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Astro Boy Reboot Project's Poster Unveils More Characters

The staff of the French, Monaco, and Japanese Astro Boy reboot project unveiled a poster for the project last month at the Monaco Anime Game International Conferences (MAGIC) event. The poster shows more of the characters designed for the series.

The project's official website previously streamed a teaser video for the project last year.

Japan's Tezuka Productions, France's Caribara Animation, and Monaco's Shibuya Productions are collaborating on the series using both 2D and CG techniques. Shibuya Productions founder Cédric Biscay notes that the producers have the right to create a brand new story, as Tezuka Productions owns the intellectual property to the franchise.

The teaser credits Florian Thouret as the director and graphic designer, Yuichiro Maeda for the music, and Chiyako Maeda for the voice.

This is not the first time that Osamu Tezuka's 1952-1968 manga inspired overseas works. Hong Kong animation studio IMAGI produced the computer-animated film version of Astro Boy with distributor Summit Entertainment in 2009. A joint production between Tezuka Productions and Nigerian television station Chanel TV created a television animation project in early 2014. Back in Japan, the manga inspired the country's first full-fledged half-hour television anime series in 1963, followed by a color television series in 1980 and a remake in 2003.

Warner Bros. subsidiary New Line Cinema is in talks to acquire Animal Logic Entertainment and Tezuka Productions' planned live-action Astro Boy film.

[Via Catsuka]

Update: Corrected date and place of poster reveal, and date of airing of Tezuka Productions/Chanel TV Astro Boy animation project. Thanks Shiyonasan.

Update: While the show was originally announced as a 26-episode series, the official website for the show now lists the series with 52 11-minute episodes. The site describes the story:

The story is about a small, powerful robot convinced that he would have to become a little boy, in order to be loved. However, he is extremely rational, logical and strong. He does not know how to lie or how to play …. in short - he really is not a little boy! Yet he has emotions, even if he doesn't know how to manage them. Through his adventures with his two human friends, Fubuki and Akino, Astro is going to learn how to accept himself just the way he is - with all his weaknesses … and strengths.