Would Hoshie work in the 2003 series?

[Prettywitchiusaka]

Hoshie Tenma- the estranged wife of Dr. Tenma, and the mother/mother figure to both Tobio and Astro respectfully. She's also a character who has been fully under-utilized by Tezuka, and pretty much every anime adaptation (including the movie).

Now Hoshie has actually become one of my favourite characters in the franchise (pretty much a result of my own developments regarding her character), and I've often wondered how she could have been developed by the actual show runners, or if she would have worked in other versions of Astro Boy.

Back when I first joined the forum, I made a thread asking if Hoshie had any relevance. If I remember right, most of the comments I got on that thread were a resounding yes. Therefore, I think it's possible. And for me at least, the 2003 series is probably the best series to place her in, given that it focuses a bit more on astro's backstory than previous incarnations.

basically, the question I'd like to ask today is the following;

Could Hoshie work in the 2003 series?

Honestly, yes I do think she would be a welcome entry into the cast. Provided that her character would not fall into two major missteps;

1. Have her character become the center of attention constantly
2. Have her position as Tenma's wife over-shadow the conflict between Tenma, Astro and O'Shay

The only way I feel that those two elements could be avoided, is if more time is spent on her forging a new life for herself, instead of being stuck in the past like Tenma is. In other words, show that she is capable of doing the one thing her husband cannot do until the very end; move on.

But that can only come after some form of character development on her part, which Astro could lend a hand in.

The way I see it, she and Astro meet by way of him saving her, and the two form a bond of mutual like in a short period of time. She and Zoran grow to like each other as well, and while O'Shay likes her he can't help but feel he's met her somewhere before. This is not helped by the fact that Astro feels like he knows her from somewhere, and keeps having fuzzy flashes of a woman who looks like her whenever they're together.

Eventually, he asks her about it, and she decides to tell him. But they're interrupted by Tenma before she ca do so. Eventually during this fight, she meets with Tenma for the first time in months. Despite that she is furious with him, she ends up taking his words that he will not harm her to heart.

Sometime after, Hoshie decides not to tell Astro. Partly because she knows in her heart that she loves Astro for himself, not because he was meant to replace her son. But also because she's is lonely, and is afraid that Astro will hate her if he knows the truth. O'Shay however (now that he remembers who she is) refuses to keep things from Astro anymore demands that she tell him. Naturally, she does not head his word and instead, asks Astro not to ask her about this again.

This leads to a very uncomfortable situation in which Astro wants to ask (and also learn more about her), but is knows he can't. And Hoshie to feel bad about keeping the truth from him, but still doing so anyway.

At this point, she is also suffering from mild depression due to her crumbled family life, but also because of Tenma. On the one hand, she can't stand what he's doing. But one the other, she still loves him, and wants to believe that he has a reason for why he's doing this, and that there's possible hope for redemption. But after their second meeting, it is clear to her that she can no longer trust him. After this second meeting, Astro confronts her about keeping secrets, telling her that if she wants his trust she has to be honest with him, and she decides that he is right.

Eventually, she does tell him the truth. And while he's a bit surprised, he ultimately does not hate her for it, alleviating her of that fear.

After this point, we see that Hoshie is much happier. She starts to learn how to cook properly, she finds herself enjoying her work as a nurse practitioner again, and she begins spending more time with Zoran and Astro (when she can afford it, that is). She knows she can never get over her feelings for Tenma, but she has decided to move on and be happy.

And then comes the controversial part.

It turns out that Hoshie has been coughing none stop for quite awhile, but doesn't know why. Eventually, she starts coughing up blood, and decides to go to the doctor about it. Sure enough, she is dying of tuberculosis. She takes the news hard, but eventually knows what she must do.

She ends up telling everyone about it, and intends to tell Tenma but has no idea as to where his location is. Before she can though, she collapses and is taken to the hospital. Tenma eventually hears news of this, and sneaks in to see his wife one last time. While there, she asks him to be happy when she is gone, much to his surprise. She smiles at him one last time, before closing her eyelids forever. Now distraught, he tells her he loves her one last time before finally leaving the hospital.

Astro and company are told of her passing in the morning, and hold a funeral service for her a few days later. Tenma visits the funeral in secret, but only reveals himself once the it is over. He places a bouquet of flowers on her grave, and says his goodbyes soon after. He is then confronted by O'Shay for how terribly he treated his own wife, but reminds him that he did in fact love her, and it's up to him whether he believes that or not.

So yeah, basically my story arc for Hoshie ends with her being stuffed in a refrigerator, but I do think it could work depending on how it's written.

Now that my ideas are out of the way. I'd like to know what you guys think?

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

I guess your over all idea is to insert Hoshie into the 2003 series. I've sorta started to do that, but in a much darker fashion in my "Prequel" fan fiction story. Only I've ignored the evil side of Tenma's madness.

As for your story arc, I think it has possibilities but I thought of an alternate ending.
Perhaps for some reason, Hoshie wanted to 'fake' her death, or she felt that she needed to leave Tenma and Astro and her fatal condition was the perfect way to do it.
At the last moment, she gets an unexpected reprieve in the form of (tie in here with another famous Tezuka character) an expensive and high risk medical treatment by a rouge unlicensed doctor.

[Earthshine]

I have a thing for single fathers raising children so I never really liked the idea of having Hoshie around to be honest. Of course, with good writing ANY character can be made of relevance in any series so there's nothing wrong with the idea of having her around. Thankfully we have something called fanfiction where AUs can be created and explored.

[Prettywitchiusaka]

Earthshine
Agreed. I'm surprised no one's coined a meme term for fan fiction in regards to what it stands for. Or maybe they have, I don't know I'm sort of out of the loop when it comes to memes.

Tetsuwan Penguin
Really? May I ask what it's called?

That's not a bad idea you propose. Only problem is I can't think of why she would want an excuse to leave Tenma and Astro. I suppose she feels that it would be best for her, but the way that I write her, it would seem out of character. At least to me. How would you handle that situation?

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Earthshine

Tetsuwan Penguin
Really? May I ask what it's called?

You never heard of BlackJack?

[Prettywitchiusaka]

[QUOTE=Prettywitchiusaka;214842]Earthshine

Tetsuwan Penguin
Really? May I ask what it's called?

You never heard of BlackJack?[/QUOTE]

Oh no, I meant your story. Sorry, I should have been more specific.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Oh I had mentioned the name, "Prequel".
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9662622/1/Prequel

[Prettywitchiusaka]

Oh I had mentioned the name, "Prequel".
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9662622/1/Prequel

Oh yeah, I remember this now. I've only read the first chapter so far, but so far I'm intrigued. I must say though, I found it interesting that you decided to give Tobio a little sister Hoshie takes with her.

[Dante69]

I know I should keep quiet...

[Earthshine]

I know I should keep quiet...

Awe, NO one should keep quiet. That is unless your opinion might be construed as hurtful or mean. You know, "If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all."