Astro Boy, Set 2: Ultra Collector's Edition

I have been buying from them for many years now always fair prices always fast shipping and packed well this is a review for the Seller not the product but their products are always top notch at a price that you can afford thank you for all the wonderful sets, great prices, fast shipping over the years that I have been buying from you

Good show for the time

Fiftysomethings like me will be familiar; often nostalgic, for Astro Boy, the first Japanese cartoon to make it to American shores. Right Stuf is a company dedicated to preserving these early animes, and their efforts to preserve a nearly lost cartoon was a Herculean labor of love. We are most fortunate that they did as good a job as they did, as later incarnations of Astro Boy did not always convey the original sense of humor in Osamu Tezuka's original black and white version. Tezuka was heavily influenced by Max Fleischer, which is evident in the washed out, muted backgrounds (like the early Popeye films), and the sometimes surreal gags (like the Betty Boop films), and the brilliant innocence in both the pathos and joy of the title character. The two Ultra Collector's Editions contain all the episodes shown by NBC in the early sixties, plus a few episodes in the original Japanese, in the DVD special features, and an interview with the American liason, Fred Ladd. In addition to the 6 DVDs in Set 2, there is a handsome booklet with poster art, episode info, and a good overview of Tezuka's life and work. Both box sets are a must for anyone who loves Astro Boy enough to study every detail of the series, and better understand Max Fleischer's influence on the work of Tezuka, who in Japan, is second only to Walt Disney. If you are like me, you will recapture a rare period of childhood in revisiting these animated gems.

2nd collector's edition set of Astro is the best. I finally have my collection complete. love the series, I recommend it. (Cute Astro plushie not included :) )

Though there was Japanese animation long before Astro Boy, this is the show that truly sparked the explosion of what we know today as Anime. Unfortunately, the original Astro Boy has largely been unavailable for viewing by Americans since it vanished from television a generation and more ago. Now, since this was the show that got me hooked on Japanese Anime (though I had no idea that's what it was when I first watched it on TV), I had always dreamed of seeing it again someday because with a handful of exception episodes, I hadn't seen it in more than half a century. However, for various reasons, including fear of disappointment from revisiting a childhood favorite, I had not bothered to do so until a special sale finally tempted me. Turns out I needn't have worried; Osamu Tezuka's genius really does stand the test of time! Though the animation is quite limited, one can already see so many of the anime tropes we have gotten used to, particularly those anime eyes, but the quality that shines through the strongest is the writing. These are some astonishingly complex ideas and plots for a children's show in 1963! "The Devil Doll" (Astro Boy must deal with the titular creation of an old fashioned toy maker told that bad toys are all the rage.), "The Flower Monster" (is a sentient, radiation consuming plant from outer space.), "Funnel to the Future" (Astro Boy inspires a timid group of vegetable based life forms to fight for their freedom.), "The Dream Machine" (Astro Boy gets the chance to be the first robot to have dreams.), "Mighty Microbe Army" (is Astro Boy's version of Fantastic Voyage .), "Galeom from Galaxy G" is a sequel to "The Cosmic Giant" from last season (Robots of the world along with Astro Boy volunteer to fight to the death in order to keep an unstoppable giant robot at bay until a machine can be built to deal with him.), "Mystery of the Metal Men" (Astro Boy is blown into a dimension much like our own except that no Astro Boy exists because Astor Boynton never died.), "Menace from Mercury" (Astro Boy must deal with the titular threat while suffering from blindness and treachery.), and finally "Planet 13" (Astro Boy must deal with the evolving threat of the title object.) It is well known that Tezuka used interactions between humans and robots as metaphors for commenting on prejudices, but it may not be as well known that he demanded the same from robots as he did from humans. Sentient robots were expected to know the difference between right and wrong, and failure to do so could and did result in termination with extreme prejudice at the hands of a sorrowful but determined Astro Boy. Note: The Extras Disk contains the English subtitled Japanese version of the final Tetsuwan Atom episode, never dubbed into English, in which he dies. Note: The first American season can be found here: Astro Boy, Set 1: Ultra Collector's Edition ( Original TV Series ) . So why only four stars? Because the creators of this restored version made an astonishingly shortsighted, penny wise but pound foolish mistake that will greatly hinder many viewers' enjoyment of this show--they failed to include optional subtitles. While the video is in surprisingly good shape, the audio is in noticeably poor shape because the original English masters were destroyed in 1975. Of course this is not the fault of Nozomi Entertainment and Right Stuf!, and I'm sure they did their best to locate the highest quality audio masters they could find, but IMHO they should have gone the extra mile to offer subtitles of the American version as an option because there are several places in a number of the poorest quality episodes where it is all but impossible to hear exactly what is being said (or sung), and there is no way that producing English subtitles of the English dialog could have added that much to the cost of a set that retailed for a hundred and thirty.

All you 60s anime fans and those who grew up watchimg Astro boy this set is a MUST have. Do not pass it up. Make sure to get both box sets. It is such a blast watching them with my three year old son and watching him discover Astro boy for the first time. He was a raving fan after the first episode.

If you bought the first set and enjoyed it, you will certainly want this one too...The Right Stuf have done a heroic job of assembling these episodes of ASTRO BOY which I, quite frankly, thought would never see the light of day. The two box sets complete the series as it was shown in the USA, though many more were shown in Japan only...perhaps these will also be released eventually. In the meantime, we now have access to this historic, nostalgic and still quite entertaining series which (arguably) marks the birth of that peculiar art form known as Anime.

I watched these when they first ran in the USA when I was around 6 years old. Indelible mark on my mind. A land mark in animation and cooperation between Japan and the USA on this.

very gd