Astro Boy Reboot: General Info & Documented History

[Shiyonasan]

This thread is here to present general info and documented history about Astro Boy Reboot. Since it's original announcement on June 8, 2014, I have documented the development of the show to the best of my ability as it's been presented to the public.

This thread will be updated as new official info is shared to the public.

If you have any questions regarding Astro Boy Reboot, this is the thread to read.
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If you wish to discuss Astro Boy Reboot, please click/tap on this link:

Astro Boy Reboot (Future animated series)
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Astro Boy Reboot: General Info & Documented History


Anything below this line is related to the current TF1/Mediawan version of Astro Boy Reboot.
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• Method Animation (Mediawan Kids & Family) site
• Shibuya Productions site ( Wayback Machine screen capture )
  * Shibuya Productions is no longer involved with Astro Boy Reboot, and no longer exists as a company at all based on Monaco Hebdo news reports of financial troubles with the company in 2023 and 2024. Shibuya International, who is now a producing company for Astro Boy Reboot, is an older parent company to the defunct Shibuya Productions.
  
  Staff:
  
  
  • Production: Method Animation/Mediawan Kids & Family (France), Shibuya International (France; Japan), Tezuka Productions (Japan)
    
    Director: Nicolas Hess
    
    Writer: Louis-David Delahaye
    
    Release date:
    
    Currently, a release date of Q3 2027 is listed via a leaked screenshot from a Mediawan Kids & Family press book. In the past, various release years have been listed with no concrete confirmation from any source.
    
    On Method Animation's website, a 2023 release date is listed, but that year has already passed.
    
    French entertainment website Le Figaro reported a 2024 release date when the new Astro Boy Reboot was first announced, though 2024 was not listed on any of the developing companies' websites. Furthermore, 2024 has already passed.
    
    A couple sources stated that a 2026 release year was planned, but this was not confirmed by the producing companies themselves.
    
    How many episodes?
    
    26 episodes which will each be 26 minutes long, according to a leaked screenshot from a Mediawan Kids & Family press book which was discovered by the public on February 5, 2026.
    
    A TF1 Pro article posted on June 11, 2024 listed 26 episodes which will each be 22 minutes long.
    
    Shibuya Productions initially reported 52 episodes which will each be 26 minutes long.
    
    Method Animation's website lists two different episode amounts and lengths: 26 episodes which will each be 26 minutes long, or 52 episodes which will each be 11 minutes long. The former seems to be correct based on the leaked screenshot discovered on February 5, 2026 (seen in the link just below "How many episodes?")
    
    What is the story in the Mediawan version of Astro Boy Reboot?
    
    As shared in the TF1 Pro article:
    
    Atom is 9 years old, he plays soccer, has his small group of friends at school, bickers with his little sister Uran, and dreams of telling his friend Silica that he is in love with her. But Atom is no ordinary boy. He is a 9-year-old ultra-advanced robot and the only android capable of feeling real emotions! He hides his true nature to live like a normal child. But when supervillains threaten the coexistence between humans and robots, he must act, because he dreams of a world where everyone lives in harmony.
    Secretly, he transforms into a superhero to protect Metro City. To all the locals, he is Astroboy! But can Astroboy save the city without revealing its secret and thus preserve his complicity with the marvelous Silica?
    
    A pitch was also shared in the leaked screenshot from the Mediawan Kids & Family press book discovered on February 5, 2026:
    
    With more than 100 million copies sold, Astroboy is one of the best-selling manga series of all time and became a hit on television with the anime series in 1963. The superhero is back for new storylines, including hot-button issues, the impact of the internet, social media and damages caused to the environment by humans. It's time to fly again with the mythical Astroboy!
    
    
    Announcements:
    
    2024 announcement:
    TF1 Pro
    Leaked teaser trailer [The trailer was first posted online on February 6, 2026, but the initial upload has since been removed. It has been reuploaded since. In addition, this trailer was only applicable for the 2024 version of Astro Boy Reboot (this was after Thomas Astruc's departure from the project, but before Shibuya Productions shut down); in 2025, both Astro's/Atom's character design and the Astro Boy Reboot logo changed (after Shibuya Productions shut down).]
    
    2022 announcements:
    Variety
    Crunchyroll
    Shibuya Productions (Twitter)
    Method Animation/Mediawan (Twitter)
    Tezuka Productions (English Twitter)
    Thomas Astruc (Twitter) (Thomas Astruc was previously the director, but has since stated himself that he is no longer involved with Astro Boy Reboot due to creative and ideological differences.)
    Mediawan Kids & Family arrives with a bang!
    
    Click the spoiler to view the updated 2022 teaser visual:
    
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    Announcement image for Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2026:
    
    [Click on the spoiler tag to view the image.]
    
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    Announcement image for San Diego Kidscreen 2026:
    
    [Click on the spoiler tag to view the image.]
    
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    Announcement images from 2026 (Mediawan Kids & Family press book):
    
    [Click on the spoiler tags to view the images.]
    
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    Announcement image from the TFOU conference in 2025:
    
    [Click on the spoiler tag to view the image.]
    
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    Announcement images from Annecy 2024:
    
    [Click on the spoiler tags to view the images.]
    
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    Announcement images from Annecy 2022:
    
    [Click on the spoiler tags to view the images.]
    
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    Other info:
    
    Leaks occurred on February 5 and 6, 2026 that revealed information on Astro Boy Reboot from versions of the show after Thomas Astruc's departure from the project (likely in 2023). This includes info from the 2024 version of Astro Boy Reboot (when Shibuya Productions was still involved), and from the 2025 to current (as of 2026) version which includes changes made to the show following Shibuya Productions shutting down as a company. The leaks have since been placed into digital cold storage, and are no longer accessible.
    
    More information will be posted here when available...
    
    

[Shiyonasan]

Anything below this line is related to the canceled Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot.
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Official video and website for the canceled Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot:

Official 2015 teaser trailer
Shibuya Productions page (Wayback Machine archived page)

March 2015 Teaser Trailer Info:

• The teaser was unveiled to the public on March 21, 2015 at the first edition of the Monaco Anime Game International Conferences.
• Cedric Biscay (president of Shibuya Productions and the founder of MAGIC) and Fabien Baboz of Caribara Animation were at the premiere.
• The Variety article announced that a teaser was to be made available in September 2014, but this never came to fruition.
• The rough animation for the teaser was done by Michael Crouzat in November 2014. In a January 2026 email to an internet user named emilia3426, Crouzat stated that the teaser was a 2 week project; it is also the only known animated footage of the Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot to exist. A video of that rough animation is viewable on Crouzat's Tumblr blog and his Vimeo account. The rough animation can be viewed in the links below:

Links:

• Astro Boy Reboot - Rough Animation (Vimeo)
• Astro Boy Reboot - Rough Animation (Michael Crouzat's Tumblr blog)
  
  Teaser staff:
  
  
  • Director/Graphic Designer: Florian Thouret
  • Animator: Michael Crouzat
  • Ink & Paint: Jean-Luc Kol
  • Layout: Regis Vidal
  • Compositing: Agathe Urban
  • Technical Manager: Pierre Charlet
  • Producers: Fabien Baboz & Cédric Biscay
  • Co-producer: Yoshihiro Shimizu
  • Artistic producer: Marie Faucomprez
  • Music: Yuichiro Maeda
  • Voice: Chiyako Maeda

Click on the spoiler tags to view the images.

2014 logos:

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Divercity:

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Teaser trailer sign-up website images (2014-2015):

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Atlas (from a Shibuya Productions showreel shown at Cannes 2015):

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MAGIC 2016:

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Main poster (first shown at MAGIC 2016):

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TV Kids online magazine (October 1, 2017):

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Astro (Atom), Fubuki, and Akino flying away from the doctor and J4M3S the robot:

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Initial red shirt Atom image (2018):

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MAGIC 2019:

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Staff:

• Production: Shibuya Productions (Monaco), Caribara Production/Caribara Montreal (France; Quebec, Canada), Tezuka Productions (Japan), CAKE Entertainment (England, United Kingdom)
• Producers: Cédric Biscay, Fabien Baboz, Yoshihiro Shimizu
• Director/Graphic Designer: Florian Thouret
• Creators: Fabien Baboz, Magali Hellé
• Based on an idea by: Cédric Biscay

Official announcement on Variety
Official announcement on Facebook
Official announcement on Twitter
Official announcement on Caribara Animation's Facebook page


Shibuya Productions Sites

• Official Site ( Wayback Machine screen capture )
• Projects Page ( Wayback Machine screen capture ) (Astro Boy Reboot is the second project listed on the page.)
• Facebook (Official announcements can be found in this link.)
• Twitter (Their Facebook page is updated more often, but some important info is reported on their Twitter page as well.)

Monaco Anime Game International Conferences (MAGIC) Sites

• Official Site ( Wayback Machine screen capture )
• Facebook
• Twitter

Caribara Sites

• Official Production Site
• Official Montreal Site
• Facebook
• Twitter

CAKE Entertainment Sites

• Official Site
• Facebook
• Twitter

FAQ regarding the canceled Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot:


When was the Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot going to be released?

Previously, there was a magazine article from 2015 posted on Shibuya Productions' Facebook page that shared an article from a French publication regarding Astro Boy Reboot, and how the show was planned to be released in 2016. The 2016 release never came to be. The link to that magazine article has unfortunately been lost to time.

According to Shibuya Productions president Cedric Biscay, from a November 2015 French video interview, Astro Boy Reboot was being planned to debut on TV stations sometime in the "back-to-school period in 2017". This would've put the release date for Astro Boy Reboot somewhere in Fall 2017 (the September to December time frame). This video is no longer available online.

Two Nikkei Style articles from April 2016 and May 2016 reported that Astro Boy Reboot would be released worldwide in 2018, starting first in France and then going next to developed/industrialized countries. However, the 2018 release never came to be. You can view these articles in the first and second links below.

A Twitch interview done by kaorinchan during her "Le Cri du Mochi" segment gave an update on the release date for Astro Boy Reboot. The segment with Cedric Biscay discussing Astro Boy Reboot can be found at the 16:40 mark and ends on the 19:20 mark on the YouTube video. During the interview, Biscay stated that there will be an update on Astro Boy Reboot before the summer of 2021; no updates surfaced before or during the summer of 2021. Biscay also stated that there will be "a lot of changes" revealed in the update. The interview can be viewed in the third link below; the full interview is in French.

The Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot has been canceled, as confirmed by Florian Thouret's website. Thouret worked as a graphic designer and director on the Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot.

Links:

• http://style.nikkei.com/article/DGXLASFE23H0G_T20C16A4MM0000?channel=DF280120166618&style=1 (Japanese)
• http://style.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO02103070Q6A510C1000000?channel=DF280120166607 (Japanese)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wvt3TVM1uA

What languages were the Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot going to be broadcasted in?

According to old reports released several years ago, it was going to be released in French and English first, followed by Japanese and other languages depending on broadcasters in other countries. Shibuya Productions stated beforehand that they were in negotiations to broadcast the show on television stations in France and the United States first.


How many episodes was the Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot going to have?

Initially, it was going to be 26 episodes which would have been 26 minutes long. This was later changed to 52 episodes which would have been 11 minutes long.

Link:

• https://web.archive.org/web/20160304230610/http://www.shibuya-productions.com/en/projets/astroboy-reboot.html,005

What kind of art style was going to be used in the Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot?

It would've mixed both 2D and 3D/CG animation, but would've focused more on the 2D animation.


What was the target audience for the Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot?

The target audience was 6 to 11 year olds, according to Caribara Montreal.


What was the story in the Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot?

There was a synposis on Shibuya Productions' Astro Boy Reboot page:

The story is about a small, powerful robot convinced that he would have to become a little boy, in order to be loved.

However, he is extremely rational, logical and strong. He does not know how to lie or how to play …. in short - he really is not a little boy!
Yet he has emotions, even if he doesn’t know how to manage them. Through his adventures with his two human friends, Fubuki and Akino,
Astro is going to learn how to accept himself just the way he is - with all his weaknesses … and strengths.

Astro Boy Reboot's previous producers had the right to create a completely new story. As the Variety announcement article states: "The retread will be set in the present and boast a contemporary design, targeting new generations of kids. It will incorporate new characters and combine positive things from the past version and new elements."

Links:

• http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/shibuya-tezuka-caribara-reboot-astro-boy-1201218045/
• http://www.shibuya-productions.com/en/projets/astroboy-reboot.html,005 ( Wayback Machine screen capture )

Where was the Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot going to take place?

The name of the city in the Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot (the one shown in the promotional images and teaser trailer) was "Divercity". This was stated on Caribara's websites before Astro Boy Reboot's listings were removed from Caribara's websites.


Which characters were going to appear in the Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot?

Astro, Atlas, Tenma, Tobio, Tawashi, and Skunk were the only characters that were confirmed or rumored to return in the Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot. There were also four new characters confirmed to appear; Fubuki (the boy in the 2016 poster), Akino (the girl in the 2016 poster), a robot character presumably named "J4M3S" (based on the text on the character's chest), and a woman doctor who's name was never revealed. Both Fubuki and Akino also appear in concept art revealed in 2019 (the image showing Astro, Fubuki, and Akino flying away from the woman doctor and J4M3S). They were Astro's two human best friends. A final character cast list for the series was never revealed.

Links:

• https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=843829855702218&id=277251422360067 (This link confirms Atlas' appearance in Astro Boy Reboot.)
• https://66.media.tumblr.com/12a0aa65c72ca0bfb733dcc200e42508/tumblr_inline_po3zmyXwKq1uxs2xi_1280.jpg
• https://66.media.tumblr.com/117c731d532769f800c33aa6f3f7cef5/tumblr_inline_po3zn2ns0l1uxs2xi_1280.jpg
• https://66.media.tumblr.com/0ef88b3484c41b62b6149048a78be29c/tumblr_inline_po3zn7cMwk1uxs2xi_1280.jpg

Anything else I should know about the Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot?

There was a website for Astro Boy Reboot, made in 2014, where you could sign up for VIP access to watch the debut of the 2015 teaser trailer online from the MAGIC 2015 conference (MAGIC = Monaco Anime Game International Conferences; this was Shibuya Productions' annual conference that they held mainly in the 2010s). From this website, we know that the teaser trailer specifically debuted on Saturday, March 21, 2015 at 4:15 pm (GMT +1).

• A Tumblr post from a user named "owlapin" took screenshots of the website which you can view by clicking/tapping this link.
• This was the url for the website; it is no longer active and the domain is up for sale: http://signup.astroboy-reboot.com/

Astro Boy Reboot is Shibuya Productions' first TV series project that they began work on.

Link:

• https://www.facebook.com/277251422360067/photos/a.307245839360625.75538.277251422360067/663872593697946/?type=1&relevant_count=1

Some additional info on the Caribara Animation version of Astro Boy Reboot was shared through a series of emails sent in January 2026 between an internet user named emilia3426 and Michael Crouzat (animator for the 2015 teaser trailer) along with Florian Thouret (graphic artist and director for the Caribara version of Astro Boy Reboot). Here is what was shared:

• Michael Crouzat shared that the 2015 Astro Boy Reboot teaser trailer was a 2 week project of his, and that it is the only known animated footage of the Caribara Animation version of Astro Boy Reboot to exist.
• Florian Thouret confirms what Michael Crouzat states in his email; there is, in Thouret’s words, “No fully animated and final episode of the series. Only artworks and animatic”.
• Florian Thouret states that the project (Astro Boy Reboot) started around 2014 and stopped in 2020. The cancellation in 2020 was due to changes in partners; the broadcaster Caribara Animation was working with (a major American network) went through many management changes due to the broadcaster’s acquisition by another large group. These changes led to a major slow down in the approval process and made it impossible to have a clear vision of the project.
• Florian Thouret states that 2-3 different versions of the show were developed during the broadcasting company’s management changes (one version had more adventure, one version had more comedy), which led to Caribara Animation determining that they could not continue with the current setup they had. They would go on to start from scratch with other broadcasters, but Caribara Animation’s production partners, (which is likely referring to Shibuya Productions and Tezuka Productions), did not want to take the risk of continuing with Caribara Animation, which led to the end of Caribara Animation’s involvement with Astro Boy Reboot and the change to another animation company.
• Florian Thouret states that he is not allowed to share all the work that he did on Astro Boy Reboot, “which was quite extensive”. (This is likely due to a non-disclosure agreement, more commonly known as an NDA). He also states that he cannot share any details that are not already known about the Caribara Animation version of Astro Boy Reboot due to contractual reasons, which he apologies for and is “quite frustrated about that”.

[jeffbert]

Thanks for you hard work, Shiyonasan.