Iron-Arm Atom!

Astro Boy is the English title for the Japanese animated series 鉄腕アトム, (Tetsuwan Atomu, which roughly translates to "Mighty Atom" and literally to "Iron-Arm Atom") first broadcast on Japanese television from 1963 to 1966. Before that it was a Manga starting in 1951. Atomu was created by Dr. Osamu Tezuka (手塚 治虫), nicknamed the "Father of Anime" and the "Japanese Disney". For a complete list of his Anime and Manga, click away to your heart's content.

I've mentioned Astroboy several times in my blog, notably about origami, Osamu's works and his meeting with Anne Frank.

Last Tuesday was a day off for me so I went downtown to see my doctor and get my bi-monthly fix of meds for my 喘息 (only the best nerds have zensoku or asthma) and since I was in the neighbourhood I popped into Maruzen books. There was a mini-book sale going on in the foyer and there was this 鉄腕アトム Birthday Gift Box on sale. I'd seen it before and never bought it, but this time I had a few spare shekels in my pocket, so I nabbed it.










Within the birthday box of goodies are the following:

There are 3 Manga reprints, 電光人間の巻 (denkou ningen no maki),
















ブラックルックスの巻 (Black looks(?) no maki)

















and アトム赤道をゆく (atomu seki dou wo yuku). I'm sorry that I don't have the energy to translate them right now.
















There is a "Captain Atom" Kappa Comics extra from 2003.


















A pop-up birthday card also from 2003.








There are 100 very cool trading cards that look like covers of his more famous Manga.












A very cool plastic record...
with a sheet explaining how to use it (not that I can figure it out!)

An adorable plastic figure (that truth be told, was the selling point for me on the set. But don't spread that around.)

















Hidden in the bottom of the box was a complete surprise to me. A portfolio of 10 original pieces of art, some of which had memoranda including word balloons scribbled in pencil! Some of the scans were too big for my scanner, so they've been chopped in two.









































































One day, I'll take photos of all the various paraphernalia that I've collected over the years, but an item that I don't have and would love to acquire is this credit card!