The 2003 Astro Boy anime revival got this single from ZONE, the Hokkaido all-girl rock band that was everywhere in early 2000s Japan. "Child of Science" and "Exceeding the Sky" are the A-sides, blending ZONE's trademark pop-punk energy with lyrics about Atom's existential weight as a robot boy trying to be human.
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"The Far Side of Star" pulls back into something more wistful, the kind of track that plays over the emotional episode endings. The real curiosity here is the ska version of the Astro Boy theme. Someone took Osamu Tezuka's iconic melody and ran it through a horn section and an offbeat rhythm guitar, and it works way better than it should.
Both the vocal and instrumental versions are included, and they are genuinely fun listens that recontextualize one of anime's most recognizable tunes. "Child of Atom" and "Birth" round things out as companion tracks. This is a very specific 2003 anime single release, the kind of physical CD you'd find in a Japanese record store bin.
For Astro Boy completionists and anyone who remembers when ZONE was the biggest thing in J-rock.