AstroBoy Online Forums

It's quite of a missleading name as if it's a gender bender of the titular character and it doesn't fit with Uran's own personality and identity as well.
The fans should forget about that ridiculous dub name and stop referencing her as such.
And come on, "Astro" had other robot parents that makes the "Astro Girl" dub name completely pointless.
And I liked how the 2003 series mocked it by making Uran not enjoying the fact people were comparing her with Atom since she have her personality and traits.
Come to think about: "Mickey Mouse" and "Minie Mouse" sounded quite missleading to me when I was a kid, I thought they were siblings, lol
Back in topic:
Uran is Uran and Atom is Atom.
Also, they even forgot that would be troublesome calling "Astro" while they had an "Astro Girl", specially if somebody called for just "Astro" when "Astro Girl" was present.
What a bunch of idiotic fools...

You may have your opinions, but going so far as to say they "must have been smoking marijuana" or they are "a bunch of idiotic fools" is rude and over the top. Please voice your opinions respectably.

As for my opinion: I think the name Astro Girl is fine, I find it reflects their family connection in a more obvious way. Although I prefer calling her Uran, I see nothing wrong with calling her Astro Girl. I think people should be free to call her Astro Girl, or even Zoran, if they want to.

"Satus" wrote:You may have your opinions, but going so far as to say they "must have been smoking marijuana" or they are "a bunch of idiotic fools" is rude and over the top. Please voice your opinions respectably.

As for my opinion: I think the name Astro Girl is fine, I find it reflects their family connection in a more obvious way. Although I prefer calling her Uran, I see nothing wrong with calling her Astro Girl. I think people should be free to call her Astro Girl, or even Zoran, if they want to.

That name is NOT fine, it doesn't suit and neither respect the character OWN identity.
As I said it's MISSLEADING.
Uran have a identity of her own and that name is completely against her own identity.

The idea of using the "family connection" is a BAD excuse, NONE of them have the first name as "Astro" and you would clearly misslead new fans who would think that is a family of "Astros".
We got Cobalt and Chi-tan as well.
And to think about, the name "Astro Girl" for the dub was also LACK of originality.

Your opinion sounded like a guy who gave the name of "Rolling Stone" ("Rolling Stone that", "Rolling Stone It", etc for example) to each one of his sons O_o
That's not a good family connection at all O_o

Again what's the point of calling her as "Astro Girl" when you cannot say "Astro"?
If you just say "Astro", some people may be confused when you're talking about Astro Boy and "Astro Girl" when you're discussing about the 1963 series.

Btw, Cobalt was not called "Astro Boy 0", so it's still pointless calling Uran as "Astro Girl".

With this, that dub name is completely uncalled for and no longer valid.
It's over 40 years that faulty name is no longer used in the series, give me a break.

Also, I removed the part which you quoted.
I admit that I went rude, but the action of the translators as terrible and revolting...

"Toshio" wrote:That name is NOT fine, it doesn't suit and neither respect the character OWN identity. As I said it's MISLEADING. Uran have a identity of her own and that name is completely against her own identity.

This is your opinion. I do not like the Astro Girl name much either but that does not mean people who like the name have any less valid an opinion. However I don't think it goes against her identity.

"Toshio" wrote:The idea of using the "family connection" is a BAD excuse, NONE of them have the first name as "Astro" and you would clearly mislead new fans who would think that is a family of "Astros". [...] Your opinion sounded like a guy who gave the name of "Rolling Stone" to each one of his sons O_o That's not a good family connection at all O_o

Since Tezuka was a Superman fan, I am going to use this example: Superman and Supergirl are cousins if I remember right. Is Supergirl any less valid as her own personal being just because her name is similar to Superman's? She may have "Super" in her name, but she had enough things about her that made her different.

"Toshio" wrote:Again what's the point of calling her as "Astro Girl" when you cannot say "Astro"? If you just say "Astro", some people may be confused when you're talking about Astro Boy and "Astro Girl". Btw, Cobalt was not called "Astro Boy 0", so it's still pointless calling Uran as "Astro Girl".

This doesn't invalidate her dub name just because they don't all have "Astro" in their name. Although I can't give you a reason the dub name is good, I also don't agree with your reasons for thinking it's bad.

"Toshio" wrote:With this, that dub name is completely uncalled for and no longer valid.
It's over 40 years that faulty name is no longer used, give me a break.
Also, I removed the part which you quoted.
I admit that I went rude, but the action of the translators as terrible and revolting...

It sounds like you really cherish those names Tezuka originally gave them, but you have to understand you can't go around telling people to not call her Astro Girl anymore.

Super Man and Super Girl were only super hero aliases as they still had family names outside fighting crimes, so your statement is invalid.
You forgot that both Atom and Uran have NO secret identities, so talking about Superman and Supergirl was completely unreasonable.

Also, you ignored the fact that Osamu Tezuka never intended to make both siblings to have similar names, just because the fact he liked Superman.

The name "Astro Girl" is still BOTH missleading, non creative, pointless and obsolete.

You're still wrong at saying that it's not going against Uran's identity, because her name is based in another element which is Uranium.

Give me a break, it doesn't fit the identity at all.

Another reason that using that name nowadays is pointless is listed in Denkou's profile in Heart no Himitsu:

In the original manga, he was called "Denkouman (Electricman)."
In the original comic, other characters such as "Kitaiman (Gasman)"
appeared as well. But all the "--man" names were changed to not
sound like sci-fi movie titles. Titles like Wells' "Invisible Man,"
"Densou Man (Electricman)," "Beauty and the Liquid Man," all come
to mind.

So, "Astro Girl" still fails to be a valid family name, since she was the "Uranium" member of Atom's family.
Family names are not meant to be alike, since it only causes confusion.

Also, it would be confusing if "Astro Girl" said just the name "Astro", nobody would know if she was talking in the third person.

I for example doesn't share the same name of my father and I feel annoying when people try to compare me with him.

I do not agree with all of his views and neither I share his same preferences, so it hurts being called as a "junior".

We are not the same and we should not be called by the same name as well.

Um... I think I'm going to stay out of this.

Superman's real name is Kal-El and Supergirl's real name is Kara Zor-El, which are also similar (and this doesn't change the fact that the general public didn't know their real names). Anyway, that wasn't the point I was trying to make, I used the Superman example because Tezuka liked Superman, nowhere did I say Tezuka named them based on his liking of Superman. The point is, the name affects nothing, Atom and Uran are still different people whether they have a similar name or not. Also no one picks their name unless they change it themselves, Atom and Uran didn't pick their names, so it doesn't matter what names they would be given, it doesn't change who they are nor does it betray Uran's character to be called Astro Girl.

Whew!!

First of all - we need to address the reality of how all Astro's various versions were published/broadcast -- there are MANY issues which are inconsistent, to say the least.

Toshio's convictions are fine -- as long as he keeps his comments civil. We can agree or disagree, or debate the validity of what has been presented over the past half-century, but NONE of us has the "right" to declare one name "obsolete" or insist that we should all cease from recognizing various characters because they don't appear to fit into a story's canon logically.

Why?

Well, first of all, Dr. Tezuka was fully aware of what characters existed, their origin stories, and the names used in dubs, up until 1989, when he passed away. Since then, all creative decisions were approved by his company, Tezuka Productions.

So, whether we like the decisions that were made or not -- they are legitimate, and due respect as such.

This is my own opinion, but I believe there is validity to it: the fact the Osamu Tezuka rewrote Atom's story and changed the characters involved send a clear message that he was okay with modifying and updating the story. Look at how he moved the 1980's anime series to 2030 -- 50 years into the future from the time that version was being created.

If Tezuka was okay with changes to his creation . . . wouldn't we be honoring his values by keeping Atom's tale "fresh" and "ageless?" That doesn't mean we HAVE to do that - but it suggests to me that what was most important to him was the MESSAGE his hero sent to the world: kindess, patience, justice.

As for Uran being known as Astro Girl -- let's remember something: that decision was made by Fred Ladd (the man who brought Atom to the Western Hemisphere - thank God!) -- and he based it on what he knew of American children of the mid-1960's. We didn't have the Internet. And - believe it or not - I actually wrote to Channel 5 in New York and suggested Astro Boy have a sister called Astro Girl - and I even included a drawing of her!

You can imagine my shock and thrill when she appeared on the show (naturally I thought it was MY idea -- and ran screaming to my parents! I mean . . . I had even suggested the name they picked for her!).

You see, they NEVER referred to Atom as "Astro" . . . ONLY "Astro Boy." The only time you'll hear "Astro" is when Boynton [Tenma] called him into the room where he was meeting with Caccitore [HamEgg]. Therefore, there never WAS any "confusion" - because both siblings were always addressed by their "full names."

Fred Ladd felt "Uran" was not going to be as appealing a name to children as "Astro Girl" - and that's why he changed it. I do believe that if the original series were created today, we'd have all the original Japanese names all over the world . . . and I think eventually, that is what will be "standard." But for those of us who were introduced to Atom prior to the 21st Century and the world wide web, there will always be a soft spot in our hearts for the characters as WE got to know them. And would approve. would too!

So please, be gentle and understanding with us Tezuka "pioneers!" It HURTS us to hear the characters we truly love are "obsolete" or should be ignored.

Wow, I think you said this much better than I ever could, April.

But yeah, that's definitely the point I'd like to make. While I prefer Uran or Zoran for a name, I can accept that it was changed to Astro Girl because dubbing was a new thing at the time. Heck, the entire anime process itself had only been around for a few years, and Tezuka was stilling perfecting what he'd like to do in animation, since they were nowhere near the calibur of Disney at that point (artistically speaking).

It's no different than with the process of dubbing; that in itself, was still new. If the original Astro Boy anime was never dubbed in the 60s, but instead dubbed today, I would imagine that there would be a huge backlash because of anime's prevalence in western culture today. But dubbing was still a new process back then, so its easier to forgive the changes that were made (at least in my mind anyway). And having seen a bit of that dub, I can safely say that it's nowhere near being a 4kids dub.

Bottom line, Toshio; if you don't like the name, fine. But please respect the opinions of the people around you.

Unfortunatelly, I can't agree with the name of Astro Girl, it was a huge mistake rather than a good choice.
And thank good that it was changed for good.

There was even a mock in one of the 1980's episodes which Rock mistook Uran with Atom and she got very displeased.
And would be troublesome if she was "Astro Girl" and Rock just said "Astro".
It was odd for Rock having such mistake, since he had the photo.

In the 2003 series, Uran was very upset with people comparing her too much with Atom.
Frankly it would troublesome if they used the "Astro Girl" once again since Uran herself don't liked to be compared with Atom.
That's why the name "Astro Girl" hurts the character identity.
It would not be same if she was "Astro Girl" and was upset with people comparing her with "Astro Boy".

Even in the Captain N they made a character called "Mega Girl" who was clearly the cartoon's version of Roll.
Thank good that name didin't sticked and was not transfered to the games.

Although the series was new in the 60s, they should have more caution when choosing names.

In my country we don't made much name changes in the past and we keept most of the original names in the animes aired here in the 80s and mid 2000s.
Neither we had that issue of pretending that the animes were made by brazilians.

But then again, that name of Astro Girl is still missleading and unecessary.
Specially with the parodies called "Astro Girl" which they're clearly NOT using Uran, but a gender shapped of Atom.

I believe that new dub groups should not keep changing character names to avoid confusion.

Whatever the decision of the dub, they were still wrong.
I'm not going to insult you guys if you like that name, I just find it missleading and unnecessary.

A big pain nowadays is that brazilian dub groups are picking american adaptations for animes and we also get horrible cuts like what happened with the 2003 series.

Anyway, I'll refrain for putting opinions here.
I can't agree with that old dub name and is not worth to keep an argument because of it.

I feel bad for those who had to deal with countless changes and political adaptations in animes who were dubbed in USA.
In the 80s, people from Brazil, even had the original soundtracks intact without being tranlated.

Although we could not understand anything, the original songs were quite catchy.
Even series like Digimon got most of the original content keept like the soundtracks and story.

It's a pity that most dubs get their content changed and adapted to fit polictical standards.
Due to that, we brazilians, started to deal with all the cuts and altered storyline in the series bought to our country.
It's true that is easy to translate things based in the american version, but they're not a faithfull translation of the original.
So we missed a lot of content in animes latelly.

Can somebody close this thread?