Uran (chapter)

Uran ("Uran-chan" ウランちゃん) - originally titled "1/2 Person" - is a chapter of the Astro Boy manga which originally ran in Shonen magazine in August 1960.

Plot Summary
Astro Boy has just gotten a brother named Cobalt and a sister named Uran. Astro takes them to watch the annual Robotting Championships, a combative contest between robot fighters from all over the world, taking place in Tokyo this year. But things take an unexpected turn for Astro when Uran secretly leaves her seat and enters the ring! She is attacked by one of the robots and fights back, flipping him over onto his back and defeating him to the amazement of the audience.

Even though both Astro and their teacher, Higeoyaji, find this an awkward situation the rules of the Robotting Contest says clearly that once any robot formally appears in a match, they are obligated to see it through to the end. But Uran doesn't care, she even thinks it's plenty of fun. She keeps winning matches but is told that she still needs to take time out for school, but she'd rather devote all her time to robotting.

Against Astro's approval, she pays a visit to a crazy scientist named Dr. Xcess who adjusts her body so that it splits into two and forms a new identical other half each. That way, one of her goes to school while the other goes to her final match. But Dr. Xcess calls Higeoyaji to desperately warn her that the operation was a failure. Unbeknownst to Uran when she split in two, her energy level was halved between both her bodies! Higeoyaji thinks that Uran is resting in the school sick ward not feeling well and promises to let her know when she wakes up.

Fortunately, Astro sees Uran being smashed to pieces on television and tells his sister the awful truth. Together, they fly to the Robotting stadium arriving just in time to prevent Gameron, the challenger, from completely destroying her. Gameron attacks Astro when he intervenes, and Astro smashes him. Astro comforts Uran as they leave the stadium assuring her that Professor Ochanomizu will be able to restore her to normal, but suddenly, Gameron's manager leads all his other robots into a showdown against Astro. The greedy spiteful man is furious at losing the Championship Cup, but Astro smashes all his robots humiliating him.

Collected Volumes
This story has been collected in the following volumes:


 * Astro Boy, Volume 8 (Kodansha)
 * Astro Boy, Volume 14 (Dark Horse)