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World Expo to Show 3D Anime Short With Astro Boy, Black Jack
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The Pasona company announced on Thursday that it will show a new 3D CG anime short titled "Neo Atom Tanjō" (The Birth of Neo Astro Boy), based on Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and Black Jack manga and anime, at its Pasona Natureverse booth at the World Expo 2025 in Osaka.
Tezuka Production is producing the original CG short. In the short, Astro Boy gives his life to save a densely populated space colony from a collision with the sun. The doctor Black Jack saves him, reborn to a new identity as Neo Astro Boy.
Satoshi Kuwabara (Black Jack 21, Black Jack Final episode 1 director, Astro Boy: Shinsen-gumi) is directing the short, and Mayumi Morita (Black Jack Final, 2004 Black Jack anime) penned the script. Akira Senju is composing the music. Hiroshi Ōsawa is the animation producer, while Masato Ishiwata is the creative director. Umi Hidaka is the supervising producer, and Yoshiki Sawa is the medical consultant for the short.
Makoto Tsumura, who voiced the character in the 2003 Astro Boy anime, voice Astro Boy. Akio Ōtsuka, who has voiced the Black Jack character since the 1993 OVAs by Osamu Dezaki, reprises the role in the short. Chafūrin voices Professor Ochanomizu. Singer Ayaka Hirahara narrates the short.
The character Neo Astro Boy will also guide visitors of the Pasona Natureverse booth.
The 2025 World Expo will take place from April 13 to October 13, 2025 on the man-made Yumeshima island in Osaka Bay. This will be the second time Osaka has hosted a World Expo after Expo '70, 55 years earlier. (A remnant of that expo is the famous Tower of the Sun that appeared in 20th Century Boys and other stories.)
Source: Comic Natalie
