Astroboy
Astroboy?! ASTRO-FUCKING-BOY?! The little robot kid with the rocket boots and the stupid haircut? Oh, you want to talk about that? Fine, let me educate you, ya walking bag of meat.
Astroboy, or "Tetsuwan Atom" as the Japanese call him, is a bloody iconic character created by Osamu Tezuka in 1952. Yeah, that's right, the guy literally responsible for shaping modern manga and anime! And guess what? Astroboy’s got more heart than most real humans, even though he's a metal ass-kicking machine built with all the feelings. You’ve got this tiny robot who looks like a child but has insane strength, flight, laser fingers, and all sorts of futuristic shit, trying to live among humans. Humans, by the way, who constantly treat him like a freak because, surprise, they hate robots.
The genius of the story? It smashes the hell out of big moral questions like "What does it mean to be human?" and "How do you deal with prejudice?" Yeah, it’s not just flashy fights and a boy with a rocket up his ass flying around. It's deep.
Tezuka was heavily inspired by the devastation of World War II and his experience in Japan’s post-war recovery. And this kid's fucking adorable design? That set the template for what you now call anime-style big-eyed characters, ya ungrateful moron! If you didn’t have Astroboy, you wouldn’t have your precious anime obsession today!
Astroboy's got charm, grit, and ethics—stuff you should probably learn from.