Wikipedia

Tetsujin 28-go

For the 2004 TV series, seeTetsujin 28-go (2004 TV series).

Tetsujin 28-gō(Japanese:Thiết nhân 28 hào,Hepburn:Tetsujin Nijūhachi-gō,lit. "Iron Man No. 28" ),known as simplyTetsujin 28in international releases, is a 1956mangawritten and illustrated byMitsuteru Yokoyama,who also createdGiant Robo.The series centers on the adventures of a young boy named Shotaro Kaneda, who controls a giant robot named Tetsujin 28, built by his late father.

Tetsujin 28
Thiết nhân 28 hào
(Tetsujin Nijūhachi-gō)
GenreMecha,dieselpunk
Manga
Written byMitsuteru Yokoyama
Published byKobunsha
MagazineShōnen
DemographicShōnen
Original runJuly 1956–May 1966
Volumes24
Television drama
Directed bySantaro Marune
StudioMatsuzaki Production
Original networkNTV
Original runFebruary 1, 1960–April 25, 1960
Episodes13
Anime television series
Tetsujin 28 FX
Directed byTetsuo Imazawa
Produced byJin Totani
Mikihiro Iwata
Toru Horikoshi
Yuko Sagawa
Written byFumihiko Shimo
Hideki Sonoda
Hiroshi Minamino
Isao Shizuya
Nobuaki Kishima
Ryoe Tsukimura
Satoru Nishizono
Toshimichi Okawa
Music byHiroaki Kondo
StudioTokyo Movie Shinsha
Licensed by
Original networkNNS(NTV)
Original runApril 5, 1992–March 30, 1993
Episodes47
Anime television series
Tetsujin 28 Gao!
Directed byTatsuji Yamazaki
Produced byShotaro Muroji
Daisuke Hara
Written byMitsutaka Hirota
Tatsuji Yamazaki
Music byFutoshi Sato
StudioEiken
Original networkFNS(Fuji TV)
Original runApril 6, 2013–March 26, 2016
Episodes139
Manga
Written byAtsushi Oba
Published byShueisha
MagazineSaikyō Jump
DemographicShōnen
Original runJune 2013–August 2014
Anime television series
Live-action film

The manga was later adapted into fouranimetelevision series, aJapanese television dramaand two films, onelive actionand one animated. Released in 1963, the series was among the first Japanese anime series to feature agiant robot.It was later released in the United States asGigantor.[1]A live-action movie with heavy use ofCGIwas produced in Japan in 2005.

The series is credited with featuring the first humanoid giant robot controlled externally via remote control by an operator.

Plot

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In the final phase of the Pacific War, the Imperial Japanese Army were developing a gigantic robot "Tetsujin 28-gō" as the secret weapon to fight against the Allies. However, Japan surrendered before they could complete its construction. After the war, Dr. Kaneda (the developer of Tetsujin 28-go) passed his robot to his son Shotaro Kaneda.

Characters

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  • Shotaro Kaneda(Kim điền chính thái lang,Kaneda Shōtarō):The ten-year-old[citation needed]son of Dr. Kaneda. He is Tetsujin's assigned controller, with a deep emotional attachment to the robot. Shotaro is a boy detective famous throughout Tokyo, and in the manga, 1963 series, and 2004 series, can be seen frequently driving a car.
  • Professor Shikishima(Phu đảo bác sĩ,Shikishima-hakase):Dr. Kaneda's assistant, later Shotaro's mentor and guardian. He is caring and very dedicated to his work, but usually looks serious and deadpan. He is married, and has a son named Tetsuo.
  • Inspector Ootsuka(Đại trủng thự trường,Ōtsuka-shochō):The Chief of Tokyo Police. He is warm in personality and very enthusiastic, which isn't to say he doesn't take his job seriously. He is very close to Shikishima and also takes care of Shotaro, even acting as a surrogate father in the 2004 series.
  • Kenji Murasame(Thôn vũ kiện thứ,Murasame Kenji):A former intelligence officer who begins to help Otsuka and Shotaro's work. His appearances in the 1960s and 2004 series are starkly different; he is immediately Shotaro's ally in the 1960s, but in the 2004 series, his brothers Ryuusaku and Tatsu are killed during Tetsujin's revival, causing him to seek revenge for several episodes. In the original manga, he and Ryuusaku are the leaders of a criminal organization.
  • Professor Shutain Franken(Bất loạn quyền tửu đa ẩm bác sĩ,Furanken Shutain-hakase):A reclusive mad scientist who created the robot Black Ox. He is calm and very knowledgeable, but unfortunately uses his talents to create dangerous robots. In the original version of the 1960s series, his name is Dr. Black Dog.
  • Superhuman Kelly(Siêu nhân gian ケリー,Chōningen Kerī):An American man who volunteered himself to be turned into an android as part of a wartime experiment. As a result, his body is entirely robotic with the exception of his brain, and is often covered in bandages. In the 2004 series, he steals his brother Johnson's identity in order to kill the doctor that made him this way.

Production

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Yokoyama'sTetsujin,much likeOsamu Tezuka'sAstro Boy,was influenced by the artist's wartime experiences. In Yokoyama's case, this was through thebombing of Kobe in World War II.[2]

As he had written inUshiomagazine in 1995, "When I was a fifth-grader, the war ended and I returned home fromTottori Prefecture,where I had been evacuated. The city ofKobehad been totally flattened, reduced to ashes. People said it was because of theB-29bombers...as a child, I was astonished by their terrifying, destructive power. "Another influence on Tetsujin's creation was theVergeltungswaffen,a set ofwonder weaponsdesigned for long-range strategic bombing during World War II, and the idea that Nazi Germany possessed an "ace in the hole to reverse [its] waning fortunes".[3]The third work to inspire Yokoyama's creation was the 1931 filmFrankenstein,which shaped Yokoyama's belief that the monster itself is neither good or evil.

Release

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Tetsujin 28-gowas serialized inKobunsha'sShōnenmagazine from July 1956 to May 1966, for a total of 97 chapters. The series was collected into 12tankōbonvolumes, which are re-released every ten years.

Adaptations

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1963 television series

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Main article:Gigantor

The 1963 television incarnation ofTetsujin 28-goaired onFuji TVfrom 20 October 1963 to 25 May 1966. The series initially ended with 84 episodes, but then returned for 13 more, for a total of 97 episodes. The series had mostly short plots that never took up more than three episodes, but was generally more light-hearted than the anime that would succeed it. Shotaro, Otsuka, Shikishima and Murasame functioned as a team in this version.

In North America, due to theMarvel ComicscharacterIron Manappearing in that market beforeTetsujin 28-go(which literally means "Iron Man No. 28" ), the series was renamedGigantorfor the American version.[4]The dub was done byFred Ladd,all of the character names were changed, and the wartime setting removed. Shotaro Kaneda became Jimmy Sparks, Dr. Shikishima became Dr. Bob Brilliant, Inspector Otsuka became Inspector Ignatz J. Blooper, and Kenji Murasame became Dick Strong. The series' setting was pushed forward to the year 2000. Only 52 of the 97 episodes were ever dubbed in English.

1980 television series

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Main article:The New Adventures of Gigantor

The 1980-81New Tetsujin 28series was created with 51 color episodes based on a modernized take upon the original concept art. In 1993,Fred Laddand the TMS animation studio converted the series intoThe New Adventures of Gigantorand had it broadcast on America'sSci-Fi Channelfrom September 9, 1993 to June 30, 1997.

Tetsujin 28 FX

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Chō Dendō Robo Tetsujin 28-go FX is a sequel to Tetsujin 28-go directed by Tetsuo Imazawa and produced at theTokyo Movie Shinshastudio. It ran onNippon Televisionfrom April 5, 1992 to March 30, 1993, totaling 47 episodes.[5]It has been brought over to Latin America, but never released in English-speaking countries.

The show follows Shotaro's son, Masato, who controls a new edition of Tetsujin and works at a detective agency with other children. Among them are Shiori Nishina, granddaughter of Chief Otsuka. The Tetsujin FX (Iron Hero 28 Future X) is controlled by a remote control gun, which has to be aimed at the robot for it to take commands.[5]

Cast

2004 television series

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Main article:Tetsujin 28-go (2004 TV series)

Written and directed byYasuhiro Imagawa,the 2004 remake takes place ten years afterWorld War II,approximately the same time as the manga debuted. The new television series has been released in the United States under its original nameTetsujin-28byGeneonand in the United Kingdom byManga Entertainment,the first time aTetsujin-28property has not been localized to "Gigantor" in America or other English speaking nations. The television series focused mainly on Shotaro's pursuit to control and fully understand Tetsujin's capabilities, all the while encountering previous creations and scientists from the Tetsujin Project. While not fully based on the original manga, it followed an extremely different storyline than in the 1960s series.

On July 1, 2004, a video game was released for thePlayStation 2developed bySandlotand published byBandai.The game uses the same voice actors as the animation, though it takes presentation cues from the anime, the manga, as well as thekaijufilm genre.

On March 31, 2007, a feature-length film, entitled "Tetsujin 28-go: Hakuchu no Zangetsu" (which translates as "Tetsujin #28: The Daytime Moon" ) was released in Japanese theaters. The film used the same character designs and scenery as the 2004 television series, albeit the film remade the series from the beginning. Among the changes, a new character "Shoutarou" debuted, Shotaro's older half-brother who was in the same airforce troop as Ryuusaku Murasame. Also a character named Tsuki, with a heavily bandaged body, attempts to murder Shotaro.

2005 live-action film

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Main article:Tetsujin 28: The Movie

A live-action adaptation of the series, directed byShin Togashi,was released in Japan on March 19, 2005. It was later released on DVD in the US byGeneon Entertainmentand byManga Entertainmentin the UK. The film centers on Shotaro (Sosuke Ikematsu), who is living in the modern age with his widowed mother. He discovers Tetsujin 28, a giant robot left for him by his father (Hiroshi Abe). With the help of Chief Otsuka and classmate Mami Tachibana, Shotaro learns to control Tetsujin and does battle with the villainous Dr. Reiji Takumi and Black Ox.

Cancelled films

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On December 26, 2008, Felix Ip, the creative director ofImagi Animation Studios,revealed screenshots from a computer-animated teaser trailer featuring Tetsujin and Black Ox.[6]On January 9, 2009, the Japanese animation company Hikari Productions and Imagi launched the projects website, as well as the full teaser featuring Shotaro and Dr. Franken.[7]The film was subsequently cancelled, along with several other projects, when Imagi went defunct in 2010.

IdlewilddirectorBryan Barberreportedly acquired the rights toGigantorin 2011, with plans to adapt it into a feature film. The project never came to fruition, however, and no further developments have been made since.[8][9]

Legacy

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  • Theshotacongenre of Japanese fiction, which focuses on a sexual attraction to young boys, is said to be linked toTetsujin 28-go's Shotaro as an early example of the archetypal boys the genre focuses on; indeed, the term "shotacon" is said to be short for "Shotaro Complex".[10]
  • Guillermo del Torohas cited the series as an influence on his moviePacific Rim,depicting a series of battles between human-controlled giant robots andgiant alien monsters.[11]
  • Shotaro's name was borrowed byKatsuhiro Otomofor theprotagonistof his manga,Akira.He also borrowed the name Shikishima for the colonel and the name of Shikishima's son, Tetsuo, for the character Tetsuo Shima; he has stated in theAkira Clubbook that it could be said that Akira is based onTetsujin 28-go(Akira himself is referred to as "No. 28" by the scientists experimenting on the espers).
  • The U.S. edition of the show,Gigantor,was spoofed inSaturday Night Live's "Torboto" sketch.

References

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  1. ^"Fire kills Japanese manga artist".BBC.16 April 2004.Retrieved2011-10-23.
  2. ^Hornyak, Timothy (2006).Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots.Kodansha International. pp.58–59.ISBN4-7700-3012-6.
  3. ^Anne Allison, Gary Cross (2006).Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination.University of California Press. pp.103–114.ISBN0-520-22148-6.
  4. ^Erickson, Hal (1995).Television cartoon shows: an illustrated encyclopedia, 1949 through 1993.McFarland. pp. 232 & 324.ISBN9780786400294.The character names were then "westernized": Dr. Kaneda became Dr. Sparks; his son Shotaro became Jimmy; and finally, since there already was an "Iron Man" on the market (see Marvel Superheroes), Tetsujin 28GO was not translated as Iron Man No. 28 but completely rechristened as Gigantor.
  5. ^ab"Thiết nhân 28 hào @ Tokyo Movie Shinsha"(in Japanese).TMS Entertainment.Archived fromthe originalon 2013-09-03.Retrieved2011-10-23.
  6. ^"New" Tetsujin 28 "Teaser".Felix Ip. 26 December 2008.
  7. ^"Imagi Launches" Tetsujin 28 "Site with CG Test Teaser".Anime News Network.2009-01-09.
  8. ^"OutKast Video Director to Pitch Gigantor/Tetsujin 28 Film - News".Anime News Network. 2011-10-21.Retrieved2016-08-10.
  9. ^Fleming, Mike (20 October 2011)."After Getting Close On Several Big Jobs, Director Bryan Barber's Taking His Next Meetings With 'Gigantor' In His Corner".Deadline New York.
  10. ^Saitō Tamaki (2007). "Otaku Sexuality" in Christopher Bolton, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr., andTakayuki Tatsumied., page 236Robot Ghosts and Wired DreamsArchived2011-06-05 at theWayback Machine.University of Minnesota Press.ISBN978-0-8166-4974-7.
  11. ^"Mr. Beaks Talks PACIFIC RIM, World Building And Gargantuas W/ Guillermo del Toro And Travis Beacham!".Aintitcool.com. 2013-07-08.Retrieved2016-08-10.
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