Mighty Atom (TV series)

Mighty Atom (鉄腕アトム, Tetsuwan Atomu) is a Japanese black-and-white Tokusatsu live-action TV drama that aired on MBS from March 7, 1959 to May 28, 1960 for a total of 65 episodes split into five parts

Mighty Atom
Based onAstro Boy
Written byShigetoshi Iwata
Haruo Koorogi
Isoya Shibuya
Ichirō Miyagawa
Noboru Sakamaki
Hiroyuki Shinami
Directed byHiroshi Yoshikawa
Seika Shiba
Hideo Ōhashi
Toshio Naniwa
Starring
(see list)
  • Masato Segawa
    Kazumasa Negishi
    Mitsuo Nakagawa
    Gorō Morino
    Hiroko Negishi
    Hiroshi Miki
    Rashōmon Tsunagorō
    Yonehiko Kitagawa
    Akio Tanaka
    Kazuya Tominaga
    Kinichi Shimizu
    Harue Wakahara
    Hiroshi Kiyama
    Chizō Kurata
    Ryūsuke Nakae
    Kiyoshi Itō
    Kiyoshi Kobayashi
    Masao Takahashi
    Takako Irie
    Nobuo Maki
    Nikki Kubota
    Kōtarō Mori
Opening themeMighty Atom Theme
Ending themeMighty Atom Theme
ComposersHirooki Ogawa
Katsuyuki Masuda
Country of originJapan
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes65
Production
ProducersKeiji Matsuzaki
Tsuyoshi Yoneyama
CinematographyYutaka Yoshida
Hiroshi Segawa
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time25 minutes
Production companyMatsuzaki Production
Release
Original networkMBS
Original releaseMarch 7, 1959 (1959-03-07) 
May 28, 1960 (1960-05-28)
Related
Mighty Atom

Production

Tetsuwan Atomu was produced for Mainichi Broadcasting System, sponsored by Lotte Corporation, by Matsuzaki Production, founded by Keiji Matsuzaki, who worked with Eiji Tsuburaya as a special effects director before the war and was a Toho producer.

It is the first adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's Mighty Atom (a.k.a. Astro Boy) manga comic book series and predates the 1963 Mighty Atom (Astro Boy) anime.[1]

Plot

The series condenses the original's science fiction elements, more in line with the detective stories of the time, with a focus on fighting gangsters.[2] In the original, the story takes place in the 21st century, but according to Atom's dialogue in the second part finale, the series takes place in 1959, the same year as the broadcast.

Reception

Although the series was popular for a year, Tezuka became dissatisfied with the adaptation, saying that it was too far removed from the image of the original work, and this became the driving force behind the production of the first Astro Boy anime a few years later. In addition, when Sōji Ushio approached Tezuka in 1965 to make a live-action Ambassador Magma, Tezuka initially suggested that he make a live-action Big X for this reason.[3]

However, P Productions' live-action Magma received high praise from Tezuka, and the bad impression of live-action adaptations was dispelled, and Tezuka himself considered producing a live-action version of Mighty Atom in 1972.

References

  1. "Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy Live-Action Drama Gets DVD Box". Anime News Network. 2009-08-30. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
  2. Zen Kaijū Kaijin. Vol. 1. Keibunsha. 1990-03-24. pp. 44–45. ISBN 4-7669-0962-3. C0676.
  3. Ambassador Magma Perfect Book (Byakuya-Shobo CO.,LTD.)


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