One of the earliest and most beloved of the Japanese anime characters, Astro Boy (also known as Mighty Atom) was created in 1963 and has been an inspiration to many, if not all anime mecha-characters since.

Astro boy appears to be a boy of perhaps 11 years, wearing black Speedos and rocket boots.

The copyright on the character is held by Tezuka Productions, and the best place I've found to feed one's Astro Boy habit is at the Shin and Company store in Takeshita-dori in Tokyo's teen-craze and kawaii ground-zero, Harajuku.

The following text gives some background on Astro Boy's origin and tech, and is taken from a t-shirt copyright Tezuka Productions, purchased at Shin and Company:

ATOM'S BACKGROUND
In D.C. 2003, Dr. Temma who is the Director General of the Science and Technology Agency who Lost his beloved son in a car accident. He tried to come to Life his son Tobio. And then his son was become a new boy. The boy is called one and only the best scientific work of art. After that he passed through the Robot Circus and others. After then he was taken care of by Dr. Ochanumizu. And he took an active part in the course of Love and Justice. Now he is called "ASTRO BOY".

ARMS
His muscular strength is 100,000 hp so his son can bring heavy goods up easily.

THROAT
He has an translated machine in his throat so he has a very good command of 60 foreign languages.

HIPS
They can become an machine gun as a weapon.

ELECTRONIC BRAINS
If there are some very difficult computation, he can work out them in one second. He is a robot but he can feel people's mind whether it is right or wrong. He can Speak 60 foreign languages.

EYES
His eyes can substitute like a search light in the dark.

EARS
If he push his two ears button, his heaving power can become 1,000 times.

FEET
His feet can fly fast in the sky with jet. And they can become a rocket in the space.

large 3D plastic applique of Astro Boy, arms folded

On the reverse:

Mighty Atom
What I try to say
through my work is simple
My message is as follows
"Love all creatures!"
"Love everything that has life!"
I have been trying to express.
In different ways though
My work the message such as:
"Preserve nature."
"Bless life."
"Be careful of a civilisation
that puts too-much
stock in science."
"Do not wage war."
And so on...

COPYRIGHT TEZUKA PRODUCTIONS, SUPERVISED BY SHIN AND COMPANY shro0m contributed to this writeup

And now, for those of you who could never bear to listen close enough to the out of tune warblings of the theme music from the 80's TV show of AstroBoy, here are the lyrics! As a small child I spent many hours in black speedos wearing red wellington boots, running 'round the house singing my own odd little versions of this song...

Soaring high in the sky,
He may be small but only in size.
AstroBoy, AstroBoy,
He is brave and gentle and wise!

Stronger than all the rest,
this mighty robot will pass the test,
Oh villains fear him, so we cheer him,
The amazing AstroBoy!

When you need someone strong,
Our robot friend is there before long...
AstroBoy, AstroBoy,
He will try to right any wrong!

When there's danger near by,
No matter who, what, where, when or why.
He'll defend us, he'll defend us,
The amazing AstroBoy!

Then there was the especially depressing end credits. When I watched this show as a kid, I always tried desperately to turn the TV off as soon as the show ended but before the end credits rolled because I hated this song so much. But here it is.

Come and join us in a melody,
A song of happiness for you and me.
Sing of joy, sing about a boy,
Little hero, AstroBoy!

Come and join us in a fantasy,
We can all be heroes, you and me.
Sing of joy, sing about a boy,
Little hero, AstroBoy!

Lighting up the way for all,
For soon he will fight for right,
Strong as steel and with a heart of gold.

Sing of glory,
Pour your heart our,
Your voices will be heard,
And it's raining
out with love for all

Shudder...