Atom: The Beginning (Manga Discussion)

[Shiyonasan]

You'll need an e-reader of some sort to see the free issue. I'm about to try downloading one of their supported readers, the LINE Manga phone app. I also suspect that this free album is also just the first one they ever published.

...So far it's looking like I can't do it with a Canadian iTunes account. I'll post again if I find a solution.

Darn. I was hoping I could view it on my laptop (I don't own an e-reader).

I appreciate you at least trying to download the free issue. I'm not sure if the issue with Atom The Beginning will be free though. It also doesn't come out until December 1, so we'll have to see how that issue gets released.

Even if we aren't able to see this manga come December 1, I have a feeling that, in the future, someone like Dark Horse might pick up this manga and translate it into English.

[F-Man]

Even if we aren't able to see this manga come December 1, I have a feeling that, in the future, someone like Dark Horse might pick up this manga and translate it into English.

Well, strictly-English-speaking folk are still waiting for Akira Himekawa's Blue Knight...

[Shiyonasan]

An official site for Atom The Beginning was just put up on the Monthly Hero's website. Included are the story, profiles of the people who are working on the manga, and part of a three-way interview with those people. The entirety of the three-way interview will be available in the January issue of the Monthly Hero's magazine.

[url]http://www.heros-web.com/works/atom.html[/url]

Again, someone with superior Japanese fluency can certainly understand this better than I can, but from I can gather of the story, it sounds like a catastrophe of some sort has hit Japan, Japan now relies on advanced robotics to rebuild Japan, and five years have passed since that catastrophe. The bulk, or entirety, of the robotic construction happens in a university where a young Tenma and Ochanomizu are.

So, it was pretty obvious before, but now it's confirmed that those two young fellows who look like Tenma and Ochanomizu are in fact them. Also, I think the robot's name is A106.

Oh, and here's an image from the site where you can now see the official logo for the manga. I've added it to the first page of this thread:

click for spoiler

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Also, I see that the Monthly Hero's site has short previews for each of their manga. I assume we'll see one for Atom The Beginning in the coming days. I'll post that here if or when it's made available.

[Fauna]

Here, I'll try translating:

Witness the beginning of a legend...
A story leading up to the birth of Osamu Tezuka 's eternal hero "Astro Boy", by Masami Yuuki × Kasahara Tetsuro, two talents draw a new interpretation!!!

In the near future, a catastrophe of unknown cause hit Japan. It exhaustively destroyed Japanese land, so the technological innovation of rapidly advanced robots has become the solution to boost reconstruction.

And then, five years later. At a leading university for robot production, there was the appearance of a young Dr. Tenma and Dr. Ochanomizu.......

--------------------------

I'm really excited to see Masami Yuuki on this! He's the creator of Kyuukyouku Choujin R, Patlabor, and Assemble Insert, some of my all-time favorites.

Also, the prospect of seeing Dr. Tenma close to my age is pretty [LOUD SKA PLAYS AS I KNOCK OVER MY DESK]

[CommanderEVE]

I suppose that robot; A106 plays a rather large role in the manga in order for it to be in the front cover. I have a feeling it might have been built by one of the main characters, and since this is to do with the start, that robot might be one of the first advanced robots. I also think there are going to be new characters, or characters that resemble side-characters in the post 'Birth of Astro' material. Although, this is all my speculation.

I like how this manga looks like it is going to have a dark tone to it, like the Pluto series. I hope that someone will translate it, as my Japanese is barely non-existent.

[Shiyonasan]

Monthly Hero's magazine just released free previews of each of the manga from the January 2015 issue on their site, but Atom The Beginning is not among them. I assume that if a free preview is released, it won't happen until tomorrow or Monday when the January 2015 issue itself is released in Japan.

Also, I found an article online with a couple new images with A106 in them. I assume the first one is the cover of the January 2015 issue; it has a new character we haven't seen yet:

[url]http://animeanime.jp/article/2014/11/28/21017.html[/url]

click for spoiler

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If you ever wondered what the Japanese cover of Astro Boy Volume 1 looks like:

click for spoiler

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[Earthshine]

Thanks for sharing.

click for spoilerThough I have to comment on "Atom's" design... That green heart-shaped tramp stamp... I can't stop looking at it and laughing

[Fauna]

One thing I've been wondering about this manga is of how old they plan to make Tenma and Ochanomizu. Ochanomizu is approx. 60 years old in canon, and Tenma is approx. 45 years old, and here they are looking the same age in university.

I can liken this to one volume in the Spirou & Fantasio series, Aux Sources du Z / The Origins of Z. The series' two scientists, Count Champignac and Zorglub, are somehow studying at the same time around the same age, when in every other volume before, it's been said they're respectively 50~60 and 38. Of course, Atom The Beginning has an immediate advantage over Aux Sources du Z because it's not being made by Morvan and Munuera.

Another thing I'm wondering about is the skinny Ochanomizu, which contrasts even the fat young Ochanomizu in Tezuka's timeskip manga. Did he gain permanent weight from the stress eating during finals?

[Shiyonasan]

The free preview is now available! It's only 11 pages long, but it's something! It mainly centers around Ochanomizu. Click this link to go read it:

[url]http://www.heros-web.com/works/viewer/atom_1501/index.html[/url]

Also, the January 2015 issue is available now to the Japanese public.

EDIT: Here's the cover to the special appendix which talks about the writing of Atom The Beginning, probably with the 3-way interview with Kasahara, Yuuki, and M. Tezuka. [url=https://twitter.com/heros_1101/status/538896027089006592]It was originally posted here.[/url]

click for spoiler

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[Fauna]

I would attempt to translate the whole pages, but that'd probably jeopardize any chances of an official English localization. I'll do my best to summarize each page of the preview...

Page 1: Hints at the sudden, unexplained disaster that happened in Japanese cities.

Page 4: Describes how robots became more and more commonplace, working to help rebuild the area.

Page 5: A totally new girl, waiting to cross the street. A keychain on her bag says " RAN ". Is her name Ran? Then again, that heart does look a lot like a U...

Page 6-7: We cut to the robotics university campus, where freshman Ochanomizu is running back to his dorm with a sandwich and some groceries. He sees some girls in the same class as him,

Page 8-9: The girls don't even notice him, and he tries to play it off, but he's still really embarrassed. Ochanomizu accidentally runs into a kid in a wheelchair, Moriya Tsutsumi. Ochanomizu is horrified and tries to help Moriya back into his chair. The two start talking, and it's mentioned that Moriya has been declared one of Japan's most promising young geniuses.

Page 10-11: Moriya snaps his fingers, and his own wheelchair pulls him back up into it. The two go separate ways, with Ochanomizu super flattered that Moriya talked to him. Moriya turns to see a girl approach him, calling him "big brother", and he calls her Motoko. This looks like the same ginger girl we've been seeing in promo material.


I am so excited for this! I've got to find and order the whole issue somehow!