Reception
The 2003 version of Astro Boy was extremely well reviewed by Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network, receiving a grade of A+ in every category and comments of "It's perfect."
The entire series is currently available on DVD in one single boxset. This DVD set also has a short feature about the show's development that heavily hints at pressure put on the anime developers by Sony to make Astro more of a hero than a boy. This is reflected in the dub as scenes where Astro has emotional moments or where he is acting childlike are cut or the script is changed to Astro acting with a "cooler" or more heroic attitude. That said, the later episodes of the dub do follow along the same lines as the Japanese script. The series is also available on iTunes.
ON REGION 4 Australian DVD - You can get all 50 epiosdes in complete storyline production order, including the missing episode from the USA Syndicated Order Box Set - on 12 separate DVD Volumes by Sony DVD Australia.
The series has been received with mix reviews by most of the large fan-base community of Tezuka. Despite the largely darker tones in the second arc and the overall changes made to the Western dub it has been criticized for not having the same optimistic tone of the color 1980s version of the series and eliminating several or changing the personalities of several major characters.
The show did not meet with commercial success on ether KidsWB or CartoonNetwork's Toonami block, a fact that is hinted at during the review for the tie-in game Astro Boy: Omega Factor with comments such as "Astro Boy love here in the states". This has been largely attributed to the quality of the Dub and the constant moving of the show between the two stations. Its been suggested the show was done in by removing the original's comical co-stars, particularly Mr. Pompous and Astro Boy's robot parents. That, plus the general switch of the show's visuals from childish simplistic to near 3-D complexity, and the name changes for so many of the main characters (Uran=Zoran, Dr. Elefun=Dr. O'Shay) were deemed by the older fans to be unnecessary for a formerly plot-driven show.
The series, however, had more success in the UK where it was picked up by the BBC for its children's block and digital only Children's channel from 2003 to 2006. The show's first run lasted about as long as the US one (up to the 2-part episode featuring Pluto) after which the BBC stopped airing new episodes. This may be because (as one presenter commented after an episode) Astro was a darker show compared to the other cartoons CBBC aired (even in its edited state). The western dub has never been aired fully on TV in the US. Despite how well Astro may have fared in the UK airing and DVDs being advertised, the series has not been released on DVD in the UK. Interestingly enough, CBBC finished airing recently unaired episodes of Astro Boy, thus completing the entire series in the UK, making Astro Boy one of the rare anime that airs in the UK in its entirety while not doing so in the United States.
The series was also a success with Arabic speaking viewers when it aired on MBC 3 several times along another anime remake that faced the same fate in America, Cyborg 009.
Read more about this topic: Astro Boy (2003 TV Series)
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