10 Essential Superhero Anime That Reinvent The Genre
9. Astro Boy
One of Japan's most well-known and beloved characters, Astro Boy was a Pinocchio-esque sentient robot character created in the fifties by equally beloved creator Osamu Tezuka, whose legacy as both an early Japanese superhero and the inspiration for the popular super-robot or mecha genre of anime, despite not being its most prominent example.
The anime was one of the first to broadcast to an American audience, the character's adventures popular among young audiences, using his seven powers to fight evil, from 100K horsepower strength to his jet flight and other super-senses, as well as a high IQ giving him the ability to differentiate between good and evil.
His fights often involved him taking down robots gone berserk or invading aliens, familiar superhero fare, especially for Japanese heroes in the age of Kaiju, or giant monsters in entertainment. The main draw of Astro Boy, however, was his good heart and childlike demeanour, allowing kids to relate with what was essentially a super-weapon with a child's mind and heart.
So beloved was the character that he was registered as a citizen in the city of Niiza, Saitama in 2003, to coincide with his canon birth date.