Hello. It has been a very long time, hasn't it?
There are many reasons why I had to neglect this site and leave it by the wayside for years. Mainly, I went back to school to study Video Game Art, which took up an incredible amount to time and energy. I graduated with distinction (a 4.0 GPA) and have been looking for a job, and hopefully a new home to go with it. Despite my admiration of the work of Osamu Tezuka, I had to let this site go and concentrate on other things.
But with the news and first footage of the new "ASTROBOY Reboot" project, I figured it was time to come back and do one last post!
ASTROBOY Reboot is a French/Japanese animated co-production from Paris based studio Caribara Animation. There are set to be 26 half hour episodes. It will have a new storyline and new characters. You can see more about this exciting new series on Cartoon Brew.
Even before the CGI movie was released, I knew that no matter what kind of reception it got, Astro Boy would be animated yet again. It was only a matter of time. When I first started AstroBoy World, it seemed like here were only a few scattered sources of info on the world of Osamu Tezuka, and only a little bit of actual celebration on his accomplishments and influence. But now, with this new series, digital manga and multiple successful Kickstarters (and that other big one that we don't need to talk about), and announcements of a live action Astro movie, it seems like Tezuka is everywhere! Everyone knows how great the work of Tezuka is, and there is demand for more! The future of Tezuka seems brighter than ever, and so this seems like as good of a time as any to say goodbye to AstroBoy World. And it's no coincidence that I'm posting this on April 7th, Astro's Birthday.
The site will remain online for the foreseeable future and I will still read any comments that happen to be posted, but it will remain inactive. I would like to say thank you to Astro Boy movie director David Bowers, the gang at AstroBoy Online, Tezuka in English, my friend David Merill, and everyone else who has helped with this site, contacted me, commented, and kept the spirit of Osamu Tezuka and his great characters alive. I especially want to thank former Imagi art director Felix Ip, who got in touch with me very early in the life of this site and added so much legitimacy with everything he did.
If you would like to keep in touch with me, please follow me on Twitter and check out my website SykoGrafix.com, as well as my other endeavors at my About.me page.
Working on Astro Boy World was quite time consuming, but I had a lot of fun with it while I could. I regret having to leave the site abandoned for long, but I'm glad I get the chance to come back, just this once, to talk up this upcoming animated series, because I'll be watching it right along with all of you!
Sayonara. Continue reading "One Last Time: ASTROBOY Reboot."...
