| View Larger Image | Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol. 1 | Paperbackby Naoki Urasawa (Author), Naoki Urasawa (Illustrator)
| List Price: | $12.99 | | Price: | $9.35 | | You Save: | $3.64 (28%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | VIZ Media LLC | | Page Count: | 200 Pages | | Publication Date: | February 17, 2009 | | Sales Rank: | 84,994th |
|
FEATURES | - ISBN13: 9781421519180
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
|
EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
R to L (Japanese Style)In a distant future where sentient humanoid robots pass for human, someone or some thing is out to destroy the seven great robots of the world. Europol’s top detective Gesicht is assigned to investigate these mysterious robot serial murders—the only catch is that he himself is one of the seven targets. In a distant future where sentient humanoid robots pass for human, someone or some thing is out to destroy the seven great robots of the world. Europol’s top detective Gesicht is assigned to investigate these mysterious robot serial murders—the only catch is that he himself is one of the seven targets. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 6 reviews)
|
Robot Detective by Ian E. Mcgonigal (Yokota AFB, Tokyo, Japan)  4 Stars
November 01, 2009
Apparently to honor Astro Boy and his creator, Tezuka, a up and coming artist, Urasawa, wrote a manga title Pluto. The official title is Pluto - Tezuka X Urasawa. It a murder mystery/action manga about a high tech android police agent, seems similar to robot FBI. This manga is based around the investigation of the recent death of the world renowned robot Mont-Blanc, that might be by foul play.
The art reminds me of Full metal alchemist. It was well drawn and very detailed. It is seriously drawn during story progression, cartoony during comic relief, and sketchy/artsy during high emotion. I think this is a perfect flow of artwork.
The manga veers off to a side story for a couple of chapters about a combat robot turned butler named North #2 that is a tad dry and predictable, but it holds strong to the end with the final frame being the re-introduction of Atom, "Astro Boy". My favorite part of the manga was the short side story about the death of a normal police robot and how the main character, Gesicht, has to tell the robot wife of the police robot's dead. It was like a robot version of the cliche "police drama doorstep death confession to the wife scene".
It's a great read for anyone that likes robot manga, murder mystery manga, Astro boy, anyone that liked the artwork of Full metal alchemist, or anyone that read classical manga.
| |
Reminds me of the books "iRobot" and "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Candace  5 Stars
July 01, 2009
This manga heavily reminds me of the books "iRobot" and "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" but in a good way. I love tales where technology has advanced to the point where there is a fine line between between cyborgs and humans in terms of their abilities to feel emotions. This manga has a few interesting small stories in just the first volume and I LOVE manga series that string along a lot of relevant smaller stories to make one grand story. I have no idea if this series will continue at this pace but I'm already hooked, volumes 2 and 3 arrived on my doorstep yesterday and I plan on reading them as soon as I can!
| |
Effective use of standard tropes by Strobe (Pasadena, CA) 4 Stars
April 13, 2009
Pluto Vol. 1 is a good manga, but that's it. Those who swallow all the "groundbreaking" hype might be disappointed. If the only manga you've ever read before is Love Hina then yes, this will rock your world. Otherwise, it's a good start to a story that increasingly fails exactly because it doesn't offer anything that hasn't been done to death already.
Nostalgic readers tuning in to see Astroboy again need to wait until volume 2 for his story. Buy that one too, then quit while you're ahead. That's where the series peaks, then it's all downhill from there. The storytelling quickly gets politicized and commandeered by surprisingly trite and omnipresent messages about prejudice (Guess what? It's bad.) and an embarrassingly naive straw-man argument against the Iraq war (Guess what? Starting a war solely to murder innocent women and children is also bad.) -- he's not exactly going out on a limb to take any controversial or enlightening stands here. If that's what passes for deep and groundbreaking for you, then I'm sorry, but the Older Teen rating means you're probably not old enough to read this series anyway.
The Pluto universe, with it's inconsistent use of technology and intelligent machines, is inevitably more a facade of convenience than a good sci-fi universe. This is fine at first, but it starts getting silly after a while when the rules keep changing to fit the preaching.
Your money is better spent on Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys. It's extremely long-winded but a lot more fun.
| |
A wonderful reimagining of Atom Boy and an Urasawa series that is captivating! Can't wait for volume 2! by Dennis A. Amith (kndy) (California) 5 Stars
April 07, 2009
In a world where robots and humans work together and robots are treated (by most) like sentient beings comes a world where the planet has robotic heroes and even police squadrons of human and robot partners.
Of course, it's not an all perfect world as there are humans who rather not co-exist with the robots. And someone makes their agenda known when someone has decided to disrupt that peaceful coexistence by destroying the great robots and possibly murdering those who protect the rights for robots.
With only several of the great robots left, one of the great robots from Interpol must protect the other living great robots from destruction from a mysterious murderer/destroyer who may be human or robot.
This is the basis of the story "PLUTO", a reimagining of "Astro Boy - The Greatest Robot on Earth" written by manga great Naoki Urasawa ("Yawara", "Monster", "20th Century Boys" and many more titles) and co-authored by Takashi Nagasaki. The Astro Boy or Tetsuwan Atom stories are based on the popular works of Osamu Tezuka and with cooperation from Tezuka Productions, this manga project is managed by Makoto Tezuka.
The ongoing award winning manga series debuted in Japan back in 2003 and has captivated readers but now the popular manga arrives in the US courtesy of VIZ Media.
The first volume of "PLUTO: Urasawa x Tezuka" features the first seven acts and ends with a several-page discussion between Naoki Urasawa and Makoto Tezuka plus a postscript by Takayuki Matsutani, Presiden of Tezuka Productions, Inc.
"PLUTO: Urasawa x Tezuka" vol. 01 was definitely an enjoyable first volume. One of the biggest differences from Osamu Tezuka's artwork and Urasawa's is the fact that Urasawa tends to go for a more realistic approach and also adding quite a bit of detail from surrounding objects or shadows.
There is a side of darkness that Urasawa has with his work. From "Monster" to "20th Century Boys", you get a good balance of innocence and purity but also a side of darkness which makes his works so appealing.
In this case, for "PLUTO", the storyline is so unique. Sure, we have seen robots become problems for humanity in anime and manga series such as "AD Police" but to find a storyline where robots are revered for helping humanity and living lives like humans and almost be treated like equals was quite intriguing.
So, far the pacing of the series in the first seven acts were well done and captivating.
With great storytelling by Urasawa and Nagasaki, it makes you wonder what will happen with the remaining five great robots. I'm definitely hooked and I know you will be hooked once you finish the first volume. "PLUTO: Urasawa x Tezuka" is highly recommended!
| |
excellent! by Aaron R. Reed (Brockton, MA USA) 5 Stars
April 05, 2009
Pluto is one of the best sci-fi comics produced in a long time, good enough qualitywise to be adapted into live action. It'd certainly make a great TV series for Syfy. Who'd imagine Tezuka's material, including an appearance by Astroboy at the end of volume 1, could be reimagined and drawn with such seriousness? :)
| |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol. 2
by Naoki Urasawa (Author), Naoki Urasawa (Illustrator)
R to L (Japanese Style)In a distant future where sentient humanoid robots pass for human, someone or some thing is out to destroy the seven great robots of the world. Europol’s top detective Gesicht is assigned to investigate these mysterious robot serial murders—the only catch is that he himself is one of the seven targets. Atom, a boy robot whose sophisticated AI programming seamlessly blurs the distinction between man and machine, starts his own investigation into the serial...
| 
| Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol. 3
by Naoki Urasawa (Author), Naoki Urasawa (Illustrator)
R to L (Japanese Style)In a distant future where sentient humanoid robots pass for human, someone or some thing is out to destroy the seven great robots of the world. Europol’s top detective Gesicht is assigned to investigate these mysterious robot serial murders—the only catch is that he himself is one of the seven targets. When robots become so highly advanced in function, yet so similar in kind to humans, societal resistance is inevitable. In this backdrop of technophobic...
| 
| Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol. 4
by Naoki Urasawa (Author), Naoki Urasawa (Illustrator)
R to L (Japanese Style). A powerful, destructive force in the form of a tornado is killing the great robots of the world one by one. Who or what could be behind this whirlwind? Be it man or robot, it now has its sights set on Atom, the most advanced robot ever created--and Atom is ready to dive right into the eye of the storm.
| 
| Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, Vol. 1: Friends
by Naoki Urasawa (Author), Naoki Urasawa (Illustrator)
R to L (Japanese Style)Failed rock musician Kenji's memories of his past come rushing back when one of his childhood friends mysteriously commits suicide. Could this new death be related to the rise of a bizarre new cult that's been implicated in several other murders and disappearances? Determined to dig deeper, Kenji reunites with some of his old buddies in the hope of learning the truth behind it all. Humanity, having faced extinction at the end of the 20th century, would not have...
| 
| Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol. 5
by Naoki Urasawa (Author), Naoki Urasawa (Illustrator)
R to L (Japanese Style). A robot may not harm or kill a human being. Article 13 of the Robot LawsAdolph, a member of a robot hate group, is being used as a pawn and hunted down by the members of his own brotherhood. He must now turn to his worst enemy for protection--Gesicht, the robot who he believes killed his own brother.
|
|
|
