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| Tetsujin 28 | |
 | |
| 鉄人28号 (Tetsujin Nijūhachi-gō) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Mecha,dieselpunk |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Mitsuteru Yokoyama |
| Published by | Kobunsha |
| Magazine | Shōnen |
| Original run | July 1956 –May 1966 |
| Volumes | 24 |
| Television drama | |
| Directed by | Santaro Marune |
| Studio | Matsuzaki Production |
| Original network | NTV |
| Original run | February 1, 1960 – April 25, 1960 |
| Episodes | 13 |
| Anime television series | |
| Tetsujin 28 FX | |
| Directed by | Tetsuo Imazawa |
| Produced by | Jin Totani Mikihiro Iwata Toru Horikoshi Yuko Sagawa |
| Written by | Hideki Sonoda |
| Music by | Hiroaki Kondo |
| Studio | Tokyo Movie Shinsha |
| Licensed by | |
| Original network | NNS (NTV) |
| Original run | April 5, 1992 – March 30, 1993 |
| Episodes | 47 |
| Anime television series | |
| Tetsujin 28 Gao! | |
| Directed by | Tatsuji Yamazaki |
| Produced by | Shotaro Muroji Daisuke Hara |
| Written by | Mitsutaka Hirota Tatsuji Yamazaki |
| Music by | Futoshi Sato |
| Studio | Eiken |
| Original network | FNS (Fuji TV) |
| Original run | April 6, 2013 – March 26, 2016 |
| Episodes | 151 |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Atsushi Oba |
| Published by | Shueisha |
| Magazine | Saikyō Jump |
| Original run | June 2013 –August 2014 |
| Anime television series | |
| |
| Live-action film | |
| |
Tetsujin 28-gō (Japanese:鉄人28号,Hepburn:Tetsujin Nijūhachi-gō; lit. "Iron Man No. 28"), known as simplyTetsujin 28 in international releases, is a 1956manga written and illustrated byMitsuteru Yokoyama, who would also createGiant 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.
The manga was later adapted into fouranime television series, aJapanese television drama and two films, onelive action and 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 ofCGI was produced in Japan in 2005.
The series is credited with featuring the first humanoid giant robot controlled externally via remote control by an operator.
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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.
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 inUshio magazine in 1995, "When I was a fifth-grader, the war ended and I returned home fromTottori Prefecture, where I had been evacuated. The city ofKobe had been totally flattened, reduced to ashes. People said it was because of theB-29 bombers...as a child, I was astonished by their terrifying, destructive power." Another influence on Tetsujin's creation was theVergeltungswaffen, a set ofwonder weapons designed 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.
Tetsujin 28-go was serialized inKobunsha'sShōnen magazine from July 1956 to May 1966, for a total of 97 chapters. The series was collected into 12tankōbon volumes, which are re-released every ten years.
The 1963 television incarnation ofTetsujin 28-go aired onFuji TV from 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 Comics characterIron Man appearing in that market beforeTetsujin 28-go (which literally means "Iron Man No. 28"), the series was renamedGigantor for 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.
The 1980-81New Tetsujin 28 series was created with 51 color episodes based on a modernized take upon the original concept art. In 1993,Fred Ladd and the TMS animation studio converted the series intoThe New Adventures of Gigantor and had it broadcast on America'sSci-Fi Channel from September 9, 1993, to June 30, 1997.
Chō Dendō Robo Tetsujin 28-go FX is a sequel to Tetsujin 28-go directed by Tetsuo Imazawa and produced at theTokyo Movie Shinsha studio. It ran onNippon Television from 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]
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-28 byGeneon and in the United Kingdom byManga Entertainment, the first time aTetsujin-28 property 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 2 developed bySandlot and 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 thekaiju film 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.
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 Entertainment and byManga Entertainment in 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.
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.
Idlewild directorBryan Barber reportedly acquired the rights toGigantor in 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]
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.
