since there seems to be an extensive source for info regarding the old astro boy era, I might as well ask a question here...
After watching metropolis, I'm puzzled since it's said that the movie was based on the astro boy manga
When I was 10..(around 89-90's) Astro/atomic boy comic was popular at my school. I recall reading my friends comic once and there it said the astro boy was based on the son of the professor who got hit by a car.
In metropolis however, the child robot is female (Tima)...so is there actually 2 manga or is the movie totally modified?
Ummm no no no... Metropolis the movie is VERY VERY VERY VERY LOOSELY based on the Metropolis manga written by the CREATOR of Astro Boy, Osamu Tezuka.
Metropolis was one of his first really big works... so it's kinda weird. The movie is sooo incredibly loosely based on it that it makes your head hurt to think about the movie when reading the comic and vice versa.
For one... Rock is NOT in the manga... he IS a popular Tezuka character but was NOT in the original Metropolis. Duke Red, Kenichi, Shunsuke Ban, Lamp, Ham Egg and some of the others WERE in the manga...
In the manga the robot is named Michi and is both male and female...and Michi is not literally a ROBOT but an artifical being grown from artifical cells...
Duke Red is the main villan in the manga and wears all these crazy disguises... it's all very strange.
If you want a summary of it I'll write one later (no time at the moment)
I LOOOVE the movie though... heh just cos I'm obsessed with Rock ^_^ he's my fav. Tezuka character... (but I think all the people on this board have figured that out by now)
Anyhows... yes... Astro was built by Dr. Tenma to "replace" his son Tobio who died in a car accident. It takes Dr. Tenma one year to build Astro who is the world's most advanced robot.
He raises him for a while as his own son... but Tenma realizes he made a terrible mistake when he discovers that Astro will never grow... This really upsets him (remember that Tenma is a little crazy at this point) so he sells him to the circus... Astro is later rescued by Prof. Ochanomizu who takes over for Dr. Tenma as the head of the ministry of science (heh since they fire him for being... umm crazy).
Astro stories rule ^_^
but to simply answer your question the movie was LOOSELY based on the Metropolis manga not Astro...