For some inexplicable reason, Japan produces a lot of anti-war art. It seems the trend started sometime around the mid-20th century. Even one of Japan's biggest war franchises, Gundam, features a surprising number of anti-war themes. No explanation has been provided to date to explain why.
Perhaps it coincides with the Hall of Records being mysteriously blown away in a firestorm... however, without a Hall of Records, we'll sadly never know.
How much of that bizarre nostalgia comes down to the show having been originally aired brutally re-cut, mistranslated, and basically rewritten so that it would fit "American sensibilities"? Censorship in "the freest nation that invented freedom, football, and guns for all amen!!!" is wild, yall.
Care to explain ?
Astro Boy / Mighty Atom is a manga series drawn by Osamu Tezuka in the 1950s and 60s. It was popular among young boys (both in Japan and outside) due to its action sequences, but has complex themes such as consciousness, human-robot conflict, war and the morality of violence.
I watched the first episode a few weeks ago and wow is it dark. I thought they were building up to the scientist’s kid having his mind put in a Robot body, but no. That child is dead and this Astro Boy is the scientist’s unhealthy coping mechanism.
Has it aged well? I've been curious to give it a shot, and I'm somewhat patient with old animes, but I think the oldest I ever went was the 80's
And then there's Pluto, by Naoki Urasawa, which is what would happen if Philip K. Dick decided to write an Astro Boy story.
(It's a reinterpretation of "The Greatest Robot on Earth", and was supervised by Tezuka's son, 100% worth a read)
Cartoons are wild as an adult
man I thought I clicked on a different post and was so confused by the comments
Feels the same about Naruto
