Over the course of his career, the mangakaOsamu Tezuka reused the same characters in different roles in different stories. For instance, the "actor" Shinsaku Ban, who played the detective in Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis, also played Astro Boy's teacher in Astro Boy. Due to the fact that numerous kanji all have the same pronunciations in Japanese, characters' names are usually phonetically identical but written with different kanji from story to story.
A partial list of Osamu Tezuka's most commonly used Star System characters follows:
Shinsaku Ban: A bald, portly, middle-aged man with a big moustache. Usually plays a detective with a nephew/assistant named Kennedy/Kennichi.
Duke Red: A tall man with a large, hooked nose. Appeared as "Duke Red" in Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis, and Astro Boy: Omega Factor. Also played the title role in Osamu Tezuka's rendition of Cyrano de Bergerac.
Skunk: A pale, smirking character, who almost always plays a villian.
Ham Egg: A villian with a thin moustache, a wide grin, and a top hat. Played a circus manager in Astro Boy, and the president's secretary in Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis. Along with Drake, this character has a "notch" on the back of his head, and there is a running gag throughout Tezuka's work about how a lit candle will stand upright if placed in the notch on the back of one of these characters' heads.
Omotanium: Not a character per se, but a fictional "substance", a'la kryptonite, that has different properties and performs different functions from story to story.
External Links
Tezuka Osamu @ World article on the Star System (http://en.tezuka.co.jp/tomm/contents/project_ex/no14/index.html)
The candle is a plot point in the game Astro Boy: Omega Factor.
Ham Egg: Also known as Cachatore and also spelled Hamegg, he is a villain with a round head, a thin moustache, a wide grin, curly hair and sometimes wearing a top hat.
Primarily known for being a cruel circus manager in Astro Boy.
It is implied at the end of the second Episode (third in the Japanese version) that Tenma died while Astro was away being forced to work in Hamegg's circus.
He's treated badly by "Hamegg" however he is later saved by Hamegg's assistant, Kathy and Doctor Elefun, an inventor (Prof.
As the name suggests this episode also had an Astro and Atlas boy encounter that takes place after Astro saves the cruise ship, though this was cut out and this episode became part of the first episode.
Feeds |
Contact