It's a powerful, heart-breaking movie about the devstating impact the war has on two children on the Japanese home front.
From the ashes of Hiroshima arose a democratic nation that was to become a great economic power, and from this experience comes a theme in anime which is virtually inescapable.
I started out with anime ever since I started watching cartoons when I was little.
The military forces featured in these anime wage war using everything from tanks, spaceships, to gas-powered movement gear.
With Astro Boy, Many recognized Tezuka's original style and approach that was new to the entire industry.
Even in America anime has a wide following, its fans ranging in age from early teens to fully grown, intelligent, educated adults.
The reason a pretty isolationist Japan suddenly has western media was because of American troops bringing cartoons and comics and the like from overseas after the war.
The technicalities of war have become different over time as new weapons and other technologies were developed, but the basic idea is still the same: kill that other guy before he kills you.