What's the best Astro Boy series?

[amado]

Hi, fans of Astro Boy!

I've never watched Astro Boy TV series before, but I'm planning to watch it!

The problem's that I'm confused among the 1960s series, the 1980s series and the 2003 series. Which one of the three do you suggest for me to watch? And where can I buy the original DVDs with Japanese audio and English subtitles?

Thanks a lot in advance!

[Fuzzy Pickles!]

Unfortunately, the 1963 and 2003 version only have the dub released outside of Japan, neither of whom were good (1963 was understandable, 2003 was not).

So if you want to watch the entire series of both series, you're going to have to pick up 日本語 (Japanese) and pay $600+ to get the 2003 version (and around $300-400 for the 1963 series).

There is a Korean version of the 2003 version, but it only goes up to 25 episode and is missing Eternal Boy. Qualities also isn't as good as that of the Japanese version.

[Shiyonasan]

If you want to watch the 1980 anime in Japanese with English subtitles, you can watch the entire anime legally, free, and online here:

http://www.viki.com/channels/5840-astro-boy

If I'm not mistaken, the sets that astarisborn94 mentioned are in Japanese, but don't have English subtitles. Unfortunately, none of the three anime have a release with the entire series in Japanese with English subtitles.

[F-Man]

I think the 1980's series is the best. There's an out-of-print boxset, but you could also wait for its re-release via the upcoming website Anime Sols, and next time it probably won't be missing an episode's worth of content like the previous US boxset.

[ASTROBUDDY]

Without being biased, (for ex. someone said the 1980 series is the best. I strongly disagree!) each version has its merits. I would start with the original 1960s version and then watch the other two in chronological order.
I don't know what this prejudice against the versions in English is or against dubbed versions vs. subtitled. I feel it is really personal preference. Remembering that "Astro Boy" is initially a children's program and should not be taken too seriously, I believe the 1960s original is the closest to Dr. Tezuka's ideals as it is the only version he worked on closely.
He was also very pleased with the American dub as he understood some of the necessary changes. It is true that some of the changes he did not like, but those specific changes had to do more with cultural differences and not with destroying his ideals.
Dr. Tezuka was personally dissatisfied with the 1980s version, (the original Japanese version, as he had nothing to do with the English dubbed versions) and he had absolutely nothing to do with the 2003-4 version as he had been dead for 14 years before its debut.
Of course if you really want to see Tezuka at his best and purest get one of the volumes of the manga. They have been translated into several different languages and you should be able to find them in a language you are capable of reading and understanding.

I

[AprilSeven]

I say DITTO to Astrobuddy's comment (I had attempted to post almost the same thing earlier . . . but I was at work and pushed the wrong button!!)

[Fuzzy Pickles!]

Without being biased, (for ex. someone said the 1980 series is the best. I strongly disagree!) each version has its merits. I would start with the original 1960s version and then watch the other two in chronological order.
I don't know what this prejudice against the versions in English is or against dubbed versions vs. subtitled. I feel it is really personal preference. Remembering that "Astro Boy" is initially a children's program and should not be taken too seriously, I believe the 1960s original is the closest to Dr. Tezuka's ideals as it is the only version he worked on closely.
He was also very pleased with the American dub as he understood some of the necessary changes. It is true that some of the changes he did not like, but those specific changes had to do more with cultural differences and not with destroying his ideals.
Dr. Tezuka was personally dissatisfied with the 1980s version, (the original Japanese version, as he had nothing to do with the English dubbed versions) and he had absolutely nothing to do with the 2003-4 version as he had been dead for 14 years before its debut.
Of course if you really want to see Tezuka at his best and purest get one of the volumes of the manga. They have been translated into several different languages and you should be able to find them in a language you are capable of reading and understanding.

I

Dubs aren't necessarily a bad thing, that I will agree on. After all, some anime shows can be made even better with a great dub. And in 1963 series case, even if the dub was subpar, the significant changes were necessary to bring the show to America (although I do feel as the 89 "lost" episodes should have been dubbed).

The problem comes is when a dub is mishandled to the point where it ruins it for everyone. Sailor Moon is a prime example since the subpar dubbing got the anime taken away from the rest of the world (except Japan) due to Naoko Takeuchi despising the English dub. Its also hurts when a show receives a horrible dub that bombs, especially when we don't even get the Japanese version with English subtitles. This exact thing happened with the 2003 show outside of Japan, which is why I will never watch the show dubbed. Sad part is that it wasn't the only damage the 2003 dub did.

[Shiyonasan]

Agreed with astarisborn94. Their isn't anything inherently bad with dubs. It's just that many companies 10 years ago and before who were responsible for dubbing anime mishandled the dubs of many anime, as astarisborn94 said. Only within the last 5 or so years has dubbing gotten pretty good, especially within FUNimation. One good example is the transition from the FUNimation '90s dub of Dragon Ball Z to the dub of Dragon Ball Kai. Although the dub of Kai is not perfect, it's a lot better than the '90s dub of Dragon Ball Z.

I'm not familiar with the dubs of the '60s or '80s anime of Astro Boy, so I can't give an opinion on those. However, I can honestly say that the dub of the '03 anime turned me away from watching the show after only a couple episodes. In my opinion, the dub of that show was very mishandled from the voices to the music that was used.

As you said, AstroBuddy, it's a personal preference. I'm more familiar with the Japanese version of the show. I'm willing to watch the English dub of Astro Boy for the '60s or '80s anime. If I were given the choice though, I choose the Japanese version.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

I think each of the series has their strong and weak points. The 1963 series ran the longest and was the closest to Tezuka's original manga. But that isn't always a good thing, Tezuka rewrote the manga many times as the stories were re-released in newer collections. The animation in the 1980 series is better done as it was in color and used more 'frames per second', the original was almost as limited animation as the old "Crusader Rabbit" cartoon. The 2003 series has an interesting story arc (it certainly shows Dr. Tenma in a new light!). You'll either like it, or hate it depending on how open a mind you have and how devoted you are to the original manga.

[ASTROBUDDY]

Hi, fans of Astro Boy!

I've never watched Astro Boy TV series before, but I'm planning to watch it!

The problem's that I'm confused among the 1960s series, the 1980s series and the 2003 series. Which one of the three do you suggest for me to watch? And where can I buy the original DVDs with Japanese audio and English subtitles?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Looking at your requests, unfortunately an English subtitled DVD set of the original 1960s series as far as I know does not exist. So I would start with one of the smaller American DVD sets that were issued to coincide with the release of the "Astro Boy' animated feature film from 2009. Unless of course you understand Japanese. Then by all means buy the Japanese DVD set even though it is expensive and may or may not be compatible with the DVD players available to you.

But here is a suggestion if YouTube is available to you just go on the site and search for "Astro Boy" and sample different episodes from the different series. That way you could make up your own mind as to which you like best.

Again I suggest viewing them in chronological order. This way you can get a feeling of how Astro Boy has changed through the years.

Hope this helps you. "Catch the Future!"

I