rather naive, kind, compassionate and emotional. He has a sister Epsilon, who nevertheless was established in Australia.
• Reno : Astro's close friend. Initially, he was shown in a circus, where he posed as a robot, so that he would not be taken from the circus, because he considers circus robots to be his family, and it was they who raised him. He becomes a student of Dr. Elefan and quite skilled in the field of robotics, but still retains his acrobatic skills from the circus.
• Blue Knight : A robot anti-hero that people have treated very badly and that was rebuilt by Dr. Tenma and Shadow to act as a catalyst to increase Astro's power. Instead, he decided to wage war against humanity in order to bring freedom to the robots. He is dressed in blue and blue armor with a golden half mask, rides on a white robot horse, his main weapon is a sword, releasing a laser beam. He ultimately creates a robotic empire by the end of the series, Robotonia, which looks like a palace built in the Arctic. He constantly quarrels with Astro, because he protects not only robots, but also people. Almost destroyed Astro, but Atlas saved him. However, Astro (who was nearly destroyed before) was talking about peace between people and machines, and then goes to the palace, which is actually a spaceship and uses it to pick up robots that are still afraid of humanity, into space to find a barren planet, their new home. He fights for the rights of robots, however he committed murders, if it was necessary. Nevertheless, he is incredibly kind to his. In the "past life" was a repair robot named Bruno, repaired robots of fighters in the illegal arena. I wanted to help my friends escape, but they were caught, and Bruno himself was broken and thrown into space, where Shadow found him.
• Shadow (Shadow) : A very smart robot created by Dr. Tenma to help him make Astro stronger. Able to create robots. He wore a mask on his face for most of the season, ultimately it turns out that he looks exactly like Tenma, although then his face is shown as mechanical with numerous connectors and yellow optics. He refuses to obey the creator, creates a robotonium, in which he is the chief.
• Mr. Drake : A politician who hates robots, especially robots with artificial intelligence. He is becoming increasingly paranoid in the series, pursued by memories of a robot that he considered to be his friend, but who brought him to hate machines.
• Skunk : a villain who uses robots to commit various crimes without showing any anxiety and care for the robots he uses. Before his final arrest, the police told Astro that he was one of the most dangerous criminals of Metro City.
• Atlas : A robot built by Dr. Tenma in a manner similar to Astro, for a man named Tokogawa. The atlas is a clone of the deceased son of Tokogawa Daichi, and has his own memories. The atlas is a very destructive robot, but Daichi saved the dream of seeing the Earth from space with his father, which eventually happens. He seems to be dying, but he is returning as a constant opponent. In the end, he stood up for Astro, not allowing the Blue Knight to destroy it. Daichi, although he grew up in a wealthy family, grew more like a hooligan, because his father was only busy with his work, he didn’t have enough time for his son. He died on his way to the ship that was supposed to fly to the moon.
• Pluto : A very powerful combat robot, built by Shadow to challenge Astro and other robots, including Epsilon, Hercules, Harley and Delta. As a result, he gets emotions and befriends Uranus and Astro. He commits suicide to save them from his clone, plunging into a volcano. However, it was restored.
• Nora : a yellow, cylindrical robot that acts as the housekeeper of Dr. Elephan, and a nanny who cares for Uranus. It appears in most episodes, but has a relatively small role, which has little effect on the storyline.
• General Red : an antagonist of the series finale, a high-ranking officer who thinks of robots as simple tools. His hatred for him intensified after his home robot allegedly pushed his daughter. When the rebel robots form their own nation, he is asked to bring in military forces to fight the robots, but when his daughter Anna (Hannah), with the help of Reno, Astro and Epsilon, persuades him, telling the truth, he changes his attitude towards the robots.
• Kenedy, Alexo and Abercromb : Astro's friends and classmates. Kenedy plays football for the local team and is a bit quick-tempered. Alexo is portrayed as a scientist and inventive and adoring of robots, fascinated by Astro. Abercromb is a hooligan, at first they do not get along with Astro, but soon become friends. Astro, along with a trio and a robot named Denku, were also the founders of a club called Sky Riders, and later they were joined by Reno and Uranus.
• Denku : A small robot that may become invisible. Appears in 4 series. Although this episode is her personal, he is a minor character in the series.

Japanese

• Makoto Tsumura : Atom
• Shinya Owada : Dr. Tanma
• Hisashi Katsuta : Prof. Eliphan
• Banjou Ginga : Inspector Tavashi
• Akiko Kawase : Yuka
• Akio Ōtsuka : Pluto
• Kazuki Yao : Skunk
• Kiku Hiramatsu : Epsilon
• Miki Maruyama Uranus
• Naoki Tatsuta : Nora
• Rie Kugimiya : Denku

English

• Candi Milo : Astro, Kennedy
• Dorian Harewood : Dr. Tanma, Shadow
• Wally Wingert : Prof. Eliphan, Skunk, Blue Knight, Harley and others.
• Bill Farmer : Inspector Tavashi
• David Rasner : Pluto
• Greg Cipes : Daichi, Atlas
• Jennifer Darling : Nora