So which version do YOU like?
Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 7:29 am
This is probably going to be controversial, but of all the anime versions of Astro Boy - the 1960 version, the 1980 version, the 2003 version, and finally the feature film - I like the feature film the best. To me, Astro himself was never more appealing than he is in the film. His character design is wonderful - he looks very much like the Tezuka original, with a few noticeable changes - he's taller, he looks more boyish rather childlike, and he's missing a few eyelashes The animators made the spiked hair actually work - they're smaller and more subtle than in Tezuka's drawings, but there's enough there to give Astro his signature "look". And Freddie Highmore's voice work can't be praised enough - his voice is just husky enough, yet also guileless enough, to give Astro real personality, one with depth, humor, emotion and angst. I've always been sympathetic to Astro, but never did he break my heart like he did in that movie!
I also like Cora and her gang a LOT. I like them better than Astro's friends in the original manga, who didn't really have much personality and seem terribly dated now. One of the reasons I'd love to see a sequel or possibly even a TV series is because I'd like to see more of Cora and learn more about her and her friends - especially to see how she and the others are coping with the surface-dwellers and Metro City denizens being re-united. I imagine there's a lot of cleaning up to do.
So there's my choice. Your mileage, of course, may vary...
I also like Cora and her gang a LOT. I like them better than Astro's friends in the original manga, who didn't really have much personality and seem terribly dated now. One of the reasons I'd love to see a sequel or possibly even a TV series is because I'd like to see more of Cora and learn more about her and her friends - especially to see how she and the others are coping with the surface-dwellers and Metro City denizens being re-united. I imagine there's a lot of cleaning up to do.
So there's my choice. Your mileage, of course, may vary...