"Iron Arm Atom") is a Japanese anime television series based on Osamu Tezuka's manga of the same name.

[5] In 1964, there was a feature-length animated movie called Mighty Atom, the Brave in Space (鉄腕アトム 宇宙の勇者, Tetsuwan Atomu: Uchū no yūsha) released in Japan.

Dr. Tenma, a scientist working in the Ministry of Science's Department of Precision Machinery, loses his only son, Tobio, in a car-crash.

In the circus, where robotics exist but are a lot more primitively made than Tobio (now named Atom), they are forced to participate in fighting tournaments similar to gladiator battles.

After realising how advanced Atom is compared to the rest of the other robotics, he sets him free from the circus, becoming a surrogate father figure to him.

[6][7] According to Osamu Tezuka, the main themes of much of the manga he had created, specifically Astro Boy, were that of anti-war, the preservation of nature, and discrimination, which had emanated from his childhood experiencing the devastation of World War II.

Frederik L. Schodt, who created the English version of the original comic, said that the names were "cleverly" changed for American tastes.

[13] In 2007, 2008, and 2009, Cartoon Network broadcast and webcast NBC's syndicated edition of the original 1960s episodes as a part of its late night Adult Swim line-up.

Fortunately, Right Stuf found the best surviving voice track elements and combining them with picture quality from the original Japanese negatives.

However, its popularity eventually declined to the point where only 104 of the 193 original episodes were released in the U.S., the reasons being mainly that it was still in black and white when most television sets were switching to color and many of the storylines were considered too violent and depressing for the mainstream audience.