They’ve tried to revive Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy in many different ways but one way that has been constant is to market to little kids. While they’ve done this since the beginning of the franchise there have been two different animes that are strictly for the edutainment kid category for those too young for a more complex show. We have both Little Astro Boy and Go Astro Boy Go. Both are quite different the first being from 2014 and the second from 2019. Let’s take a look at both unique different takes and how they fare.
LIttle Astro Boy
This first one is far more anime and Japanese, so it was definitely meant for the Nippon audience. It’s only 8 episodes at 10 mintues. I am unsure why not more was produced of this show. It seemed short enough that a bunch could’ve been made in one batch, I don’t know if they were testing the waters or what exactly. And it’s odd that there wasn’t an audience for this in Japan. I would’ve thought merchandise alone would’ve kept the show a float but counting it’s all we got then perhaps not or perhaps the audience was meant to be mroe international and they definitely didn’t get that. I’m not even sure where the dub might’ve aired.
The anime itself has a bunch of different characters and none are ever introduced. There’s a bad guy, in fact he’s a familiar face from the Astro Boy lore and random robot friends which all seem interesting. So it’s a shame we never get a real introduction to any of them. Everything is super ADHD. I have to be honest I don’t know what’s going on in the episdoe despite it being so short, i love it. Random slow adventures are not really for kids as eduntainment but definitely for little kids.
Robotown and the concept of it is very interesting as well as the robot friends I mentioned but there is not enough time to get to know them which is sad only 8 episodes were made and none were explored. I like the antagonists even if not dwelled into since it’s the same guy who misused Astro in other adaptations the history kinda feels like it’s there. More interesting is that Astro has a robot family in this anime and that’s weird seeing an Astro Dad and Astro Mom. The whole show is extremely japanese adhd. It’s by far not a good origin story or show if you dont know who Astro is unless you just want cool robots I guess.
Go Astro Boy Go
This more recent take is a bit different, it’s still meant for little kids but at the same time a bit older as it goes into deeper topics. We have a very nice intro song and opening which sets you up for the rest. I like that Astro kitty is in this, a more obscure character and he gets a prominent role which I both love and hate him. There is an English dub and there’s 52 episodes at around 12 minutes each so around the same length as the previous show but this time we get a decent batch of episodes. THere was more comittment here. The anime is very child friendly with cute designs although I think it might be a bit boring for both kids and adults watching.
Suzu is a new character, the faemale roll to megaman which I really liked and thought was Uran and of courses we have here an intelligent astro boy or perhaps astro toddler in this version. He has the generic young hero persona. Elephun is a tutor and who I thought was Dr tenma but it’s actually Dr. Blunt. We know this because later on we see the actual characters in some episodes. Dr. Blunt here is like an angry uncle.. The show is nothing serious, just a short problem usually enviromental related and the kids learn a little about ecology and solve the issue after learning a bit. Not a fan of the chibi look too much but it’s fine. IT’s definitely for young kids and this one is not as Japanese. Not a fan of green eyed Astro but that’s a look they’ve tried to give him before. The animation looks a bit flash like. It’s a cute little show and ecological. I don’t even know aht the Gourdskis sperm like creatures were meant to be.