Astro Boy News & Artwork

Source: Jiji

A couple anime production materials recently found at the Tezuka Productions building in Japan. These materials have not been included in any book cataloguing Tezuka's works (as of June 2026).

The first image is character sheets for the 1979 TV film, Marine Express. The second image is a character sheet for the character Black Jack from the 1980 film, Phoenix 2772: Cosmozone of Love.

A very happy 90th birthday to Atom's (Astro Boy's) original voice actress, Mari Shimizu!

Born on June 7, 1936 in the city of Urawa (now part of Saitama, Japan), Mari Shimizu began voicing Atom in 1963 for the 1960s Astro Boy anime.

A childhood acquaintance of Mari Shimizu (and future Mushi Production executive) recommended Shimizu to Osamu Tezuka, noting her previous role in a Pinocchio stage play and the inspiration Pinocchio has on Astro Boy (Shimizu was part of Haiyuza Theater company as an actress and later worked as an apprentice and production assistant for stage, film, and television actress Misako Watanabe). Shimizu had not read manga nor heard of Astro Boy before voicing Atom in the pilot episode of the 1960s Astro Boy series.

Mari Shimizu voluntarily retired from voicing Atom on April 6, 2003, wanting to have a younger voice succeed her. Makoto Tsumura succeeded Shimizu and began voicing Atom in 2003 for the 2003 Astro Boy series. Tsumura is still the main voice actress for Atom to this day (as of June 2026).

Sources: Amazon Japan, other online and in-person retailers

Released on June 5, 2026 in Japan, Atom: The Beginning Volume 26 is now available to purchase!

Source: Hero's Web

boot_144, the 144th chapter of Atom: The Beginning, is available to read for free in full from May 28, 2026 to June 11, 2026!

Source: TWIN ENGINE (YouTube)

The first trailer for The Ribbon Hero, an anime movie inspired by Osamu Tezuka's Princess Knight, has been shared online by the producing company Twin Engine.

A release date of August 8, 2026 is revealed in the trailer. The Ribbon Hero will debut on Netflix.

In addition, a poster for the movie has been revealed along with character visuals. Saya is revealed to be the voice actor for Sapphire, with it being her first known voice acting role.

A character description for Sapphire, via The Ribbon Hero's X/Twitter account:

The former princess of Silverland, which was once destroyed. She is a bright and cheerful person, who, despite carrying the losses and conflicts of her past, strives to look forward and live on.

Source: The Ribbon Hero (Official X/Twitter account)

A new screenshot and animated GIF were posted on the official account for The Ribbon Hero on X/Twitter.

In addition, the account is teasing that some new information will be revealed about the film on May 26, 2026 at 9 PM Japan Standard Time.

Source: smile3retro (X/Twitter)

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