Thread: Astro Boy on DVD

Grumble Grumble Grumble

The local Fry's Electronics had it on special for $27.98, so I picked it up. A nice price for a 50 episode collection, but it's not perfect. Having seen the first of 5 DVDs, it's apparent that the episode order has been tampered with in the world wide release. There is no original Japanese Language tract. It's also based on the US TV relase version (with 2 commercial breaks!), which means approximately 4-5 minutes have been cut from each of the original episode...

Quality wise, the english dub is very very good (better then most anime dub releases), and the animation quality is superb, with a near perfect blending of CGI and hand drawn animation. You can tell that Sony poured alot of money into this production (being the 50th aniversery remake of Astro Boy...)

And this is a proper Anime topic, Moving to the Anime & Manga Forum...

Hey, thanks Miyata. That placement was a mishap. I think I might buy it at some point. I think the price is maybe ten bucks more for the same here. oh well.

barnabus

You talking about the original 1980's version or the new version?
In my country both series are released on DVD.
I grew up with Astro Boy (the original) and it's one of the classics of Japanese animation.
Unless you want to relive your childhood like me, or want to see a classic, either way it's purchase worthy. In my opinion the 1980's version is the better one of the two, but the newer version is still good too.

Grumble Grumble Grumble

Actually, were talking about the recent (2003) second remake of Astro Boy, made for his 50th aniversery. The original Japanese series (Tetsuwan Atom) was originally shown from 1963 to 1966, and is generally credited as the first Japanese Anime series to feature an ongoing plot with story arcs extended over multiple episodes... The Manga series it's based on is considered one of the first successful manga series to be published...

Official Sony Pictures (New) Astro Boy website...
http://www.sonypictures.com/tv/kids/astroboy/

I see.... so America has only got the 2003 series? Is that right?
I get confussed, because in Australia where I'm from Madman have released the recent series, the 1980 series and are talking about releasing the 1960's version too.