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