Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka

Soaring high in the sky,
He may be small but only in size.
AstroBoy, AstroBoy,
He is brave and gentle and wise!

Three years ago, I had no inkling of how frequently these words would ring in our household.

Anxious to get some extra panties for the wee 10-month-old Ana to cover her diaper-ed bottom while traveling in Singapore, we casually picked up a pack of three at Mustafa's (where else?!) and started using them right away.

A year or so later, during the potty-training enterprise, I discovered that the pictures on the panties could be quite a powerful motivator for saying bye-bye to diapers for good.

Thus started Ana's fascination with those set of three panties we had picked up without a second thought, and they began to fit her just right minus the diaper...

...featuring...

... you guessed right: Astro Boy!

And, being a fan of the Manga/Anime classics, D encouraged Ana by showing her little youtube snippets of Astro Boy episodes. Needless to say, Ana fell in love with Astro Boy!

Why? Because, to quote Ana, 'he is a nice and kind robot who helps everybody'. And, he can fly, see in the dark with his glowing eyes, shoot out missiles from his hip, and he makes a great fashion statement clad in just panties and boots.

Astro Boy was the first comic to be animated in Japan back in the 60's to be shown on Fuji Television, then dubbed into English for worldwide consumption.

Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astro Boy had a simple message:

What I try to appeal through my works is simple. The opinion is just a simple message that follows: "Love all the creatures! Love everything that has life"! I have been trying to express this message in every one of my works. Though it has taken the different forms like "the presentation of nature" "the blessing of life" "the suspicion on too much science oriented civilisation" anti war and so on.
--Astro Boy Online

And, when we got wind of the new Astro Boy movie, D and I exchanged the typical
'?'
'!'
glances and tried to work out a way to take her to the movie before it is off the theaters.

No luck so far. Not unless we take the day off and plan to plonk a week's worth of grocery budget for the movie tickets and popcorn for three. What? Cut back on popcorn? Quelle horreur!

No, I know what you're gonna say - we did the coin-toss and we agreed that *both* of us won, so both of us have to accompany her to the movie while Og is safely enjoying his day with his wee little friends at daycare.

When? Ddim rŵan, possibly, byth, as D claims.