ASTRO BOY (us dvd)
the complete series - five disc set

"Blast off with the all-new ASTRO BOY, a state-of-the-art update of Tezuka Osamu's classic series that started the anime explosion. Filled with exciting action, humour, and drama, ASTRO BOY tells the story of a young robot boy modeled after the son of a research scientist.
This atomic-powered robot becomes a reluctant superhero who fights for justice and peace - for humans and robots alike"

[DVD cover blurb]

dvd review
This special five disc box set contains all 50 episodes of the brand-new update of Astro Boy - the anime that really started the ball rolling (Astro Boy started life as a comic, some 50 years ago, and has been adapted into an animted series before). 29 of these episodes have never been screened in the United States, and I'm not sure if the series has even been picked up in the UK yet.

My own attitude to animation is difficult to pin. Some films and cartoons I love - whether for style, character or story. My feelings about the animé serials, is that they are too long, and frankly dull. The animation is so stuck in that in-house style, that it has become bland. Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon and all the rest can just sod off.

And yet, occasionally a series breaks free from the bounds and delivers a punch. I can't vouch for the original Astro Boy, but this 2003 remake has my vote. Its fun, exciting, well-rounded. You can dip in and out of the series, and you don't feel that you've missed something too important. Backstory is always being added (at a pace that's easy to deal with), and Astro Boy's voyage is one of knowledge and growth, of awareness of his true identity, and his struggle with the past.

The opening episode is a glorious homage to Frankenstein, with the boy reborn on the slab. Life is given back to him amidst wires and machinery, by a well meaning scientist. As the boy/robot grows in knowledge he faces all kinds of prejudice from both robot and humankind alike. He is an outcast, mis-perceived. He works to bring both sides together, and sets out to battle agains the forces of darkness.

The animation is a fusion of styles. Astro Boy himself is a cute cherub-like figure, supported by a range of comic-book men with silly faces and hair. And yet alongside these, are the realistic robots and other beings. Its rather like Winnie the Pooh in the middle of an episode of Transformers - the styles shouldn't go together, but the look fits.

There I feel is much of the appeal. The plot moves along at a rattling place, and battles are not talked over at length (unlike the Dragonball Z sagas). The whole is slick, with a beautiful fusion of cgi and traditional animation styles.

I'm rapidly working my way through my five discs, and nearly seventeen hours of video. I find I've started raving about the series to friends who aren't into animation at all. I'm a convert. Please join me in my church, I'm feeling just a little lonely at the moment.

transfer
I can't fault the excellent fullscreen transfer, which is spot on in clarity and colour. The stereo soundtrack is admirable, though I do wish that a full 5.1 mix had been done. Some of the effects levels are a little mismatched, but this is small complaint. No doubt most of the audience will be doing without a full hi-fi set up anyway, so there is little to worry about. The English dub is first class, and the voices suit the characters, something which usually seems amiss in most anime titles.

extras
Extras are thin on the ground here, but each disc is packed with ten episodes each - about four hours on each disc.

Disc five contains a documentary: Remaking of Astro Boy, an eight minute behind the scenes featurette, with brief interviews of the Japanese animation crew behind the remake. It would have been good to see more of a comparison with the original series, and this barely scrapes the surface of the massive legacy surrounding the character, but is still welcome. Perhaps if the original series makes its way to dvd we will see more like this.

RJES

PURCHASE R1 DVD

DISC:
Release Date: 29th March 2005 (US)

Feature length: 1010 mins
Year of 1st release: 2005
Rating: NOT RATED
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 fullscreen
Audio: English, Portuguese, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo
No of Discs: 5
Region code: 1
Catalogue no: 04718
Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Price: (RRP)
Cast:
Director: Kazuya Konaka

SPECIAL FEATURES:
* scene selection
* Remaking of Astro Boy featurette
* bonus previews
* closed captions

see left for full details