Lost Astro Boy Manga Chapters

[MangaBottle]

Apparently there are at least two chapters of the original manga that have never been reprinted: "Jungle Kingdom" and "Chi-tan". I think these were turned into episodes of the original anime. Jungle Kingdom is English episode 93: Jungle Mystery or Japanese episode 102: Queen of the Devils' Place. "Chi-tan" is Japanese episode 165:A Great Fuss Over Babies, but this episode didn't make it into the English language version. There is some info on Chi-tan here: http://www.astroboy-online.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4672&highlight=chi-tan
http://www.astroboy-online.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2416&highlight=chi-tan
I've never seen the 1963 anime, so does anyone have any info about these two stories?
I'm surprised that Tezuka Co. hasn't been able to track them down, though...
I tried this question out at the forums at tezukainenglish.com, but I never got a reply ^_^;

[KazumixJapan]

1963 anime have many episodes. That was made from original Astro manga stories first,
but original manga had limited stories. 1963 anime got great success, and they
must make original stories for anime to continue making them. Many writers made strories , some of them is based on another Tezuka comics. (But sometimes Osamu Tezuka made some new Astro comics based on TV series after on aired.) Then there are some stories in anime not printed as comic.

[ASTROBUDDY]

"Jungle Kingdom" was originally a manga volume Tezuka drew in 1948! From what little information I have on it, it seems to have starred Kenichi, one of Tezuka's many "stars"! He is better known to Kimba fans as "Roger Ranger" and to Astroboy fans as "Kenneth"! The story seems to be basically the same featuring what appears to be Tezuka's answer to H. Rider Haggard's "She"! The manga version featuring Atom was first printed as a three-part serial in the Dec. 1964, Jan. 1965 and Feb. 1965 issues of Mighty Atom Club magazine. According to the book, "All Illustrations of Mighty Atom" it was only reprinted once, in Sept. 1966 in the third volume of the Mighty Atom series from Mushi Pro. Manga. "Chi-Tan" or rather "Ti-Tan" (which is a more accurate translation and is the Japanese borrow word for titanium) saw print only once in the April and May, 1966 issues of Mighty Atom Club! Some have suggested that "Ti-Tan" is actually an homage to Swee' Pea from the Popeye series from the Fleischer Brothers whose cartoons were a favorite of Tezuka!

[jeffbert]

I have the entire set of 193 episodes on 36 discs, & created the two threads to which you link above. I do not know how closely the animated versions are to the manga, since I have never seen those manga stories.

My appologies for overlooking your question on T in E, as I am a member there & have even created 50+ pages of reviews on Astroboy stories.

[MangaBottle]

I knew about the Swea' Pea thing, and I kinda had a hunch about 'She'. I wonder if they really can't recover the stories for reprint (aparently a such a thing happened to the original 'Kimba the White Lion'), or whether Tezuka just plain hated those stories and didn't want them reprinted

[ASTROBUDDY]

I knew about the Swea' Pea thing, and I kinda had a hunch about 'She'. I wonder if they really can't recover the stories for reprint (aparently a such a thing happened to the original 'Kimba the White Lion'), or whether Tezuka just plain hated those stories and didn't want them reprinted

You make an interesting case, especially since both were published in the Mighty Atom Club magazine published by Mushi Pro. and therefore overseen by Tezuka, as opposed to being published by Kobansha Pub. which published the Shonen manga! But if anyone in Japan actually searches for them, they may turn up. Here are two different events that add credence to your suppositions! Tezuka hated the 60s anime version of "Midoro Swamp" (aka "The Beast from 20 Fathoms") done by a young group of animators, so after it aired he had all copies of it destroyed! (Except of course for the copy that made it to the U.S.) That was why it was not included in the first complete collections of the original anime in Japan! Then there was the missing art from the 1975 Asahi collection of Atom manga volumes from the story known as "Ambassador Atom" (aka "Captain Atom")! In the 1980s when Kodansha Pub. published their series of all of Tezuka's manga, they found & published a version that was more complete and according to the old Tezuka World website was closest to the original version of "Captain Atom"! Funny thing is in this, the Kodansha collection of all of Tezuka's manga, the story "The Corel Reef Adventure" was not included along with the other two stories which have not been included in any recent collection of Tezuka's Atom manga!

[ASTROBUDDY]

As for how close the original manga versions are to their 60s anime counterparts, first it is known that the Mushi Pro. art staff used the original Atom manga as their models for the anime versions! For ex.) the scene in "Adventure on Mars" where Atom, Dr. Ochanomizu & Dr. Moss passby the giant rocketship is drawn exactly as shown in the manga! So from the two reprinted pages I have seen in the "TetsuWan Atom DaiZukan" (aka "All Illustrations of Atom" aka the "Mighty Atom Encyclopedia") of "Jungle Kingdom" & the anime version "Jungle Mystery", they seem to have followed the manga version closely! In the case of "Ti-Tan" (aka "Chi-Tan") the manga version must not have contained enough material because the synopsis I translated from the Mighty Atom Complete Book does not state anything about a contest that Dr. Ochanomizu is entering Ti-Tan in! But then again the synopsis may have been a very brief telling of the episode and also I have never seen the anime version of "The Baby Commotion" (as F. Schodt has translated the title in his book, "The Astro Boy Essays..."), so they may have followed the manga version just as closely! [But here's where Jeffbert might be able to help! The one page I have seen reprinted from "Ti-Tan" which also happens to be the first page of the story, Dr. Ochanomizu is shown introducing "Ti-Tan" to Atom and Uran! Is this how the anime episode begins!]

[jeffbert]

[QUOTE=MangaBottle;93457]I knew about the Swea' Pea thing, and I kinda had a hunch about 'She'. I wonder if they really can't recover the stories for reprint (aparently a such a thing happened to the original 'Kimba the White Lion'), or whether Tezuka just plain hated those stories and didn't want them reprinted

You make an interesting case, especially since both were published in the Mighty Atom Club magazine published by Mushi Pro. and therefore overseen by Tezuka, as opposed to being published by Kobansha Pub. which published the Shonen manga! But if anyone in Japan actually searches for them, they may turn up. Here are two different events that add credence to your suppositions! Tezuka hated the 60s anime version of "Midoro Swamp" (aka "The Beast from 20 Fathoms") done by a young group of animators, so after it aired he had all copies of it destroyed! (Except of course for the copy that made it to the U.S.) That was why it was not included in the first complete collections of the original anime in Japan! Then there was the missing art from the 1975 Asahi collection of Atom manga volumes from the story known as "Ambassador Atom" (aka "Captain Atom")! In the 1980s when Kodansha Pub. published their series of all of Tezuka's manga, they found & published a version that was more complete and according to the old Tezuka World website was closest to the original version of "Captain Atom"! Funny thing is in this, the Kodansha collection of all of Tezuka's manga, the story "The Corel Reef Adventure" was not included along with the other two stories which have not been included in any recent collection of Tezuka's Atom manga![/QUOTE]

I think the Kodansha collection is that, which is available online, because just yesterday, I previewed all 18 volumes listed, & did not find Coral Reef:

http://renta.papy.co.jp/renta/sc/frm/item/430/

BTW, 10-12 (double) pages are available for FREE viewing on each title, & most have English language synopses of the stories in them.

[MangaBottle]

I'd like to know more about the 'Jungle Kingdom' story, though

[ASTROBUDDY]

The story of "Jungle Kingdom/Jungle Mystery" is as follows: A film company is making a movie about a "Jungle Boy" (a thinly disguised version of "Tarzan" or more accurately "Bomba") using a humanoid robot as its star! When the robot malfunctions the director is at a loss as to what to do until he spots Astro Girl who happens to be the same size as their jungle boy robot! So the director approaches Astro Girl and asks her to be in his movie! Mr. Pompous acts as her agent and Astro Girl is outfitted with a costume to make her resemble the jungle boy (in the English version known as Starzi). Astro Boy is upset that he is not asked to play the role of Starzi especially since he is a boy and Astro Girl is not. To appease Astro Boy the director offers Astro the role of Starzi's companion, the chimp! Astro Boy dons the chimpanzee costume and is instructed in acting like a chimp which he begins to do! After filming resumes with Astro Girl in the lead, a jungle woman arrives and makes off with Astro Girl! The Jungle woman has mistaken Astro Girl for her long lost prince. The jungle woman (called "Rhiba" in "Jungle Mystery") is the queen of a lost civilization of prehistoric cavemen hidden in a valley in the jungle! A valley that contains a prehistoric world similar to the "Lost World" of Sir Conan Doyle! Astro Boy and Mr. Pompous set out to rescue Astro Girl! They discover that a computer like the ones that Captain Kirk was always destroying actually had kept the "Jungle Kingdom" the way it was for a thousand years! When our heroes attempt to leave, the computer threatens to obliterate every one! Then Rhiba attacks the computer and everything is changed with the jungle kingdom which begins to disappear after the computer that had been controlling everything is destroyed! All in all a very interesting and entertaining episode!