Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 1

A modern reinterpretation of Osama Tezuka’s seminal manga Astro Boy, Urasawa turns the original story on its head; he presents a post-war world where robots with a potential for mass destruction had such an impact on the battle that a campaign of revenge is directed at them and the scientists that gave birth to the technologies. Gesicht, a former combatant of the war, is now working as a world-renowned detective with Interpol and is tasked with solving the murders—the series, which just finished this year, is regarded as one of the greatest modern manga tales written and is a compelling look at the consequences of humanity’s unending desire to wage war.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

“Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 001” by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki is the first book in an eight-book science fiction manga series Pluto. The whole series is based on “The Greatest Robot on Earth,” the most popular story arc in Astro Boy series by a legendary manga master Osamu Tezuka.

In “Pluto, Volume 001,” detective Gesicht tries to figure out who - or what - destroyed the world’s most beloved robot Mont Blanc, killed a robot rights activist and left both victims with “horns” stuck in their heads. Whoever or whatever the killer is, he seems to be after the seven great robots of the world, which means that Gesicht himself is the target as well.

THUMBS UP:

1) Don’t be afraid of manga!
“Pluto, show more Volume 001” is the first manga I’ve ever read, and although I was kind of intimidated by the format at first (it’s not everyday I read a book from right to left), it’s actually not that different from usual comic books.

2) I am intrigued.
“Pluto, Volume 001” is a quick and engaging read. I kind of went into the story blindly but was pleasantly surprised: although I rarely read books about robots or even science fiction in general, I actually enjoyed the story and was touched by it. Admittedly, the first book feels more of a set up than a story by itself, but I am definitely intrigued to continue with the series.

3) Tribute to Astro Boy.
Since I knew absolutely nothing about Astro Boy, the inspiration of Pluto series, I found the interview with the creators of Pluto and some background information at the end of the book quite interesting, and I am even tempted to read the original story. However, you don’t really need to know the original Astro Boy story to fully enjoy Pluto series. In fact, reading “The Greatest Robot on Earth” beforehand would actually reveal some plot twist in Pluto, so I might wait until I am done with this series first.

COULD BE BETTER:

1) Not very realistic.
I don’t read science fiction often, but when I do, I prefer a realistic or at least logically explainable story. That being said, there is a lot of direct and indirect “robots are people, too” advocacy in the book, and even though the idea of future world in which humans and robots coexist is cool, the facts that robots can have family and children, eat food, feel, dream and even have nightmares seem a little bit far-fetched and beg for an explanation, which the author doesn’t bother to provide but rather expects the reader to just go with it.

2) Passive protagonist.
It might be too early to judge the story or the characters, but the protagonist, detective Gesicht, so far is quite boring. It’s true that we barely know anything about him, but it doesn’t look like there is much to know, and in general Gesicht seems more of an observer rather than a doer.

3) Static and colorless illustrations.
Don’t get me wrong, the artwork in Pluto is stunning, but it’s too static for a comic book. For example, although the entire story is written in dialogues, characters’ mouths most of the time are shut and the range of facial expressions and body movements is quite limited (though it might partially be explained by the fact that a lot of the characters are human-looking robots which, unlike humans, don’t make a lot of unnecessary movements). Also, I was very surprised that only ten first pages are colored and the rest of the illustrations are black and white. The colored pages look SO MUCH better…

VERDICT: 3 out of 5

“Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 001” by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki is more of a set up than a story by itself, thus I have a feeling that I need to read more than just the first volume to really understand and appreciate the series. Although I am not overly impressed by the protagonist and still have to wrap my head around the premise of humanlike robots, the story so far is engaging and touching, and I am eager to pick up the second volume. show less

This graphic novel has something to do with AstroBoy, but I think we just get a hint of that in the end. This is a story of robots being killed and leaving no trace of the killer. Robots that look like robots and robots that look like humans. All are fair game. This book is part I Robot, Bladerunner, and Westworld, and I love everything about it. It falls between a cyberpunk and Techno Thriller, and it is thrilling. It’s a dark mystery with no answer in book 1, so I need to hurry up and get book 2.

This contains three chapters of one of my favorite stories in manga overall, the story of North No. 2.
This is my favorite Urasawa. Naoki Urasawa is famous for his mystery and thriller stories, but what I remember or remains of them is the humane side of them. Here he showed a lot in a story that is about robots.
The series started while the Iraq War was going on, so the invasion and the robots of mass destruction are too familiar for the readers.

While writing this review, I was at Pluto's wiki page and noticed that they finally made a TV series for it.

Mont Blanc, a gigantic but gentle Swiss robot adored by the world as a hero, has been violently torn apart. Europol inspector Gesicht, a human-looking robot, has been charged with determining who is responsible for the murder of Mont Blanc and whether or not this murder ties in to a greater movement to limit the rights of robots in this world. This manga murder mystery left me wanting to read the rest of the series.

I've been a long standing fan of all things Astro Boy, and this is quite possibly the best story I've read in regards to him. Right from the beginning the book is compelling and a page turner that cannot be set down, and I assure you the continuing volumes are the same. You will think hard, and will feel pangs of sadness as you relate to characters who aren't even human. It really doesn't get better than this.

An outstanding tribute to the work of Osamu Tezuka. I can not wait to see MORE!