Tenma Appreciation thread

[Shychick]

It has always upset me greatly that Tenma and Astro never saw each-other again. That final scene at the end of 'The Birth of Astro Boy/Atlas' is, to me, the most heartbreaking scene in any of the shows. I would've loved them to have a bittersweet reunion later in the series... to me, that's how the show should've ended. My heart always breaks for both Tenma and Astro. You can really hear the desperation, fear, and guilt in Tenma's voice (losing his son a second time because of his own selfishness, dishonoring his late Tobio) and sadness and helplessness in Astro' voice.

Can somebody tell me, if they can, where this rumor came from that Tenma died in that series? I like to think he dedicated the rest of his life to searching for Tobio/Astro, and eventually heard all about what a famous international hero he became. He probably would've been so proud of his robot son, and it maybe would've helped bring him closure in the sense that his late Tobio- whose dying wish it was to create this powerful boy robot in his image- would be pleased too, knowing that his father's creation went on to do such great things and serve an even greater purpose.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

AFAIK there simply wasn't ANY mention of Tenma again in the 1980 series, unlike the 1963 one where he shows up in at least three other episodes (that were not included in the ELV).

[fafner]

In the French dub of the 1980 series, it is explicitly said that Tenma disappeared in the boat accident. At this point, most people would presume him dead.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

I don't think that was mentioned in the English dub, or in the sub'ed Japanese version.

[Prettywitchiusaka]

I'm actually surprised that Tenma and Astro never really got closure on their relationship until the 203 series myself. I mean sure, we had the Meeva arc. And while we did get some closure, the entire story wasn't focused on said relationship, it was juts part of the story.

Why that never happened until years later I don't think we'll ever know, but suffice it to say, at least we got some closure.

[tailz]

WOW, I haven't posted on here in years.

Anyway, here is something I really wanted to get off my chest for awhile.

Tenma is my absolute FAVORITE character. The fact that I find him quite sexy...

lol, really? you find him sexy? I thought that most tezuka fangirls would find black jack to be the most attractive. Or maybe that's just me. I mean, it's not like that I find black jack sexy or anything... *Blushes*

[Dante69]

[QUOTE=Shychick;216544]WOW, I haven't posted on here in years.

Anyway, here is something I really wanted to get off my chest for awhile.

Tenma is my absolute FAVORITE character. The fact that I find him quite sexy...

lol, really? you find him sexy? I thought that most tezuka fangirls would find black jack to be the most attractive. Or maybe that's just me. I mean, it's not like that I find black jack sexy or anything... *Blushes*[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I am still in my Tenma crush phase. You are not alone Shychick.

[jeffbert]

I did not much like the 2009 movie, & do not consider it part of the corpus any more than the unlicensed American comics versions. As far as the end of Tenma goes, I think that the PLUTO manga may be the best projection of what Tezuka might have eventually written. Tenma had come to terms with the fact that Atom had found his own place in the world, & Tenma was not an integral part of it. It was similar to putting an infant son up for adoption, & then returning when the child needs an organ transplant, & only his father is an appropriate donor.

[AprilSeven]

I do very much enjoy Tenma's character - although his appeal to me is much more cerebral (that Darth Vaderesque voice in the 2003 was PERFECT for him, because before that, he just seemed kind of "squawky!" :lol .

I wonder about how much of Tobio/Astro comes from Tenma . . . personality traits, habits, etc. :d evil: That's part of what I've most enjoyed writing about in "Full Circle" - because you KNOW he's gotta have some of Old Man Boynton/Tenma in there!

Until I discovered this forum and the other anime series and manga, I had the feeling Tezuka had created Dr. Tenma as a "throw away" character - but I don't believe that anymore.

When I saw the 1980's anime - where Tenma and Astro are going to emigrate to United States - I figured that could have been Tezuka's attempt to make the franchise less "Japan-specific" and more "international." Also the fact that Tenma blew up at Astro, but then - panicky and brokenhearted - raced about the ship attempting to find his robot son, that Tezuka also had some kind of idea in his head to - at some point - bring the two together again.

When I saw the 2009 movie I couldn't help but wonder if the fact that Astro and Tenma reconciled in the "single episode" was because Dr. Tezuka actually wanted Tenma to be involved in Astro's life again for some reason (and that would have been revealed in the subsequent sequels).

After the 1980's Astro Boy anime, Tenma reappeared as Astro's father (in Black Jack), and in a benevolent role in "The Last Mystery of the 20th Century."

Tenma works so well as an adversary . . . but even in the 2003 anime, we see that -- in the end -- he's gazing wistfully at photos of Tobio and Astro. He loves them, and the implication is that he's going to be a part of Astro's life again (I can't imagine O'Shay being happy about that though).

Finally - I do think Jeffbert made a good point - at the end of Urasawa's Pluto, Tenma was left to consider Ochanomizu's pointed observation that he needed to get out the lab more often!

So . . . maybe . . . if these "international" versions of Astro Boy get created over the next year or so . . . we'll get to see if, in fact. Dr. Tenma's role in the story is expanded and continuing . . .

[MrsEclipse]

This is something I've been trying to reason through:
On the Wikipedia page for Dr Tenma, it says "It has been suggested that Tenma has either been institutionalized or committed suicide." Given that the article says he only had two appearances it seems to be taking from the English dub, but all they ever say about him was that he "was persuaded to resign because of his health; his physician felt that [Tenma] needed a rest." And of course the only other English episode with Tenma takes place in an alternate universe, and Astro isn't really surprised to see him. So for all I know it's perfectly clear in the Japanese, but I don't know. What gets me is the phrase "it has been suggested." By whom? The show itself? The crew? The general consensus of the audience? That particular editor?