Jetter Mars (Character)

"I'm not that weak! I never cry! I'm strong, strong, strong!"

—Jetter Mars telling Miri that he's strong. (Why is Mars crying?)

"That's alright then, I never asked to be a part of this world anyway!"

—Jetter Mars, upon being told what it means to die. (Counterfeiting robot gang)

Jetter Mars(ジェッターマルス Jettā Marusu) is a robot-boy designed by Osamu Tezuka and voiced by Mari Shimizu, he is the main character of the series Jetter Mars. Jetter Mars is not known by many as a classic series the same way his cousin-series Astro Boy is, and is actually one of Osamu Tezuka's more obscure works, despite being based on the classic character.

Conception and design[]

Jetter Mars was a series originally meant to be a color remake of Astro Boy. It's for this reason that it's thought that Mars is a redesign of the main character of that show: Astro Boy. However, Jetter Mars' personality more closely resembles Astro Boy's sister: Uran.

Personality[]

Jetter Mars is really ignorant of the world, especially compared to his predecessor Astro Boy. Jetter Mars' personality is that of a spoiled child, similar to that of Uran from the Astro Boy series. He's also said to be very dumb, and will often-times do and say very dumb things, and is ignorant of the world around him. He does, however, mature quite a bit throughout the series, especially when his little brother Melchi is introduced.

Since he’s a hero, he is kind, sweet, loving, playful, cute, cheerful, and energetic robot boy. He’s also a older brother to Melchi while he’s Miri’s younger half-brother.

Abilities[]

Strength - Jetter Mars has showcased this ability from the beginning of the show, not knowing how to open doors, he just used his super-strength to break through walls.

Mars using his flight ability for the first time.
Flight - Jetter Mars is frequently shown to have the ability to fly, and showcases this quite often. With the press of a button on his belt, he can transform his scarf into a cape and begin flying!

Mars showing off his athletic ability
Athleticism - Jetter Mars has shown off his athletic ability quite often, this is given more attention in a scene in episode 13 when Honey, a transfer student, shows up.

History[]

MarsFlying — Mars flying through the sky

Origin[]

In the futuristic year of 2015, on an artificial island created by Dr. Yamanoue, Dr. Yamanoue plans to create a super robot which will be used for war purposes, however, he could only make the body of the robot. Without being able to make a reliable AI, Dr. Yamanoue requests Dr. Kawashimo to create an electronic brain. After Dr. Yamanoue activates Mars, who is born without knowing anything from the world around him. Mars later meets a robot built by Dr. Kawashimo named Miri, who is considered to be Mars' half-sister. After meeting Miri who addresses Dr. Kawashimo as her father, Mars starts to consider Dr. Yamanoue as his father, however, he is still unaware of his creator's true intentions of using Jetter Mars for war-purposes.

The Counterfeiting Robot Gang[]

Jetter Mars is upset at Dr. Yamanoue for making him do lessons and decides to run away after seeing a kid who ran away on TV. He comes across a boat and decides to visit it. Unfortunately for Mars, the boat is owned by a gang who sells counterfeit robots. They disable Mars and plan to reprogram him for evil purposes, when he shows resistance they decide to just scrap him for parts. This is when Mars feels fear for the first time. Fortunately, Miri saves Mars from the ship and the counterfeiting robot gang is arrested.

The Mad Mask[]

Dr. Yamanoue decides to prove Jetter Mars' worth as a fighting machine by making him fight the current holder of the title "the strongest robot in the world". Dr. Yamanoue is afraid Mars may actually lose but Mars isn't afraid, he fights Mad Mask, but accidentally hurts his bird friend Kuru, and goes to tend to him. This causes the Mad Mask to forfeit since Mars has stopped fighting back. He later ordered a rematch, holding Kuru hostage, and Mars and the Mad Mask fight at a dam. The dam is about to break when the Mad Mask sacrifices his life to keep the dam up. This is when Mars learns sadness.

Otouto[]

When Jetter Mars was training in a war scenario one day, he gets distracted by a book about dogs, and almost gets destroyed. Dr. Yamanoue destroyed the book in anger and went out to drive Mars somewhere else, Dr. Yamanoue almost runs over a puppy but Mars shoves the car out of the way so the puppy is fine, and Yamanoue crashes. Yamanoue is then attacked by a tank and Mars blackmails Yamanoue into letting him keep the puppy, which Mars names Otouto, and affectionately refers to him as his little brother.

When I walk the doggie walks too! — Mars playing with his new brother!

Mars gets really attached to this puppy, Dr. Kawashimo ends up worrying about the tank that attacked Dr. Yamanoue, and convinces Dr. Yamanoue to inspect the Puppy, the Puppy attacks Dr. Yamanoue, who then found out that the Puppy was a robot, and tells Mars to destroy it. Mars panics and tells Dr. Yamanoue that he won't do it and that it's his brother! Mars consoles the puppy, and they run away. Jetter Mars finds an abandoned lighthouse and says to his Otouto that it could be their new home.

Little Brother — Otoutos inner-workings.

Dr. Yamanoue and Dr. Kawashimo analyze a projection of the mechanical inner-workings of the puppy, finding that there's a bomb inside it. They are then attacked by a group of gangsters led by a man named Tack. They blackmail them into giving the puppy back to them. So Dr. Kawashimo and Miri go to Jetter Mars and try to take the puppy and remove the bomb before the gangsters arrive, but the gangsters attack them, threatening them that if they don't put the puppy into the flying vehicle that they will activate the bomb. Mars can't take this, and goes in with the puppy, thinking that he wouldn't risk blowing up the pod with Tack inside it piloting. However, it's revealed that inside the pod is a dummy with a speaker!

But, just before the puppy explodes, he pushes Mars out of the pod and detonates.

Dr. Yamanoue can't take this and deletes that part of Jetter Mars memory. Though, Jetter Mars can still recall having a little brother at some point.

The Robot Circus.[]

Mars and Miri were going on a trip together when they come across Hamegg and his wife Hamsalad, who was looking for robots to join his robot circus. Mars, after signing a contract, found out about how poorly Hamegg treated his robots. So when he was supposed to fight a robot, he refused to. Hamegg then ordered the big robot to punish Mars by whipping him. Then a Clown Robot who met Mars before interfered, and was whipped as well. Mars managed to put a stop to the robot, though. Saving the day, but not in time to save the clown robot. Then Miri, Dr. Yamanoue, and Dr. Kawashimo came in and took Mars away from the circus. This is how Mars learns about how bad people can be.

Trivia:[]

Mars’s first appearance was on a New Year’s postcard that Tezuka drew in January 1977.
Jetter Mars and Astro Boy shared the same voice actress, Mari Shimizu.
Mars' name is a reference to the Roman god of war Mars, justifiable due to the fact Mars was created for warfare purposes.
Jetter Mars' boots are supposed to be blue, but sometimes in the show and in artwork for the character his boots appear black.

Astro Boy's encounter with Jetter Mars in Astro Boy: Omega Factor
Jetter Mars made a cameo appearance in the Game Boy Advance game "Astro Boy Omega Factor" as a minor character that can be found hidden in the Moon Plant Base.

Jetter Mars in "The Last Mystery of the 20th Century".
Jetter Mars appears in "Osamu Tezuka's Strangest Case in the 20th Century" also known as "The Last Mystery of the 20th Century" with a redesigned look, though this is just a cameo appearance and he has no major impact on the plot of the film.
Jetter Mars is depicted in "Atom: The Beginning" through the character "Mars".
Several depictions, toys, and merchandise for this character miscolor Mars, usually giving him green and red colors like Astro Boy.