Tetsuzin

Together with his robotic pet, Atom, Shou Tobio travels from Japan to Dongbei City in the People’s Republic of China. His mother, Saeko, a scientist who graduated from MIT, has been assigned to reevaluate old Japanese weaponry left in China from the colonial period. Some of these relics are leaking dangerous gases. Adding to the tense situation, anti-Japanese sentiments still linger among the locals, making the environment particularly hostile. It’s surprising that Saeko would bring her ten-year-old son into such a volatile area.

Shou was born in Japan and grew up in America. He had only just started reacquainting himself with Japanese kanji at his school in Gunma when he was uprooted to this unfamiliar and unfriendly place. Atom, his little robot dog, is the only one he can talk to, faithfully keeping him company on his lonely days while his mother is occupied with her work.

One night, while Shou is on the phone with his grandmother back in Japan, the electricity suddenly cuts out. Atom begins reacting to a mysterious transmission and bolts away. Shou chases after him, struggling to keep up. By the time he finally catches hold of his robotic pet, they find themselves in a dimly lit basement. Before them looms a gigantic robot.