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Jeffbert did it for the 1963 series.

Astro Forever did it for the 1980 series.

Strange Wings did it for the 2003 series.

Since it's now available on DVD, how about I do it for the 2014 series?

I'd like to keep this thread separate from the general Little Astro Boy 2014 discussion thread due to the large amount of images it will contain.

Also, I'll be covering the English version of the series, since that version came before the Japanese version.

Without further ado, let's begin.

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Index

• Episode 1: Astro Becomes a Racer!
• Episode 2: Recycling Gone Wild
• Episode 3: Astro Goes to Space
• Episode 4: We Love Cleaning
• Episode 5: Fly! Mitchy
• Episode 6: Heart on Fire
• Episode 7: I'm Moler, You See?
• Episode 8: Astro and the 5 Adventures

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Episode 1
Astro Becomes a Racer!


Every episode of 2014 Little Astro Boy starts with a kid-friendly-sounding rap, rapped by Ken (the blue-haired boy with the headband) and Astro, while everyone does some dance moves. This episode has the longest rap, since it introduces most of the characters in this show.

The rap goes as follows:

Ken:
"Having fun, we're the best of friends!"

Ken and Astro:
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!"

Ken:
"Friendly, smartly, calmly and cool! Everyone get down for the Robo Town kids!"

Astro:
"I'm a robot, Astro's my name! I'll roll, I'll spin, I'll show you my game!"

Ken:
"Not so easy! I've got the cool steps!"

Mitchy:
"Pikko and Mitchy, we've got the hot steps!"

Pikko:
"Mitchy and I have the coolest of all steps!"

Reggie:
"I'll sing la-la-lee when you bring me your things, I'll invent anything, Reggie's the name!"

Tac:
"(Can't understand what he's saying here.) Bring your sweets to me! I'm all about snacks! That's me, Tac!"

The following images in this post accompany the rap song:





^ Here, you can see pretty much the main cast of the show.

















^ Our first shot of Robo Town, the setting for 2014 Little Astro Boy. Definitely a departure from Tokyo in the older Astro Boy anime series and Metro City in the 2003 series. The bright, vibrant colors are a staple of the show.



^ This pink-and-purple haired young lass is Mitchy. She'll get her own episode later on in the series.



^ The little egg-shaped character is Pikko. She's sort of a Jiminy Cricket to Astro and the other characters, often trying to explain something or make sense of something.



^ This is Reggie, who is a handy-dandy robot who can invent and build things.





^ As you can see here, he can be a bit clumsy at times.





^ This stout young fellow here is Tac. He LOVES to eat snacks.

^ We are introduced to Speed Joe, who is the favorite to win this weekend's race in Robo Town. The winner of the race wins a year's worth of snacks.





^ Of course, this entices Tac to join.



^ Tac: "A year's worth of snacks? I'll take part in that race!"



^ Here we see the first instance of Astro touching other robots. It becomes a running gag.





^ Speed Joe: "You're only a kid! You can't race!"

Astro also touches Speed Joe on the shoulder here, much to Joe's chagrin.





^ Tac: "I can do it if given the chance! I wanna eat one-year-worth of snacks!"



^ Pikko: "If only we had a driver..."



^ Reggie does not want to be involved, since driving is not his specialty.



^ Astro asks Mitchy if drivers are cool.



^ Mitchy: "They're totally cool!"



^ Mitchy: "Everyone adores them!"



^ Mitchy: "Besides, if they win, they become known as the world's fastest hero!"

Presumably, Astro envisions himself as the champion, much like a young kid would.





^ Astro: "Astro's gonna become a cooool driver!"





^ Tac transforms into a car. Many robots in this series transform into different shapes, reminiscent of the Transformers series.

Tac also says "swirly, swirly, swirly, swirly" while he transforms...

...yeah, I don't get it either.

The style is so cute! I love it! But I don't get them rapping? It doesn't seem to fit 6 year olds. Eh, I haven't actually watched this anyway. Don't knock it till you've tried it, I guess. And whenever I think of rapping in a show, it reminds me of the Rap Land episode in The Super Mario Bros. Show!

"Umbral-Coltwings" wrote:The style is so cute! I love it! But I don't get them rapping? It doesn't seem to fit 6 year olds. Eh, I haven't actually watched this anyway. Don't knock it till you've tried it, I guess. And whenever I think of rapping in a show, it reminds me of the Rap Land episode in The Super Mario Bros. Show!

It's a very cutesy-style rap, like something you'd hear on a CD geared towards little kids. It's something you'd have to hear from the show itself in order to understand. The The Super Mario Bros. Show! comparison is actually a good one; the Little Astro Boy raps are sort of similar to that.

^ Tac finishes his transformation into a non-anthropomorphic car.



^ Time to begin Astro's driver training.





^ Tac: "Come on, Astro. You're sitting around the most ticklish..."



^ Thought I'd include this screenshot for Ken's brief amusing expression change.



^ Astro: "Wow, look at all these buttons!"





^ Turns out that button is the eject button.



^ This is the first of many scene transitions in this series where animals or animal-like designs slide across the screen briefly. Some of them include minor Tezuka characters as well, which I'll cover when we get to them.





^ Pikko tells Astro that he's too heavy to enter the race and that he needs to diet. She may be indirectly telling Tac this as well, though it's unclear if that's the case.



^ Astro: "Whadoo I need to do to diet?"

^ Pikko: "Like, carry heavy things!"

There you have it folks. All you need to do to diet is carry heavy things.



^ Astro picks up Tac and spins him around. After all, he's a heavy thing.



^ Pikko: "That's not what I meant!"



^ We now transition to the residence of Hamegg. Notice that his residence is shaped like a pig. Think about it: Hamegg.

Also, you've got to love the cloud covering just his residence. It's probably one of the few dark places in Robo Town.



^ Hamegg is the main antagonist of this series. Of course, being the antagonist, he has to play an organ in minor key.

He wants to join this weekend's race for the year's worth of snacks.

^ Hamegg: "It's calling me! The world's calling me!"



^ These two fellows are Hamegg's cronies: Gora and Dr. Flau.

^ Gora: "No one's calling you..."

^ Dr. Flau: "I'm happy with my chocolate chip cookies..."

As you'll see in this series, Flau loves his chocolate chip cookies.



^ Hamegg takes a chocolate chip cookie from Flau's bag and eats it.

Also, take note of Hamegg's lizard pet.



^ Dr. Flau: "So you want me to transform Gora again, right?"

That transformation will be to turn Gora into a racing car for the racing tournament.



^ Just keep in mind one thing everyone: don't take Flau's cookies.

^ Hamegg: "Stingy..."

^ We now transition to Reggie's place. Gotta love the Volkswagen Beetle house.



^ Reggie: "If you want an invention..."



^ Reggie: "...leave...it...to...me..."

(Every time he says one of those words, he puts a hand up in the position you see in the screenshot.)



^ Reggie: "...Reggie!"







^ Reggie: "Flat Machine is complete!"



^ Tac and Astro: "That's fast!"



^ Reggie: "Make them slimmer!"





^ Reggie: "There, they're totally slimmed down."

This is the first instance of the background music slowing down in a comedic fashion, which is another running gag in Little Astro Boy 2014.





^ Now begins a training montage for Astro and Tac to prepare for the upcoming race. Pikko provides a somewhat-silly motivation monologue while this goes on.

^ Pikko: "Climb up, climb down, climb up, climb down, climb up, get dizzy!"







^ Pikko: "Train in the morning...



^ ...train at night, train in the morning, train at night!"



^ Pikko: "You are now more than ready for race day!"



^



^ We're now ready for the 21st Robo Town race. Presumably, each race is held annually.



^ This is Kinako and Paul, our color commentators for the race. Many of you will know Paul as Tamao from the original Astro Boy manga.



^ Here's the path the racers will take.



^ And here's our audience.



^ Two of these audience members are similar-looking to characters that will show up later in the series.

Now for a look at our racers from around the world:











^ Tac and Astro celebrate prematurely.

^ Pikko: "What are you two doing?! The race is about to begin!"



^ Speed Joe: "Ha! I see you're here!"

^ Speed Joe: "Again, please stop touching me!"



^ Hamegg: "Hey Astro, I'm going to win this race! You guys aren't going to get a single lollipop!"



^ Tac: (talking to Astro) "You think I can win?"







^ Second transition with animals in it.



^ A 5-second countdown appears on screen, followed by Astro, then Speed Joe, then Hamegg, going along with the countdown.



^ Kinako has to wake up the "flagman".







^ A quick look at some of the other racers. Astro, Speed Joe, and Hamegg are right behind them.



^ Astro tells Speed Joe that he wonders why Joe isn't leading the race.



^ Speed Joe: "I'm letting the slow drivers get a head start to make the race more exciting."



^ Just then, Hamegg speeds by Speed Joe and Astro.





^ Hamegg: "Super Intelligent Plan, Part 1..."



^ Hamegg says his own name as he tosses the thumbtacks. Another similar quirk of his will be covered later in the episode.





^ Astro: "Astro avoiding attacks!"

As a man who appreciates puns, I very much so appreciate this pun.

^ Speed Joe hits a tack, being slightly behind Astro and Tac. Kinako informs us that he's got a flat tire.



^ Astro: ♫ "Hamegg...ya dropped some tacks..." ♫

(The two left-most images on the wall here are what the next two episodes will be about.)



^ Astro: "...look!"



^ Poor Gora gets nailed on the bum.









^ Astro: "What's wrong, Tac?"



^ Tac: "I'm hungry..."



^ Astro: "But we haven't raced for 3 minutes!"



^ Tac: (in whiny voice) "I need my snacks, Astro! I need! Neeeed!"



^ Astro "I'll go get you some food!"



^ Astro: "Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!"







^ Tac: "That was yuuuumy! I'm gonna pick up my speed now!"





^ Other drivers that have broken down.

^ Tac: "Only one that would do this..."



^ The first time we get to hear Hamegg's "Ham, ham, ham" laugh. Sometimes, he laughs "Hamuh, hamuh, hamuh" later on in the series.

^ Hamegg: "Super Intelligent Plan, Part 2: Oil Slip and Slide!"

^ Gora: "That's just cheating Gora."

(Many characters in Little Astro Boy 2014 have a "catchphrase" where they say a certain word either at the end of a sentence or by itself. Gora adds his own name to the end of his sentences.)





^ Hamegg: "Stop getting in the way!"





^ Astro: "Hey! He's trying to slim us down with his own flattening plan!"

^ Tac: "No, he's trying to throw us off the cliff!"



^ Astro: "What?!"



^ Astro and Tac speed around and past Hamegg and Gora.

^ Hamegg: "That's dangerous to suddenly move out of the way!"



^ Hamegg: "Super Intelligent Plan, Part 3..."









^ First instance of the "face pop-up". Not sure of the actual term for this.

^ Hamegg: "Ham?"









^ Kinako informs us that our racers are now heading into Moon Mountain.



^ Hamegg: "Super Intelligent Plan, Part 4..." *snaps fingers*