Astro Boy

Astro Boy Volumes 1 & 2
$14.95
I introduced my son to Astro Boy since I enjoyed watching the shows when I was a boy. He has really taken a liking to the stories and shows and this book fit in quite well. It's a fun book and follows the original story line very well. If you like Astro Boy, then you will be happy with this book.

Astro Boy: The Video Game
$29.99
Set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist. Our hero embarks on a journey in search of adventure in a nether world of robot gladiators, before he returns to Metro City where he finds his place in the world.

Jazwares Astro Boy The Movie 3 3/4 Inch Action Figure Astro Boy
$13.99

Astro Boy - The Complete Series
$34.95
I had heard of Astro Boy before, but never saw any of the series. I recently saw the theatrical movie and loved it, so went and bought the 1980s color version DVD set and this 2003 version DVD set. I gave this product 4 stars because the series itself is great, but there are a few flaws with this DVD set that made it so I could not give it 5 stars.

1. My primary problem with this set is it does not have the option of Japanese with English translation subtitles that I prefer having while watching anime. [...]

2. My next concern as I watched this set is I noticed that things seemed off. There seemed to be scenes missing in episodes and what was being said at times seemed wrong. Also most of the episodes are out of order, but that didn't bother me as much as the lack of dual language option and the missing scenes. I bought an import copy (Japanese with English/Chinese subtitles) of the series and found I was right:
--Many of the missing scenes I don't understand why they cut, like the scene in the second episode that explains why Astro sleeps even though he's a robot (only about 2 minutes long).
--A couple more examples are the missing scenes in the first and last episodes of Dr. Tenma finding Tobio after the car accident (there's no blood/gore just a father crying over his dead son) and the episodes that had a brief flashback of Dr. Tenma calling to robot Tobio to wake up actually have more in which he then hugs robot Tobio after he first wakes up and robot Tobio calls him father.
--In this DVD set Atlas is said to have always been a robot and is just remade, but in the uncut he was actually the man's son who died in an accident and Dr. Tenma agrees to make the robot with the boy's memories (like he did with Tobio).
--Even though I bought an import copy I would still buy a domestic English/Japanese uncut release, partly because the translation subtitles on the import are not great quality and are hard to understand at times.

3. This I thought was funny more than a problem. When watching the episode "Dawn of the Techno-Revolution", which is made up of scenes from other episodes in the series, I saw a scene of Astro in front of a fountain with a boy that appeared to be in a wheel chair that does not fit with any of the other episodes. This scene is actually from an episode that was completely cut out and "Dawn of the Techno-Revolution" replaced. Why cut an episode and include a scene from it in the episode that they replaced it with? LOL
--The cut episode has to do with Astro and his school friends watch a robot play of Peter Pan in a park and bring up the fact that Astro will never grow up. A man nearby has the robot fairy sprinkle dust on the kids watching, which allows him to hypnotize the kids that night. The hypnotized kids end up on a flying space craft that looks like a pirate ship. The man plans to use a device he built that will make it so the kids will never grow up and take the kids to a place in space he made to look like Neverland. Astro is trying to find his missing friends and meets a boy in a floating (wheel) chair in front of a fountain in the park who is also looking for missing friends. The two boys find the ship and rescue the kids who when no longer hypnotized tell what they want to be when they grow up and also tell Astro they will always be his friend even though he will never grow up.

The following is the order the episodes play on the import uncut set:
01. Power Up!
02. Rocket Ball
03. Destination Deimos
04. Into Thin Air
05. Rainbow Canyon
06. Atlas
07. Astro vs. Atlas
08. Neon Express
09. Franken
10. The Venus Robots
11. Robot Circus
12. Reviving Jumbo
13. Little Sister, Big Trouble
14. Micro Adventure
15. Only a Machine
16. Robot Hunters
17. The Rise of Pluto
18. The Fall of Acheron
19. Robot Boy
20. (Eonian Teenagers)= missing episode replaced by Dawn of the Techno-Revolution
21. Dragon Lake
22. The Legend of Tohron
23. Lost In Outland
24. March of the Micro Bears
25. Deep City
26. The Blue Knight
27. Old Dog, New Tricks
28. Hydra-Jacked
29. The Case of the Phantom Fowl
30. Geo Raider
31. Gideon
32. Secret of the Blue Knight
33. Fairy Tale
34. Shape Shifter
35. Firebird
36. Space Academy
37. Atlas Strikes Back
38. Battle-Bot
39. Time Hunters
40. Escape From Volcano Island
41. Avalanche!
42. Battle of Steel Island
43. Undercover
44. Into The Dragon's Lair
45. Night Before the Revolution
46. Robotonia
47. Showdown in Robotonia
48. Journey to Tomorrow
49. Astro Reborn
50. The Final Battle

Thank you for reading my review and please sign the above petition if you also want to have a English/Japanese uncut DVD set for this series released!