Tetsuwan Atom
As content owners in Japan start digging further and further back into their catalogs to try and resell shows they haven’t dealt with much for years, we get some interesting things resurfacing. The latest are two planned Blu-ray box set releases for the 1980 series Tetsuwan Atom. The show ran for 52 episodes between 1980 and 1981 and is getting two sets split evenly with the first on December 11th, 2013 and the second March 12th, 2014. They’re both priced at 21,000yen each. The release is being produced with a new telecine from the original film with Sony PCL working to bring out the best quality for it.
If you’ve never seen the series that was directed by Noburo Ishiguri, the first few episodes of the series are available via Tezuka on their YouTube page complete with subtitles as well.
Plot concept: Creating a robotic boy in the image of his recently deceased son Tobio, Professor Tenma thought nothing could go wrong now that his beloved child had been “reborn”… that is, until he comes to realize that this invention could never replace his son. Before long, however, the robot is kidnapped and spirited away to a robot circus in America, where he is soon rescued by Dr. Ochanomizu, and taken into his care. Tobio is given the new name Tetsuwan Atom, and transforms into Japan’s crime-fighting hero, although his anti-violent pacifist views and overall childlike naivety tend to clash with his battles often.
[Source: Tetsuwan Atom (1980) BD-Boxes]