Astro Boy: Reimagining Based on the Manga (“Mighty Atom”) by Osamu
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Astro Boy: Reimagining Based on the manga (“Mighty Atom”) by Osamu Tezuka. This reimagining is for entertainment, creative purposes only. Astro Boy is a copyrighted trademark of Osamu Tezuka, 1952-Present. The year is 2108 and the world is not the same after World War Three devastated the planet’s climate and caused a loss of major energy resources. But from the ashes of the old world, a new society was born, tossing aside old rivalries to improve the lives of humanity. One benefit of the war was the mass research and production of technology, particularly in robotics, at first used solely for war, but then expanded out to just about every category imaginable – with help from modern robotics and science, mankind landed on Mars in 2089, travelled to the deepest depths of the ocean, and even had their first successful subterranean expedition beneath Earth’s crust. But their biggest achievement was the successful creation of artificial intelligence, producing intelligent, sentient machines to help humanity and serve them, protected from harm by the programmed Laws of Robotics inserted into every robot upon their first activation. To mark the 22 nd Century, the United Nations wanted to celebrate the unity of mankind with the creation of a multinational city-state, owned by all of humanity – Metro City, a futuristic cosmopolitan funded through technology and science. A dream imagined decades ago by great authors, inventors, and philosophers, now brought to life through both human and machine ingenuity. Metro City quickly grew into a vast labyrinth of Frank Gehry-style architecture and skyways for flying cars, and at its centre is the Ministry of Science, a large white and blue monolith of a building and the central hub of all research and development for the city. A key pioneer in the development of the Age of Intelligence is Dr. Balthus Tenma, who is the Director of the Ministry of Science. A Japanese-American, Dr. Tenma proved to be a genius and a prodigy from a young age, tinkering with his father’s car and improving on toys he had as a child. By the age of nineteen, Tenma had become a renowned figure in the science community, but early contracts with military officials to weaponise his creations led him to develop a quiet resentment for humanity’s darker nature, desiring an urge for freedom to create a world of unity and perfection. He found these desires through his robots, finding their simplicity and lack of emotions to be preferable in his life, and could be upgraded or replaced if they malfunctioned, unlike delicate humans. With the guidance of his mentor, Dr. Packadermus J. Elefun, and assistance from friend and fellow roboticist, Simon “Hamegg” Sakely, Tenma brought about the revolutionary progress of robots, and made Metro City the paradise it is. However, Dr. Tenma, despite being surrounded by his creations, found himself a family, marrying a young assistant in the Ministry named Hope, and together they had a son Toby. However, Hope’s pregnancy proved to be a difficult one for the couple, and she died during childbirth. Heartbroken, Tenma buried himself in his work, but attempted to raise his newborn son Toby, with some difficulty. Tenma built a nanny robot, named “Robita”, to care for Toby when he had to work all-nighters on new projects. As Toby grew older, he developed a similar IQ and love of robotics like his father, but also an idealistic mindset and a sense of fun, adventure, and mischief. But Tenma only saw the brainy side of Toby, at first sharing their love for technology, but began spending more time at the Ministry than at the family home, leaving father and son with a restrained relationship. Tenma’s awkward, restrained personality and focus on robots kept him from understanding his son, only encouraging him to do his best in his grades and studying through his old family motto: “Onward and upward.” Twelve years on, Toby is a child prodigy and top student like his father, and while popular in class, he has a hidden loneliness when at home, with only Robita for company, as the closest thing he has to a maternal figure. Occasionally, whenever his dad would come home, the routine would kick in – inspecting work updates in the five minutes between work and home, asking Toby for progress reports on his studies (the closest thing the two did to spending time together), and then isolating himself in his study to continue his work. On one or two occasions, Toby had managed to crack his father’s ID code and snuck into the office to inspect Tenma’s work, but dropped the habit when nearly caught. Despite their fragmented relationship, Toby is devoted to his father, rarely getting into trouble or going out to do something dangerous. When Toby’s twelfth birthday arrives, he learns his father is unavailable to come (as told via a recorded hologram) due to commitment to a “Project Atom”. Understanding but disappointed, Toby goes to school, but spends the day in a daydream. Noting Toby’s behaviour, his teacher Albert Mustachio suggests he spends time with his friends for once rather than going home to wait for Dr. Tenma to come home. Toby’s friends Kennedy, Alejo, and Abercrombie take Toby to Alejo’s personalised garage where he unveils his own invention – an aerial bicycle nicknamed the “Skyrider”. Following some slight tinkering by Toby, and needing a fifth man to get the bike up and flying, the group recruit their friend and neighbour Daichi Tokogawa, a vocal, opinionated guy who Toby finds a kindred spirit with – Daichi’s father, Rufus Tokogawa, is a business magnate and chief operating officer overseeing the construction of the Moon’s first on-surface colony base. Because of this, Daichi is neglected like Toby, but goes on wild ventures and causes chaos to get his father’s attention. Unfortunately, Daichi decides to go one of his infamous benders using the Skyrider, hijacking the bike and taking his friends on a wild ride through Metro City at night, nearly getting them all killed when they hurtle onto a skyway, but Toby’s quick thinking grounds the vehicle and the boys are apprehended by the cops. Toby and his friends are taken to Metro City Police HQ, which is shaped like a police dog, where they are scolded by no-nonsense Inspector Gumshoe, but he lets them off with a warning. The boys are picked up one-by-one and scolded by their respective parents, until Toby and Daichi are left alone in the reception. Daichi openly apologises to Toby, expressing his frustration towards his father and advises Toby to be more vocal with Tenma or he’ll spend his whole life “as a ghost”. The two bond over their love of technology, though Daichi reveals his interests in “ancient” tech – namely the Apollo 11 mission, and shares with Toby the promise Tokogawa made to him as a child, that they would walk on the moon’s surface together when the colony is completed. Just as the two start to trade jokes, a limousine pulls up and one of Tokogawa’s guards escorts Daichi to face his father’s wrath. Toby remains in the station, Inspector Gumshoe expecting Dr. Tenma to appear, but when half an hour passes, Gumshoe offers to call the Ministry of Science. At the Ministry, Tenma is focused on Project Atom but argues with Hamegg, head of advanced robotics, who is in charge of the technology-side of the project. Their bickering over who owns the creative control of their prototype is disrupted by Dr. Elefun who informs Tenma of Toby’s adventure. Unsure of how to react, Tenma takes Elefun with him to pick up Toby, confused by his son’s bizarre behaviour. After a silent awkward drive home, Tenma attempts a heart-to-heart chat with his son, but while scolding him for his actions, is surprised and even impressed when he mentions how he stopped the Skyrider safely (much to Elefun’s disbelief). Tenma then realises he missed his son’s birthday and turns to Elefun for help, who suggests he makes amends by giving Toby a slightly delayed present. Confident in redeeming himself, Tenma glances at the aging Robita and gets an idea. Two weeks later, Tenma invites Toby to the annual Metro City Science Expo, a trip they used to take when Toby was younger, with the promise of a surprise. Taking Toby into his office, Tenma unveils his present – a brand new nanny robot to replace Robita, since she is rusting and starting to slow down. To Tenma’s surprise, Toby is horrified at the thought of replacing Robita, regarding her as family. However, Tenma, not realising how much Toby views Robita as a parental substitute, tries to convince his son of the upgrades and improvements Robita’s replacement will have but their argument falls on deaf ears. Toby, close to tears and expressing a long-restrained temper, berates his father’s absence and gall to take away the one family member that is there for him. Tenma is completely taken aback by Toby’s outburst, but just as it dawns on him of Toby’s relation to “a common robot”, their talk is disrupted by an aide who reminds Tenma of the presentation of Project Atom to a crowd of investors and tech fans. Tenma gives Toby a front row seat for Project Atom’s demonstration and promises to discuss things over with him afterwards. Because of this, Tenma sits out of the presentation, leaving Dr. Elefun and Hamegg to run the show, much to Hamegg’s pleasure, who has spent a lot of his career as Tenma’s PR guy and has natural showmanship skills.