1976

HISTORY

Jetter Mars was planned as a sequel to Osamu Tezuka's 1963 animated television series, Astro Boy (鉄腕アトム Tetsuwan Atomu)
Initially, the project was about a newly created robot, a second Astro Boy, who would replace Astro Boy since he had died in the final episode of his show. Professor Ochanomizu would track down Dr. Tenma, who had isolated himself and settled down on Mars. There, Ochanomizu would ask for help in rebuilding Astro Boy. Dr. Tenma would refuse, but give Dr. Ochanomizu blueprints for a new robot design. This new robot would be named "Mighty Mars" ( マイティ・マルス Maiti Marusu ) [10]
Initially, Mars was planned to have virtually identical abilities to Astro Boy with some improvements. As development continued, his powers were narrowed down to flight, super hearing, and super strength.

As development continued, Jetter Mars was produced as a work separated from the world of Astro Boy. And although it was separate, it would incorporate many similar elements, settings, and stories to the classic series. [1]

A prototype design for "Mighty Mars"

Jetter Mars was produced by Toei Animation, at the request of Fuji Television's Koji Bessho, who was also in charge of the first Astro Boy TV series. Rintaro, having also worked on Astro Boy, joined the staff. Members of Madhouse, a group established by former Mushi Productions employees, would join as well. [1] Mushi Productions was Osamu Tezuka's animation company, which went defunct in 1973. [2]

Although Toei Animation did not have a system for supervising animation, it is said that Sugino took great pains to revise artwork that had been created by artists from Toei's animation department, in order to fit in with Osamu Tezuka's art style. [1]

At the request of Toei, the age of their target demographic was set much lower than that of "Mighty Atom." The series depicts the development of the main character, Mars. Osamu Tezuka was involved in the initial planning, the initial synopsis of the series, and the initial character designs. After the project was finalized, the content was solidified by the animation staff to include parts in line with "Mighty Atom", as well as elements that created a stronger sense of originality. [1]

1977

Ultimately, 27 episodes were produced, which aired throughout the course of 1977. [1]

The voice actors included Mari Shimizu as Mars and Hisashi Katsuta as Dr. Kawashimo, both of whom played major characters in Tetsuwan Atom. In addition, characters from Tezuka's works, such as Gourdski, appear in the show. [1]

Chief director Rintaro later took a negative view of the project itself, saying that it was incomplete. On the other hand, Aritsune Toyoda, who participated in the first Mighty Atom as a scriptwriter, left a favorable impression of the project, saying that it was refreshing and that he looked forward to the future. [1]

Jetter Mars would receive several manga and children's book adaptations, most notable is a manga illustrated by Ikehara Shigeto and published by Televiland Comics in 1977 from March to October. Unlike other chapters which remained in manga magazines and supplements, the first 5 chapters of Shigeto Ikehara's Jetter Mars would be compiled into a single volume issue on April 20, 1977. A second issue was planned to release December 30, 1977 but it never came to be. The first issue was reprinted in 2019 with two additional chapters and an epilogue. [3] [11] [12][13]

Final design for Jetter Mars in the anime

LEGACY

Jetter Mars seems to have made a lasting impact on a number of people, as characters from the show would make small cameo appearances in various types of media over the years. Despite the show's short length, Jetter Mars remains remembered by fans all around the world.

1977

Dr. Yamanoue and Dr. Kawashimo from the Jetter Mars series would make a cameo appearance in a 1977 manga chapter of Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack. This cameo likely occurred because Jetter Mars was airing by the time of the manga being illustrated. This was a quick and insignificant single-panel cameo.

Dr. Kawashimo and Dr. Yamanoue in a panel from the "Black Jack" manga.

Jetter Mars would be parodied in a 1977 manga titled "Go Go Goku" (ゴーゴー悟空) by Manga artist Nori Narui. This parodied Jetter Mars declares himself to be "Setter Mars" (せったーマルス ) and he appears alongside a parody of Getter Robo, "Getter" being spelled with hiragana as opposed to katakana. (Katakana: ゲッターロボ Hiragana: げたーロボ)[8]

A panel from "Go Go Goku" depicting "Setter Mars" and "Getter Robo"

1998

On the 22nd of June,1998, the 106th episode of Detective Conan aired. "The Scoop Photograph Murder Case" (スクープ写真殺人事件) The episode was directed by Johei Matsura and written by Junichi Miyashita.
In this episode, the name "Jetter Mars" would appear on a canned drink in an ad printed on the back of a magazine. There's nothing particularly "mars-like" about the can (besides maybe the red, yellow, blue, and light blue coloring) or the magazine. It just uses the same name.

1999

Miri would make a cameo appearance alongside other famous Tezuka characters as a fleeing citizen in the 1999 special: "Mighty Atom: The Blue Knight Chapter" (鉄腕アトム青騎士の巻) with a minor redesign, giving her a belt and removing the ball tips at the ends of her hair. She can be identified by the sleeveless collared jacket, her long-sleeved undershirt which has cuffs around the wrists, and most notably her hair, which has a very particular shape.

Miri as she appears in Mighty Atom: The Blue Knight Chapter

2000

Mars would make a cameo appearance in a short film from 2000 celebrating Osamu Tezuka titled "Did Tezuka Osamu Disappear?! The Last Mystery of the 20th Century" (手塚治虫が消えた?! 20世紀最後の怪事件 Tezuka Osamu ga Kieta?! 20-seiki Saigo no Kaijiken) alongside numerous characters from Osamu Tezuka's works. He received a slight redesign in this appearance, most notably with the inclusion of white gloves. [4] This is the only appearance of this design.

Jetter Mars as he appears in "Did Tezuka Osamu Disappear?! The Last Mystery of the 20th Century"

2001

Jetter Mars received an entry in the Anime Encyclopedia, written by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy and published in 2001 by Stone Bridge Press. The quality of the information in this entry is questionable.
Jetter Mars' first mention in the encyclopedia is in the entry for Astro Boy, where they would write: "An inferior copy appeared as Jetter Mars in 1977, but the original itself returned in a new color format in 1980."[9]
The entry for Jetter Mars claims that the show was a lackluster copy of Astro Boy, adding "if Astro was 10-12 years old, Jetter is 6-8"[9] In this quote, they use "Jetter" as a shorthand for Mars, the first and only time this shorthand has been used for Mars in any published form of media. This is not the only time they use this shorthand for Mars.
They would weave an alternate tale of the show's creation, saying that after the show was commissioned by Osamu Tezuka, 'studio interference' from Toei is what lead to Jetter Mars becoming a 'poor imitation'. They went on to claim Osamu Tezuka lost interest for this reason, saying "they had chipped away everything that made it anything other than a poor imitation."[9] It is unclear if Osamu Tezuka actually said this or not.
Finally, they erroneously claimed that some episodes of Jetter Mars' script were plagiarized from Astro Boy, just changing the names. "[...] and even lifted AB scripts whole-sale, pausing only to change the names." [9] This was a clearly false statement and it's not known why this false information is in the encyclopedia, as any basic research would have disproved this.

The cover design for
The Anime Encyclopedia
first edition version.

2003

In 2003, Jetter Mars would make a cameo appearance in a video game titled "Astro Boy: Omega Factor," a GBA beat'em up video game. Meeting Mars as Astro Boy would trigger a cutscene between Astro Boy and Jetter Mars where they exchange a few lines of dialog. After the cutscene, Astro Boy will level up. This cameo marks Jetter Mars' first (and last) appearance in a widely distributed piece of English media. Mars notes that his creators' names are Dr. Yamanoue and Dr. Kawage. [5] At the time, Sega had access to all of Tezuka Productions' copyrighted characters, and the team wanted to include Jetter Mars in order to resolve any conflict people may have had between Mars and Astro Boy and create a future where the two robots co-existed. The people at Tezuka Productions were reportedly pleased with this decision. [14]

Mars as he appears in Astro Boy: Omega Factor

2009

On March 27, 2009, a five-disc Jetter Mars DVD box set was produced by Avex as a part of the celebration for Osamu Tezuka's 80th Anniversary. Alongside this, a Soundtrack CD was published. [1] Jetter Mars would also be made available on Amazon Prime Japan. These remain the only ways to officially watch Jetter Mars, limited to the Japanese language.

Jetter Mars render used on the front cover of the Jetter Mars DVD Box Set

2015

In 2015, Mars would serve as the inspiration for the design of an antagonist of the same name in an Astro Boy spin-off manga titled "Atom: The Beginning." Jetter Mars being the inspiration is directly stated in a character sheet for Mars.

"Mars" as he appears in "Atom: The Beginning"

2019

Several chapters of the Televiland Jetter Mars manga would be reprinted and compiled into a single paperback manga volume on December 18th of 2019, which was sold in stores.

2023

On the 3rd of September, 2023 a screening of Jetter Mars episode 21 was shown to celebrate Masao Maruyama's involvement with the Pluto anime. He was credited under the "Kyusaku Fukano" pen name.