Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 7

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

“Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 007” by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki is the seventh 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 written by a legendary manga master Osamu Tezuka.

Epsilon, a pacifist robot powered by photon energy, is the last one of the seven great robots of the world. Although Epsilon is extremely powerful, he refuses to fight. However, when his children, a group of war orphans, are in danger, Epsilon has no choice but to face the murderous villain, who, in fact, might not even be the main danger.

THUMBS UP:

1) Continuously good.
“Pluto, Volume 007,” just like the show more previous volumes, is action-packed, suspenseful, thrilling, thought-provoking and touching. However, this book feels like a slight step-down from the sixth volume, which is so far my favorite in the whole series.

COULD BE BETTER:

1) Early wrap-up.
Although still good, the seventh volume is slower-paced and feels like a prolonged wrap-up rather than an adventure by itself. Also, there are so many revelations that some of them seem a little bit rushed and too convenient. Finally, the ending of “Pluto, Volume 007” is kind of depressing, but there is still one more volume to fix that.

2) Protagonist.
This volume centers around Epsilon, who, unfortunately, is not my favorite character. I love the idea of loving pacifist robot, but there is something about Epsilon that just doesn’t sit well with me. Maybe it is the fact that he is just too perfect, unnaturally heroic, annoyingly passive, rather boring and thus hard to relate to. Or maybe it is the fact that until the seventh volume I barely knew anything about this robot, and now suddenly he is the center of attention. Finally, it might also be the fact that up until this volume I thought that Epsilon is a female as he clearly looks and acts like one. In any case, I didn’t care enough about Epsilon, and it made the story less captivating.

3) Lack of color.
Urasawa’s artwork is very realistic, detailed and breathtakingly beautiful, but, except for the ten first pages, the illustrations are black and white.

VERDICT: 3.5 out of 5

Although still action-packed, suspenseful, thrilling, thought-provoking and touching, “Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 006” by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki is slower-paced than the previous volume and is centered around Epsilon, who, unfortunately, is not my favorite character.

POST SCRIPTUM:

Check out my reviews of the previous six volumes:
1) “Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 001;”
2) “Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 002;”
3) “Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 003;”
4) “Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 004;”
5) “Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 005;”
6) “Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 006.” show less

So good and dramatic and compelling and amazing. I can't wait to read the conclusion!!