Title:  Tetsujin 28

Year:  1963 (first series)

Manga Available in the UK?  Yes (US Import)

Anime Available in the UK?  Yes (Manga Ents)

Games Available in the UK?  No

What's Tetsujin 28 then?

Tetsujin 28 is the classic tale of one boy and his giant remote-controlled ex-military robot and their crimefighting escapades in post-war Japan.  Shotaro is a young boy growing up

 after the war who ends up owning his father's great invention, a giant robot called Tetsujin 28 originally created as a weapon to fight the allies.  With the war over, Shotaro - who is a genius detective despite being a school-aged boy - uses Tetsujin to fight crime via his remote control unit, but with criminals utilising similar robots and nefarious plans to defeat him, he's sure going to have his work cut out.

Sounds like fun, but isn't it just another giant robot show?

It is from one point of view, but from another it's the daddy of all giant robot shows.  Tetsujin 28 originally came out in the 1960's and pre-dated pretty much anything of a similar style.  Although robots in anime and manga were common in the 'golden age of sci-fi' that was the 1950's and 60's, the was probably the first series to feature a giant robot controlled by a schoolboy, and it was a huge hit in the West too.
 


 

In the West?  Did it come out in the America?

Yes, and it came out in several countries in Europe too.  People over the age of forty will no doubt remember the original series from its UK run, in which it was called Gigantor.  The series renamed all the characters and had one of the greatest theme tunes ever, featuring lyrics like 'ready to fight for right, against wrong!'.  Genius.

OK, so it's some important old series...

That it is, but if you find the prospect of watching an old black and white cartoon 

daunting, fear not!  A modern remake of the series in glorious colour with all the computer animated bells and whistles is being released in the UK courtesy of Manga Entertainment, and a live action film is due to follow later in 2006, also from Manga.

Err, Live Action?

Yes, you did read that correctly.  The franchise spawned a live action Japanese series back in the 1960's but Manga are sensibly looking to release the recent feature film, which stars the 15 year-old teen star Sosuke Ikematsu as Shotaro.

What about the original series?

The original TV series is lost to the mists of time, but the original anime series has experienced something of a renaissance in the US, where it has been re-shown on television and is available on DVD.  However, in the UK it remains consigned to the history books for the time being, so the retro-styled modern anime remake will have to do unless you look to import sites.

Fair enough, do you have any other articles about Tetsujin 28?

Yep, check out the following

Anime Review - Tetsujin 28 vol 1

Tetsujin 28/Gigantor also features in our Top Five Robots & Mechs!___________________________________________________________________________