Jetter Mars

Jetter Mars (ジェッターマルス, Jettā Marusu) is an anime series directed by Rintaro and conceptualized by Osamu Tezuka. It was produced by Toei Animation and debuted on Fuji TV on the 3rd of February, 1977. The story follows a robot boy named Jetter Mars who must learn the difference between right and wrong under the care of two conflicting parental figures: Director Yamanoue, who wishes to use Mars as a tool for war, and Professor Kawashimo, who believes Mars should be raised similarly to a human boy.

Jetter Mars was conceptualized as an animated television show, but supplemental manga were published alongside the show's run to promote the show. Primarily, Ikehara Shigeto's version of the manga published in TV Land magazine, which had some of its chapters reprinted and compiled into a paperback manga in 2019. ^{[citation needed]}

Unlike the vast majority of Osamu Tezuka's characters, Jetter Mars was not first published in comic book form, written and illustrated by Tezuka, but 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)

In the original pitch written by Osamu Tezuka, Dr. Ochanomizu wished to rebuild Atom after the events of the final episode of the 1963 version of the Tetsuwan Atom anime. Dr. Ochanomizu seeks out Dr. Tenma, who has isolated himself on Mars. Ochanomizu begs Tenma to rebuild Atom, but refuses. Instead, Dr. Tenma shares blueprints for a new robot: "Mighty Mars", who Ochanomizu would name in honor of Tenma who isolated himself on Mars. Mighty Mars would have all of Astro Boy's abilities, but amplified. he'd also be more human than Atom was. His more human-like nature leads to trouble, as he can act selfish. He makes mistakes, causes trouble, and is tempted by others. The pitch script compares this aspect of Mars' character to Pinocchio.

In the end, the Astro Boy aspects were removed and Mars' backstory changed with it. Mars' name would be changed to Jetter Mars and the origin of his name would change to him being named after the roman god of war, Mars. Rather than having all of Atom's abilities, Jetter Mars' abilities would be stripped down to super strength, flying, searchlight eyes, and super hearing.

Some episodes of Jetter Mars closely mirror that of classic stories Tezuka wrote and drew in his Tetsuwan Atom manga, with The Artificial Sun being the most blatant, replacing the Sherlock Holmes parody with a James Bond parody and replacing the artificial sun with a cryogenic freezing device. The Artificial Sun withstanding, episodes mirroring Tetsuwan Atom stories mix in or introduce many new elements into the stories, significantly changing the story and creating something more original than might be expected, sharing only similar characters and/or moral lesson.

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.