Jetter Mars

Jetter Mars (ジェッターマルス) is an anime series directed by Rintaro and written by Osamu Tezuka.

Development
Unlike the vast majority of Osamu Tezuka's characters, Jetter Mars was not first published in comic book form, written and illustrated by Tezuka. However, the character does bear physical resemblance to the titular character of Tezuka's previous work, Tetsuwan Atom. Initially, Jetter Mars was planned as a sequel series to Tetsuwan Atom called "Mighty Mars" (マイティ・マルス Maiti Marusu) Some aspects of Atom's original story are taken and used as the origin of Mars, such as him being created as a powerful android in the image of a boy. Two scientists are involved in Mars' creation, one conceiving him as a combat instrument and the other opposing that purpose, conceiving him as an instrument for peaceful pursuits. This element mirrors the disagreement found in the characters Dr. Tenma and Dr. Ochanomizu in Tetsuwan Atom. Some other borrowed concepts can be found across the series.

Some storylines in the episodes of Jetter Mars were remakes of classic stories Tezuka wrote and drew in his Tetsuwan Atom manga, such as The Artificial Sun and The Last Day on Earth. In the Tezuka tradition, the series showcased many of his characters from his various manga works in different roles.

In the same manner he wrote and illustrated his Tetsuwan Atom manga, Tezuka stayed away from graphic violence in Jetter Mars, although the typical traits of his works are also present in it, such as the importance of moral values, humanity and strong emotiveness.

The series was received by Japan's population with mixed feelings, as some wanted the original Tetsuwan Atom and some accepted Jetter Mars wholeheartedly as a different character, as it was intended to be. This made Tezuka to lose interest in the series and it finished with 27 episodes produced.

Plot
The storyline is set in the year 2015. Two scientists, Dr. Kawashimo and Dr. Yamanoue, have created a robot with advanced capabilities. Dr. Kawashimo created his miraculous artificial intelligence, making him almost human, while Dr. Yamanoue created the robot's body, endowing him with astoundingly powerful weaponry.

Characters


As expected from Osamu Tezuka, he put his "character acting company", known as Star System, to use to define the cast of Jetter Mars. He created a few of the characters specifically for the series, such as Mars and Melchi, and the vast majority of the cast was classic and well-known characters from Tezuka's works, playing various roles. In the adjacent picture, it is possible to identify many of Tezuka's characters, from left to right: Daidalos, Shunsuke Ban aka Higeoyaji and Tezuka himself in the upper row; Inspector Tawashi, Rock Holmes and Marukubi Boon in the middle row; and Tamao, Shibugaki, Spider, Chief Nakamura, HamEgg, Acetylene Lamp, Ken'ichi and Hyōtan-tsugi in the lower row; among some others.

The following list describes the characters featured more prominently during the series:

Jetter Mars (ジェッターマルス): The protagonist of the series. A powerful robot built in the image of a boy, he has a body that can be used for destruction of cataclysmic proportions, and a near-human artificial intelligence. He finds himself often in the predicament of choosing to use his gifts for pacific or destructive purposes.

Melchi (メルチ): Mars' non-speaking younger brother, with the body of a baby. Endowed with tremendous physical strength, his only word is "Bakaruchi!" (バカルチ) (a word invented by Tezuka with no real meaning), which he always utters after displaying his power.

Miri (美理): A robot made in the image of a young girl by Dr. Kawashimo. She possessed powers that enabled her to restore destroyed robots and machinery. She is the protector of Mars and Melchi, and "daughter" to Dr. Kawashimo.

Dr. Kawashimo (川下博士): Creator of Jetter Mars' artificial intelligence and heart, and creator of Miri and Melchi. Opposing fellow scientist Dr. Yamanoue, he desired Mars to live a life of good purpose and peace.

Dr. Yamanoue (山之上博士): Creator of Mars' body. He designed him as a machine for war, and thus named his creation after the Roman god of war. Mars looked up to him as his father. He disappears after being buried during atomic tests and is left for dead.

Dr. Tezuka (手塚博士): In many of his works, Tezuka drew himself as a character, immersed in the universe of his creations, and interacted with his characters. He included himself also in Jetter Mars, appearing as friend and advisor to Mars.

Spider (スパイダー) and Hyōtan-tsugi (ひょうたんつぎ): Two cartoony little characters, that appeared whimsically in nonsensical situations, as comic relief. Tezuka's signature, they appeared in all of his works, be it manga or animated, as they were a form of dialogue between Tezuka and his readers, developed during the years. Hyōtan-tsugi usually appeared falling in front of a character at the most inappropriate of times, and getting kicked out angrily by them, and Spider usually appeared in moments of tension, repeatedly uttering his trademark phrase, Omukae de gonsu! (おむかえでごんすﾞ), roughly "Here ta meet ya!". Additionally, Hyōtan-tsugi appeared in each episode during the opening intro and end credits sequences.

HamEgg (ﾊﾑｴｯｸﾞ): One of Tezuka's most recognizable characters in his Star System, he appeared playing non-praiseworthy roles, as usual for him.

Episode list
The series had 27 episodes, each lasting 24 minutes approximately. It was broadcast by Fuji TV, on Thursday nights. As with all Tezuka's works, the series made use of his Star System cast technique, featuring many of his characters from previous works (manga or animated) performing various roles. The following list includes the episode title, and airing date.

Manga adaptation
The anime series also was adapted into a few manga issues published as one-shot stories, based on the storylines shown in the anime. They weren't written or illustrated by Osamu Tezuka, but by various licensed artists. The issues are listed as follows:


 * Televiland Comics issue
 * Stories illustrated by Shigeto Ikehara, published monthly in Televiland Magazine throughout the show's run.


 * Bōken-ō Manga magazine issue
 * Illustrated by Rentarō Iwata for the defunct Bōken-ō manga magazine.


 * Televi-Magazine issue
 * Illustrated by Kai Nanase and published in 1977.


 * Chū'ichi Jidai magazine story
 * Illustrated by Saisuke Hiraga, published from April to August 1979. It is a short story divided in five chapters.

DVD release
Jetter Mars was released by Avex on March 27, 2009, as a five-disc DVD box set which contains the complete series.

Merchandise
Several records containing the musical score of Jetter Mars were released during the series run. These are listed as follows:

1. Mars LP Record (マルスのLPレコード)
 * Jetter Mars' only LP record, it contained several songs along a mini-drama. The songs included in the record:


 * Mars, year 2015 (マルス2015年)
 * Mars' dream (マルスの夢)
 * Melchi, Let's Bakaruchi (メルチバカルチガンバルチ)
 * Goodnight, Mars (おやすみマルス)
 * Fighting Mars (戦いのマルス)
 * Boy Mars (少年マルス)
 * Hate! Love! (キライ!スキ!)
 * Wandering robot (さすらいのロボット)
 * The March of Mars (マルスのマーチ)
 * Space Scat (宇宙のスキャット)

2. Single releases


 * Several records containing single songs were released. These are listed as follows:


 * Mars Single Record 1, included the songs:
 * Mars, year 2015 (マルス2015年)
 * Boy Mars (少年マルス)


 * Mars Single Record 2, included the songs:
 * Goodnight, Mars (おやすみマルス)
 * The March of Mars (マルスのマーチ)


 * Mars Single Record 3, a re-release of the first single record, it also included a track containing the sound effects of the anime:
 * Mars, year 2015 (マルス2015年)
 * Boy Mars (少年マルス)


 * Mars Single Record 4, with the same content of single records 1 and 3, except it did not include the sound effects track. It also contained a Drama track, with the voices and sound effects of the first episode of the anime:
 * Mars, year 2015 (マルス2015年)
 * Boy Mars (少年マルス)
 * Drama track: Mars is born, year 2015 (2015年マルス誕生)


 * Mars Single Record 5, its contents were practically the same as Single Record 4, only with some editing variations.
 * Mars, year 2015 (マルス2015年)
 * Boy Mars (少年マルス)
 * Drama track: Mars is born (マルス誕生)


 * Mars Single Record 6, included the opening and ending songs of the Jetter Mars anime, along the theme song for the anime adaptation of Yumiko Igarashi and Kyoko Mizuki's classic shōjo manga Candy Candy:


 * Mars, year 2015 (マルス2015年)
 * Boy Mars (少年マルス)
 * Candy Candy (キャンディ・キャンディ)
 * I love tomorrow (あしたがすき)

Staff
Involved in the production of the series:

Original concept, creator: Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫) Planning: Kōji Bessho (Fuji TV), Takeshi Tamiya In charge of production: Kiyoshi Ono (first season), Kichirō Sugahara (final season) Music: Nobuyoshi Koshibe Series composer: Masao Maruyama Script: Masaki Tsuji, Shunichi Yukimuro, Yoshitaka Suzuki, Masaru Yamamoto, Hiroyuki Hoshiyama Chief director: Rintarō (りん・たろう) Producers: Sumiko Chiba, Noboru Ishiguro, Wataru Mizusawa, Masami Hatano, Katsutoshi Sasaki, Yugo Serizawa, Jihiro Taizumi, Rintarō Character design supervisor: Akio Sugino Animation supervisors: Akio Sugino, Toshio Mori, Satoshi Jingu, Wataru Mibu, Tsuneo Kashima, Toyō Ashida Graphic designer: Liang Wei Huang Art: Shohei Kawamoto, Liang Wei Huang, Tadao Kubota Photography: Masaaki Sugaya Editing: Masaaki Hanai Audio director: Ryōsuke Koide (Arts Pro) Recording: Hideyuki Tanaka Production co-operation: Madhouse Production: Fuji TV, Toei Animation

Read also

 * List of Osamu Tezuka manga
 * List of Osamu Tezuka anime
 * Osamu Tezuka's Star System
 * Tezuka Award
 * Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize