please tell me why you like astroboy please

[Dragonrider1227]

I agree with Dragonrider. I love his darn cute and lovable character, but I love Astro because he is pure of heart, and the upmost of innocence. He believes in humans so strongly and even though his naivety(sp?) is often played upon by bad people, he still believes in humans and does his best to protect them. I grew up with Astro, so I grew to understand him and it makes me angry to hear people say they hate Astro, yet they've probably never even watched a single episode!

No kidding. I think any less of a robot would've gone nuts and killed all of mankind by now. That or just became a major emo. and yeah, my mom doesn't like Astroboy either but I think that's mostly because all she knows of it is the 60s version which (no offense to it's fans) isn't exactly the best way to be introduced to it

[Daichi]

My reasons are fairly vast, which would probably explain my deep love for the series.
Of course, as listed so many times, the main character and his innocence and trust are great reasons alone to enjoy it, but there is more to it. The lessons of kindness to all things and valuing the precious gift of life are things that we should all be taught at least once in our lives, and they are lessons that it is never too late to learn.
Most of you grew up with Astroboy; I didn't. I was born too late for the 1980's version but way too early for the 2003 version, meaning that I didn't get into it until I was a teenager. However, I feel that this enabled me to enjoy it to its fullest, as I was fully able to understand those lessons as well as the deep emotions and situations experienced by the characters.

As Innocent Eyes stated, it makes me angry to see it judged without cause. I despise those that choose to hate this amazing anime without so much as giving it a chance, and I despise those who think that they are too "cool" for it. You can never be too "cool" for Astroboy, and besides that, "cool" is a synonym for the terms "stupid", "arrogant", and "foolish".
I may be one of the less popular kids on the block but I'd rather have the things that I love most than possess a facade of friendship and popularity that would dissolve as soon as I am in a time of need or turmoil.


Astroboy is based on simple things, but it is great because of that. And if you try to argue with me, I'll preach on it. Or, I'll slug you. One or the other.
Daichi, over and out!

[jeffbert]

I agree with Dragonrider. I love his darn cute and lovable character, but I love Astro because he is pure of heart, and the upmost of innocence. He believes in humans so strongly and even though his naivety(sp?) is often played upon by bad people, he still believes in humans and does his best to protect them. I grew up with Astro, so I grew to understand him and it makes me angry to hear people say they hate Astro, yet they've probably never even watched a single episode!

I agree with this; Atom's naiveté is appealing, especailly since I have no children of my own. However, I must say that it is very unrealistic in that the child's naivé ideals win in the end, rather than being shown as the simplistic and unrealistic presumptions of one who has yet to learn the ways of the world.

Thus, nobody should regard Astroboy stories as anything but fantasy in this regard. However, Tezuka did use them as [url=
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/allegory]allegories[/url] for subjects too controversial to otherwise cover. Discrimination against robots being an allogory for racial discrimination, etc.

As children go, I think the 2003 version made Atom & Uran more childlike; in the 50 episodes they did things that kids do as much as they did in 193 episodes in the B&W series. Although Atom is depicted mainly as stifling Uran's fun, telling her to 'behave,' etc., he does play sports with other boys. However, the only imaginative play that I recall was in the B&W series.

In 70 Raffalsia (61 Flower Monster) Uran pretends to shoot Atom, who then performs one of those extended death scenes so frequent in old Western films. He does the same thing in Lonely Atom, when he meets a little boy whose only friends are animals. I cannot recall any other incident of pretending, in any series, though.

[tonigirl1000]

Hi-Thanks everyone, love your posts. You gave me more reasons to care about all of you and Astroboy. Thanks everyone and i truly hope we always are friends, praying everyone the best, especially Daichi.
Toni

[jeffbert]

Now that I have had all night to think about it, the thing I said about Atom always winning only applies to the 2003 version, as there were many sad endings in the B&W version, & a few in the 1980s version.

[Dragonrider1227]

Yeah, I noticed that. I get the feeling they did that for the american audience 'cause they know we tend not to be into sad endings. Especially in children's shows

[fafner]

Yeah, I noticed that. I get the feeling they did that for the american audience 'cause they know we tend not to be into sad endings. Especially in children's shows

In fact it has been worse in Europe: in the episode "Robio and Robiette", the ending is sad in the English version (both die). I suppose it is the same in the Japanese version. In the French version however, the ending is happy (both survive and are happy).
Not that I like sad endings but it isn't the original story

[Daichi]

Sounds to me like they did that a lot in the European version. Wasn't it you who said they censored "The Light Ray Man" to make the ending happy also, Fafner?


Thank you, Toni. ^^

[Astro Forever]

Sounds to me like they did that a lot in the European version. Wasn't it you who said they censored "The Light Ray Man" to make the ending happy also, Fafner?

"The Light Ray Robot", yes. The robot survives because the gun (or whatever it was) fail to work properly, and Elefun calls it a Christmas miracle. I can't believe how naïve I was when I was watching back then! I loved Astro so much I apparently failed to question anything. Or course I was about 7...

[Innocent_Eyes]

I would love to see the French version of Astroboy (1980's). I never knew that they changed the endings to make them happier!
I came across the Japanese boxset for the 80's series one time in the city, but I didn't know whether it had English subtitles or not and it was fairly expensive so I wasn't able to get it. I wonder if they still even have that boxset, but I was able to pick up a rare Osamu Tezuka postcard book with postcards of all of his early works. It even contains a postcard of Mighty Atom.

Sorry for the long post, but last night at work I was kinda upset a bit because one of my friends (and workmate) wrote on the staff board Astro Boy is g** (don't know if that word is allowed on the forum, so * to be safe) just to annoy me (he actually does like Astro) but then another girl saw it and said 'I agree.'
I said to her that he wasn't and she was like 'Yes, I do admit, your bag is cool (I have a holographic Astro bag which I use for work) but come on, look at his eyes!'
I do not see how Astro is g** nor how his eyes make him that way. Unfortunatly, people think otherwise

Once again, sorry for the long post.