Manga: Pluto

[Munsu]

Just wondering if anyone here reads this. It's from Naoki Urasawa (Monster, 20th Century Boys), and as those mangas, the art and plot is great. As those two mangas, Pluto has a big mystery to be solved, which is presented by lots of side-stories, which in time all start to make sense. The manga also presents a lot of characters, all with a great deal of background so that you can form some sort of emotional attachment to them. The lead character is very interesting, and has some sort of mysterious past himself, which makes the manga even more interesting as the story develops and progresses.

I just read up to chapter 31, and the latest developments have been quite interesting.

"Based off of a story arc from Osamu Tezuka's Tesuwan Atomu, Pluto follows the Europol detective Gesicht as he tries to uncover the mystery behind a string of robot and human deaths. The case becomes much more puzzling when evidence leans toward the murders being the work of a robot, which is something that hasn't happened for 8 years."

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...ga.php?id=3871

You can download it on #lurk @ irc.irchighway.net

[Apraxhren]

Well I just picked this up and couldn't stop. The story is a bit weird at first and takes some getting used to as it is not the normal robot manga. Overall it is very well done so far, very good story, and the art is familiar maybe even some familiar names.

[Munsu]

Yeah, the art is similar to his other works... But i like that type of art, characters seem real and they make great expressions. Seems like you're the only one that might discuss this with me, we need more manga readers!

I also like how the robots have wives and some even family's, it's wierd.



Spoilers for the latest scanlated chapters:




What about Atom, do you think he's really dead? Also about Giersh, do you think that he was the one that kill that dude's brother? Now I'm not sure who was the robot that Tenma built, if it was Giersh or if it was Pluto. At the surface this manga seemed like it might be quite short, but with the latest couple of revelations, this manga might not end for a while, maybe go up to volume 20 or so.

[Apraxhren]

Hopefully more people pick this up, it is sad it is so unnoticed. I would strongly advise anyone not reading Pluto to give it a shot as it is well worth it. I also got the impression that it might be short, with so much happening already, but you are right now that I think about it there is much to be told still.




Spoilers!




Well I'm inclined to believe Atom is still yet alive, seeing as he was a likable and when he was declared dead Pluto did not do his trademark horns on him. Although seeing as many characters have already been killed off it is not out of the question.

As far as Giesht well all the evidence so far seems to point that he has some hidden past which typically is revealed to be evil. That is often how it goes but it seems a little too obviously in this case as Naoki Urasawa is a wonderful writer. He may be trying to pull something like in Monster, except in that case we knew Tenma was innocent.

Still spoiling

The one thing that is bugging me is that old man and the 500 zeus. Bah, I'll just have to wait. One of the first speculations that came to mind was the man in the war, when they bombed the sleeping children, he looked similar but not similar enough when I looked again. So the only real clue is when Atom is going to fight Pluto and we see the man again and he said "500 zeus for each one". So now I am thinking maybe he paid that man to cover up when he killed people if indeed his evil past turns out to be true. Ugh, such weak theories but oh well.

My favorite part so far is the conversation between Professor Ochanimizu and Goji where they discuss robots killing humans. I never was a fan of the whole robot law and when ever robots are discuss someone always mentions it as if a fact rather than an ideology. I am glad he covered this topic in the story. "...Humans kill humans...What happens when they[robots] are nearly human?" Which fits in perfect with the unique approach he has taken in regards to robots, how they are actively trying to pretend to be and feel like a human.





End of spoilers!

[Munsu]

Spoilers:


What I really want to know is how much 500 Zeus is really worth in that world, for all we know it might be equivalent to $1,000,000 US. But I also was thinking that he was paying for replacement parts, in order to hide something, especially when you link it with people tampering with his memory. It also seems that he and Pluto are similar robots, maybe even the same. Or maybe when Geisht got those replacement parts, he got some from Pluto, and hence Atom gets confused when he says that Pluto and Geisht are the same or something along those lines.

[Apraxhren]

That is a very good theory, and never even crossed my mind. I had even thought about that part with Atom but didn't make a connection. This is the beauty of discussion, others seeing things you didn't. With that said all the more reason for others to join in!

[Apraxhren]

A marvelous day of releases

Pluto chapters 32-35 have been released, Slowly uploading them to mangatraders, also on #lurk.

[Munsu]

Just read the new chapters... It was great seeing Geisht's past, and how emotional he can get. And now that he remembers, I hope he becomes that emotional again, especially when he goes after Pluto.

But man, Pluto is huge... I wonder how he can get so big from his human-size form. I mean, Herakles was only a fraction of his horn. I'm dissapointed in that the other robot can't fight, not only does it seem that he doesn't want to fight, but it seems like it's an impossibility for him to fight.

[Apraxhren]

Early christmas present chapter 36 is out thanks to Mangascreener: Link or Mirror

[Munsu]

Just read up to chapter 39:


Last few chapters have been very nice, it was nice to learn about Giesht's past and how he was a man killer robot too. When Tenma said that he had created a perfect robot, I thought he meant Giesht, but it may very well be Pluto. I liked how Atom was revived, yet not being the old Atom and now he's trying to take on old Atom's behaviors and personality. Tenma sure is complex individual, I hope he gets more "screen" time.

[Apraxhren]

Glad to see I'm not the only still reading this. The whole thing with the polarizing emotions and then the statement by Darius IV "You would know wouldn't you" gave me the idea that the 7 super robots of the Bora investigation are all polarized like that. So far all I've been able to come up with is Heracles was Courage/Honer, Epsilon is love, Pluto is hatred. Atom and Gesicht and the other don't seem to fit into that mold though.

[Munsu]

Chapter 40 is out... I thought it was a nice chapter, of discovery.

I liked how Gesicht couldn't tell if he was a robot or not at first. And the the little robot trying to make a living, an orphan. The picture with the guy surrounded by flowers is still creepy.

[Apraxhren]

Quite an interesting chapter, although it felt quite disappointing. Gesicht just letting Abra walk away without any more questions even though he knew he lied. Then the same thing again when he learn of Sahad, although he has a look on his face like he recognizes the name. The writing appeared sub par in those points, hopefully the next chapter will clear those up.

On a slightly off topic note: The robot being named Mohammad Ali, seemed very inappropriate. Maybe just me and my love of everything past, maybe the author just doesn't know any Arab sounding names. Although the part of "My balance has been bad since it got busted in the war" looks like a reference to Ali's Parkinson's disease.

[Munsu]

Remember that Gesicht doesn't have any authority in that part of the world, so he has to let him go away, especially since he's a law abiding robot.

Hahaha, I liked the Mohammad Ali refference though... this is not the first time he has paid some sort of tribute to an icon. I know there's mention of Hulk Hogan in 20th Century Boys. There's also the Incredible Hulk in Monster, though the character remembers him as "Magnificent Steiner", the premise is the same though.

[Munsu]

Well, I finally decided to continue this series, and to my surprise it's already completely scanlated:
http://www.onemanga.com/Pluto/

This was quite a good series, though it wasn't as strong in the final couple of volumes. Decent ending, though it felt quite rushed and I would've liked a bit more of character interaction when things concluded. Seems like there's more to be said.

Any of you read it all?