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I've been watching some of the 2003 episodes on an European streaming site. The first 24 episodes have the familiar beginning, and ending with the 'boy's heart' for the ending song.

The first 24 episodes had decent English subs, the remaining ones are awful (as I've heard before). What I didn't realize was that the beginning and ending music and videos were totally different.

The beginning here is a different video mix and a sort of 'rap' music mix. The ending is a 'disco' version of the "Tetsuwan Atomu" theme with a slide show of old manga covers. Some of these were the ones that Tezuka did with that 'updated' version of Atom who wore a cape, had the dial on his head, and even had those 'nipples' on his chest! (Episodes 25,26,27 anyway. Seems #50 has reverted back to the original. Maybe the bootleg dubs altered things?)

OK, now here is where I think the ELV version may have been better!

Yes, the first 24 gets their subs from an official Korean release. Unfortunately, the Korean release didn't get to finish the series so the remaining come from a Hong Kong bootleg. As far as bootleg subtitling goes, I've seen worse. I can at least follow it most of the time. and in my humble opinion, I'll still take it over; "Let's Rocket!"

I don't think the bootleg altered anything. I think the Japanese version thought it would be cool to go back to the first opening as kind of a throw back.