The Birth of Atom

"The Birth of Atom" / "Birth of Astro Boy" "Atomu Tanjō" (アトム誕生) is the first episode of the 1963 series.

The story takes place in Metro City, circa 2000 A.D. Young Toby Tenma/Astor Boynton (the son of Dr. Tenma/Boynton) ends up dying in a hideous car crash. His father is left grief-stricken and plans on resolving his loss by creating a robot that looks like his son. Though the rest of the Ministry of Science is unsure of this plan (some thinking he’s insane), they go along with it. Over a year, his creation is assembled and named "Astro Boy". The next morning, Astro begins to adjust to life with Dr. Tenma. After some time, it becomes clear that Astro isn’t like Toby. Because of this, his father sells him to Mr. Cacciatore, the cruel ringmaster of a robot circus. At the circus, Astro is forced to fight against Z.O.G. in a duel where one robot will die. During the fight, Professor Ochanomizu/Dr. Elefun steps into the ring to protest the fight. Cacciatore, however, shows that his robot licenses say that there’s nothing wrong with robots fighting each other. Astro fights valiantly and discovers some of his abilities: super strength and flight. Using these abilities, he is able to defeat Z.O.G, but he refuses to kill him. Later that night, Cacciatore punishes him by cutting off his power supply from any recharge. Professor Ochanomizu comes to talk Cacciatore into giving Astro back, but he refuses to negotiate. Meanwhile, Astro finds a large heap of robots that Cacciatore plans to sell as scrap metal. He learns from the captain of the Tin Brigade that everyone is in the pile because they no longer please people. Astro then decides to share his energy with the robots. Some time later, the robot circus is ready for its next performance. The opening act features Sparky, a robot cannonball, who Cacciatore has jump through high voltage charges. Unfortunately, Sparky goes out of control and explodes, causing the whole circus tent to begin to collapse. Despite lack of power, Astro leads the robots he restored in a rescue mission. The robots quickly find and rescue everyone, save for Cacciatore. Astro re-enters the building to save him and discovers another ability: super hearing. Using his new skill, he saves Cacciatore from certain death. Later, at a hospital, Astro is liberated from Cacciatore when Dr. Elefun shows that robots are finally free from slavery. Having been beaten, Cacciatore cries in defeat as Professor Ochanomizu and Astro leave.Deleted Scene: When Professor Ochanomizu tells Caccitore that lots of things happened while he was sleeping, the doctor briefly turns on the TV, which displays speeches from all over the world.