Another awesome installment. The art is incredible, the story mesmerizing! ( )

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

“Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 003” by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki is the third 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.

The mysterious villain, who is targeting the seven great robots of the world and might be responsible for the related homicides, is still unknown. Meanwhile, members of KR, a far-right group aiming to eliminate robot civil rights laws, come up with a sinister plan. Finally, Atom’s little sister Uran, a robot girl with ultra sensitive receptors, befriends an odd robot.

THUMBS UP:

1) Excellent story building.
The story unfolds slowly, but I wouldn’t dare call it slow-paced as it is thrilling and completely engrossing. New background details and answers to the previous questions introduce new mysteries, moving the story along as well as keeping the suspense at its highest. The final three acts in “Pluto, Volume 003” are especially absorbing, and although quite a few puzzle pieces are revealed, I feel like I have even more questions than I had before and thus cannot wait to read the next volume to find out what’s going on.

2) Multidimensional characters.
The more I get to know the characters in Pluto, the more I like and care about them. Also, background details and side stories not only make the story line more complicated, more relatable and more engaging but also add some layers to the main characters, making them multidimensional, realistic and more interesting.

3) Social commentary.
This volume brings up a lot of interesting issues such as human and robot identity and human-robot conflict. A social commentary not only adds depth and complexity to the plot but also hints at a few universal topics such as humanity and compassion. For example, KR, a robot hater organization in Pluto, strongly resembles the Ku Klux Klan and its ideology.

COULD BE BETTER:

1) The last of the seven.
I didn’t really enjoy the act in which the last of the seven great robots of the world was introduced. The episode was rather uneventful and the character itself didn’t strike me as likable or particularly interesting. Hopefully, my mind will change in later volumes.

2) Static and colorless illustrations.
I know I talked enough about this issue in my previous reviews, but I still cannot get used to the artwork, which is truly stunning but too static for a comic book. The illustrations in the third volume seem more dynamic though, but only the ones picturing kids. The portrayal of adult characters is still too static (limited range of facial expressions and closed mouths when talking). What is more, in “Pluto, Volume 003,” only six first pages are colored and the rest of the illustrations are black and white, EXCEPT for two random panels towards the end of the book. Those few colored illustrations are SO MUCH better and just feel like a tease.

VERDICT: 3.5 out of 5

“Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 003” by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki exemplifies an excellent story building and character development and contains an intriguing social commentary, but the illustrations portraying adults are still too static for a comic book.

POST SCRIPTUM:

Check out my reviews of the previous two volumes:
1) “Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 001;”
2) “Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 002.” ( )

Intriguing, but still has not shown me the potential that should be there by all accounts. ( )

This is the third book in Urasawa's manga about human-robot society, a reworking of a section from Tezuka's seminal Tetsuwan Atom which I haven't read yet, to my shame. This is a pretty dark, menacing vision, with the world's most powerful robots hunted down by an even more powerful entity that brutally murders them. It's quite an emotional book, to my mind, and very well done, with great artwork and a very convincing consideration of the robots' natures and minds. Nearly all served in a terrible war some time ago, but have normal roles in society nowadays. In this volume, of them them suggests that all of them (the most advanced robots, I took it to mean) have learnt something of human emotion: some love, some fear, and at least one has learned hatred. Somehow I found that quite affecting. A great book. ( )