Jetter Mars

In the futuristic year of 2015, Dr. Yamanoue, the Director of the Ministry of Science, has been working on creating a powerful boy robot on an artificial island located in Tokyo Bay. Although he has created the body of the robot, it still lacks an artificial brain. That's when he ordered Dr. Kawashimo, a scientist specialized in creating electronic brains, to create an advanced electronic brain for the robot. Dr. Kawashimo hurries to the island at the request of Dr. Yamanoue, taking his young daughter, Miri, along. Despite being partners, Yamanoue and Kawashimo are, in reality, rivals not only in their personal lives but also in their scientific studies. Dr. Yamanoue is very patriotic and only thinks of the robot as one of his weapons. On the contrary, Dr. Kawashimo is a pacifist and treats robots like humans. Arriving on the island, Dr. Kawashimo installs the electronic brain into the boy robot, and Yamanoue names him Jetter Mars. Thus, Mars was born into the world.

Despite being powerful, Mars is as naive as an ordinary child. The following day, he carries Dr. Kawashimo and Miri up onto the building after being ordered by Dr. Yamanoue to drive them away. His antics eventually caused Miri to burst into tears. After he sees a drop of water flowing down Miri's eyes, he inquires Dr. Yamanoue about it, to which Yamanoue tells him that it is called a tear, and that a strong man has no need for such a thing.

As a thunderstorm rolls in, lightning strikes cause the powerful combat robot, Faitan, to go haywire. Faitan goes on a wild rampage, and the island is at risk of sinking. Miri is soon revealed to be a robot created by Dr. Kawashimo and is told by him to head to the power plant, along with Mars. After they patched up the hole that is leaking water, they are attacked by Faitan. Mars effortlessly defeats Faitan and throws it into the ocean. He tells Miri that it feels good to save people. At last, they rescue Dr. Yamanoue and Dr. Kawashimo from being washed away by seawater. Dr. Yamanoue bawls his eyes out in sorrow that his weapons laboratory is gone, to which Mars laughs at the irony that Yamanoue was the one who taught him that man does not need tears.

Jetter Mars is being forced by his creator and father, Yamanoue, to study 23/7, to the point of being sophisticated enough to assemble a mini TV in 10 seconds. When he turns it on, a news channel reports about a boy who has run away from home after being sickened by his mother forcing him to study constantly. He inquires Yamanoue about what it means to run away, to which Yamanoue responds that it means leaving home without his parents' permission. Mars then storms out of his home and visits Miri and Dr. Kawashimo. Due to his naivety and lack of common sense, instead of entering through the front door, he breaks through the ceiling of their house.

The news then reports that the boy has been found, and his mother hugs him, apologizing for neglecting him. This sparks an idea in Mars' head that if he runs away like the boy did, Yamanoue might also hug and apologize to him for treating him harshly. Mars takes off and flies over the ocean, where he discovers a ship full of criminals who profit from trafficking robots. When the naive Mars boards the ship, thinking he might have some fun, he is tricked into being held captive. They intend to turn Mars into a criminal to help them commit crimes. Dr. Kawashimo remembers that Mars has a tracking device on him and orders Miri to look for him.

When Mars finds out he is being forced to study again, he attempts to escape, but is paralyzed by the ship's electromagnetic barrier. The villains decide that they're better off selling Mars as scrap metal. Miri rescues Mars just in the nick of time, but they are stopped by the barrier and fall into the ocean. As they hide, Mars learns about what it's like to be afraid, as he was the one who stopped the Jet Scooter, saving himself and Miri. Mars defeats the criminals by redirecting the torpedoes towards the ship, causing it to explode. The coastguards arrive to rescue Mars, Miri, and the captive robots and arrest the criminals.

During his time with Miri in an amusement park, Mars ends up making many boys cry due to his reckless behavior. When he asks Miri about why those boys cried, Miri tells him that all boys cry when they are sad, to which Mars responds that he isn't capable of crying. Dr. Yamanoue shows up and takes Mars home, revealing that the following day will be the recovery ceremony of the Ministry of Science. Dr. Yamanoue puts Mars up against a professional robot fighter named Mad Mask to prove Mars' worth to Prime Minister Nonohara. Mars is carefree and isn't afraid of what he is getting into.

Before the match begins, Dr. Kawashimo and Miri are part of the audience, ready to rescue Mars in case things get out of hand. During the battle, Mars accidentally injures Miri's pet pigeon, Kuru, which was flying around the area. As Mars holds the injured Kuru in his hand, Mad Mask chose to surrender the match, since he refuses to harm those who are unwilling to fight him. Sometime later, Yamanoue and Mars receive a letter from Mad Mask, requesting another match between him and Mars. Dr. Yamanoue tears up the letter, believing it to be pointless for a rematch.

Not receiving the answer he wanted, Mad Mask captures Kuru and forces Mars to have another battle with him. The battle is interrupted when a volcano suddenly erupts, putting the city in danger of being destroyed. As lava began to leak from the dam, Mars and Mad Mask worked together to block the hole to save the city. Kuru helps by notifying Miri, and Dr. Yamanoue and his crew come to the rescue by reinforcing the dam. Unfortunately, they were not able to patch up the hole that Mad Mask was blocking.

Mad Mask sacrifices himself to save the city and tells Mars that blocking the holes with him was a test of their endurance. Mad Mask deemed himself victorious in his rematch against Mars and is happy that he can finally rest in peace after spending his whole life fighting. Unable to bear the sight of Mad Mask dying, Mars sheds a tear and flies off with Kuru, finally learning about what it's like to cry.

While Dr. Yamanoue was training Jetter Mars in a war scenario, Mars was being distracted by a picture book about puppies that Dr. Kawashimo gave him as a gift. An enraged Dr. Yamanoue then calls Dr. Kawashimo and starts blaming him for distracting Mars and interfering with his affairs. However, Dr. Kawashimo argues that the future of robots won't rely on strength alone and that Mars needs a heart and soul. Dr. Yamanoue then tears up the book before starting another battle training session with Mars. As they return home, Dr. Yamanoue almost runs over a puppy on the road. Mars panics and knocks Dr. Yamanoue's car off the road and saves the puppy. Mars finds the puppy adorable and immediately wants to have it as his little brother. When a tank suddenly attacks them, Mars ends up blackmailing Dr. Yamanoue, telling him that he will save him only if he agrees to let him keep the puppy. With no other choice, Dr. Yamanoue lets Mars keep the puppy, and Mars destroys the tank with ease.

As Mars gets attached to this puppy, Dr. Kawashimo begins to worry about the tank that attacked Dr. Yamanoue and Mars, and convinces Dr. Yamanoue to inspect the puppy. The puppy suddenly attacks Dr. Yamanoue aggressively and reveals itself to be a robot. As Yamanoue tries to disassemble the robot puppy, Mars refuses to hand it over, since he won't let anyone hurt his little brother. Mars then runs away with the puppy and finds a hideout at an abandoned lighthouse.

Dr. Yamanoue and Kawashimo analyze a projection of the mechanical inner workings of the puppy, discovering a bomb inside it. They're soon confronted by a group of gangsters led by a man named Niningashikaku. The evildoers revealed the fact that they were the ones who created that puppy and threatened to destroy Mars if they didn't return the puppy by dawn. Dr. Kawashimo and Miri find Mars and convince him to hand over the puppy and remove the bomb before the gangsters arrive, but they are too late. As the gangsters arrive, Mars defeats them all easily, but the gangster leader threatens to blow up the puppy and force Mars to leave the puppy in a fly pod. Unwilling to leave his brother behind, Mars charges into the pod at the last second, thinking he can somehow save the puppy. However, the pilot is revealed to be a dummy with a speaker.

As the defeated Niningashikaku detonates the bomb in the puppy, it becomes berserk and saves Mars by pushing him out of the pod before exploding. The following day, Mars wakes up, having no memory of what had happened. Dr. Yamanoue reveals that he had erased part of Mars' memory. When Mars returns to the lighthouse, he is strangely familiar with the place. When he met a puppy and a bigger dog, he seemed to partially remember having a brother at one point.

In another intense battle training, Mars learns about the ability to endure from Dr. Yamanoue. He tells Mars that he's the only robot with such a capability and pushes Mars to his limits. Mars then escapes from the Ministry of Science with Miri, who also told Mars to endure it after a police robot angered Mars. They later meet Ham Egg and Ham Salad, a couple in charge of an entertainment company, who invited Mars to star in their show. Despite Miri's objections, Mars signs the contract and becomes the star of their show.

When Miri tries to stop him, she suddenly becomes unresponsive and is sent to the hospital. However, Mars is too excited about being a star in the Ham Egg and Ham Salad's show, and leaves Miri alone in the hospital, unaware that Miri was drained of all her energy. After Mars performs poorly, Ham Egg and Ham Salad show their true colors and verbally abuse him. However, when they noticed his high horsepower, they put Mars against their giant robot named Mr. Powerful. Mars easily overpowers the robot, which satisfies the couple into making him the star of the show.

During his first time on stage, Mars meets a clown robot performer named Mr. Pierro, who explains how he's been mistreated by the couple in charge of the company and was left shabby after he performed poorly once on stage. He encouraged Mars to endure the pain, which led Mars to recall Yamanoue and Miri both telling him to endure it as well. As a result, Mars refused to fight Mr. Powerful despite Ham Egg's insistence. Feeling humiliated, Ham Egg and Ham Salad punishes Mars by draining his energy. When Mars refuses to fight back, Mr. Pierro attempts to save him by confessing that it was his fault. Furious, Ham Egg and Ham Salad orders Mr. Powerful to destroy Mr. Pierro.

Unable to handle Mr. Pierro being hurt, Mars finally gains back the will to fight, but is at a disadvantage due to his energy being drained immensely. Fortunately, he is able to get the upper hand in the end and defeats Mr. Powerful. He crawls over to a beaten Mr. Pierro and tells him that he has endured it and won. Just as Ham Egg is about to shoot Mars, he is stopped by Miri, Dr. Kawashimo, and Dr. Yamanoue, who came to rescue him.

Dr. Flame, a scientist obsessed with researching a species of aliens that travel the universe in the form of an orb of blue light, reaches out to Dr. Yamanoue for help. Yamanoue reluctantly agrees and sends Mars to investigate the blue lights that Dr. Flame spotted. One of the orbs of light is left behind, and inside it is a humanoid alien girl. When Mars approaches her, she cries in fear, but Mars assures her that he means no harm to her. They both sneak past and evade Dr. Flame and his robot army, who are also searching for her.

The girl named herself Dory and quickly became friends with Mars. She explains how she envisioned Earth in her dream and was fascinated by its beauty. However, she feared that she might be in danger if humans saw her wings. Therefore, Mars gave her some clothes and took her to his home. Dr. Yamanoue scolds Mars for ignoring his duties and mistakes him for playing with Dory as an excuse. Soon, he receives another call from Dr. Flame, who discovers Dory alongside Dr. Yamanoue. Enraged, Dr. Flame blames Dr. Yamanoue for stealing his research and coerces him to hand over the girl.

In spite of Mars' disapproval, Yamanoue agrees, allowing Dr. Flame to come and take Dory away. When Mars continues to oppose his father, Yamanoue attaches an attenuator to Mars' back, reducing Mars' strength to one-tenth of his normal level, and proceeds to lock him away. As Dr. Flame arrives to capture Dory, she escapes on foot and is rescued by Dr. Kawashimo and Miri. Dr. Flame proceeds to surround Dr. Kawashimo's house with his robot army and forces them to give up Dory to him. Mars came just in time to rescue her, prompting Dr. Flame to challenge him to fight against his powerful robot, Star Kong.

With his strength reduced to only one-tenth of his normal level, Mars is overpowered by Star Kong, as Dr. Flame takes advantage of the weakened Mars. Dr. Yamanoue, Kawashimo, and Miri come to the rescue and remove the attenuator from Mars' back. Just as Dr. Flame was about to blow up Mars, Dory sacrificed herself to save him. With his strength restored, Mars destroys Star Kong with ease and throws the robot at Dr. Flame, killing him. Dory, back in her light orb form, thanks Mars for fighting for her and floats away.

The episode concludes with Mars having a dream about playing with Dory in a land filled with flowers. Mars then wakes up excited that he finally had a dream and calls out to Dory beyond the night sky.

One night, on her way back home, Miri is suddenly kidnapped by a group of gangsters. Dr. Yamanoue receives a call from Dr. Kawashimo, stating that Miri has yet to return, prompting Mars to go out searching for her. Mars is confronted by a big robot named Bruiser, but their fight is cut short as Bruiser flees from the police. Mars then encounters a man named Skunk, who is the leader of the same gangsters who kidnapped Miri. Skunk claims that he found Miri fainted on the road and took her back to his place, convincing Mars to follow him to his auto repair shop, where Mars discovers Miri unconscious on a couch.

Due to their good-natured attitude towards him, Mars wrongly assumes that the gangsters are merely kind people trying to help others out. When Mars reencounters Bruiser, who turns out to be one of Skunk's subordinates, Skunk rebukes Bruiser for attacking Mars. Skunk then requests that Mars help them break through some solid rocks in their underground tunnel, to which Mars agrees. In reality, Skunk plans to use Mars to break into a bank vault and commit a robbery. Bruiser comes in time to stop Mars from smashing through the wall, and discloses that Skunk and his men are gangsters who kidnapped Miri and are taking advantage of Mars.

When Mars hurries back to save Miri, the gangsters hold Miri hostage and demand that Mars open the bank vault. Bruiser interferes, and Mars quickly saves Miri, who had no idea what had happened. After Skunk and his gang attacked Bruiser for betraying them and fled, the dying Bruiser explains to Mars that he was initially a planet-exploring robot, and Skunk had taken him in for committing robbery, and that all he wanted was to free Skunk from a life of crime. In order to avenge Bruiser, Mars pursues Skunk and forces him and his gang to surrender to the authorities. The episode concludes with Mars and Miri visiting Bruiser's grave and paying their respects.

After Mars disobeys his father and refuses to study, Yamanoue takes Mars on a Tour around Japan. Surprised that his father didn't scold him instead, Mars inquires Yamanoue about why, to which Yamanoue explains that he showed him the beauty of Japan because he wanted Mars to protect the country with all his might. Yamanoue's sudden kindness towards him made Mars grow more fond of him. The following morning, Mars refuses to accompany Yamanoue to a weapons experiment test and instead visits Miri. Mars learns from Kawashimo that the dangerous experiment Yamanoue was conducting was a gravity weapon test located near a nuclear power plant, which puts many people's lives in danger.

Mars, along with Miri and Dr. Kawashimo, rushed to the site, but they were too late. The experiment has gone wrong, and Yamanoue is nowhere to be seen. While he manages to save the power plant, Mars is unable to find Yamanoue. Refusing to give up searching for his father, Mars, Miri, and Kawashimo visit the Ministry of Science to check on the director, who is revealed to have already returned to his office. However, in the office, they were instead greeted by a new director named Tawashi, who claimed that Yamanoue had died during the experiment.

As the new director of the Ministry of Science, Tawashi has the authority over Mars and decides to drain him of all of his energy using his two robot bodyguards, Aung No. 1 and 2. Mars defeats the robots and forces Tawashi to sign an agreement, relinquishing ownership of all of Yamanoue's properties. Although Dr. Kawashimo and Miri have custody of Mars and Yamanoue's belongings, Mars is still depressed about losing his father and refuses to leave his room, located next to what used to be Yamanoue's office.

After losing his father, Mars falls into depression and won't cheer up even when accompanied by Miri and Dr. Kawashimo. He eventually catches the attention of a man named Lamp, who plans on abducting Mars to make his job as a space garbage man easier. The following day, Lamp shows up unannounced at Dr. Kawashimo's house and tricks Mars into believing his father is in space. Desperately wanting to see his father again, Mars follows Lamp and gets trapped in a special device. When Dr. Kawashimo finds out, he brings out a spaceship so Miri can pursue Lamp into space.

Realizing he's being followed, Lamp attempts to destroy Miri's spaceship. Miri ends up crashing into Lamp's ship, freeing Mars, who defeats Lamp and traps him in the same device he used to trap Mars. Mars then flies back home with Miri using Lamp's spaceship. The following day, Mars is in much better shape due to the adventure he had the day before. Dr. Kawashimo completes Dr. Yamanoue's unfinished work, and it's revealed to be a baby robot who is Mars' little brother.

Mars meets a robot named Adios who is presumed to be working with a robot drug-dealing gang who kidnapped Melchi. After meeting with and fighting Adios, Mars meets a robot who says he's pursuing the gang as well. He brings Mars to the gang's hideout where Adios happens to be. The robot gives Mars a mysterious capsule which Mars ingests, filling him with a ridiculous amount of energy. With this new energy, he faces off against Adios, who almost immediately suspects that Mars has ingested a drug. When Adios reveals this to Mars, it's too late, and the energy has driven Mars mad. Suddenly, Melchi burst out and begins to fight, which breaks Mars out of his drug-fueled madness. Working together with Melchi and Adios, Mars puts a stop to the drug-dealing gang.

A robot named Saromi from Africa comes to visit Dr. Kawashimo's place, begging him to fix the robotic brain of a resistance leader named Dr. Cecimo. Kawashimo does so, but assassins from Africa are sent to put a stop to this. Miri and Saromi set off to find Saromi's ship while Mars looks for and takes care of the Assassins. The assassins find Miri and Saromi, who hold them off for a short time before Mars comes to save them. Dr. Kawashimo gives Saromi a body that was a prototype body for Miri. Saromi heads back off to Africa with the restored Dr. Cecimo.

Mars makes friends with a werewolf boy who lives in the forest with other werewolves. Nightfall comes and poachers begin to hunt the wolves, but Mars puts a stop to them. Unfortunately, he is too late, and all but the boy he befriended have perished.

Mars learns Dr. Kawashimo had designed a robot test dummy built for testing car crashes, and runs away from home feling like Kawashimo doesn't care for robot lives. He wanders through a forest where he meets Adios. The two are separated by a collapsed bridge over a ravine. Mars jumps over the ravine and continues onward while Adios pulls back to find another way around. Mars wanders further until he falls into a well, whre he's rescued by a robot in a suit of armor. Low on energy, Mars escorts the robot back to his place, a ranch. The robot suddenly springs to life and saps Mars of his energy, removing his helmet and revealing himself to be human. He reveals to Mars that his son had died in a car crash, and he had intentions on remodeling Mars to be like his son. The man invites a shady doctor to his ranch, who almost immediately betrays him with plans of selling Mars off for a high price. Right when the shady doctor was about to kill the old man, Adios throws a shuriken at the doctor, knocking the gun out of hand. The doctor makes an escape in a helicoptor, but a freshly recharged Mars makes chase and puts a stop to him.

The children of the Republic of Lopras Symphony hijack a plane to visit Jetter Mars in Japan and deliver to him a letter, through which Mars learns his father is still alive, kidnapped by the robot dictator Lopras of the Republic of Lopras. Mars must defeat Lopras in order to rescue his father and bring peace to the Republic of Lopras.