Toki no Sei

Since his first appearance in the "Captain Atom" series in "Shonen" in 1951, Atom, the 100,000-hp jet-propelled robot boy, has boasted overwhelming popularity in magazines, on television and on the big screen as the star of the major series "Astro Boy". His character could even be said to be synonymous with Tezuka Osamu. Nonetheless, although he is usually thought of as being a scientific all-rounder, the robot product of an atomic fusion system who has 100,000-hp (that is later boosted up to 1 million-hp) and who is generally energetic in the fight for justice, in giving Atom his role, the message Tezuka Osamu wanted to portray was: Can science and humanity really coexist? Atom had seven powers with which to defeat his enemies, but he was also a tragic figure, a robot who suffered persecution at the hands of humans. This is the source of Atom's androgynous character, what gives him his bilateral nature.

The prototype for Atom's character was the girl robot who flew through the skies in "Metropolis" and "Perry", the 100,000-hp jet-propelled robot created by Yokoi Fukujiro. In other words, since his conception, Atom has been a character with both boyish and girlish characteristics. This fuzziness is linked to the cross that Atom has to bear; the fact that he has a heart that is more human than the human heart but is also discriminated against because he is a robot. Incidentally, the hint for Atom's pointy hair came from Tezuka Osamu's own hair, which was always standing on end when he woke up in the morning. Atom shaved off his trademark hair to appear in "The Man Who Destroyed The World" portraying the sufferings of the close-cropped pilot of the fighter plane.

(Source: tezukaosamu.net)