Mitchy

Mitchy was Tezuka's earliest important female, and is one of the women who appears in the greatest variety of roles in Tezuka's work. This is very different from such figures as Riiko, Melmo, or Maria, who tend to play a single type of character, with very rare, if any, exceptions. Mitchy's most famous appearance is in Metropolis, where she is the robot created by Duke Red for his megalomaniac political purposes. She is created by Dr. Lawton (Butamo Makeru; for more information see our character profile), who tries and fails to protect her from the Red Party. She is then cared for by Shunsaku Ban (see our character profile), but upon finding out that she is not human and was created for evil purposes, she decides to take revenge on the entire human race and enlists other robots to help. It is important to note that for all the importance of this role to the plot and motivations of Metropolis, Mitchy does not appear in the film adaptation; she is replaced there by Tima, a more girlish figure and also in the end a far more dangerous one. For more about the contrast between Mitchy and the robot Tima in the Metropolis movie, see our analytical essay, coming soon.

Mitchy later went on to appear as Astro Boy's mother in both the manga and animated versions of Astro Boy. She also appeared in Nextworld, Faust, and several others, in a wide variety of roles and ages, but always in a noticeable role.