Astroboy 80s Press Releases

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Dizrythmia
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Astroboy 80s Press Releases

Postby Dizrythmia » 3 years ago

Hello all,

First time poster, long time lurker.

I had been ordering bits and pieces from Japan Yahoo Auctions, when I came across 2 Astroboy press releases from the early 80s, along with the second Blu-ray set (I'm still trying to track down the first one).

One press release appears to have come out before the show was released though it has no date. This includes characters that were never in the series, such as Cobalt, who is drawn in the 80s Astroboy style.

The other press release is dated 1982, and it is clearly designed to sell the show to international TV networks. Interestingly it states that 51 episodes were available. I guess this calls into question when exactly the decision was made to remove the Atlas back story, and who made the call. Both press releases are from Nippon TV.

For some reason I am unable to upload a picture of these press releases. I just get a white square with a line in it. I have uploaded them to my Twitter account, which can be found here: https://twitter.com/Dizrythmia/status/1334645439124008962

I'm not sure if anyone has seen these before, or if anyone else has copies of them. When COVID restrictions are lifted and I can get back to work I will be able to scan these if anyone is interested. I might also make a video that goes through them.

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Shiyonasan
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Re: Astroboy 80s Press Releases

Postby Shiyonasan » 3 years ago

Hi Dizrythmia! Although I'm not really active there anymore, I recognize your name from the Kanzenshuu forums (formerly Daizenshuu EX).

Those are cool! Always neat to see old memorabilia like that.

There are two ways to upload images here: in "Full Editor & Preview" just under the post box, there should be an option to upload your images through the Attachments section. Otherwise, you can bring up the image itself from Twitter and put image tags around the link.

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Dizrythmia
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Re: Astroboy 80s Press Releases

Postby Dizrythmia » 3 years ago

Yep, same Dizrythmia from Kanzenshuu. I haven't lurked on there for a long time... I was put off that site after being accused of lying about the Buu saga of Kai being roughly 60 episodes (which ended up being true). It was not officially announced at this time, though I had heard it from Chris Sabat. I only intended on taking a break, but I guess I just never went back. We all grow up, and I was probably being a bit too thin skinned at the time. Man... that was about 7 years ago!

Thanks for the tips.

As well as Cobalt, there is also an 80s design for The Blue Knight, another character who never showed up in the series. I thought the Atlas design was a little different, though he is just missing his cape. Daddy Walrus is also referred to as Daddy Mustache, and the design for Skunk is very different to what ended up being animated.

It's odd... both press releases use the same graphics of Astro himself and both are written in English. As you can see from the Twitter image, both say "Astroboy", not "Atom". The addition of characters that never appeared makes me believe that one of them was released before the show entered production. The other clearly says "51 episodes", which makes me think this one was released post dubbing. If that's the case, why does the first one exist? Maybe they were trying to gauge interest from international distributors. Maybe contacting the Tezuka Productions will yield some answers...
Last edited by Dizrythmia on Sat Dec 05, 2020 2:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Shiyonasan
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Re: Astroboy 80s Press Releases

Postby Shiyonasan » 3 years ago

Dizrythmia wrote:Yep, same Dizrythmia from Kanzenshuu. I haven't lurked on there for a long time... I was put off that site after being accused of lying about the Buu saga of Kai being roughly 60 episodes (which ended up being true). It was not officially announced at this time, though I had heard it from Chris Sabat. I only intended on taking a break, but I guess I just never went back. We all grow up, and I was probably being a bit too thin skinned at the time. Man... that was about 7 years ago!


That's unfortunate to read. I know some people on that site are a bit abrasive.

I stopped going to the site regularly once the Dragon Ball Super anime ended. For a long time I'd felt like a lot of discussions went over my head because a lot of people were so knowledgeable about Dragon Ball. I still think the site is a great resource for learning about the Japanese side of Dragon Ball though.

As well as Cobalt, there is also an 80s design for The Blue Knight, another character who never showed up in the series. I thought the Atlas design was a little different, though he is just missing his cape. Daddy Walrus is also referred to as Daddy Mustachio, and the design for Skunk is very different to what ended up being animated.


Oh, Cobalt and Blue Knight were planned for the 1980 series? I'd like to see those designs if you wouldn't mind.

It's odd... both press releases use the same graphics of Astro himself and both are written in English. As you can see from the Twitter image, both say "Astroboy", not "Atom". The addition of characters that never appeared makes me believe that one of them was released before the show entered production. The other clearly says "51 episodes", which makes me think this one was released post dubbing. If that's the case, why does the first one exist? Maybe they were trying to gauge interest from international distributors. Maybe contacting the Tezuka Productions will yield some answers...


You're probably right: they were probably trying to gauge interest from international distributors with the first press release, even if they didn't have all the details yet on what the 1980 series would contain. That would be my guess having followed the development of one of the newer Astro Boy shows (Go Astro Boy Go).

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Dizrythmia
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Re: Astroboy 80s Press Releases

Postby Dizrythmia » 3 years ago

OK, so I've shown these to someone who works at Anime News Network who confirmed that they are not press releases. These are sales sheets that were available at trade shows. Regardless, it doesn't take away from the fact that these are fascinating!

Apparently they are usually made prior to production starting in an attempt to get as many licensees on board as possible. That way you know you have some money coming in from the production.

I've taken some more pics and uploaded them to Twitter. I'll put the links below:

Image

Image

These are the covers, obviously.

Here are some of the inner pages:

Image

Image

Image

Image

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Shiyonasan
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Re: Astroboy 80s Press Releases

Postby Shiyonasan » 3 years ago

Man, that is fascinating. To think that Cobalt and Blue Knight could have been in the 1980 series.

I'm impressed at how good of condition those sales sheets are.

Thank you so much for sharing these!

EDIT: I just noticed on the fourth picture you shared that the copyright on the Atom art on the left page is from 1982, so this appears to be after the 1980 series aired in Japan, but prior to production on the overseas versions of the 1980 series, specifically the English version.

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Re: Astroboy 80s Press Releases

Postby Tetsuwan Penguin » 3 years ago

But they show the Japanese names (translated to English). Uran was called Zoran in the US dub, and Daddy Mustache had a different name too. How I wish Cobalt had been in the 1980 series, and that they might have added Chi-tan too!
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Dizrythmia
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Re: Astroboy 80s Press Releases

Postby Dizrythmia » 3 years ago

Tetsuwan Penguin wrote:But they show the Japanese names (translated to English). Uran was called Zoran in the US dub, and Daddy Mustache had a different name too. How I wish Cobalt had been in the 1980 series, and that they might have added Chi-tan too!

Are you sure you're not referring to the Canadian dub? Uran was called Uran in the US dub, though, from what I understand, the Canadian dub had more changes. Daddy Mustache was Daddy Walrus.

I haven't seen the 60s series, where he did appear, but I have read some of the manga. From what I've seen Cobalt doesn't do a great deal, though that might change in later issues.

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Re: Astroboy 80s Press Releases

Postby Tetsuwan Penguin » 3 years ago

Well the DVD I bought had Daddy Walrus and Zoran for names. Was the Canadian dub sold in both markets? Also when Hulu was streaming both the 1980 and 2003 series (over ten years ago now), those were the names in use.
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Dizrythmia
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Re: Astroboy 80s Press Releases

Postby Dizrythmia » 3 years ago

Tetsuwan Penguin wrote:Well the DVD I bought had Daddy Walrus and Zoran for names. Was the Canadian dub sold in both markets? Also when Hulu was streaming both the 1980 and 2003 series (over ten years ago now), those were the names in use.

I can't answer that as I live in Australia. I've been watching the show since the mid 80s, and whether I saw it on Australian ABC, Foxtel, The Madman DVDs or the Japanese Blurays it's always been Uran. I know there is another version, but I do not know where it aired.


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