Jetter Mars

Jetter Mars(ジェッターマルス|Jettā Marusu) is an anime and manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. Originally planned by Tezuka as a color remake of the original anime adaptation of his popular manga series Tetsuwan Atom, unfavorable circumstances during the pre-production phase of the project led him to abandon it temporarily and create Jetter Mars instead. Although it remains as one of Tezuka's lesser known works, it gained a large following and is fondly remembered. Jetter Mars was the mascot of JetterMars Productions.

Development
Unlike the vast majority of Osamu Tezuka's characters, Jetter Mars wasn't first published in comic book form, written and illustrated by Tezuka. In 1977, Tezuka's animation studio Mushi Productions faced bankruptcy, leading Tezuka to work as an animation director for Toei Animation for some time. He wanted to produce a color anime adaptation for his landmark manga Tetsuwan Atom, (known to western audiences as Astroboy), but due to the financial distress of Mushi Productions, the copyrights on some of his characters were in limbo. Due to the deadline imposed on Tezuka by Toei to produce the new series, he wasn't able to secure the copyrights to his characters on time, which forced him to compromise his original project and redesign it somewhat, reworking it conceptually and visually to some extent.

Tezuka then redesigned Atom slightly, and renamed him as Jetter Mars. 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 and beloved stories Tezuka wrote and drew in his Tetsuwan Atom manga, such as The Artificial Sun and The Last Day on Earth. The series was beautifully animated, and in the Tezuka tradition, it 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 lose interest in the series and it finished with 27 episodes produced. Having successfully secured the copyrights on all his characters once again, Tezuka founded Tezuka Productions a few years later, and was able to produce the color anime adaptation of Tetsuwan Atom as he wanted initially, which became a hit, much in the same way as the original anime adaptation from the 60's.

Plot
The storyline is set in the year 2015. Two scientist, 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 picture to the right, 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:


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


 * Jakyia McGhee as Miri: 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. Protector of Mars and Melchi, and "daughter" to Dr. Kawashimo.


 * Matt McGhee as Dr. Kawashimo: Creator of Jetter Mars' incredible 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.


 * TBA as Dr. Yamanoue: 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.


 * TBA as Dr. Tezuka: 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 and Hyōtan-tsugi : 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, which was roughly saying "Here ta meet ya!". Additionally, Hyōtan-tsugi appeared in each episode during the opening intro and end credits sequences.


 * TBA as HamEgg: 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. Broadcasted 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) as guests performing various roles. The following list includes the episode title, airing date and guest characters.

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
 * One-shot story illustrated by Shigeto Ikehara, published in the first issue of the magazine in 1979.


 * 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 1979.


 * Chū'ichi Jidai Magazine Story
 * Illustrated by Saisuke Hiraga, published from April to August, 1979. Short-story divided in five chapters.